Okay. Let’s review. In the past four days, I have managed to offend:

• People who love to hate Hong Kong Disneyland
• “Save Disney” supporters
• Fans of “Dream On Silly Dreamer”
• Looney Tunes enthusiasts who had already decided to dislike “Loonatics”

And — what with this being Friday the 13th and all — I’m not sure if I should now press my luck right now. After all, if I answer some JHM reader mail today, I’m almost certain to upset somebody else.

But — then again — if I don’t post a new “Why For” today … Well, that’s bound to tick off a lot of readers too.

So I guess I’m damned if I do here, damned if I don’t … Soooo … To hell with it. I might as well get started on answering this week’s questions. And I can only hope that I don’t offend too many people in the process.

First up, Gene writes in to say:

Hello,

I thought I had heard that Disneyland was getting a 5th steam engine, the Ward Kimball, on the DLRR as part of the 50th? Yet nothing has been mentioned about this for awhile and the celebration in now in full gear. Did the Kimball get side tracked?

Gene

Dear Gene:

No, the “Ward Kimball” wasn’t side-tracked. Just temporarily delayed.

The way I hear it, some technical issues prevented Disneyland’s newest steam engine from officially being rolled into service as part of the official kick-off of the Anaheim theme park’s 50th birthday celebration back on May 5th. But now that all the bugs have been worked out, the big question is: When should the “Ward Kimball” now make its big debut?

I’ll tell you what Disneyland’s PR department would like. They’d love to hold off on bringing this new steam engine on line ’til on or about July 17th. So that — what with the relaunch of Disneyland’s “Space Mountain” attraction — the Mouse’s marketing staff would then have a great hook to hang a new feature story on.

Whereas Disneyland train buffs (And their number is legion, folks) are pushing for the “Ward Kimball” to initially be “steamed up” on June 18th.

“Why June 18th?,” you ask. Well — as it turns out — June 18, 1955 was the date that Walt first took the E.P. Ripley (I.E. The first of the “Santa Fe & Disneyland” steam engines to be delivered to the Anaheim theme park) out for a spin around the berm. Which (for sentimental reasons) is why steam enthusiasts are now holding out for the “Ward Kimball” to officially be brought on line at Disneyland on the 50th anniversary of that date.

So who’s going to win in the end here? From what I’ve been hearing, Disneyland’s PR department seems to have the inside track. Which is why train buffs are now reportedly pressing for a private event that can be held on June 18th before the theme park officially opens for the day. 

That way, the Mouse’s marketing staff’s need for a new news story to throw to the media is met. While — at the same time — Disneyland’s steam enthusiasts’ need to see this anniversary properly observed can also be honored.

Either way, look for the “Ward Kimball” to be available for guests to ride on or about July 17th, okay?

Next up, John F. writes in ask:

I was wondering if on Friday you could tell us readers how the Alice In Wonderland Attraction came to be at Disneyland and why Disney has never exported this attraction to any other Disney theme Park.

Thanks for your time,

John F.

Dear John —

To be honest, the reason that Disneyland’s “Alice in Wonderland” attraction hasn’t been cloned yet is … Well, some of it is financial. While the rest of it is just some tough breaks for this colorful dark ride.

To explain: By the time the Imagineers had finally gotten around to designing the Fantasyland section of WDW’s Magic Kingdom, a budgetary decision had already been made that the Florida theme park would only have three traditional dark rides. And — given that the Magic Kingdom was already slated to get a “Mad Tea Party” (More importantly, given that “Mickey Mouse Revue” was supposed to feature a fairly large “Alice in Wonderland” production) — the feeling within WED was that this 1951 animated feature was already well represented at the Florida theme park. So there was no point in going forward with a recreation of the two-story Disneyland ride.

Now jump forward to the early 1980s. When the Oriental Land Company were trying to decide which version of Fantasyland to have replicated at Tokyo Disneyland … Well, given that OLC execs had already agreed to go with a clone of WDW’s Cinderella Castle, it only made sense to stick with Florida’s version of Fantasyland. Which — given that this part of the Japanese theme park also featured a “Mad Tea Party” as well as the “Mickey Mouse Revue” (Which had actually been imported from Orlando) — again, it was felt that the characters from “Alice in Wonderland” were already well represented at TDL. So there was really no need to recreate Disneyland’s “Alice” dark ride at the Tokyo park.

Then come the 1990s and the Euro Disneyland project. Where the Imagineers felt that it was vitally important to represent as many European nations as possible in Fantasyland. So “Snow White” (with its ties to the Brothers Grimm) was placed in that theme park in a deliberate effort to appeal to Germans. While “Pinocchio” (Given that this story’s author, Carlo Collodi, was Italian) was deliberately dropped into Fantasyland with the hope that Euro Disneyland would then be more appealing to Italians.

Unfortunately, given the large number of Disney animated films that are based on popular English children’s books, the Imagineers then had to figure out how to spread the wealth around, so to speak. Which is why — at EDL — while “Peter Pan Flight” remained a dark ride, Mr. Toad went from being the featured star of a Fantasyland attraction to the proprietor of a Fantasyland restaurant.

And though the “Mad Tea Party” spinner ride arrived at Euro Disneyland virtually unchanged, Disneyland’s “Alice in Wonderland” dark ride underwent a curious transformation. It changed from a traditional dark ride to “Alice’s Curious Labyrinth,” the first maze-based attraction to ever be built inside a Disney theme park.

Now does this mean that we’re never going to see a clone of Disneyland’s distinctive “Alice in Wonderland” dark ride ever built? Well, to be honest, I’m kind of encouraged by the fact that Hong Kong Disneyland is based on the look & layout of the original Disneyland.

And — given that HKDL’s “Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” dark ride (Which is located in the same approximate position as Disneyland’s “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”) seems to have a very large piece of open property located right next door … So could it be that — two or three years after Hong Kong Disneyland officially opens — that a brand-new version of Disneyland’s “Alice in Wonderland” dark ride (complete with its multi-colored caterpillar cars that roll leisurely down that oversized leaf) could be built at the Penny’s Bay theme park?

I’d love to answer that question. But … “The time has come,” the walrus said, “To talk of other things … “

And among those “other things” is this e-mail from Cris C. Who writes in to say:

Hey Jim,

Just wanted to point out that you left off “Peter Pan Flight” and “Casey Jr.” off of the list of Disneyland Fantasyland attractions in your Hong Kong Disneyland article. These two attractions were included in the black and white television broadcast of Disneyland’s opening day.

If you want to be technical, Disney actually listed “Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship” among the attractions for opening day . . . But I think it was just as much an attraction as Fantasia Gardens or Sleeping Beauty Castle in HKDL . . a cool looking location, but not an attraction.

I do enjoy your site, btw.

Cris

Dear Chris:

Technically, you’re right. “Peter Pan” and “Casey Jr.” were both shown as being fully operational on that live broadcast of Disneyland’s grand opening. But the fact of the matter is these two Fantasyland attractions were barely up and running on July 17, 1955.

Don’t believe me? Then ask Bob Penfield. Who — before he retired in 1997 — was the last remaining member of Disneyland’s opening day crew to work at the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

Bob doesn’t have very happy memories of July 17, 1955. He recalls originally being assigned to work on “Peter Pan Flight” on that date. But — because that Fantasyland dark ride would only work in fits & starts — Penfield eventually found himself being sent over to the King Arthur Carousel to help deal with the crowds. Bob vividly remembers seeing parents flinging their children over the fence toward the still-spinning ride. With the hope that this would then somehow make their kids eligible to ride this Fantasyland attraction next.

And as for the “Casey Jr. Circus Train” … On Disneyland’s opening day, this miniature train literally just ran long enough to make an appearance on the ABC broadcast. Then — out of safety concerns (I.E. A few members of Walt’s staff felt that some of the grades along Casey’s railbed were just too steep. Which could potentially cause the engine to tip back over and fall on  the passenger cars while the ride was still in motion) — “Casey” immediately shut down. And then wouldn’t carry any of Disneyland’s paying customers until at least July 31st of that same year.

So — as you can see, Chris — depending on how you define “opening day attraction,” Disneyland’s “Peter Pan Flight” & the “Casey Jr. Circus Train” were opening day attractions. In that they were shown as being operational on that live broadcast on ABC.

However — were you to ask anyone who was actually inside the theme park on July 17th as to whether these two Fantasyland rides were really available for riding — I’m pretty sure that you’d get a very different answer.

Next, Greg S. writes in with a quickie question:

Is Expedition Everest a part dark ride and roller coaster like Universals revenge of the mummy?

Yes, it is, Greg. Deep within the interior of this DAK mountain, you’re going to encounter several highly detailed show scenes. Including a couple of far-too-close encounters with an enormous & very ticked-off Yeti.

Disney’s hoping that “Expedition Everest” ‘s combination of high-speed coaster thrills as well as sudden appearances by an angry Abominable Snowman audio animatronic will help relaunch Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. In much the same way that the June 1959 opening of Disneyland’s Matterhorn helped re-excite the public about that Anaheim theme park. Making the “Happiest Place on Earth” a must-see again.

Of course, coaster buffs are thrilled that the Mouse is putting this sort of highly themed thrill ride into what (up until now) has been a somewhat tame theme park. But what bothers a lot of these folks is what’s not being said about “Expedition Everest.” As in: How many people does the Mouse expect to move through this man-made mountain each hour?

During last week’s WDW press event, the Imagineers were being extremely cagey about EE’s THRC (Theoretical Hourly Ride Capacity). According to one pal who was at DAK last Friday for the official announcement of Disney’s really-for-real expedition to Mount Everest, the closest that the guys at WDI would come to going on record about how many people they expect to get through “Expedition Everest” each hour was to say that they hoped to be able to accommodate at least 1700 – 2000 coaster fans on an hourly basis.

Which admittedly sounds a little vague. But — then again — you have to figure that it’s going to take at least a few months for DAK’s ops staff to finally get the hang of safely operating this extremely complex new thrill ride. Once they get all the kinks out, I’m that this DAK attraction’s THRC numbers will start to climb.

But — if you really have your heart set on riding “Expedition Everest” during this attraction’s first few months of operation — my advice is that you be sure and bring a nice, big, thick book with you whenever you go into DAK while this new thrill ride is still in “soft opening” mode. Ideally something with a high page count like Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” and/or Stephen King’s “The Stand.”

Why For? Because — given how slowly “Expedition Everest” will undoubtedly be loading as the attraction’s opening crew initially learns the ropes (More importantly, given the amount of “down time” that this new WDW thrill ride is bound to experience as various glitches in its operational software suddenly emerge) — being able to keep yourself entertained as you stand there waiting in line for hours at a time is really going to be a plus.

So — if you’re not a Tolstoy or King fan — then how about something by Michener? Or — better yet — a copy of “A Confederacy of Dunces.” Which — given that you’re almost sure to feel somewhat foolish standing there in line with all those other hardcore coaster fans, hoping that you get to be one of the very first folks to experience “Expedition Everest” during its “soft opening” phase — a book about a bunch of dunces sounds rather appropriate, don’t you think?

Photo by Joe Apel

Seriously, though … From everything I hear, DAK’s new thrill ride will be worth the wait. Both the almost-two-years that it took to construct “Expedition Everest” as well as the what-will-probably-seem-like-two-years-time that you will stand waiting in line for your first chance to ride the thing.

Again, here’s hoping that “Expedition Everest” does to Disney’s Animal Kingdom what the Matterhorn did to Disneyland. Which is re-excite the public about this animal-based theme park.

And — speaking of animals — Ted writes in to ask:

We all know that Bear Country Jamboree was originally created for a ski resort that Disney was going to buy. Which one? Where? What happened? Also will Bear Country Jamboree be coming back? Rumors coming to DCA?

Ted —

Actually, Disney wasn’t out to buy a ski area. What Walt wanted to do was build a brand new ski resort in California’s Mineral King Valley area, which is located right next door to Sequoia National Park.

Of course, Walt being Walt, no dinky little ski area was going to do. According to the 10-year development plan that Walt Disney Productions put together … By 1978, the Mineral King Ski area was supposed to have 14 operating ski lifts, two huge resort hotels as well as an underground parking garage with room for more than 2,500 vehicles. (Can you now understand why the Sierra Club decided to take the Mouse to court in 1969 in an effort to shut this overly-ambitious project down?)

Anyway … Walt wanted Mineral King to be a full-service, year-round resort. Which mean that Disney figured that visitors (what with all the skiing & hiking) would be able to keep themselves entertained during the day. But — at night … Well, that was another story.

Which was why Walt envisioned building a bowling alley at Mineral King. Not to mention a movie theater, several bars and restaurants. As well as the “Country Bear Playhouse.”

Why the “Country Bear Playhouse”? Well, you have to remember that this was 1966. And Audio Animatronics were still fairly new. And — to be honest — Walt was in a mood to show off.

Which is why he had Marc Davis work up a show that was originally only supposed to be presented in the main lodge of the Mineral King ski area. With the gimmick of this attraction being that these were the bears that didn’t want to waste their time hibernating. They wanted to spend those cold winter months indoors with the humans, where it was warm. Where these bruins could earn their keep by putting a show for the resort guests each night.

I’m sure that most of you are already aware that Walt’s last laugh (at least while he was at WED) reportedly came in November of 1966. As he was touring Imagineering headquarters for one last time. And Davis showed Disney some of his preliminary sketches that he had done for what was then known as the “Bear Band Show.”

Well, after Walt died … Disney company executives sort of lost their enthusiasm for the Mineral King project (Though — to be honest — that lawsuit that the Sierra Club brought against Walt Disney Productions didn’t much help matters). But — that said — people still loved all of that preliminary development work that Marc Davis had done on his “Bear Band” show. Which was why the “Country Bear Jamboree” eventually found a home in Florida in October of 1971, as one of the original assortment of attractions presented at WDW’s Magic Kingdom.

Now — as for your question about whether Disneyland’s “Country Bear” show will ever return to Anaheim … Or — at the very least — will those bear AA figures be popping up as new additions to DCA’s “Grizzly River Run” attraction … I’m afraid that I have some sad news, Ted. To my knowledge, there are no current plans what-so-ever to revive the “Country Bear” show at either of the two theme parks at the Disneyland Resort.

The best that you can really hope for is that — on occasion — the “Country Bear” walk-around characters may make an appearance in Disneyland. Like they did a week or so back as part of the kick-off of that theme park’s 50th anniversary celebration. Beyond that … Look for the Disneyland to basically remain a “Country Bear” -free zone.

Okay. Now I’ve done it for sure. Between calling coaster fans dunces and/or disappointing all those “Country Bear” afficiandos, I’m almost certain to have ticked off some more JHM readers. Which means that they’re all probably banding together with the “Save Disney” supporters, the Hong Kong Disneyland haters as well as Thomas Adams’ friends & family and marching on New Boston, N.H.

Which is why that it’s probably wise that I’m heading down to Connecticut this weekend for some R & R. Which — in this case — stands for “Relocation” and “Reconstructive Surgery.”

So look for me to have a brand-new outlook on life (not to mention a brand new face) come Monday morning. Til then, you folks have a great weekend, okay?

jrh