Settle a bet: Was Pirates or Country Bear Jamboree Walt's last project?

[Walt Disney1955]

Which one of the attractions was the last one Walt approved before he died in December 1966? I know both of them were right at the end

 

[TP2000]

Which one of the attractions was the last one Walt approved before he died in December 1966? I know both of them were right at the end

Pirates of the Caribbean opened at Disneyland in March, 1967, and it had soft openings in February, 1967. Tony Baxter has stated that Walt rode through a mostly finished Pirates ride in October, 1966, two months before he died.

In 1966 Walt and the Imagineers were also working on a ski resort project in the California Sierras called Mineral King. The lodge was to have an animatronic bear show that bore a close resemblance to what we now know as the Country Bear Jamboree. However Walt never saw more than sketches for the show drawn by Marc Davis. Mineral King was cancelled outright in the late 1960's after objections by the Sierra Club to the highway to be built to the resort, and the thought of all those tourists coming up into the mountains.

The Country Bear Jamboree opened five years after Walt's death in a single-theater format at Walt Disney World in October, 1971 and opened in a double-theater format at Disneyland 6 months later in March, 1972. Upon Walt's death the Magic Kingdom theme park at WDW was nothing more than an exact replica of Disneyland circa 1966, right down to New Orleans Square and the Matterhorn and Storybookland Canal Boats. Walt was far more concerned about planning for the EPCOT city and industrial center than he was for the theme park. Only several years after Walt's death, in the late 1960's, did Imagineering begin creating a theme park that was similar to Disneyland, but used different structures and themes and concepts.

 

[MarkTwain]

If you REALLY want to get technical about it, the last project to open that Walt had a major influence on was Space Mountain, in 1975. He oversaw the design as John Hench was preparing it for Disneyland 1967's Tomorrowland... even though it didn't open there until 1977.

But generally I would say Pirates.

 

[wolf359]

From all of the stories I've read Walt only saw sketches of bear band-type characters before he died, as opposed to riding through a 99% finished Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. At the time Walt died there was no actual show, only character concepts for Country Bear Jamboree, and even then it wasn't intended for use in a Disneyland (or Disney World) show, but possibly for Mineral King.

The problem of a definate answer comes from what you mean by "approved."

WED had been working on a lot of things before Walt's death he might have "approved," but I'm not sure of anything else being as finished as Pirates. Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and I'm sure several other later attractions I'm not remembering off the top of my head were all in some form of planning but I can't think of a single one that was actually anywhere near its final state in 1966.

I'm sure the "New Tomorrowland" attractions like Adventure Thru Inner Space, Flight to the Moon, and the Peoplemover would have also been pretty far along as well, but I've never read anything about those being seen by Walt in any kind of finished state.

 

[ChrisFL]

From all of the stories I've read Walt only saw sketches of bear band-type characters before he died, as opposed to riding through a 99% finished Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. At the time Walt died there was no actual show, only character concepts for Country Bear Jamboree, and even then it wasn't intended for use in a Disneyland (or Disney World) show, but possibly for Mineral King.

The problem of a definate answer comes from what you mean by "approved."

WED had been working on a lot of things before Walt's death he might have "approved," but I'm not sure of anything else being as finished as Pirates. Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and I'm sure several other later attractions I'm not remembering off the top of my head were all in some form of planning but I can't think of a single one that was actually anywhere near its final state in 1966.

I'm sure the "New Tomorrowland" attractions like Adventure Thru Inner Space, Flight to the Moon, and the Peoplemover would have also been pretty far along as well, but I've never read anything about those being seen by Walt in any kind of finished state.

The DL Peoplemover was already open when Walt was alive, as it was heavily mentioned in his Florida Project film.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

As others have said, I don't think CBJ fits the bill. The idea was in such a rough form (and wasn't even intended for a Disney park) that it's a real stretch to say Walt signed off on the show we know today in any meaningful sense.

 

[TP2000]

The DL Peoplemover was already open when Walt was alive, as it was heavily mentioned in his Florida Project film.

I'm afraid you've fallen for a bit of film trickery and clever editing done after Walt's death in 1967.

The footage of Walt in the WED Florida Project design rooms for the EPCOT '66 film was shot in October, 1966. Walt Disney died December 15th, 1966.

The PeopleMover, Presented by Goodyear opened at Disneyland about seven months later on July 2nd, 1967.

This photo was taken of the PeopleMover track construction (alongside the existing Disneyland-Alweg Monorail track) as it was in December, 1966, literally days within the time of Walt's passing, and two months after he shot the footage for the EPCOT '66 film. Walt is reported to have made his very last visit to Disneyland in November, 1966, a month before this photo was taken.

Here's another December, 1966 shot of some PeopleMover track further along the construction cycle, making its descent out of the skeleton of the future Carousel of Progress building where the PeopleMover traveled alongside the Progress City model.

As you can see, there is no way they would have been able to cycle any PeopleMover trains over the short sections of existing track, if the first PeopleMover trains had even been delivered to Disneyland yet, as they reportedly didn't arrive in Anaheim until the late spring of 1967. In December, 1966 there weren't even tracks really, or track motors to propel the trains. Just bare beamway and scaffolding holding it all up.

Walt Disney certainly didn't look at anything more than sketches and a WDI model of how the New Tomorrowland would look by the summer of '67 before he passed away in late 1966 when these pictures were taken.

The other thing I was struck by while looking at these photos, is how much the air quality has improved in Southern California since the mid 20th century. We just don't get 1960's smog anymore, and when we do have a "smoggy" day it's a tiny fraction of the severity they had back in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. Even the 1980's still had some smoggy days. Smog began dissipating in the 1990's, and now in the futuristic year of 2010 the skies above Disneyland usually look more like this with the (sometimes snow-capped) San Bernardino mountains seen clearly in the distance, which is a very good thing...

The snow on the mountains is real, but the snow on the Castle is fake and just there for Christmas.

Walt would certainly approve of the tremendous strides in technology and healthy living we've made in the last 20 years. I also have to think he'd be proud to see the sparkling condition that Disneyland is still in, 45 years after his passing. :animwink:

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[ChrisFL]

Ah, I stand corrected then...it makes sense now, since the film wasn't shown to the public until after his death

 

[wolf359]

So Big Phil, did you win or lose the bet?