The Mine Train, June 1969
I have three scans featuring Nature's Wonderland, the all-nude ride that ran from 1960 through to January of 1977.
While this first image is not the greatest, I still enjoy the "you are there" quality as the train took a jog to the left; I'm not certain, but I think it was about to cross the rickety trestle through Bear Country, where dusty old bears swam, scratched, and dreamed of pic-a-nic baskets.
Water is scarce in the desert, so an oasis like this will attract critters from miles around. Like these pronghorn antelope. Move it along, boys! Please observe the various plant species, and write a 1,000 page essay about them. I don't want to read the essay, I just want you to feel the satisfaction of having accomplished something so academic.
The Saguaro Forest - a strange place full of those odd cacti that look like they are being robbed at gunpoint. "Take my wallet - but can I please have my Baskin Robbins birthday club card?". "Shut up, you!". I think we can just see a bobcat atop one of the saguaros, but he looks kind of blobby here, so I'm not sure. Maybe it's a blobcat? In the distance, the spray from a geyser shoots into the air. Maybe it's "Old Unfaithful"!
14 comments:
Major-
"Deep in the weeds" of Nature's Wonderland. It's still awfully wonderful.
Thanks, Major.
I think that's Minnie Pearl wearing the gaudy pink hat. Although I don't see a price tag hanging off the brim. It looks like our photographer is gonna get a faceful of pine needles in about 1.3 seconds.
Frankly, I'm surprised that Disney would create an "all-nude" attraction. The brazenness of the antelopes, bobcats, coyotes, and prairie dogs displaying their stark nakedness is just shocking! Although I do like the wide variety of flora... even though it's also unabashedly nude.
Major, I think you're right about the blobcat perched atop that one cactus. That tall skinny plant in the center of the photo looks like a Carboniferous prehistoric clubmoss tree. I like the woodpecker holes in the cactus.
Thanks for the train ride, Major.
Yay! I love to see pics of Nature's Wonderland! I think the train might have just been coming off of the trestle, in that first pic. Hopefully KS will let us know exactly where that was taken. I agree, that blob on top of the cactus is the bobcat, which was trapped up there by wild boars. Or were they javelinas? Or maybe peccaries, as Davey Hansen called them. I don't know Daaaaavey!"
Thanks, Major!
I am sorry and kick myself for never going on the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland. It was certainly in my reach: but alas: as a kid you DO want laser beams and loop de loops...from the outside the mine train looked kind of what "old people" ride...which is why I probably like it more today. TOTALLY NUDE! That was a giant sign on top of a building and it was the first thing you saw as you exited the 405 onto Century Blvd. to go to LAX. Not only was it TOTALLY NUDE...it was COMPLETELY NUDE...with "LIVE NUDES" and NUDE NUDE NUDE, and NUDE NUDES....all in giant pink and orange letters....we got it...they aren't wearing clothes. My dad would pretend that he was turning into the parking lot, while my mother sat horrified. I suppose the convention guys or whoever took this opportunity before the airport to avail themselves of such entertainments before heading home. I'm not sure if seeing the Mine Train and it's own brand of nudes compared, but to each his own. In this day and age, I think I prefer Nature's Wonderland over Nature's Wunderland, and once again: sorry that I missed it. I enjoy Rainbow Ridge however...and the very small bits and pieces that still exist from the Mine Train.
Nanook, I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve had some good Nature’s Wonderland pix, so I was mighty glad to see these.
JB, I’m sure that pink hat was a souvenir. No hanging price tag, just a price sticker (probably light blue)! In 1969, Disneyland was trying everything to attract guests, and the “all nude” idea was just one of them. You know how those hippies loved to dance around naked. After the whole Yippie invasion in August of 1970, they did away with the nude stuff. Even though Donald continued to wear no pants. I tried to join club moss, but I wasn’t cool enough.
TokyoMagic!, OK, interesting, I’ve been getting emails from somebody who is really trying to figure out where we are in that first photo. My guess was just that, a guess. I’d love it if KS chimed in with a specific location! Who is Davey Hansen? Maybe I don’t want to know.
Bu, I’m sorry I didn’t go on the Mine Tran Through Nature’s Wonderland more often! We definitely did not do it every visit, my family (mom and dad) seemed to be creatures of habit and we tended to do the same things. I guess the exception was with a new big attraction like “Pirates”. I have the feeling that the Mine Train would be unappreciated by young folks of today, in spite of its brilliance and world-building. It had no Disney IP, and moved slowly. Two big strikes against it right away. Yes, there are all sorts of interesting business (or there used to be) near LAX, I guess that’s the place for those things too. Bored businessmen need something to keep them entertained, but they don’t want to go very far.
The Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland was based on Disney IP. The True-Life Adventure series. Even sections of it were named after specific True Life Adventure films like Beaver Valley, The Living Desert, Bear Country and The Olympic Elk.
A lot of the early Disneyland attractions were based on Disney IP.
Nice pics today. Thanks, Major.
Back in the day when Disney had no need to acquire IP, it pretty much created its own. Brings tears to this old Miner's eyes. From that elevated perspective of the Bobcat and with Old Unfaithful in the background, my thought is we have passed below overpass of the mules and are heading on the decline toward the desert scene. KS. PS...you guys take care. We are off on a 3 week adventure overseas!! Whee...
Davey Hansen is better known as the sidekick to talking dog Goliath. In one episode, he gets into a fight with a kid at his grandpa's ranch, and then has to save the kid when e's trapped in a tree by peccories.
Need to chime in on the IP matter: (this may be interesting banter): IP in Walt's day..and even after Walt's day to certain extent, was a way to bring the two-dimensionality of the WDP film product to life in a new and exciting three dimensional way: Disneyland. This was innovation and creativity: not "IP". Things that no one had seen before. Of course the synergy provided by showcasing film and TV "IP": back then known as another name I am sure...would benefit all aspects of the Company. "Bring Mickey Mouse! We'll sell more watches and other products...bring the Mousketeers so the kids watch the show and the moms buy the soap and the cereal...bring on the True Life Adventures to get people into the theatre...or get the people in the theatre over to Disneyland." So: it all works when done in a holistic way...more than "WE GOTTA IP IN THE PLACE! DO THINGS WITH IP BECAUSE MORE PEOPLE WILL COME TO SEE THE IP!!!" It's looking at it all backwards. The entire Disneyland project was a way to put people in their own "movie", and to experience it viscerally and emotionally. Add some historic American value, some education, etc...it gets you "Adventure Through Inner Space"...which kind of delightfully felt like Land of the Giants, or another movie/tv show where you get shrunken down: but with some educational gravitas. I may be one of the few that enjoyed "If you have wings (have wings...have wings....)" Which was basically a really long commercial. Since theme parks have evolved exponentially both in content and technology: the market has changed, and "more" is expected....the "best" animatronics, and trackless rides, and special effects...etc etc etc. Having to "one up" yourself is tiring work, and not a great environment for creative souls. The worst notes I ever got were usually in the neighborhood of "just do it better/bigger/more than the last thing you did!!" I do think people appreciate simple and uncomplicated but we've conditioned them to want the BEST POPCORN BUCKET EVER! WAY BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE! in search of commercial and financial sustainability. I don't want another Pirates. Pirates of the Caribbean is a masterpiece really. Don't jack with it. I want something I've never seen before, and it doesn't have to go 1000 miles an hour, or assault my senses....give me something authentic, and not a ride, based on a movie, based on a play, based on a short story, based on an anecdote, based on a party.....(I can go on...). Note: I am not the target market. Thoughts and ideas expressed here are my own and may not reflect general population of GDB. Since "inclusion" is a "Disney Key"...I think others who share my POV should be included in forward thinking of the Company. I'll go to Disneyland to sit on a bench and have lunch: so what's in it for me?
K. Martinez, good point, of course you are right, I guess I was thinking more of a character-based IP, but I did forget about the True Life Adventures.
KS, have a great trip! Please send all Junior Gorillas lots of postcards.
Dean Finder, AH… gosh, I sure didn’t remember Davey’s last name, obviously. I spent plenty of hours watching “Davey & Goliath”.
Bu, most classic Disney rides are based on the movies that people grew up on, but I guess the change in philosophy is that now Disney attractions are similar to Universal Studios attractions: “Ride the movies”. And I get it, it’s not a bad idea in and of itself. But it feels kind of crass. However… I am way out of touch with what the public wants. Disney’s recent park announcements were not great to me, but all of the die-hard AP holders are so excited for everything. “I never really cared about Tom Sawyer Island or the river”, one person said (about WDW). I mean, what can you do when people don’t care about these classic rides? As long as they get more thrills, they are happy, like giving a lab rat cocaine. It seems immature, maybe that’s it. Adventure Thru Inner Space was one of my all-time favorite rides when I was a kid, it jumped-started my imagination. I didn’t care that it didn’t have a movie character or familiar song. And of course there is the Haunted Mansion, and Pirates. Was “Expedition Everest” the last non-IP attraction? I have no idea. But it’s kind of astonishing that it was even built without a movie tie-in. If people love those popcorn buckets, I can’t throw stones, friends of mine look at my own collections with bafflement. But I sure wouldn’t wait in a long line to buy something like that. I used to think that there was still a faint chance that we might get some sort of Peoplemover back, despite the damage to the old track, but now I am reasonably sure that the people in power have no interest in such a thing.
On the Disneyland TV show Adventureland was firmly identified with True Life Adventures. The Jungle Cruise was originally more about animals, perhaps most notably with the scene of lions eating a zebra (a later addition). But even before the emphasis shifted to comedy, the mood was more about old jungle movies with cannibals, giant spiders, and lost temples.
Ironically, the Mine Train was more cartoony at the outset with its character cacti, spinning rocks, and Rainbow Caverns with lounge music. The addition of Nature's Wonderland shifted the balance with its comparatively "straight" treatment of bears, beavers, and elk, just as the Jungle Cruise was going in the opposite direction.
On the IP issue: Disneyland was originally conceived as an alternative to a studio tour -- something for the tourists who came to see where Mickey lived, so the mouse had to be there. As the concept grew, exploiting the company's IP was essential: With neither capital nor experience, it was the one real asset Disney had to sell to sponsors, and (until people could actually see it) the biggest difference between Disneyland and existing amusement parks. Synergy was at first a nice side benefit, but quickly emerged as a hugely powerful tool.
Semi-related: Anybody watch "How Disney Built America" on History Channel? Basically authorized fluff, with laughable dramatizations and shaky history (the Disneyland episode ends with the park opening to instant success). I've been watching variants about the histories of classic toys and fast food; they were entertaining but now I'm regarding them as primarily fiction.
DBenson, while I am used to the jokey Jungle Cruise, there is (I admit) a part of me that wishes it was not wall to wall gags. I’ve always wondered why the ride seemed to rather quickly morph from a “serious” adventure to one laden (overladen?) with corny jokes and funny animals. Did people laugh when they weren’t supposed to, and Disney decided to just go with it? Good point about the Mine train, though it seems to me (based on what I’ve read, not personal memories) that it was a mix of serious and jokey. That lounge music is so great, I remember when I finally heard a low-quality recording of it (long after the ride had closed), it brought back a flood of memories. I do understand that visiting the popular characters was a real draw, and as you said, differentiated Disneyland from the standard amusement park. I love things like the old dark rides! You can’t get more synergistic than that.
DBenson, I have not watched that show, though I am aware of it. I have a problem with any show that does “historical recreations”, bad actors saying things that the actual people probably never said. I don’t know why the actual story (of Disneyland’s beginnings) seems to be boring, apparently. Let’s make it more exciting! One of the things that I did not like about the Disney+ series about Imagineering was all of the dumb and unnecessary jokes. I guess I’m just a crank!
I loved the old Mine Train and I miss it more with every subsequent visit to the Park. Big Thunder is a great ride and probably my favorite coaster, but now, with the perspective of age, nothing could beat Rainbow Caverns with the George Bruns soundtrack.
Major, Blobby the Bobcat was signed to a 10 year deal for the Nature's Wonderland ride and he later retired in Palm Springs with his wife of 40 years after a long career in film.
Thanks for this post today, sorry I'm late.
JG
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