Originally known as The Rainbow Caverns Mine Ride (I guess the word “attraction” hadn’t quite entered the lexicon just yet), this Frontierland adventure took guests through a simulation of the desert and into the caverns of Rainbow Mountain. This first image (supplied by Daveland reader Brad - many thanks!) is most likely a bw version of promotional art, with a box left for accompanying text.
Two of the earlier attraction posters:
By 1960, this attraction was upgraded and renamed to Nature’s Wonderland. What was new you ask? Just check out the accompanying art with highlight circles, featuring some of the 204 life-like animals that were added. You’ll also note the loss of the Stagecoach/Wagons and Miniature Horse Coral.
Going down Main Street, it’d hard not to notice what the new attractions were. It’s a veritable traffic jam, and the Keystone Kop doesn’t seem to be helping much.
Here is a recent shot of the surrey sitting over at the Big Thunder Ranch area:
Here the Mine Train travels through the desert:
I love the shots showing Walt proudly surveying his creation:
See more Disneyland Nature’s Wonderland photos at my website.
10 comments:
Nice post - Thanks! I wish I had gone on this attraction, didn't really know what it was until they were tearing it down. What's with all that traffic on Main St.? Is that a publicity photo?
Tim - correct! That is a publicity photo of the traffic jam on Main Street. Got a few photos of the safe; still not happy with them just yet, but better than what I had.
I am really happy to see that the Surrey still exists and is in pretty good shape! I guess they'll never bring it back as an attraction though...
I loved this ride as a kid, and have enjoyed the many photos you've posted. Are they any photos of the interior of the caverns?
Interior photos are pretty hard to come by, especially ones that are of a decent quality. I believe there might have been one or two that were featured on postcards sold by Disney, but I have yet to see any good amateur ones posted on these blogs.
EEk! Good luck trying to find amateur Rainbow Caverns pictures. Starting around 1967 my Dad tried to get photos of the Tiki Room show while underway and without using a flash.
99% came out either pitch black or black with pin pricks of light, except for some super 8 footage of the Bird Mobile, and the image came out almost pure red.
that traffic jam on main street went straight to my desk top. really fun shot.
Yes, I suspected that photos of the caverns might be thin on the ground. My memory is that the magic of the caverns depended on a black light effect, like that of certain sixties posters. Still, it's nice to dream.
Stunning post!
I posted a caption to the Walt picture, here: http://icanhaspixiedust.com/2009/04/06/now-who-put-that-rock-there-walt-disney/
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