After the sad story we ran last weekend about the horrid condition of Disneyland Paris’ Mark Twain, Alain Littaye has more information about the decaying park icon, plus some information about how the Rivers of the Far West were supposed to look when the park opened in 1992. ~~Rick

More Photos of the Decaying Mark Twain
Plus the Missing Scenes Envisioned For The Rivers of the Far West
by Alain Littaye
Disney and more blog

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If you read last week’s update about Disneyland Paris’ Frontierland Rivers of the Far West, you’re aware of the horrible condition of the Mark Twain riverboat and the geysers. Due to the many outraged reactions to the article, I made some inquiries about what DLP intends to do to resolve these serious problems. An informer on the inside says that this is “from the horse’s mouth”. The park is currently doing “feasibility studies on the renovation of both the Mark Twain and the geysers”. That doesn’t mean that they will renovate them, but at least we’ll know that they’re aware of the situation and are considering repairs. We can only hope that the cost of these renovations won’t be too high for DLP. In the meantime, the Molly Brown will have finished its three week renovation later this week and the Mark Twain will go back into dry dock, where the riverboat is stored when it is not in the water.

Today we have new pictures shot by Max – D&M contributor and DLPWelcome webmaster. You’ll notice the Mark Twain’s condition is getting worse since we shot the last batch of photos just two and a half weeks ago. The children’s playground “Pocahontas Indian Village” was closed Sunday for refurbishment, so Max could’t access the river bank to shoot pictures as close as he would like. He did get a shot through the vegetation, and sadly the riverboat condition has deteriorated even more. Part of the wood siding has literally fallen down, revealing the metal structure beneath. If you take a closer look at this new picture, you can that the decorative wooden frieze is being held up by the external electrical conduit. Plus another part of the woodwork is missing (see the red zone) which has most likely fallen into the Rivers of America. It’s hard to believe that a Disney park would let such a magnificent ship crumble before our eyes…

To illustrate the difference, the first two pictures were shot by me two weeks ago – note the red zone:

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A zoom on the red zone (picture from two weeks ago):

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And here, similar pictures shot yesterday by Max:

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Max also sent me these other pictures shot three years ago in November 2011. They show how both the Mark Twain, the geysers and the stone arch were looking better than they look today. These photos also clearly show that the deterioration due to lack of maintenance increased the decay in just 3 years. And it certainly continue to get worse, especially the geysers and the Mark Twain, if nothing is done soon.

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I have more interesting information for you on the Rivers of the Far West including the missing scenes that were supposed to be included upon park opening. One of the scene was located on Wilderness Island and was a trapper’s cabin which was exact replica of Henry Fonda’s cabin in How the West Was Won. Here are two photos from the movie that show the cabin. The pics are not HD but they will give you a pretty good idea of how it would look if DLP finally decided to add it. No Audio-Animatronic figure would be included in the house but the shadow of the trapper as well as smoke coming out of the chimney could be seen, and of course trapper props all around the little house.

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Always on Wilderness Island Frontierland Imagineers had envisioned to put some beavers, including a beaver “lodge”or dam.

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Another scene including animals was envisioned, this time on the other side of the river, in front of Wilderness Island, not far from where guests can see these three moose…

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Also planned was a buffalo herd! The idea was to have around fifteen buffalo, including some babies, placed near the river’s edge plus two or three near the train track. I did a quick photo-montage for you to show how it would look placing them exactly where Frontierland Imagineers would have staged the bisons, visible to guests riding DLP railroad trains as well as passengers on the river’s boats.

The buffalo would not be Audio-Animatronic figures, but some of them would have had small motors placed in their heads and rear ends to make their ears and tails move. The figures would have been made of fiberglass – the same as the existing three moose that are in pretty good condition after 22 years.

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Back in 1992, one of the reasons that Imagineers considered a buffalo herd scene was because they knew that the molds already existed at WDI. A scene in Epcot’s Living with the Land ride – the one below – included buffalo. Incidentally, the show producer for Living with the Land AND Rivers of the Far West was one and the same – Jeff Burke.

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It turns out that the reason why these scenes were not included in Rivers of the Far West at DLP opening day was because of cost overruns for the Grand Canyon Diorama. The Imagineers had to save some money on the budget because the show elements for the Grand Canyon Diorama reached around $1.5 Million in 1992. The cost was so high because of taxes on the importation of preserved animals. All the animals in the Grand Canyon Diorama are real. (No animals were sacrificed for the diorama as Frontierland Imagineers found and purchased existing animals in Arizona.) By the way, the backdrop paintings were done at 20th Century Fox where the Disneyland Grand Canyon Diorama backdrop paintings were done when Walt was still alive.

What’s interesting is that the cost of these missing scenes (trapper cabin , bisons herd, beavers) would have been around $400,000 in 1992. Now it would probably be around $600,000, but not that much considering the great additional show elements it would add to DLP Rivers of the Far West. That amount should be affordable for Disneyland Paris, so I hope that someone at DLP Imagineering or even DLP’s new CEO Tom Wolber will read this article. I’ll bet you that they’re not aware of these missing scenes.

If DLP intends to bring the park back to its original splendor and update some of the classic attractions, these additions to the Rivers of the Far West would be a great idea for a nominal cost and would be very welcome by all Disneyland Paris guests and fans.

Pictures: copyright Max Fan, DR

I also have good news for all of you who want to order my Disneyland Paris “From Sketch to Reality.” The beloved book is now back in print at a great price:

Alain is the editor of one of the most amazing Disney books ever published. This book is a must for every serious Disney book collector.

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Alain Littaye
Alain is the author of Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality and a long time Disney historian and blogger. His book is known the world over as one of the best Disney theme park books ever assembled. You'll often find his work featured in the MiceChat Weekend Update and can find his latest musings on his personal blog: Disney and More Blog.