A Whole Lot-A-Knott's - Christmas 2010

Is anyone sick of Christmas? I know it's over, but it goes by so quickly doesn't it? Don't we all wish it would last just a little bit longer? Okay maybe not, but I just wasn't able to get these Knott's Merry Farm photos posted before Christmas Day, so here they are now. Just look the other way if you are "over" Christmas.


Here's a shot taken in November when the Christmas tree at the front gate was being erected.

Ever been inside of a Christmas tree? No? Well, here we go......

This is the view from inside and looking straight up.

The Calico train gets a little Christmas trimming......

And so does the rest of Calico Square. Boy, Handsome Brady and Whiskey Bill sure do get around, don't they? But what has happened to Marilyn and Cecilia?

This permanent stage in Calico Square has always kind of bothered me. I liked it better when there was just a temporary stage that would get set up and taken down as needed.....like when Menudo performed there in the eighties!

Of course it all looks better at night. This photo was taken on New Year's Day. Note the sign on top of the Courthouse that would have been used the night before for displaying the year during the midnight countdown.

Hey, The Birdcage Theater is open and actually has a line to get in!

Too bad the theater ever had to stop it's continuous operation.

At least it still opens at Christmastime to present Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." There wasn't an empty seat in the house for this performance of "A Christmas Carol."

Pictured below are the "townspeople." Ebeneezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit are seated in the background.

I like the way the ghost of Jacob Marley turned out in this photo.....scary!

Here's a listing of the excellent cast. Note the birdcages in the Christmas tree!

Bob Cratchit and Ebeneezer Scrooge came outside after the performance for a "meet and greet."

Who knew that Knott's Berry Farm had a Christmas parade? I didn't until just this year. I wonder how long they have been doing this? Here it is, "The Peanuts Holiday Parade" featuring students from the Orange County Song and Dance Company!

Wheee!

A Snow Prince and Princess.

Lucy gets her hands dirty in the candy kitchen......

Sally's bedroom......

Christmas Trees.....just like in Disneyland's 1981 production of Fantasy On Parade! Except Knott's only has two trees and they are a little bit larger.

Dancing Snowmen!

Linus and Shroeder ride on the "Santa's Workshop" float.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Here comes Peppermint Patty.......

.....and she's riding on top of a tree stump with nests, birdhouses and little Woodstock birdies.

And last but not least, Snoopy as Santa!

Snoopy's Christmas Light Spectacular is an event that takes place in Camp Snoopy during the holidays after the sun goes down. It's kind of a tamer version of Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular .

Footage from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is projected onto the rocks near the waterfalls.

The Camp Snoopy toy store window displays.....

Okay, no more Christmas posts until the end of the year, I promise!

My next post will feature some Mary Blair-related items that I brought back from my Tokyo trip in October!

Elf Mountain - The Ride, "Omen Rudolph" and "Scary" Mary Poppins

Well, the holidays are over....and Halloween has LONG been over, but are you ready for some scary stuff today to start off the New Year? We will start with something not so scary......the cover of a Knott's Berry Farm Employee publication from 60 years ago! I wonder where this baby is today?


Now for the scary stuff. Did anyone know that after Halloween Haunt, Knott's changes the Haunt overlay on the Timber Mountain Log Ride to an even scarier Christmas overlay? Okay, maybe I'm being a little over dramatic.


It's Elf Mountain Christmas - The Ride. By the way, that structure beneath the sign is an original ticket booth for the attraction. It remained vacated for years, but now acts as sort of a "snack shack."


Here we go into the saw mill.....uh, I mean the Elves Workshop. Keep Hands Inside. No Splashing.


These figures are all static. It would be nice if they had some kind of movement.


Letters to Santa.....


Now we're passing the Paint Department.....


And the reindeer stables.


This little guy has Santa's list.



Elf carolers.....



Now at first glance, this train contained what I thought was a very cool audio-animatronic figure of a cat on top of one of it's freight cars. However at second glance, I realized that it was a real cat just sitting there with it's legs tucked under itself watching as our log passed by. I got right back in line to try and get a photo of it, but it was gone on the second time through, darn it!



This guy was located just before the first drop. Note the Christmas tree in Calico Square off in the distance.



Snowball fight!



I will haunt your dreams tonight......



This guy was actually moving. You can see the wear marks and the red dye that has come off of his clothes during his perpetual attempt at making a snow angel. Okay, who's the litterbug that tossed a candy bar wrapper next to his foot?



Here's one of Bud Hurlbut's original taxidermied critters. Oh the indignity of it all.....doomed to spend an eternity with Christmas lights draped over you, a ribbon in your mouth and a Christmas stocking on your foot. Well maybe not an eternity, but a couple months out of the year, anyway. That's sad.



Frosty and family!



This way to Mrs. Claus' Kitchen. Hmmmm, what is that secret ingredient in her meat pies?


Unfortunately, Mrs. Claus is another static manikin. Marsha? Marsha? And I don't mean Marcia Brady....otherwise I would have said it three times and with an exclamation point. I mean Marsha White from "The After Hours" episode of "The Twilight Zone." Rest in peace, Anne Francis!



Well, we're almost to the end of this strange watery journey. Mrs. Claus is located just before the conveyor belt lift at the end of the ride. Just across from her, is another elf that was making or baking something (not pictured). A little ways up the lift, we see Santa himself flying over a snow covered village (think Department 56 miniatures with plenty of cotton.)



There was a Christmas song sung by "elves" (think David Seville played at 78 rpm) that was running on a continuous loop throughout the ride. Thankfully, the song was not as infectious as "It's A Small World." I do think that small children would like this attraction and some adults would as well. I have to admit that I did enjoy seeing SOMETHING added for Christmas. And I must mention that the scenes look better going past them quickly in a floating log and dimly lit, without my camera flash illuminating them. I would have just liked to see some more motion to the figures. I know, I know.....Cedar Fair does not have Disney's budget! All I have to say is, those "Little Mermaid" characters in California Adventure's new attraction better be moving like crazy!

Since Elf Mountain ends with Santa and his reindeer, I thought that would be a perfect segue to a video I discovered online. It's a re-imagined trailer for the Rankin/Bass "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" TV special, using sound bites from "The Omen." The embedded clip seen below is widescreen, just a tiny bit of it is cut off when inserted here on the blog page. If you would like to view the clip on YouTube in full screen click here: "Rudolph The Omen"

New Year's Eve At Disneyland - 1980 & 1981

I remember reading an article in Disney News Magazine when I was a kid, about a New Year's Eve party at Disneyland. It made me really want to go to the park for New Year's, but I never got that chance until I was actually old enough to drive myself there. The newspaper advertisement below happens to be from 1980 and even though I had my driver's license and had already driven myself to the park for the first time just one month earlier, I did not go to the New Year's Party that year. I would still have to wait one more year.


So one more year passed and finally I was able to go to DL for New Year's Eve. It was 1981 and back then, the park would close at 7:00 p.m. and then reopen at 8:30 for a separately ticketed New Year's Eve event. Again, this is the year that I was working at the park, so I had to perform in a 2:00 parade during the day (there was only one parade performance on the 31st), then I went home and got ready to go out for the evening, then I went back to the park that night for the party, then went home and slept, and then went back to the park the next day for a 2:00 and 9:00 parade performance. I can't imagine doing that now.....29 years later. I will be going out to a party tonight, but fortunately I am off both today and tomorrow!

Here's the entertainment guide from that night:

Gee, Skiles and Henderson sure did appear at the park a lot back then. I wonder if The Manhattan Transfer sang their "Twilight Zone" song? I don't remember seeing any entertainment that night.....except of course, for the "Midnight Spectacular"!

Tickets for this event were "advanced sale" and could be purchased either at Disneyland or at Ticketron locations. Remember Ticketron? This ticket was purchased at a Ticketron that happened to be located in the basement of a Sears Department Store!


My only clear memory from that night is of riding the original version of Snow White's Adventure's and seeing that the Wicked Witch's apple was laying on the ground right next to the path of the ride vehicles. Someone must have attempted to grab it and it had fallen. It was right there on the ground within reach! I wanted to go back and try to get it, but my friends thought I was crazy and I caved to the peer pressure. Or is that "reverse peer pressure"? Maybe they did me a favor. I could have lost a finger, or ended up in the Disneyland jail.....or both! I wonder where that apple is today?

I ended up going to the park for New Year's Eve two more times after this, but I will never do it again. To read about the reasons why, click here for my post from last year.

A VERY Happy New Year to everyone out there! Be safe!