Here’s to Hoot and Chief...

Seabasealpha1

Seabasealpha1

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, lately there’s a lot of stuff flying around the web from all of these “urban explorers” breaking and venturing into forbidden areas and using the footage to gain subscribers on YouTube. Then recently we dealt with the “theft” of Buzzy...or whatever... (not gonna rehash it!)

However this video was put up on YouTube recently and I really enjoyed it. If you’re unaware of Hoot And Chief, I highly suggest you get online and search for a blog called Mesa Verde Times... scroll back to the oldest posts and start reading...

You see, we are in an age where you have these idiots going into abandoned and forbidden areas to get a rise out of YouTube. Back in the day, these guys documented and explored Horizons out of sheer love for the attraction/Epcot Center and out of a desire to preserve Horizons in some way for future generations...

Someone recently produced a short on Hoot and Chief and gave a great overview of their intentions and adventures inside Horizons. So, I just want to share this video... and I want to take a moment to personally say thanks to Hoot and Chief. I’ve had some of the best laughs and learned so much...

Without further ado...

 
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bhg469

bhg469

Well-Known Member
Seabasealpha1 said:
So, lately there’s a lot of stuff flying around the web from all of these “urban explorers” breaking and venturing into forbidden areas and using the footage to gain subscribers on YouTube. Then recently we dealt with the “theft” of Buzzy...or whatever... (not gonna rehash it!)

However this video was put up on YouTube recently and I really enjoyed it. If you’re unaware of Hoot And Chief, I highly suggest you get online and search for a blog called Mesa Verde Times... scroll back to the oldest posts and start reading...

You see, we are in an age where you have these idiots going into abandoned and forbidden areas to get a rise out of YouTube. Back in the day, these guys documented and explored Horizons out of sheer love for the attraction/Epcot Center and out of a desire to preserve Horizons in some way for future generations...

Someone recently produced a short on Hoot and Chief and gave a great overview of their intentions and adventures inside Horizons. So, I just want to share this video... and I want to take a moment to personally say thanks to Hoot and Chief. I’ve had some of the best laughs and learned so much...

Without further ado...

Click to expand...

RIP Chief! Those guys respected where they were going and what they were doing. These modern day dudes... Just in it for the shock factor.
 
muddyrivers

muddyrivers

Well-Known Member
I read the Mesa Verde Times blog several years ago when Hoot was still writing new blog posts to add. This video is an excellent documentary of the two's journey and time in Horizons. The two were like kids in a candy shop videoing anything and everything they could What they did was way before YouTube and posting videos to get likes or subscribers, it was done purely for personal memories.
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Chief is featured on this Darkside of Disney video at around the 8:50 mark. It's probably some of the last footage of him whilst he chats to the adult actress Draven Star. A word of warning, there's some bad language on this video

 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
I absolutely love the video and I wish I could have experienced the attraction. I do find it ironic that a certain person from YT and here was blasting urbex folks yet praising these guys. I was under the impression that rules were rules...
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
draybook said:
I absolutely love the video and I wish I could have experienced the attraction. I do find it ironic that a certain person from YT and here was blasting urbex folks yet praising these guys. I was under the impression that rules were rules...
Click to expand...

I agree. There's really little difference between what Matt Sonswa does and what Hoot & Chief did. If anything Hoot & Chief were messing around behind the scenes in working attractions, if they fell from a cat walk they could have easily hurt a guest. They may have loved Disney more than some modern day urban explorers, but so what? I love Disney but I doubt I'd get a free pass from folks on here were I to start clambering around the Haunted Mansion during operating hours and videoing it.

i'm not knocking Hoot & Chief and in fact I've watched every one of their videos so I'm probably part of the problem myself. However sneaking behind the scenes is breaking the rules regardless of why you do it, I can't see how one person is vilified for doing it whilst others are admired for doing it?
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
When you’re caught and told not to do it you don’t do it again?
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Come on Marni, you're better than this. Being caught and not being caught aren't the boundaries here. These guys broke the rules and could have been hurt by the working machinery/vehicles. That's the very thing that some folks argued made the person in the BTMRR video a villain.
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
a goofy username said:
speaking of him, anyone see his latest video where he climbs on and around big thunder after hours? big yikes
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Yes I've seen it. I'm 99.9% certain that Hoot or Chief did the same whilst Splash Mountain was being built. It's not on the MesaVerde youtube channel but elsewhere. Both or one of them climbed it at night and hid when workers passed. There were wires hanging everywhere and it looked very dangerous at the time, fascinating watch though.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Let's not forget that they broke into Horizons so many times that they had everything down to a science and what they were doing was as equally dangerous as Sonswa's stunt. You can bet your behind that if YouTube existed at the time, they would have been posting their stuff.
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Actually I've just found the Hoot & Chief video where they climb Splash Mountain at night during construction, here they are







 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
plot.jpg
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
draybook said:
. That's the very thing that some folks argued made the person in the BTMRR video a villain.
Click to expand...
That’s their argument.

Am I glad Dave and Ed did what they did at Horizons back then? Yes. Do I condone it? No.

I’ve experienced first hand the trouble and problems the recent “explorers” have caused. Their actions caused a problem for me. And I was doing nothing wrong. I won’t go into details, but personally I have reasons to dislike what they’re doing aside from any other reason.
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
That’s their argument.

Am I glad Dave and Ed did what they did at Horizons back then? Yes. Do I condone it? No.

I’ve experienced first hand the trouble and problems the recent “explorers” have caused. Their actions caused a problem for me. And I was doing nothing wrong. I won’t go into details, but personally I have reasons to dislike what they’re doing aside from any other reason.
Click to expand...


Well, knowing your history here and what you've done for this community, you absolutely have my confidence. I will say that Hoot and Chief have enormous guts to do what they did.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
draybook said:
Well, knowing your history here and what you've done for this community, you absolutely have my confidence. I will say that Hoot and Chief have enormous guts to do what they did.
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Thank you.

It used to be if it was thought off limits, you didn’t go. It used to be a rope, curtain or a sign was enough. Maybe like so many other things in society, society now in a more general sense either doesn’t understand, ignore, or feels entitled to do certain things that wouldn’t have happened a decade or two ago. Rightly or wrongly the company doesn’t seem to have understood this. Do they have to do more? Lock everything? Wall up places? Maybe. Should they have to? Probably not.
 

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