Scenes From Frontierland, July 1964
I have two photos for you today that are are in BABUSHKAVISION! Possibly the most stunning advancement in photo technology in our lifetimes. Thanks to various prisms and an algorithm found at an ancient burial site, a babushka was added to the head of any person. Several cameras for the various Moon landings had this feature, though it is hard to find examples.
SO... it's summertime, 1964. A man and his best girl headed over to Frontierland to see what's what. "I hear that the 'people' are actually robots that are so real that you can't tell the difference. Hey, there's Yul Brynner!". While strolling through the Indian Village, they noticed a bison, apparently kept as a pet. His name was "Waldo", and he'd perform capers for cigarettes or small change. This woman looks a little uneasy, but this is probably her first time around a bison.
Our heroin is relaxing with a cold drink, thankful that she is secure inside the log walls of Fort Wilderness on Tom Sawyer Island. Where the Windigo can't get to them. They can't fly, can they? CAN THEY? In front of her is a well - not a wishing well, but a plain old dumb well. Please don't drop your spare change in it, we drink that stuff! How many other wells have you seen that have a water bubbler built into the edge? Only a few dozen at the most, I'll bet.
25 comments:
Major-
I like her open-toed sandals - not exactly practical for trekking-around The Happiest Place On Earth, but I suppose when style comes first...
Thanks, Major.
Major, I can't remember, is the bison alive? Or taxidermied? Or animatronicalized?
Wow! That BabushkaVision is amazing! I can't see any tell-tale outline, or anything! They must have used one of Disney's proprietary 'sodium prisms' to achieve such a flawless effect.
Hmm. I never noticed the 'bubbler' on the well before. Kind of clever, actually.
Thanks for the BabushkaVision images, Major.
- Juicy Brisket (What?! We're not having turkey?)
Juicy, I also don't remember if the status of that bison has been discussed here, and if so, what the answer was. I'm just guessing from this photo, that it must have been taxidermied. It's tethered to that post, but if it were alive, I think there would be enough slack for it to come over to the railing and potentially gore someone. Although, that would make for a good T-shirt or pinback button....."I Got Gored At Disneyland!"....even if it's not grammatically correct.
It looks like the knob for that drinking fountain isn't located in a very convenient spot, especially for kids. Does anyone even use public drinking fountains these days?
- Tokyo Mollusks!
I’d never noticed to what lengths they’d gone to make that bison look alive. He’s tethered and has a water bowl and a food source. I actually thought he might have been alive, but I checked and his feet are in the same position as every other photo I could find of it (see here, here, and here for reference). I kind of wish they had had a live bison on display for authenticity, despite the smell (some of the “hard facts”…even if they were actually soft). Of course, they still might have had to keep him stuffed so he wasn’t tempted to eat any guests. If only they’d followed the same policy for the swans…
Our heroine is in peril! Wendigo cannot fly, but they do inhabit wells, and they love to pair cold drinks with warm human flesh. Perhaps she can conceal herself in that nearby stump of a once-mighty tree. The odd phrase “waste push” will so confuse the wendigo that he will wander off in search of easier prey. He may find the castle moat a happier hunting ground.
Our heroine looks like she has escaped from some Eastern European regime- that babuska I don’t think is full BAB…but she could be the actress in the film “Wag the Dog” where the heroine was given a bag of Doritos to emulate a cat in front of a green screen while director says to producer “we’ll fix it in post”. Doritos bags could be very close in shape to a kitty. Waldo is very waste push frozen in time. He has a nice little carport thing so that is good. “My parents took me to Disneyland and All I got was this lousy gore”. Great marketing for a snazzy T shirt. The bubbler became a dent and a fudgie to me. I had to put it on the big IMAX screen to find it. Very crafty. When I worked in commercial construction there were laws and codes about drinking fountains. We would spend countless hours on designs for a bubbler that would never get used. These days, I’m not sure a bubbler is a good idea. Kids lick those things. My dog figured out how to turn one on at the park, she loved it. I am going to use “waste push” today in every reference to a waste push bag. I often call the NYFD to put out fires in the waste push can outside my front door. Many fires all the time, but it’s fun to watch the guys do their thing and souse down the waste in the waste push can.
That bison is certainly stuffed, more like a “Stuffalo”.
I think I have a vague memory of the drinking fountain. I know there was one similar in the Kings Canyon Park campground where we went every summer.
I definitely remember the push-waste stump trash can. I believe the stumps style was only on TSI, while the mainland cans were metal, either the yellow X pattern or painted like logs.
Bu, you are right, there are so many rules now about drinking fountains that only manufactured products can comply. The days of designing something one-off are gone.
Thanks Major!
JG
Dent! Whoever did the castle turret shingles also did this roof.
Memory cells jump started, I actually remember that bubbler. I was telling a friend about Ft. Wilderness, all the cool stuff inside, and he looked at me like I was nuts. (He was right but that's another story). So many people have no idea that Ft. Wilderness used to be open.
"Huge herds of ravenous Bison once roamed the plains feasting on anyone unlucky enough to be caught in their path."
Hard facts, indeed.
Fortunately the wendigo wiped them out, before being themselves wiped out by baby strollers. Now strollers as big as SUVs prowl the parks in search of new victims. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
What were we talking about again?
Every time I see a well, I have to say, "Well, well, well..." I'm pretty sure it's required by law. I'm a riot.
Nanook, open-toed sandals seem like a bad idea, but I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if you were there when the park was not busy in 1962.
JB, the bison was taxidermied! I’ve always wondered if there was any subtle movement, perhaps an occasional wigging of the ears, but nobody seems to know. It was probably motionless. Many people don’t realize that sodium prisms are made from table salt.
TokyoMagic!, yes, it was a stuffed bison, did they have to replace him now and then when the fur got ratty? Did they have a customized tarp to cover it at night? Did it have a nickname? And you know that the t-shirt should read, “ME got gored at Disneyland”. I got a “pass” in English! I’ll bet there was some sort of little step for kids to stand on to get to that bubbler.
Chuck, I’m sure that somebody floated the idea of having a real bison on display, but that was rejected for all of the same reasons that they didn’t use real animals in the Jungle Cruise. And as TokyoMollusks said, they probably don’t want anybody to get gored. ALSO… animals poop. I did the research. I can tell that you have some experience dealing with a real Wendigo, and am frankly amazed that you are still with us.
Bu, maybe that lady IS from “the old country”, plenty of visitors from foreign lands went to Disneyland. A bison might be of special interest. I saw “Wag the Dog” but remember very little about it. It was about shoes, right? I wonder if it is possible to make a bison tame enough to put up with close encounters with hundreds of tourists? My guess is “NO”. I love the sentence “The bubbler became a dent and a fudgie to me”, it would make no sense to anybody but readers of this blog. Remember the drinking fountains that had refrigerated water? I loved getting that ice-cold water on a hot day. Now it’s all luke-warm. Bleah.
JG, remember the band “Stuffalo Springfield”? They made ya think. I’m amazed that you have any memories of a specific drinking fountain, but then again, I barely remember what I did yesterday. Those stump trash cans are cool, I wonder if they were unique to the park? Also, we need high-pressure drinking fountains, to wash off the mess if you were eating a chili burger.
Lou and Sue, I guess there IS sort of a dent!
MRaymond, wow, the happiest bubbler on Earth, who knew. You’re right, Fort Wilderness has become yet another feature that only people of a certain age will remember - sadly. I really hoped we might get it back when the “Galaxy’s Edge” construction was going on. Wouldn’t that have been nice?
Stu29573, I’m just glad that we are no longer beleaguered by giant herds of carnivorous bison. It’s much cooler to have mini malls with hair salons, the battery store, and a Dollar Tree. Can you get a cheap notebook from a bison? NO.
Major-
Perhaps you can't get a "cheap notebook from a bison"; but can you get a 'bison skull' at a Dollar Tree store-? I think not.
Ft. Wilderness was an E Ticket attraction all by itself...at least for an 8 year old. Rifles poking out of the turrets...we stood in line to have the opportunity to 'shoot' at the passing Mark Twain. What were we thinking? It all seemed so harmless at the time. And don't forget the escape tunnel too. Once I got on TSI, my folks knew they had several hours to enjoy themselves on the mainland. KS
Ms. Babushka looks uneasy in both photos. It has to be foot trouble from those sandals! I’d think her feet would get dusty, more so in those days, with these areas of dirt ground. I made the mistake of wearing Birkenstocks to the La County Fair once, and learned my lesson after visiting the farm area. I wonder if the pole with a single moose antler in the first pic was an actual item used by a Native American tribe, and if it was decorative, ceremonial, or functional (a king-sized backscratcher?). It reminds me of the cartoon Morris the Midget Moose. Thanks, Major.
Nanook, a bison skull would be pretty cool! True story: I own a human skull (and I don’t mean the one on my neck). It would take too long to explain how that happened.
KS, Fort Wilderness was great, but maybe I am fooling myself when I think that kids would still love it. You know how they are, with their twitters and Instagram and twerking! Darn kids! Always sassing me! Just because I wear my pants up to my chest. I think that “shooting” at the Mark Twain was harmless in a less insane time. It was just pretend playtime. I love the idea of parents leaving their kids on TSI so that they can relax, or maybe even hold hands.
Kathy!, you’re right, maybe she just didn’t like having her photo taken? I know people like that. In fact, I’m like that. Ha ha, Birkenstocks at the LA County Fair… well, as you said, you learned your lesson. The hard way. The moose horn is a mystery to me, if anybody knows, Kathy and I would like to know what gives.
Mr. Pepperidge,
Start explaining.
-FBI, Homicide Unit
Major, just as I read your comment about high pressure water fountains to wash off barbecue, I dropped mustard on my shirt.
I'm guessing that skull you have must be something like the one I found about 100 yards away from that turnout on Highway 15 west of Las Vegas.
Also, the FBI was here asking about you.
JG
FBI, I bought it at "Skulls R Us"!
JG, I feel like it is my fault that you dropped mustard on your shirt. This is why you should always wear those mesh shirts that are completely see-through, you can buy them online. Wait, you found a HUMAN skull off of the highway?!
Tokyo Mollusks!, soooo, yer serving snails for Turkeyday, now?
Chuck, indeed. If only they had kept the swans sated, so many lives could have been saved. Woulda, coulda, shoulda... oh well.
JG, "Stuffalo"... love it!
The only time you need fear the Wendigo is when they team-up with a herd of Jackalopes. They work together: The Jackalopes gore your ankles with their nasty little antlers, causing you to trip and fall. Then the Wendigo move in for the kill. By the time you catch a glimpse of the Jackalopes, it's too late.
Major, “The bubbler became a dent and a fudgie to me”. I thought the same thing when I Bu's line. Nobody on Earth would have any idea what that meant, EXCEPT US! (Yay, us!)
I remember that bubbler, too. The well was just one more feature that made me feel like I was playing inside a full-scale version of my Marx Fort Apache playset (note the well in the upper left corner).
Apparently the rifles in WDW's Fort Langhorn are still a thing. You can see in the attached article that the trigger guards have been removed from the rifles, presumably soon after the January 2001 accident at Disneyland where a 6-year-old girl lost most of an index finger to a Fort Wilderness firearm (I can confirm that they were definitely gone by July of 2007 because I seed it with my own eyebones).
Major, that story was from an introduction to a CSI-Las Vegas episode...
JB, the Jackalopes are first cousins to this guy...
https://avbc.com/wp-content/themes/avbc21/_assets/images/logo_avbc_footer.jpg
Kathy, I remember the story of Morris, and his buddy. Also, I love your avatar. Is it your own work?
JG
Yup the WDW rifles are still there. You get to take pot shots at the Big Thunder trains as they swoop by! Fun stuff!
JG, the Boonville Bear? Huh, that's a new one on me. Is he really part of the folklore in that region? Or just a recently conjured up advertising gimmick?
A human skull…well I suppose you will surely be ready for impromptu in home performances of Hamlet. We must always be ready.
Don't kid yourself, Stu. If a bison ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about.
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