Mine Train, July 1960
Here are two scans from the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, circa July, 1960. As most of you know, this attraction started out as the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train, but it closed on October 11, 1959 so that it could be expanded and improved to an amazing degree. When these photos were taken, the MTTNW had only been open for about a month.
This first scan is fun, with the patriotic bunting on some of the Rainbow Ridge structures - surely leftover from the debut, which was on July 2, 1960. "Put up the bunting once", that's what my grandpappy always said. I never knew what he was talking about until now! Everything looks so fresh and new. Notice the pack mules up on the ridge, and passing above the tunnel to the left.
Next, one of the trains returns from its exciting journey through beautiful Nature's Wonderland, with its deserts and forests and rock formations, and plenty of animatronic critters. How I envy all of those passengers!
16 comments:
Major-
Oh, to be there, then-! (And let's not forget Mineral Hall-!)
Thanks, Major.
The train car nearest us is the "Cascade Mountain". The one with the bunting is "[something] Valley". Anybody know who the lady is in the Opera House poster?
When I first saw the mountain towering above Mineral Hall it caught me by surprise; kind of shocking! So huge and majestic. "Oh, it's the Matterhorn!"
Nice clear pics of the spanking new Nature's Wonderland Trains, Major. Thanks.
@ JB-
The one with the bunting is "[something] Valley".
Why, that's Beaver Valley, of course-!
As I've oft pontificated, one of the appeals of Disneyland is how they commit so much space to making big outdoor rides actual journeys. Nature's Wonderland, Rivers of America, Jungle Cruise, 20,000 Leagues, even Storybook Land Canal Boats ... you feel like you've been somewhere. Big Thunder Mountain may be shorter and quicker than the previous mine train, but it still feels like a complete place.
One of the cool things about Nature's Wonderland was how it overlapped with Rivers of America -- a perfectly logical "crossover" reinforcing both rides. A pity they couldn't have the Splash Mountain logs float onto the big river before looping back in for the finale.
Now in a mood to pull out "Nature's Half Acre" or some other True Life Adventure. I don't remember seeing any of them in theaters, but they turned up regularly on "World of Color".
Nanook, Ah, of course! I was thinking that the middle letter was a "G" and it threw me off. Thanks!
Mine train,Mine!
JB, the lady is Lotta, the Miners' Darling. A reference to the actual Lotta Crabtree, who sang and danced and played the banjo in California mining camps, to great acclaim and a lotta money for her. She dedicated a fountain to San Francisco in 1875, still there at the corner of Market and Kearny. Hardy and foolhardy souls (including me) have gathered there at 5: 12 am on April 18th, to commemorate the 1906 quake.
Somehow the Swiss Matterhorn doesn't look out of place looming over the American southwest buildings in the second picture. It is not unlike Cascade Peak in the MTTNW poster; another Disneyland example of different themes and styles working together in close quarters.
What Everybody Said.
I sure miss this ride (or attraction?).
I’m noticing how the buildings of Rainbow Ridge become less clapboard and more adobe as they edge over toward Rancho Del Zocalo (or whatever that Casa de Fritos area was called then). A subtle shift, hardly noticeable.
Thank you Major!
JG
Nanook, yes, the Mineral Hall, full of glowing rocks! My favorite!
JB, unfortunately, the word that you can’t read is very shocking, and I won’t repeat it here. I think the lady on the Opera House poster is Jenny Lind, but that’s just off the top of my head.
Nanook, see? Pretty shocking.
DBenson, I don’t know if we’ll ever see a large outdoor ride (like the ones you mentioned) again - unless it’s for a roller coaster - those do take up some real estate. When you see old aerial photos of the park, it’s impressive to see the footprint of the old Nature’s Wonderland attraction. I agree, the way NW overlapped with the Stagecoaches, the Pack Mules, and even (in a way) the Canoes made it all feel very cohesive. I wonder if there’d ever been a plan to have the Splash Mountain logs somehow come out into the river? I’ll bet they tried to figure out a way! Disney+ isn’t great about sharing many of those old “featurettes” or TV shows, but maybe they’ll have the Academy Award winning films at least.
JB, watch out for the beagers!
Budblade, ha!
Stefano, ah, so I was wrong, big surprise! I know that I’ve even talked about those same posters on this blog years ago, but obviously couldn’t recall what they said. Funny that you mentioned Kearny, since I was just trying to ID a slide location, and it turned out to be Kearny Street in SF. Seeing just the rocky peak of the Matterhorn makes it less obvious that it is supposed to be that mountain, and it really does work OK.
JB, that’s a good observation about the Rainbow Ridge buildings, I”ll have to look for myself. In a way it does feel like it gets more “civilized” as you head east!
Major: It should be noted that the outdoor stretch of Radiator Spring Racers is pretty impressive. It might also be noted that much of it is in plain sight of Carsland, providing an immersive backdrop for that area rather than being hidden from passerby. There's a dining area in Flo's V8 Cafe where huge windows are filled with the mountain range, creating a persuasive view.
It makes sense that pedestrians in the queue and elsewhere and riders see each other at points, the way it makes sense that passengers on the Mark Twain and the mine train once saw each other at the riverside. One of the nifty details is how RSR and NW both combine these overlaps with hidden worlds -- a big dark ride on RSR; a desert, a forest, and a dark ride finale on NW.
Stefano, thanks for the whole lotta info on the poster "darling"!
Major, "beagers". Half beagle, half beaver. Soooo, I guess it's a beagle with a big waffle-like tail? And big goofy buck teeth?
DBenson, I've only been on RSP one time, and that was at night, so I'm sure I missed lots of details. We hopped on the ride when the line was relatively short, during the "World of Color" show on the lagoon. In fact, I've only been to DCA that one time since Carsland was built! I have a trip planned soon, maybe I'll be able to be a bit more observant.
JG, beagers are rare now, but you can sometimes hear their yips late at night when you are near a mountain stream!
Major, IMHO, the queue for RSR is some of Disneys best work. Easily as good or better than Rise of the Resistance. If you have time on your next visit, I would highly recommend waiting stand-by just so you can see the whole thing. I haven’t seen the view that DBenson is describing, but the whole Carsland area is very coherent and consistent. All of this is odd coming from me since I didn’t think the movie was that great, and I have regularly skipped the whole land in favor of other parts of DCA due to its long wait, but it is worth seeing once.
JG
I'd agree with JG that the Carsland area is excellent modern Imagineering work. I've read that the "Cadillac Mountains" backdrop was scaled from the 3D models used in the movie. The various attractions and queues work pretty well to make a cohesive and immersive area.
JG, from what I did see of the whole Radiator Springs area, it was very nice. My problem is that I always wind up spending most of my time in Disneyland, and only a little at DCA, so I don’t get to soak up the atmosphere. I like the original “Cars” movie, but it is not top-shelf Pixar. It has many things that I enjoy, I don’t even mind ‘Mater. I feel like I need to go to DCA for a whole day and familiarize myself with the place, because it’s still very much “new” to me. I’m reluctant to wait in a 120-minute queue, and that’s what it was for much of my last visit, but I would be willing to wait if it was under an hour.
Dean Finder, I’m not surprised to learn that the Cadillac Mountains were rendered using the 3D models from the movies - at night the place really looked beautiful, with the waterfall and lights.
The thing about CarsLand is that it's less about characters than about the now-mythic Route 66. One could make a case the best attractions are all about places, real or imaginary, and almost incidentally about characters. Likewise Nature's Wonderland, Jungle Cruise, Rivers of America, and even Peter Pan's Flight (we come off remembering flying over London and circling a magic island more than we remember Pan and Hook dueling).
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