Friday, March 23, 2007

Rainbow Caverns Mine Train/Nature’s Wonderland, Pt. 2



For those of you not into the Nature’s Wonderland/Mine Train attraction, you might want to just come back in a few days. Today starts off with one more from the May 1958 batch, showing the Devil’s Paint Pots area of the attraction. Next up are a few from an undated batch, most likely about 1965.













See more vintage Disneyland Nature’s Wonderland photos at my main website.

2 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

There are some great ride details pictured here. You have a photo of a bobcat threatening an owl's nest...I posted a picture last November, from 1967. By then the nest was gone, and three owls were on a branch.

Hrundi V. Bakshi said...

These are some great shots Dave! I very recently watched some film footage of our two antlered friends locked in battle - this was one amazing piece of animatronics - legs moving, heads jostling the two of them moving back and forth - there are really no animatronics quite like them in the park today.

During this same viewing session I witnessed an extended session of some of the bear activity in the water and again I have to say, there is nothing today that rivals the extended sequence of motions these animatronics were capable of. One bear has his back turned to the passing train then seems to dip down to catch a fish as he turns toward the train the passing fish flops around in his mouth, then the bear turns away again.

Another bear swims in an "S" curve turns and swims away then comes back in the same "S" pattern - an innovative track design that adds a sense of realism that a simple circle does not have.

Many of the other animatronic creatures in Nature's Wonderland had similar extended patterns. Wish there were still similar things in the park (unlike the current non-moving moose statue along the banks of the Rivers of America).