Souvenirs: Pirate Treasure

With less than four months until the much anticipated release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, buccaneers and swashbucklers seem to be plundering the media and invading all aspects of our popular culture. In this spirit, I would like to make my own contribution to this potential over saturation, by revisiting a favorite souvenir from one of my early Walt Disney World vacations.

I experienced Walt Disney World’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction for the first time during the summer of 1976. I returned home with two very special mementos of the voyage—a wooden toy replica of a flintlock pistol (which if there ever was a Disney Souvenir Hall of Fame, it would likely be one of the first inductees), and the souvenir booklet Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Pirates of the Caribbean almost instantaneously became my favorite Disney attraction, and some thirty years later still retains that distinction. That souvenir booklet became the tangible piece of the experience I was able to bring home with me that year. Pouring over its contents repeatedly, it inspired me to seek out more information on the both the history of piracy, and the methods by which the Disney Company created its theme park entertainment.

It included the following time capsule description of Walt Disney World's Caribbean Plaza where the east coast version of the attraction came to be located:

"Here you can browse leisurely before and after your voyage on the high seas with the Pirates of the Caribbean. Wander through the shops —"La Princesa de Cristal," "The Golden Galleon," the "House of Treasure." Stop for a cool refreshment at "El Pirata y El Perico" (the Pirate and the Parrot). Enjoy the cool fountains — "Fuente de la Fortuna," "La Fuente Serena," "Fuente
Cielo Azul."

"This is yesterday, today... the delightful Caribbean Plaza in Adventureland at Walt Disney World... the boarding place for a voyage on the high seas with the Pirates of the Caribbean."

With an informative history of the “Golden Age of Piracy” serving as an introduction, the booklet provides a behind the scenes record of the making of the attraction, and then ends with an illustrated ride-through via production art and photographs. It was my first real exposure to the Imagineering division, then still known as WED Enterprises. At the time, I was just fifteen years old and knew little of the creative talent behind the Walt Disney brand. Hence, I had no idea that the production artwork featured extensively throughout the booklet came from the hand of Marc Davis, alumnus of the Nine Old Men and one of Walt’s early Imagineers. Davis himself is pictured within the pages, but sadly, is never identified by name.

One particular paragraph near the book’s beginning summed up Pirates of the Caribbean in a context absent of Johnny Depp, DVDs and MMOGs, but still exceptionally relevant to today’s Disney enthusiasts:

"All of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, of course, is a "living legacy" to the life and works of Walt Disney. But even in these magic kingdoms, where creative concepts and mechanical marvels are combined in ways never before envisioned, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is an extraordinary achievement."

Tomorrowland in Gear

Here is a desktop that I custom-made a few years back, featuring the Tomorrowland logo from Walt Disney World. I am a big, big fan of the retro-future designs throughout Tomorrowland as many of the readers here already know. Click on the above image for a larger desktop friendly 1024 x 768 version.

Acknowledge the Legacy. Restore the Dream.

Since I started 2719 Hyperion this past September, I've steered clear of many of the more controversial issues concerning the states of the various Disney theme parks. While I have very strong opinions in regard to many of these debates and discussions, I resolved early on to keep this site more focused on celebrating the rich heritage and history of the Walt Disney Company. There are a number of excellent blogs that specifically address the Disney Company's management of its parks, most notably Re-Imagineering, EPCOT Central and Passport to Dreams Old and New. I have long followed and respected their articulate and insightful commentaries, and the subsequent discussions they inspire.

But I read something today that has at least for the moment, transformed me from passive chronicler to concerned activist.

In comments made to Deb Wills of AllEarsNet, Epcot Vice President Brad Rex said " . . . that although 2007 marks Epcot's 25th anniversary, there was no big celebration planned, although there would be private observances behind-the-scenes for cast members."

Yet another nail in the coffin of the original vision of EPCOT Center. The park continues to suffer an identity crisis so severe that's its own management sees no need to celebrate its unique and wonderful legacy of forward thinking idealism and international cooperation.

It deserves much better.

Since Disney has obviously decided to not acknowledge Epcot's 25th anniversary in any truly significant way, it is up to us, the passionate enthusiasts of Disney culture as represented by web sites, online communities, podcasts, forums and blogs, to engage in a celebration of our own making. In the future weeks and months leading up to October 1, 2007, the rich legacy of EPCOT Center will be featured on 2719 Hyperion frequently and prominently. And I encourage my fellow bloggers, webmasters and podcasters to do the same. And I welcome all who so desire, to make use (non-commercial, please) of the anniversary logo I have created.

At the very least, we can acknowledge the legacy. Maybe in some small way, it will help inspire the current or future stewards of Epcot to restore the dream.

Addressing the anti-Pixar

Arguably, they have been the studio that has made the best animated movies over the course of the last decade, yet there is certainly a wave of anti-Pixar sentiment building as their cast of popular characters continues its migration into attractions at Disney Parks worldwide. As usual, it is a small, but very vocal minority of the Disney passionate decrying the “Pixar-ization” of the company’s theme parks. However, it is disturbing in that, up until the recent merger between the two entertainment powerhouses, Pixar, its films, and the creative talents behind them, have been almost universally embraced by the Mouseketeer faithful.

It is interesting if you compare the influx of attractions based on the films of the early 1990s (Mermaid, Beauty & Beast, Aladdin, Lion King) which represented a Disney animation renaissance, to the current level of Pixar-themed development.

Take for example:

The Little Mermaid - The Voyage of The Little Mermaid (Disney-MGM), Ariel’s Grotto (Magic Kingdom) and the entire and very elaborate Mermaid Lagoon themed port at Tokyo DisneySea.

Beauty and the Beast - The long running Beauty and the Beast stage show at Disney-MGM.

Aladdin - Magic Carpets of Aladdin (Magic Kingdom), Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride (DisneyQuest), Aladdin - Musical Spectacular (DCA), Aladdin’s Oasis (Disneyland), and The Magic Lamp Theater (Tokyo DisneySea).

The Lion King - Legend of the Lion King (Magic Kingdom), Circle of Life (Epcot), Festival of the Lion King (Animal Kingdom).

When you take into consideration that the Disney-Pixar collaborations of the past ten years represent the only over-the-top successes the company has enjoyed since The Lion King, their recent exploitations of these films and their characters, when compared to past history, are neither excessive nor overdone. Since the very beginnings of Disneyland, Disney has consistently and often aggressively incorporated its successful animation properties into its theme parks. The recent spate of Pixar attractions is just another chapter in that already established history.

So why all the fallout? Reading opinions across the Internet via blogs and forums, and listening to podcast pundits, its seems that the reasons are varied, occasionally well argued, but mostly irrational and sometimes mean-spirited. One primary theme keeps resurfacing in nearly all the commentaries--

Pixar isn’t Disney.

Well, it kinda is. Not even counting the recent merger of the two companies that establishes that Pixar is Disney, Pixar has always been a spiritual successor of sorts to the traditions of Disney animation, especially over the course of the last ten years.

While WDFA floundered and then ultimately imploded under the bureaucratic and creatively stagnant leadership of David Stainton and his fellow executives, it was John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird and company that kept alive the basic tenants of Disney animation. It was in fact Pixar that built upon the wildly successful and Disney-dominated feature animation renaissance of the late 1980s-early 1990s, and carried the animation torch successfully into the 21st century. While The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King set a gold standard and revitalized a fading movie form, Pixar innovated and expanded animation with the advent of CGI, not unlike the way Walt Disney himself embraced technical advances such as sound synchronization, three-color Technicolor and stereophonic systems, and married them with smart storytelling and creative artistry.

It also appears to some extent that Pixar is feeling backlash relating to the recent flood of CGI animation that has been represented by a lot of recent mediocre-to-bad features. And many of these films are using MOCAP technology, a process that is viewed by many as an antithesis of traditional animation techniques. What has emerged, particularly among much of the Disney faithful, is a CGI-BAD!/traditional animation-GOOD! mentality. What is especially ironic is that John Lasseter and Ed Catmull are largely responsible for bringing back traditional animation by green lighting the upcoming Frog Princess and initiating production on new cartoon shorts.

Where Disney management has unfortunately, in my opinion, made a couple of missteps relating to Pixar attractions, involves the geographical placement of both The Seas With Nemo and Friends, and the Laugh Floor Comedy Club.

The Nemo overlay on the former Livings Seas pavilion, while incorporating an innovative and fun dark ride, and the wow! factor of Turtle Talk with Crush, almost in no way relates to Epcot’s long in place Future World theme. It’s not a Pixar issue. The same would hold true if Imagineers had used Little Mermaid characters instead of Nemo and company.

The same disconnect exists for the upcoming Laugh Floor Comedy Club, featuring characters from Monsters Inc. The retro-future overlay that was done to Tomorrowland in the mid 1990s was fun and imaginative, filled with countless clever details that reinforces its ‘future that never was” theme. But I can find nothing in Monsters Inc. that in any way relates to this vision of Tomorrowland. To me, it’s the equivalent of dropping Beauty and the Beast into Frontierland, or adding an Incredibles overlay to a part of Main Street USA.

But again, these clearly aren’t issues with Pixar content, but with the puzzling sensibilities of Walt Disney World management and Disney Imagineering. In their apparent hurried efforts to kill two birds (replacing Timekeeper and upgrading a sponsor-less Seas pavilion) with a Pixar stone, they’ve undermined their own previously well-realized creations.

And in these cases, Pixar, and its canon of beloved and popular characters, unfortunately bear the brunt of the resulting criticism and fan discontent.

How to Draw Goofy - 1956

Instructions on drawing Mickey Mouse and his friends have been perennial elements of Disney publications for decades. Even in recent years there have been oversize activity books that teach the amateur artist how to put character to paper.

This particular lesson on drawing Goofy was featured in the Fall 1956 issue of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club Magazine. The text manages to dodge the long controversial question of "What is Goofy?" by stating, "Goofy is dog-like in appearance, but has human characteristics."

Disney Treasures - Wishful Thinking

Similar to Mark Twain’s famous 1907 statement “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” it would appear the same may possibly hold true for the Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets. A recent report on The Digital Bits website indicated that BVHE claims the series is still alive and well, with future waves still penciled in on their release calendar. Dead or alive? I guess only time, and future press releases will tell.

Wade Sampson on MousePlanet recently published his own wish list for future Treasures volumes, and in a similar spirit of Pollyana thinking and Tinker Bell hand-clapping, I would like to present a few suggestions of my own.

One of the true lost treasures of Disney’s laserdisc era is the Exclusive Archives Collection of The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos. The set, along with MGM’s enormous Compleat Tex Avery compilation, are the two main reasons I still own, and meticulously care for, my decade-old Pioneer laserdisc player.

Laserdisc special editions were the real precursors to whole “special features” DVD phenomenon, and the Caballeros/Amigos set was a shining example of the best that format could produce. Beyond the films themselves, the set was filled with an overabundance of supplemental material that would make perfect contents for a Treasures or Legacy DVD. The documentary South of the Border With Disney, screen tests, radio broadcasts, storyboards, concept art, and publicity materials, are among its many highlights. But the real gems of the collection are reconstructions of two abandoned short subjects: “A Brazilian Symphony: Caxanga,” and “The Laughing Gauchito.”

Marry this material with a complete set of the studio’s “south of the border” themed shorts, such as Clown of the Jungle, Pueblo Pluto, Pluto and the Armadillo, The Pelican an the Snipe, and Contrary Condor, and even throw in the Blame It on the Samba sequence from Melody Time for good measure. Then add a healthy dose of Disney’s Latin American public service films, such as the long unseen The Amazon Awakes and the Careless Charlie series, and you have the makings of a terrific Treasures product.

My next candidate for a Treasures/Legacy release would be a mostly forgotten chapter in the Studio’s history: the People and Places series of documentary short subjects. Similar in style and format to the True-Life Adventures, these travelogues employed many of the same talented individuals and earned a number of Oscar accolades as well. People and Places began with The Alaskan Eskimo in 1953 and concluded in 1960 with the films Japan and The Danube. Studio and animation veteran Ben Sharpteen directed nearly all of the titles in the series. The most famous entry, Disneyland USA, directed by Hamilton Luske, was filmed in Cinemascope, and would today provide an amazing time capsule-view of the park in 1956.

Unlikely to ever be realized, but my own personal fanboy wish would be a Treasures set devoted to EPCOT Center. Starting with the original EPCOT film that appeared on the Treasures Tomorrowland title, the set could also include the various souvenir videos, and also many of the now long gone attraction films. It would be great to again be able to see items such as the Earth Station film, Symbiosis, The Water Engine from World of Motion, and the various original Energy films, including some type of recreation of the now famous Emil Radok designed Energy: You Make the World Go Round. Other great pieces of obscure EPCOT: the Choose Your Ending sequences from Horizons; the original Seas introductory film, the two animated vignettes also from the Living Seas--The Animated Atlas of the World and Suited for the Sea; and the animated educational short Harold and His Amazing Green Plants, that featured characters from Kitchen Kaberet. Highlights from the numerous EPCOT Educational Media films, and clips from The Disney Channel’s EPCOT Magazine program would also be great inclusions.

All in all, it would make a pretty good tie-in to Epcot’s 25th Anniversary later this year.

Beyond my suggestions, let’s hope that upcoming waves will at the very least complete the Donald Duck and Rarities collections. After that, it’s all just wishful thinking.

Snapshot! - Muppet Mayhem

Molding and ducts in the exterior queue area of Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D at Disney-MGM Studios become the targets of some good-natured vandalism. Gonzo the Great is immortalized by means of some selectively placed chalk and blue paint. Very little in the surroundings escapes "Muppet-ization," as demonstrated by these pipes and conduits.

Even water fountains take on additional notoriety in this area. For this is not just any fountain; this is an Official Muppet Labs Water Fountain -- Another Refreshing Service from the Muppet Labs Department of Rehydration and Thirst Quenchification.

Muppet*Vision 3D: Signs of Fun

Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D follows a very loose back story of sorts. The building itself is the World Headquarters of Muppet*Vision 3D and the home of Muppet Labs. A directory just inside the entrance lists a number of departments within the building. Among them are Muppet Kitchens and Pyrotechnic Research, the Institute of Heckling and Browbeating, the Academy of Amphibian Science, and the Dept. of Comedic Timing and Delivery. Muppet Security is also present at the entrance, with the now famous key that is hidden under the mat.

There are a few great signs throughout. Longtime Muppet Link Hogthrob is pictured as a guard on a warning sign, identifying his affiliation with the Pork Security Company. One particularly funny gag is the sign on a utility door that reads "THIS DOOR IS ALARMED - AND GENUINELY CONCERNED!"


Nearby to Muppet*Vision is the Stage One Company Store, selling merchandise themed to Kermit and company. The interior showcases elements drawn from the Happiness Hotel, a location that featured prominently in the film The Great Muppet Caper. One cashier station is modeled after the hotel's check-in desk, and a sign nearby reads "PLEASE STEAL LINEN - IT'S CHEAPER THAN HAVING IT CLEANED." Another (pictured) communicates the benefits(?) of securing valuables in the house safe. Assorted laundry is strung across the "lobby" area; a careful inspection will reveal Mickey Mouse's shorts among the items.

I featured the exterior of the Stage One Company Store in a Snapshot! back in October.

Muppet*Vision 3D: The Fun Before the Show

Tying into my appearance on this weeks MouseTunes podcast, I’ll be doing a little bit of theme parkeology on Jim Henson’s Muppet*Vision 3D and its incredibly entertaining queue and pre-show areas.

When MuppetVision premiered in 1991, it quickly became one of Disney-MGM Studios’ headliner attractions. That necessitated the extended queue area that still currently exists, but is now seldom used, on the right side of the Muppet*Vision building. Here are some of the fun design elements and visual gags that now by and large go unseen by most Disney World guests.

First up, the series of posters by Dr. Bunson Honeydew that deal with the use of 3D glasses:

And you have to look closely at all these posters. Take for example this funny bit in the corner of the one entitled Some Scientific Thoughts Regarding Safe and Hygienic Use of Muppet*Vision 3D Glasses:Another funny series of posters features The World’s First Experimental Line. Here are a couple of examples that chronicle your progress “from here to there”:

More to come tomorrow as we take a few snapshots in the exterior queue, and look at the
various signs at both Muppet*Vision and the nearby Stage One Company Store. And if you haven't already, check out this week's edition of the MouseTunes podcast with Lou, Nathan, and a guest appearance by yours truly.

Annie Leibovitz and the Year of a Million Dreams

No doubt Disney fan sites and blogs will be buzzing about today's USA Today article featuring photographer Annie Leibovitz's celebrity photographs for the Year of a Million Dreams marketing campaign. The online version is here.

Freeze Frame: Animated Animators - Part Two

The 1941 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Nifty Nineties makes subtle, and not so subtle references to numerous Disney Studio staffers of the time period. Now famous animator/writer/producer/director and Nine Old Men alumnus Ward Kimball literally takes center stage with fellow animator Fred Moore in the short’s vaudeville show sequence.

As “Fred and Ward-Two Clever Boys from Illinois,” the two tell jokes and perform pratfalls for an audience that includes Mickey and Minnie. According to an animators draft provided by Jenny Lerew to Mark Mayerson for his Mayerson on Animation blog, Kimball in fact animated himself and Moore in the sequence.


The Nifty Nineties references other studio personnel in the same scene via a number of advertisements on the theater’s curtain.


Walter D.’s Hats That Please -- Okay, that one’s pretty obvious.

Wilfred Jaxon Feed and Fuel -- Veteran animation director Wilfred Jackson.

Riley’s Livery Stable -- Nifty Nineties director Riley Thompson.

Prof. Churchill Pianos Tuned -- Composer Frank Churchill.

Clark’s Confectionary -- Animator Les Clark.

Gen. J. Sharpsteen Dentist -- Studio veteran Ben Sharpsteen.

R. B. Martch Guns -- Animator Bob Martch

T. Hee Shoes -- Storyman T. Hee.

Happy Herb Undertaker, Palms Read - C. Payzant, M. Flanigan Coffee, M. Nelson Fancy Goods, and Breezy Allen’s Haberdashery are the other ads on the curtain. So far in my research, I haven’t found anyone who has been able to identify any individuals associated with those particular names.

[EDIT: Jeff Kurtti provided some additional identifications via the comments section that I wanted to include here as well:

Charles Payzant was a watercolor artist who served as art director on the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia and on Dumbo. Happy Herb may refer to Herb Ryman, who was an art director on the Pastoral Symphony segment of Fantasia and on Dumbo. Mary Flanigan ran a coffee and snack shop at Hyperion and then at the Burbank Studio.

Thanks Jeff!]

[EDIT #2: Are Myklebust provided some corrections to to my transcribing (from a blurry screen capture) which I have made, and also provided the following identifications:

M. Nelson Fancy Goods -- background artist Myron F. Nelson.

"Breezy" Allen's Haberdashery -- animator Paul Allen.

And one ad I did not previously list:

C.E. Philippi Fishing Eqpt. -- layout artist Charles Phillipi.

Thanks Are!]

In a comment on Mark Mayerson’s aforementioned post about The Nifty Nineties, Michael Barrier identified the drunk man in the “Father Dear Father” part of the vaudeville show as a caricature of company vet Dick Huemer.

Freeze Frame: Animated Animators - Part One

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston are among the more famous of Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” the studio veterans most associated with, and responsible for, much of the company’s classic animation. Thomas and Johnston became especially well known from their various books on Disney animation, and as the subjects of the 1995 documentary Frank and Ollie.

They also became elements in the very art form they mastered and innovated.

Contemporary animation director Brad Bird paid tribute to the pair in two of his films. In The Iron Giant they appear as railroad men, especially appropriate considering Johnston’s longtime passion for trains and scale model railroading, a hobby he shared with fellow animator Ward Kimball and also Walt Disney himself.

Bird brought the two back again in his first film for Pixar, The Incredibles. They appear near the film’s end, uttering the very telling lines “That's the way to do it. That is old school,” and “No school like the old school.”

Bird said in a USA Today interview: "I was fortunate enough to coerce them into doing it for us. It was just a small moment to thank them for all their magnificent moments."

One other homage to Frank and Ollie appeared in the 1995 Mickey Mouse cartoon Runaway Brain. There they found themselves the namesake of the story’s short-lived mad doctor.

Coming in Part 2: The animated animators of The Nifty Nineties.

Return to Hyperion Avenue

My recent post about Disney’s original studio at this blog's namesake, 2719 Hyperion, inspired fellow blogger David Lesjak to send on some vintage photographs.

Here are the pics and David’s comments--

I believe this photo was taken at the Hyperion site. They have used a Mickey Mouse poster to hide the sink in the background. I tried to enlarge the photo to see what was being photographed, but to no avail. There appears to be a nice stack of art on the back left side of the camera table.


The second photo I believe was also taken at Hyperion.
From left to right: Back row: Jack King, Dick Lundy, Bert Gillett, Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Carl Stalling, Wilfred Jackson
Front row: Jack Cannon, Norm Ferguson, Merle Gibson, Ben Sharpsteen, Les Clark.

Jeff Kurtti relayed some additional information via the comments section of the original post, that provided background on a number of Hyperion Avenue structures that were relocated to Burbank. I’m reprinting Jeff’s remarks here for those who may have missed them:


"Two Hyperion buildings were moved and combined to create the Shorts Building on the Burbank Lot.

The Personnel Building that now houses the Studio Store and Employee Center was likewise moved from Hyperion to Burbank.

The Publicity and Comic Strips Building, which was actually a small wood frame bungalow, was moved to Burbank where it was long the Studio Mail Room, and has since been moved again and renovated as two conference/meeting spaces, known as the Hyperion Bungalow and the Silver Lake Room (Silverlake is the neighborhood where the Hyperion Studio was located)."


Special thanks to David and Jeff for their contributions. And check out David’s great Toons at War blog if you haven’t already. It features material from his extensive and incredibly impressive collection of World War II era Disneyana. Great, great stuff!

Comic Book Caballeros

There are clearly a lot of fans out there of The Three Caballeros. When news surfaced last year of a rumored makeover for World Showcase’s El Rio del Tiempo involving Donald and his pals, numerous cranky mouseketeers across the Internet decried yet another potential “characterization” of a classic Epcot attraction. In a refreshing twist, many others came quickly to the defense of our trio of amigos, countering a great deal of misinformation and some genuinely mean-spirited negativity. My own article, Caballeros in the Age of Misinformation, has proven to be one of 2719 Hyperion’s most popular posts to date.

But just how many of these south-of-the-border enthusiasts are familiar with the further adventures of Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles? In recent years, there have been not one, but two sequels to Disney’s classic 1945 feature. But just not quite in the format you would expect. These incarnations are not in fact animated features, but comic book stories.

Yes, comic book stories. Really, really good comic book stories. But alas, somewhat difficult to find comic book stories.

But first a little background--

Disney-themed comic book publishing has undergone an interesting evolution over the past three decades. In recent years, traditional Disney comic books have faded, and Disney comic stories have migrated into publications like Disney Adventures and its occasional spinoffs.

Things are a bit different overseas, however. Companies in numerous countries, especially throughout Europe, still publish traditional format Disney comic books to very substantial and passionate readerships. It is in those venues that artist/scribe Don Rosa continues to produce original Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories. Rosa has been chronicling the adventures of the Disney ducks for the past twenty years, much to the delight of countless international readers, and an extremely small but equally passionate American audience.

And Rosa just happens to be a huge fan of The Three Caballeros. Hence, in 2000, he produced The Three Caballeros Ride Again, and then followed up with The Magnificent Seven (minus 4) Caballeros a few years later.

Rosa typically works within the largely Carl Barks-created landscape of Duckburg, and the larger, often historically and geographically authentic world it inhabits. In a companion essay to the U.S. reprint of The Three Caballeros Ride Again, he explained why he took a detour out of Barks-inpired settings:

"I have never been especially interested in the animated Disney Donald Duck cartoons... they seemed to be a different character to me altogether. However, the best thing I think that the Disney Company ever did with Donald was his appearance in the 1945 film "The Three Caballeros"! I thought the interaction between Donald and the other two characters, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles, was marvelous, and the action and music in the film was wonderful! In fact, their rendition of "We're Three Caballeros" is one of my very favorite musical numbers in any movie! I have always thought it would be a neat idea to do a new Donald Duck adventure with Jose and Panchito, and in 2000 I finally got around to it! And when I did, I knew I'd include a new rendition of the classic musical number from the film, even though that's a wacky idea to attempt in a comic book!"

Both of Rosa’s Caballeros stories are high energy tales that return Donald to the environs of central and South America where he reunites with his good friends Jose and Panchito. Adventure, slapstick humor and even music combine in these delightful and beautifully rendered stories.

The Three Caballeros Ride Again takes us to the Copper Canyon of Panchito’s native Mexico where the trio engages in a Treasure of Sierra Madre-style quest for a hidden silver. Fortunes are won and quickly lost, but friendship and camaraderie ultimately prove to be the greatest treasures of all.

In The Magnificent Seven (minus 4) Caballeros, the setting moves south to Jose’s stomping ground of Rio de Janeiro. The three set off to seek their fortunes as diamond prospectors traveling across Brazil’s vast central plateau. Action and hilarity combine again with highly entertaining results. One particular sight gag (pictured) involving a capybara, the world’s largest rodent, is priceless.

It is a real shame that these and Rosa’s many other wonderful stories are by and large inaccessible here in the United States. Both Caballeros stories are available directly from Gemstone Publishing, but unfortunately, each one is split among three separate issues of Walt Disney’s Comic & Stories, with each issue costing a pricey $6.95.

One wishes that Gemstone would focus less on publishing in the traditional ongoing issue style, and concentrate more on trade paperback collections featuring distinct themes and/or specific creator spotlights. The recent editions of Rosa’s own The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and the Disney Comics Treasures are certainly steps in the right direction. There are no doubt numerous folks out there who would likely be interested in the Caballeros stories, but will clearly balk at the $42 cost of having to purchase the six individual issues.

The Three Caballeros Ride Again was serialized in Walt Disney Comics & Stories #635-637. The Magnificent Seven (minus 4) Caballeros appeared in Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #663-665.

Greetings From the Fair!

Here are two postcards from the New York World's Fair 1964-1965. Both feature the Disney-designed Pepsi-Cola Pavilion that was home of the original incarnation of It's a Small World. The left card is an actual photo from the fair, while the right card shows a concept model of the attraction. Both cards were postmarked during the summer of 1964.

Jungle Navigation Co., LTD. - Part Two

Here are a couple more items from the queue area of Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise. Again, the Jungle Navigation Company is identified prominently as the owner of the attraction's fleet of boats. It will be interesting to see if the Jungle Navigation Co., LTD becomes a part of the upcoming Jungle Cruise movie.


The Passport to the Rivers of the Pharaohs is one of a number of artistic renderings scattered around the dock area. Check this earlier post for a desktop wallpaper version of the graphic.

Snapshot! - Pete's Punt, Pass & Pummel Contest

There are a number of sports trophies on display in the recreation room of Mickey's house in Mickey's Toontown Fair at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Bowling, golf, baseball and even archery are all represented. This particular shelf is dedicated to Mickey's football career, likely inspired in part by his 1932 cartoon short Touchdown Mickey.

So, just exactly how does the title of this post relate to any of this? A closer inspection of the punctured bronze football will reveal the answer.

The Donald Duck Hat

In Donald's never ending battle for recognition during the Mickey Mouse Club years, the benay-Albee company (the most famous name in novelty hats), presented the authentic Donald Duck hat. This magazine ad was featured on the back cover of the Mickey Mouse Club Magazine's fall 1956 issue. It's kind of weird how the ad is in color but the kid's face is in black and white.

Jungle Navigation Co., LTD.

The tongue-in-cheek humor of the Jungle Cruise in Disney World's Magic Kingdom extends beyond the various boat skippers and their infamous bad joke-filled narrations. Dock elements reveal that the Jungle Cruise boats belong to the Jungle Navigation Co., LTD. which seems to have a rich history of ineptitude. According to postings on the dock, the company is currently seeking the whereabouts of eleven missing boats and nine lost individuals.


While waiting to begin your "exotic expedition," check out the various company-related signs and postings. Offers of Free Kittens, daily menus for the Crew Mess, and the Employee of the Month sign are just a few of the queue area's interesting, and sometimes hilarious details.

Recreational Rocket Vehicle Show

The retro-future theme of Tomorrowland in Disney World's Magic Kingdom seems to fade away more with the advent of yet another character-themed attraction. This poster serves to remind us of "the future that never was," the concept behind Tomorrowland's redesign in the mid-1990s. While Buzz Lightyear and Stitch both had elements to justify some degree of inclusion, Mike Wazowski and company are an odd fit in the new attraction's home within the Metropolis Science Centre, outside of which the Recreational Rocket Vehicle Show poster has been displayed.