Originally Posted By Manfried Thank you Jim in Merced. I think the main thing when they drain the river is to take care of what is under the water and along the shore. More than that would take a lot more time.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "politically correct Indians." What makes the Indians "politically correct"?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Instead of displaying 'scalps' of dead U.S. Cavalry, the Indians would be selling souvenir caps with 'I Heart USA' on them.
Originally Posted By Westsider River Cast Members who have donned hardhats this weekend and walked the construction area can tell you that the Al Lutz update on Miceage back on February 23rd pretty much summed up the major changes to the Rivers of America during this rehab. If you haven't already, go and read that Al Lutz article to get the basic summary and major animatronic additions, it's very accurate. In addition to the more glamorous stuff Lutz mentionted, add in a big dose of maintenance and TLC to what's already there, plus some new vegetation and some mostly unnoticeable infrastructure rehab to the track and docks and Fantasmic, and you've got the Rivers of America 2010 Rehab summed up. See you all the middle of May when it opens!
Originally Posted By Bellella When I peeked through the fence, I couldn't believe how shallow the River was! That dark water really disguises a lot. I also saw a lot of rails on the bottom. What are those for? Why the heck did they close Fort Wilderness? I hate Pirate's Lair! It's what's kept me off the Island for years.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA From the Miceage article... <as well as Tony Baxter's current project of reinvigorating the Rivers of America with reworked scenery and additional animatronics. A pair of animatronic bobcats up on a ridge, some new Indian Scouts staring down passing Davy Crockett Canoes along the rocky rapids, and Mike Fink parking his keelboat out front and moving in to the old non-burning settlers cabin are some of the changes headed for the May debut of the refurbished river rides. The plan now also includes adding some real animals in amongst the new animatronics, with the Indian Village at the big bend in the river planned to get a small themed paddock next to the teepees with a few live Pintos allowed to graze there and watch the tourists go by on the passing canoes and boats.> Sounds fine. <Ya think Westsider is shilling for Al?> Don't know about shill, but I'm surprised that a Disneyland Cast Member is such a supporter.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros So does that mean that there will be horses corraled up next to the Indian Village? That just sounds like a really strange idea that sounds/looks good on paper, but will require a ton of additional labor to keep looking good. How will they keep the area even remotely good looking, if the horses are stuck in it all day, trampling any grass that might have thought about growing?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I also saw a lot of rails on the bottom. What are those for?" Those are tracks for the various water craft that travel along the river, like the Mark Twain, etc.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 So Westsider, all those Al updates are happening? I can see the AA bobcats (good choice), but new AA humans? Mark Fink parking a keel boat and two new Indian scouts? They're really adding that? And live horses? I love it, but it does seem like a small area. There's the little matter of smell, too. I guess it's close to Circle D, and they wouldn't have to clean that any more often than they clean their stalls there... but OTOH, "pintos" don't seem likely to be doubling as horse-drawn streetcar workers, for instance... are these horses JUST going to be there for decoration along the river? Does seem like an expense and bother... would they really do that just to reinvigorate the ROA? Sounds more like the old Disney (in a good way) than the recent Disney.
Originally Posted By believe >>>>>> And live horses? <<<<<< Even I have a hard time believing that, even from from Al. I guess it's possible. The horses can rest in ROA instead of Circle K. Maybe it's not as labor intensive as we think it would be.
Originally Posted By Westsider You know, sometimes when I read Al the hair on the back of my neck stands up because I'm so fired up and angry. But when the guy is right, he's right. And on this River rehab, his update back in February was right. I thought it might be helpful to steer those curious about the River rehab to the most accurate information straight from the horses mouth. And it's a live horse, not an animatronic. ;-)
Originally Posted By Dabob2 So that's the real deal, then Westsider? Real horses, AA bobcats, and three more human AA's? That would be cool.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Oh, and is the keel boat that "Mike Fink" is to be parking one of the original MFKB's that used to ply the river?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 (And yes, I know the "original originals" were retired long ago, so I mean the most recent KB's.)
Originally Posted By iluvdisneyland "Oh, and is the keel boat that "Mike Fink" is to be parking one of the original MFKB's that used to ply the river?" I imagine so... It's receiving a complete overhaul right now.
Originally Posted By Westsider There's some new Indians coming to the banks near the rapids. But I don't know anything about a Mike Fink animatronic going in at the cabin. His keelboat will be parked there though, and I heard from a good source that WDI wants to 'butch up' that cabin and make it look like a tough settler dude lives there instead of cutesy Little House On The Prairie - complete with little dollies in the yard and family laundry on the line.
Originally Posted By Westsider Dabob2, yeah, it's one of the original keelboats that most recently took on guests in '97. It's the same one that used to be parked over by the Moose, cause now the moose over there has friends hanging out with him. I heard from Circle D friends the live horses were touch and go for awhile, approved then cancelled then approved again before Lutz mentioned it, and most recently the Circle D team has found some small horses to buy that Indians would have used. They'll be there near the village during the day, and the first time in a long time that Disneyland has something other than huge draft horses. Sorry for the split up responses, I'm doing this on my iPhone.
