Disneyland Trip Report

Hey everyone, I just got back from Disneyland! Here's a quick trip report on a few of the changes that had taken place since my last visit.

I was surprised to find out that Star Tours had closed....for good. At first I thought it was just for the installation of the long rumored new film and special effects, but it turns out that a decision was made to just close it permanently and convert the queue into a clothing store. An cast member also informed me, that "brown" is going to become the primary color of Tomorrowland once again.

Over in Critter Country, I noticed they were using redesigned ride vehicles for Splash Mt. The new logs now hold only three people at a time. Unfortunately, this change has cut down ride capacity quite a bit.

In Fantasyland, the characters from the soon to be released animated film, "The Princess and the Pickle" were greeting guests. That's Susie Sandwich there on the right. She's the princess' sidekick in the film, at least until.....SPOILER ALERT!.....she gets eaten by the evil Pickle King.

Walt Disney World 1973 - Totem Poles & Construction

Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't post anything last week. Between major changes going on at work and multiple family events/stuff, I have been so incredibly busy lately. Anyhoo, I've had a small batch of Walt Disney World slides in my collection for a while now and I am going to begin posting some of them. In the past one and a half years that I've been blogging, I've never done a full post just on Walt Disney World, but it's not really for any particular reason. I also have a bunch of Disneyland Paris photos and so far I've only posted two of those! I should probably try to branch out a little beyond Anaheim and Tokyo! Since I am not an expert on WDW however, I will ask everyone for their help. Please feel free to join in and correct or add any info as needed. It will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

These first three slides are dated March 1973. They appear to be taken in the general area of where Splash Mountain exists today. I'm assuming that means that those totem poles no longer exist...at least I don't remember seeing them on the trips I've made to the Magic Kingdom in recent years. In the background, we can see a drained Rivers of America and the construction of Tom Sawyer Island taking place. I did some research and found out that T.S. Island did not open to the public until May of 1973. Major Pepperidge over at Gorillas Don't Blog posted a 1973 Keel Boat picture last month, that also showed some Tom Sawyer Island construction off in the distance.

There appears to be a green contraption in the river bed on the far right. Could this be a pump to keep the Florida rain waters out during construction? There is also a bulldozer on the far left side of the picture. The lady wearing the smart pantsuit and holding the groovy purse seems to be having fun....she reminds me of my grandmother!

This next pic shows The Hall of Presidents building on the far side of the river. Also, just to the right of the shorter totem pole, a portion of Harpers Mill and it's water wheel can be seen.

Here's a shot from just about a year later, July 1974. Now construction is taking place on the other side of the totem poles. Does anyone know what this particular construction could have been for? Sorry....this was the best I could do to correct the color on this slide.

Again, these were all taken in the area of the park that is now occupied by Splash Mt. Just for kicks, here are a couple shots of how the area appears today.

Br'er Owl and Br'er Weasel

I don't know if this owl actually has a name or not, but he can be seen inside Tokyo Disneyland's Splash Mt., talking to the guests that are waiting in line. I use the word "inside", because as I mentioned in yesterday's post, most of the queue for Splash Mt. is located indoors. I have a theory about this owl. I think that he....or at least his "head", could be the old sidekick of Eagle Sam's from America Sings at Disneyland. It looks like the right size and shape....I just don't have anything to back up this theory.



For my second photo, we have the weasels from Tokyo's Splash Mt. I had been told by someone that all of Tokyo's weasels were from the America Sings attraction in Anaheim because Anaheim's Splash Mt. doesn't have weasels, but after recently riding Splash Mountain in Anaheim and seeing that it does contain weasels, I am now thinking this probably isn't the case. Almost all of the America Sings characters were reused in Anaheim's Splash Mt. and then they were later recreated for Florida's and Tokyo's versions. If anyone knows of any of the original America Sings audio-animatronics that made it into Florida or Tokyo's Splash Mountains, I would love to hear from you! I still think that the owl in the queue at Tokyo Disneyland is Eagle Sam's sidekick, but that is just my own unconfirmed, unofficial, "probably wrong" theory!



Just for fun, I have scanned a "NOT A FASTPASS" ticket for Tokyo Disneyland's Splash Mt. just to show the artwork since it is different than Disneyland's or Walt Disney World's. Notice at the very bottom of the ticket, that Tokyo's Fastpass system will actually tell you what attraction you already hold a Fastpass for.

Critter Country

Tokyo Disneyland's Critter Country is located between Westernland and Fantasyland. It only contains two attractions, Splash Mountain and the Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes. Almost all of Critter Country is "mountain". The mountain structure for Splash Mountain curves around and takes up two whole sides of the entire land. Most of the queue for the attraction is located deep inside the mountain and there is a large counter service restaurant and dining room that is located inside as well. The Western River Railroad travels on a trestle that runs between Westernland and Critter Country. Above are figures of Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear and Br'er Rabbit that stand in Critter Country. Below is the sign for Splash Mountain. Tomorrow, I will post a couple photos of Audio-Animatronic figures from the queue and from the attraction itself.