Video

In 1979 we were smoking weed in this ride.

Not released by Fox. Released by 20th Century Studios. Disney removed the name "Fox" to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation.

Let's explore DCL!

The ride vehicles remind me of doom buggies

Disneyland Anaheim, Ca. USA - Remodel : 2035

The days of the E Ticket.

I'm not sure what you think here, Todd (you are skilled at keeping your opinions close to your chest), but I'm very disturbed by the gutting of Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom. Just because the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer's Island at the Magic Kingdom don't work right now, at least not for most contemporary visitors, and the area clearly needs some sort of renovation, doesn't mean you plop a sentient car area in Frontierland. First, it is unwise for Disney to get rid of a huge water feature. Second, Disney really shouldn't ruin the thematic logic of the park by putting sentient cartoon cars in the land that was designed to be themed to the western historical frontier. If this space is too valuable to leave as is, then Disney should rethink Tom Sawyer's Island, and perhaps also the river. First, they could put boat traffic back on the river by bringing back the canoes. Second, the could create themed things for visitors to see from the Riverboat: animals, or cowboys, or western legends. They could also add a second sort of boat on the river. They should consider keeping the river, but putting a ride where Tom Sawyer's Island is, like that geyser mountain ride planned for but never built at Disneyland, or that unbuilt Young Indiana Jones stunt show (for Disneyland), or a western-themed ropes course similar to the adventure ropes course built in Shanghai, or a western legends ride (Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry), or a bayous and New Orleans area (with a tunnel or bridge over or under the river), or something exciting that isn't tied to modern IP, like a (steampunk) balloon ride over the American countryside. People would still like an American west area if Disney were to build something cool there. And while talking cars are cool--I love the Cars Land at DCA--they just don't fit a western, frontier, past-themed area. Destroying the west and the river for cars: that would be a huge loss to the thematic logic of the park. And the fact that the space is underutilized doesn't mean that Disney should gut the theme entirely and thus destroy the thematic/spatial logic of the park. The Imagineers are creative, plus there are great older Imagineers who could be brought in to come up with a great ride to revitalize the area. Maybe Disney should hire Eddie Sotto. He had his start at Knott's, where he designed an unbuilt but impressive flooded town river rapids ride. Heck, hire Eddie, give him a huge budget, and he could revitalize the area, keeping the river, and saving the frontier or west in the area.

Thank you TJP for this quick and descriptive look at the concept art! I always enjoy your deep dive podcasts. You give great context and insights to the things going on in the Disney Corp. and the Parks!

I’m an old (60+) and classic Disney fan. For me, PIXAR is not Disney, for example. Put all these brands (Marvels, Star Wars and so) at Hollywood Studios. Or in the already messy DCA. That park launched the Theming Nightmare Age! And thinking that Walt Disney invented a theme park exactly for being tired of the mess of visual information at those old carnival fairs!!! Disney should create new things for the Magic Kingdom following It’s original ideas! Walt Disney was smart enough to not tie any of the original lands of his first theme park, Disneyland, to any movie in particular. The rides could be related to some movies, but not the lands. It’s a safer way not to became outdated fast. They already ruined the fantastic Epcot Center from the 80’s. Now is the Magic Kingdom in jeopardy!!!!! They have enough land at WDW to build new things without eliminating some Walt Disney’s classic creations. It seems that the “Today Disney” doesn’t care or respects the real legacy of It’s once whole world beloved name! So sad!!! ☹️

I do miss this ride from riding it in the 70s & 80s. There was almost no wait & you could sit down & cool off for a little bit. You'd also go over the Star Tours gift shop. The only problem that I didn't know till now was it was backed by Monsanto which really messed up our ocean. There are still thousands(?) of barrels of toxic waste dumped off our coast because of them. Fork Monsantos!

That display was a truly unique experience to a science minded, nerd kind of guy that I am. If it were still in existence today, it would’ve been bumped up by some seriously awesome hi Tech.

You are cool 😎

I remember at the end of this ride There was a giant eyeball Staring at you through a microscope

I remember this so well I had just turned 13

Some of the hanging molecules-or at least something that looks like them-can now be found in the queue for Guardians of the galaxy Cosmic Rewind.

I was lucky enough to ride this amazing attraction when it opened on August 9th, 1969. I was 9 years old and it just blew me away! A lot of it scared me, but I loved it and HAD TO get on and ride it again. Did I see the Hatbox Ghost? I honesty do not recall - maybe I did, but I have no memory of it. Thank you for posting this bit of history!

Every time Todd Shipyards gets mentioned, I had to go "Whoo!!!"" My great-grandfather worked there, and we're pretty sure he worked on the Mark Twain as well as the subs. Woo!

This is gold - love it.

Great story, as always. Wally was in his early 60s when he retired from the Golden Horseshoe Review.

Thanks for bringing back memories

I just love this show. I am 54 now, originally Persian and left Iran back in 86. I remember watching this show when I was 6-9 (before revolution) and when I moved to Sweden I was always looking for VHS or later DVD of this show. Got my hands on DVD season 1 back in 2001 and I got season 2 (in color :) ) from Amazon last year and I am rewatching it all the time. Because of my love for this show I started fencing 10 years ago, man what a rush I get on training and... Thank you Guy Williams for fantastic job. I am sure you can not rest and you are asking the angles up their for a match all the time :) Cheers.

The voiceover narrator was so well-spoken on these KID rides back then, with a high vocabulary and encouraged learning. Nowadays our “fun” rides aren’t educational at all. We are dumbing down our kids and discouraging scientific curiosity. :(

I think I remember it was extra-cool on that attraction (we were in a snowflake, after all).

Love this so much!

Since you mentioned that Main Street Electrical Parade, how about a history on the Main Street Electrical Parade?

Who's talking about the viewliner?

I remember this ride quite well.

❄🔬👁

I loved that ride when I was younger.

thank you disney historian ^_^

3:13 notice the bride tilted close to him like she was saying “oh? You don’t say?”

Not the ride being sponsored by Monsanto 😂

This is such an amazingly done video even to this day even though he’s there again now REALLY WELL DONE WITH THIS PIECE OF WORK 👏 please make more content like this

As a child, Inner Space was interesting. I was barely old enough to know what was going on and gullible enough to believe it was really happening. Disneyland, at the time, was a great place to learn about the world we lived in as well as enjoy fantasy and science fiction.

That fantastic ride voiceover! Is that Paul Frees?

I suggest making a podcast. A Static screen for a video is not Entertaining enough to stay engaged with the video. Goodluck!

The last segment of this sit down is really important when it talks about Walt Disney's impact on Imagineering and the way guests saw his attractions. All too often you hear not just the top brass of the company, but also activists on social media, say that the park is never finished. That quote by Walt is misattributed all the time and they never finish the full quote. As Mr. Bruce infers, Walt isn't the lead Imagineer anymore so we have to trust that the Disney company will make the right decisions on when and how to replace old attractions. The problem is... they've been wrong so many times.. nearly all of the time.. how can we trust them? These parks are so ingrained in American culture that they are a part of our history, a part of our hearts. If the company wants to drop the pretenses and come out now to say they aren't making attractions for the guests anymore but for their own edifications, that is fine, but they need to say it. I am tired of seeing nostalgic throwback videos in every DIS stock shareholder meeting when they no longer care about those values and have thrust themselves fully into modernism.

Outstanding!

I remember being reduced to the size of an atom in 1967. The sounds the "atom" made, and the smell of ozone from the high voltage supplies that energized the "atoms".

Ok, that was super cool!

Omg. So many memories. 70s went to a Catholic School in Laguna Beach. Spent many days at Disneyland. I have to admit, this was a ride that we had our make out sessions on 😂 😂. Paul Frees voice makes it. We would go on it a lot bc there was never a long wait. Oh those days. Wonderful

Very entertaining episode. Pretty funny to think about "James Bond" riding in an Autopia car with another actor.

Who’s got the best podcast each week??? TODD JAMES PIERCE

I remember that ride in the 70's

Thanks! Always appreciated!

Thanks for all that you do.

great overview

Great video, I hope to see more construction updates like this one in the future.

Good Memories. That was fun.

That bride is so ugly... I don't like her hair at all and she doesn't look that scary, I kinda wish they didn't make her smile because it makes her look older, I feel that if they gave the smurf bride a blank expression, she would've looked better.