Don't Look!

Now you've done it! You looked.

It seems that most theme parks (if you still want to call Six Flags and Knott's theme parks) barely get the concrete dry before opening. For Indiana Jones Adventure the ride was soft-opened months ahead of the official opening (March 3, 1995).

The above images were probably the original decoder cards for the attraction, handed out to riders at the annual Disney Family Christmas Party in 1994.

In fact, some of the first riders were stock analysts that Disney brought in to pump up excitement on Wall Street.

Did you know that Countdown to Extinction and IJA have the same track layout? Different floorplans, but the track follows an almost identical route!

Tourists, why did it have to be tourists?

Go here for more Indy related goodness.

By the way is anybody there? Hello?

Fantasmic! Part 2

Outside the Berm had a great post recently with Pre-Fantasmic shots of the drained Rivers of America. Here are some pictures circa February 1992. Fantasmic contruction was in full-swing.

In the picture above (enlarged) the pieces of metal tubing are gas lines for the fire effect. Sometimes the black lifts didn't raise. Either one of the side projectors or lifts could go out but the show would be cancelled if the center lift didn't work.

On the left side, near Fowler's Harbor, a black bag tube blocks the river. This bladder functioned as a dam to allow the backside of the river to be filled

After the river was filled the water screen lifts wouldn't always go down all the way so they were marked off with floating barrels or boxes. Keel boats, rafts, and canoes could then safely avoid getting beached. Anybody have pictures of those markers?

Westcot Wins Over Long Beach

The water labyrinth sounds intriguing. Many ideas for the Long Beach park made it to Tokyo but not that one.

The area marked for future expansion was later acquired by Disney, but it caused a controversy at the time.

The logo shows the sphere planned for Westcot. This was later changed to a spire due to neighbor complaints.

Magic Kingdom Gazette! Part 2!

Continued from yesterday...

I can't wait for Tomorrowland 2055. Only 46 more years!

Is Beverage Bay 56 still in service?

Magic Kingdom Gazette!

The Magic Kingdom Gazette was one of many departmental newsletters. This was a monthly newsletter for Theme Park Operations.

I'm afraid this issue has some bad news for vintagedisneylandtickets!

Come back tomorrow for part 2!

Splash Mountain! Part 1

10/28/1988 Disneyland Line:

Click picture to enlarge

This article from the Disneyland Line employee newsletter was a bit optimistic. Splash Mountain ended up starting employee testing in May 1989 after the original logs were chopped to bits and replaced. The replacement logs seated 7 and were slightly shorter.


The grand opening was 7/17/1989--about six months late.


Note the Drop 5 runout rails; originally the runout was designed to be adjustable to adjust the splash seasonally. That feature never came to be.


I wonder what the final Audio-Animatronic count was?