No Foolin'

Today is Friday, April 1 - April Fool's Day - a day when many a Disney website or blog runs phony stories about developments in and around the Walt Disney Company. Well... I won't be doing that. Instead, I present to you this week's final series of vintage Disney Parks photos. Each tells a story that, if not for the photographic evidence, might seem just as far fetched as an actual April Fool's Day prank. Enjoy.

Epcot replaces Disney Characters with

Larger-than-Life People of the World

When EPCOT Center opened in 1982, it was the first Disney Park designed outside the Disneyland mold. To help further differentiate the park from the Magic Kingdom, it was decided the traditional Disney characters would not appear in EPCOT Center (it was actually this decision that led to the first wide-spread use of "Hidden Mickeys"). Instead, the new park would feature a cast of characters all its own, from Dreamfinder and Figment in Future World to the People of the World in World Showcase. These oversize, doll-headed characters were adapted from America on Parade, which ran at the Magic Kingdom in the mid-70s. Brought to EPCOT Center, they were dressed in international costumes and set out to pose with guests around the World Showcase Lagoon. It wasn't long, though, before visitors to the park expressed their expectation that Mickey and friends would be on hand, and the People of the World were retired in favor of the Fab Five in "futuristic" silver jumpsuits.

"Three Little Pigs" Musical Added in Expansion

of Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom Park

As part of an early effort to add extra offerings to the Magic Kingdom (significantly more modest than the current park expansion), the Fantasy Faire Stage was created in the back of Fantasyland to host musical performances starring popular Disney characters. Various shows telling stories ranging from "Winnie the Pooh" to the "Three Little Pigs" graced the stage over the years. Even as recently as the mid-90s, this spot was home to Disney Magic Music Days guest performers and Miss Minnie's Country Christmas during holiday events. The Fantasy Faire Stage closed for good in 1996, to be replaced by Ariel's Grotto, and the site is now being transformed once again into part of Belle's village for New Fantasyland.

Disneyland Rivers of America Run Dry

You're not seeing things. This is the dry riverbed of the Rivers of America in Frontierland at Disneyland, with the guide rail for the Columbia and Mark Twain visible on the ground. This level of refurbishment on the park's main river has only been undertaken a handful of times. This particular photograph is from early-1992, when the original infrastructure was added for a new Disneyland nighttime spectacular set to debut that spring - Fantasmic!

Goofy Seen Water Skiing on Seven Seas Lagoon

In the early years of the Walt Disney World Resort, when the Magic Kingdom was the only park to visit, guests crossing Seven Seas Lagoon were often treated to surprise appearances by the Disney characters. Favorites like Goofy and Mr. Smee could be seen water skiing alongside the ferries on their way to the park. More than just entertainment value, these stunts also served as a promotion of sorts of the resort's varied recreation offerings, something new that had never been available at Disneyland.

Replica of Mos Eisley Cantina Built at Entrance

to Star Tours at Disney's Hollywood Studios

It's true! Full disclosure, though: The cantina structure was temporary, only built for the official grand opening ceremonies for Star Tours held on January 14, 1990. Look closely at the photo, and you can see the band playing (that's Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes for you die-hard Star Wars fans out there). Michael Eisner and George Lucas presided over the day's events. Star Wars stars Mark Hammill and Carrie Fisher were also in attendance. Even though Darth Vader and his Imperial Guard made an appearance atop the attraction building to try and stop the proceedings, everything opened according to plan. Now, twenty-one years later, we await the debut of the next chapter with Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, opening May 20.

River Craft of America

The town of Frontierland sits along the shore of the mighty Rivers of America. From the main dock, passengers and freight head in and out of town, most notably on the steamship Mark Twain. Built for Disneyland's opening in 1955, the Mark Twain was the first steamship of its kind constructed in more than 50 years. The hull was built by Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California, with the decks and ornamentation handled at the Disney Studio in Burbank... all under the direction of Disneyland construction supervisor and former Navy Admiral Joe Fowler.

The Mark Twain was joined at Christmas 1955 by the Mike Fink Keelboats, inspired by the TV series turned film, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. The original boats used for the attraction, Bertha Mae and Gullywhumper, were actual props from the production. They were later replaced by more durable, higher capacity versions which operated until the attraction was retired in 1997.

Summer of '56 saw the addition of the Indian War Canoes (now called Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes) as part of the Indian Village expansion of Frontierland. The Indian Village may be history - it once stood where Splash Mountain is today - but the canoes carry on during peak attendance days in the park.

Despite the Rivers of America already teeming with a steamship, several rafts (for transport over to Tom Sawyer Island), a fleet of canoes and a pair of keelboats, Walt Disney decided it needed more. For 1958, he commissioned Joe Fowler and Todd Shipyards to create another large ship for Disneyland, the Columbia.

Inspired by the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, a three-masted windjammer like Columbia had not been built in the U.S. in over 100 years. In 1964, the attraction was enhanced with the addition of a below-decks area, where guests could explore a replica of crew quarters circa 1787.

These days, only one of the large ships operates at a time, with the other held in a dock at Fowler's Harbor (yes, named after Joe Fowler) near the entrance to Critter Country. There is an alternate dock in Frontierland, though, where one of the ships can tie up if necessary. The dock is dressed to look like the shipping office of the Frontierland River Packet Company.

On the side of the building is a sign advertising river excursions aboard the S.S. Mark Twain. Read closely, and you'll notice it mentions the Rivers of the Far West. That's the name of the river in Frontierland at Disneyland Paris, the park for which this graphic was originally designed.

Step up onto the dock, where a small cluster of tables can be found when it's not in use, and you'll come across another little bit of Hidden Disney: these crates mentioning none other than Mike Fink, the self-proclaimed "King of the River."

Names & Places

Tom Sawyer Island in the Magic Kingdom is a kid's paradise. Take a raft across the Rivers of America, and step back in time to Mark Twain's Missouri of the 1800s. In fact, most of the locations on the island, from Aunt Polly's to Injun Joe's Cave, take their name and inspiration directly from Twain's classic novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The fort out on the back island, Fort Langhorn, actually takes its name from Mark Twain himself. "Mark Twain" was the pen name used by the author Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

The references aren't exclusively tied to the island, either. Take a closer look at the crates sitting on this dock across the river:

The labels mention S.L. Clemens, Hannibal, Missouri and "Doc" Robinson, a character from Twain's books.

There's one other reference here that doesn't come from literature. Harper's Mill on the island is a nod to Imagineering Art Director Harper Goff, best known for his designs of the Jungle Cruise, Main Street and the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.