Historyland - Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland

[@QuincyDisneyVegan]

I experienced and very well remember Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland and Rainbow Ridge. I personally believe it was open longer than all the websites are reporting. According to the timeline of my life, it closed during my first year of life, but yet I remember it so vividly. I was born in November 1976 and yet all the websites are reporting it closed in spring 1977. The Bear country scene with the bear scratching its back on against the tree was always a great laugh. The desert cactus scene with the laughing cacti was also quite infectious. The tumbling rock always gave the illusion it was going to roll on top of the train but of course never did. Sometimes you'd see it tumbling back into its starting position. The Rainbow Caverns were my favorite part of the ride, because seeing all the colors meld together was with that hauntingly beautiful soundtrack was gorgeous. That song is my absolute favorite Disney theme. I wish cameras back then were equipped to record colors in low lighting, because that scene was wonderful. Every scene in this ride was large and spectacular. Things that no one else talks about: The old unfaithful geysers in The Devil's Painters Pot scene were loud when they erupted, and the train passed so close to them that on a windy day you were certain to get a little bit wet. That was such a great finale to the ride. The transition from Nature's Wonderland to Big Thunder was so quick, that when my family and I got on the new ride in 1980, we were so uninformed of the changes we expected it to be the slow moving ride it had always been. Back then, park attendance was much lower and the wait in line was so short we could just walk right onto the ride, and so hearing people scream as we entered the queue before boarding the train simply wasn't immediately noticeable. The first time I rode Big Thunder was at night, and I officially knew it wasn't the same ride after the train sped down the first lift hill, because Nature's Wonderland was never a fast paced ride. Big Thunder terrified me, but what's interesting to note is I was more scared of Space Mountain --my first roller coaster memory which my father forced me to go on that same night (even though I'd been on it before many times fearless). I'm glad he forced me to go on both rides, because I ended up loving them. After enduring the terror of Space Mountain, I clinged onto my dad while riding Big Thunder and rode it with my eyes closed. It was less terrifying than Space Mountain. But going back to Nature's Wonderland. Another memory I have is for several years in addition to seeing leftover remnants of Mine Train around Rivers of America, Frontier land, Critter Country and Big Thunder Ranch, an unforgettable sight to see down Main street from the Disneyland Railroad staircase was seeing three mountains: Cascade Peak (with the babbling twins), Big Thunder Mountain as we now see it, and the Matterhorn. Another detail no one else talks about in any of their Mine Train tribute websites and videos is how many of Disneyland's current rides pay tribute to it. 5 rides pay tribute to it: #1) Big Thunder has three nods to it: Rainbow Ridge, a briefly visible small cavern with colorful lights we see on our left as we head up the first lift hill, and the goat balancing itself on top of a rock. Ride #2) Splash Mountain also pays tribute in 3 sections: It has the snoring bear we use to hear while walking through Bear Country, during the Slippin Falls segment we see a sign for Rainbow falls which roller coaster segways us into the laughing place where the characters are spinning and laughing in a colorful neon black light cavern. Ride #3) Grizzly River Run has an unfaithful Geyser that randomly erupts unpredictably just as the one on Mine Train's did. #4) Cars land in general and especially Radiator Springs Racers pays tribute to Nature's Wonderland: the immersive rock work scenery and theming we see before boarding the ride, and at the end when we see Lighting McQueen and Tow Maiter congratulating us --the colorful lights are a nod to Rainbow Caverns. Lastly, as the ride comes to an end and we prepare to exit the cars the announcer says "we hope you enjoyed your ride through Nature's Wonderland, please remain seated until your vehicle comes to a complete stop." --That's worth listening for the next time you ride Radiator Springs Racers! Ride #5 is actually not located on Disney property, but it's the Mine ride nearby at Knott's Berry Farm, which opened around the same time as Nature's Wonderland. It has a similar design and also contains a small briefly lit colorful cavern scene. Blink and you'll miss these tributes! Enjoy looking for them

[@seth8634]

Lol wut

[@StephenAnderson98403]

It's not the cameras, it's the film

[@DJNX4995]

I love calico mine ride at knotts and think about the caverns every time I pass through the first area and also the top level with the waterfall and cavern looks and every time I ride big thunder RR I look at the area on the left and say there's rainbow caverns junior!!

[@sushiyamaster989]

I call bullshit.

[@QuincyDisneyVegan]

@@sushiyamaster989 why are you being negative about my memory?

[@ced1106]

Back when you sat back and took in all the Disney details, not sped by all of them. Thanks for the videos!!!

[@ethannielson942]

Being born in October of 1955, I do indeed remember riding the Mine Train going through America’s Wonderland many times. A beautiful ride for a different time and place than we exist in now. Riding the pack mules for a small child was also a great deal of fun.

[@raphaelmarquez9650]

As much as I love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, I wish I was born early to have ridden the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland.

[@datsun210]

Yes, I remember riding the old mine train back in 1975 when I was very young. The tumbling rocks, geysers and colorful caves are all still there in my memory. It was slow and relaxing with moments of excitement. When I went back to the park in the 1980's, it was weird that the ride that I remembered was now a Runaway Train. I can see why they changed it, but it was really a splendid ride.

[@SomeRandomOldFatGuy]

This was my favorite ride. Obviously I still miss it since I'm here watching this. It wasn't "thrilling", but it did transport one to a different place and time.

[@JWRogersPS]

I loved this ride when I was a kid. Thanks for the memories!

[@kevinkrull3389]

I remember riding as a kid and was amazed at the detail-all the moving animals and rocks. Vivid memories from over 60 years ago.

[@donaldcrabtree6259]

This was a wonderful attraction. It gave Disneyland a dimension to balance the other lands. I realize that land and space are constraints on the Park, yet it is a shame it had to go for the less imaginative, yet faster, Big Thunder. Could not the Big Thunder have been built over/ in conjunction with Mine Train? Could the mixing of colors in the underground falls have been alleviated? Frontierland is now hamstrung by a lack of openness. When the Mine Train was there, there were definitely wide open spaces.

[@powerpup97]

Someone should make a digital ride-through of this Ride like they did with Adventure Thru Inner Space!

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

Wait for it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpylZpRpa5qrb8k

[@reneebarger5194]

We loved this ride! Best place to eat pop corn and rest your feet. At night it was magical. Too bad that they have eliminated all the animals except the ducks and castle cats. Thank you, this brought back fond memories.

[@keouine]

I visited Old Tucson, a small theme park, a couple years ago. I kept thinking I'd been there before---impossible. I realized it and its train reminded me of Nature's Wonderland. It was 2 admission for $20, and I had a blast.

[@johnk3831]

One of my best memories of childhood was riding those crazy mules and going on the mine train Rode it over and over - wish you could see those rainbow caverns They were awesome!

[@lcrr700]

I was born in '56, but I don't have any specific memory of riding this when my family visited Disneyland several times during my childhood. Actually, the only reason I was looking for it and found this video was an old photo I have that was taken from (probably) the steamboat on the Rivers of America in (probably) 1975 showing an old-looking steam engine and a couple of cars derailed at a bridge on the Frontierland bank of the river and wondered what that was about. Thanks for this video!

[@waynepeacock5450]

This was a wonderful look at a land that I did not know even existed. I was born in 1969 so I am not even sure if I ever rode on it. Great work.

[@ray7707]

I haven't heard that soundtrack in probably 50 or more years! Takes me back. The voice actor also voiced early Gumby and Archie cartoon characters, I think.

[@azrailfan2717]

Never rode on the original mine train but when I was Disneyland back in 2000, I remember seeing from the mark Twain river boat ride, an old tracks and a dilapidated train on the shoreline. I thought it was decorations but now I realized it was part of the old mine train ride

[@TheMagicGeekdom]

So cool! Just wish I could have experienced some of these attractions before my time! At least Disney recycles things so I can still see parts of them!

[@SlideRSB]

If you are in or around the Los Angeles area, the Walt Disney barn in Griffith Park actually has a small model train of this attraction.

[@alextirrellRI]

Loving the PeopleMover theme opening & underscore.

[@brandonpiazza6210]

Great video! Love the full ride thru! There is one thing I think you might want to correct. After the first commercial you say the Rainbow cavern opened in 1953! But we all know the park opened in 1955! Not knowing enuf on the subject, I couldn’t tell if you meant 1959 or some other date. Check it out, because I know you strive for accuracy! Btw I love your graphics and music!

[@disneycenter487]

Nice, would be hard to let go of big thunder mountain but this ride looks pretty great

[@Cooldisneytripscom]

Had no idea about this ride. Thanks for sharing. I do know if I had gone on this, I wouldn't have been sure whether those animals were real or animatronics. They look real!

[@behindthespotlight7983]

I’m one who actually rode the mine train. Once. When I was 4 years old in 1976. That was my first trip to Disneyland (a 7 hour drive from my hometown in the SF Bay Area). In 1976 at age 4 I got to experience the original iterations of: •Haunted Mansion •Pirates •Jungle Cruise (with the hippos & pistol) •Rainbow Mine Train •Tikki Room •Nautilus Submarines •It’s a Small World Needless to say Disneyland was a completely different experience back then. It pangs me to say this but the illusion of progress in the 21st Century is just that. An illusion. In the 1990’s and earlier we had cloth napkins. Glass water glasses. They pumped your gas at every gas station in California, checked your oil and cleaned your windshield while Almond Brothers played on your stereo. People were quiet in movie theaters. No one carried on irritating loud conversations on their phones in stores or restaurants. Churches still focused solely on spiritual healing & growth. And sans that you could smoke anywhere you wanted without some complete stranger getting in your face. I’m super grateful every single day that I know what the real America was. The America where a Dennys Grand Slam breakfast was $1.99 and running with real butter and real maple syrup. (sigh) I’ll never totally forgive the Boomers and the WW2 generation for passively allowing the degradation of America to be so much an avalanche that by the time Gen X graduated high school the fix was in. Everywhere. Any Gen X-ers who were red pilled by age 30 (which is 20-25 years ago)-By then America was already 3-4 decades into this awful decline.

[@Hallandoatesmeal]

LOVE the format of this with the intro cards, music and commerical. SO nostalgic. 🙌🏼

[@rattyeely]

I'm so sad they closed this ride, it's exactly the type of mellow ride I enjoy

[@charleswish8115]

Psychedelic masterpiece.

[@keouine]

It was so cool -as a 2nd grader. It felt as if you were far away leaving the park behind.

[@lohphat]

I remember riding the Pack Mules and the Stagecoach in the early 70s as a kid.

[@richardstrainsandmore]

Awesome job on this video! 5 stars as always! I never got to experience this ride but my father used to say rainbow caverns was one of Disney's best feats of imagineering, if only they somehow kept it.

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

I know it's easy to mock the lack of excitement in riding a pack mule through a desert as a "theme park ride", but when you remember that the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona has their pack mule ride that has been going since 1887, it sets a precedent for Disney to follow. Walt was definitely paying homage to the Grand Canyon pack mules with his pack mule train.

[@TagTab637]

This channel is too amazing. It needs to get more attention and views. The amount of detail and attention to the channel is so cool

[@MountaineerProductions]

Thank you so much!

[@kimopuppy]

Yes, I remember being on the Natures Wonderland. I was on Wonderland more than the runaway mine rollercoaster

[@clown8931]

I have been researching this ride for the longest time and I finally have the biggest clue

[@EduardoPerez-ck5zh]

Very cool Matt, I enjoyed how you included the narrator with historical videos.

[@DavidVitrano]

This ride definitely needs to come back somehow.

[@Dcofycats]

I loved this ride.

[@LMGVids]

Very entertaining, thanks for the video :)

[@MountaineerProductions]

Thanks a bunch!!!

[@tommiller4895]

Knots Berry Farm has an attraction called the Calico Mine Train that reminds me of some parts of Nature's Wonderland.

[@opinian1068]

I soooo wish this still existed. I love it!

[@ttailgate6086]

Looks like a sweet ride. Nice and relaxing. Sometimes I ride the train at Disney World for 3 loops around the park just to relax. I would rather ride the old fashioned Mine Train.

[@princessmarlena1359]

My parents and my older siblings remember this old ride from when they were little kids. I even saw from dad’s old camera footage that showed it (I wish I could get those old film strips updated/converted to digital format).

[@patrickperalta59]

I've heared of the mine ride as well as the mule ride but I never got ride them both closed down before I was old enough to ride them. I enjoyed Thunder Mountain.

[@ZackSka]

I love the whole style of your videos, my man. Totally subscribed, and I am going to binge it all!

[@danmerkley2653]

Thank you for the awesome videos. I remember the mule ride and nature’s wonderland. I was sad to see them close. One minor correction: In the video it says that rainbow caverns mine train opened in 1953. However, Disneyland didn’t open until 1955.

[@MountaineerProductions]

Ahh I probably meant 1963!!

[@danm6475]

Rainbow caverns opened 1956

[@rickpontificates3406]

I'd have to say, I like the mine train ride better at Knotts. The track layout through a multi-level cavern is very neat. But this history is interesting. Thanks

[@sol1120]

Very nice. Thank you!

[@robj7481]

Actually, Disneyland currently has 7 areas, not 6. Tomorrowland, fantasyland, frontierland, adventureland, New Orleans square, toontown, and critter country. Soon, they'll have 8, with Galaxy's Edge.

[@jaredfromaccounting9520]

I feel regular disney fans would never see critter country

[@robj7481]

Watch and Learn, if you wanted to ride Splash Mountain, a very popular attraction, or Winnie the Pooh, you will find yourself visiting Critter Country. I doubt you can say "regular Disney fans don't like Splash Mountain"

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

Strong rumors Mickeys Run away train, Frozen and Beauty and the Beast rides will replace Toontown for a Fantasyland expansion.

[@michaeltaylor9977]

I don't know If I rode it way back when. I went to DL in 1973-4 & in 1976 (they were building Space Mountain) I do remember the Calico Mine Train at Knott's Berry Farm. Someones even made a model complete with working "balancing rocks" Talk about love for a long gone attraction.

[@danielhensley3983]

I remember while boarding the train, you could hear voices coming from the dentist office bldg by the train. A guy yelling while getting his tooth yanked.

[@TheCJ1958]

My favorite ride at Disneyland. like Thunder Mountain also

[@sarahhollister150]

I was never on this but it basically looks like an old west train ride version of The Jungle Cruise. Looks like something I’d like

[@jiifigmentforever]

I think you forgot to mention the remaining track that went around the site of Cascade Peak as a remnant/tribute to the attraction, as well as the Marmot Tunnel leading to Cascade Peak still being there.

[@Mr17051963]

I love the vintage break movies!

[@kevinpeterson6468]

If you ride the Mark Twain and you look toward Tom Sawyer Island you can still see some tracks from the mine train. And I’m not sure but I’ve heard that there’s a path of from Thunder trail that used to be used for the pack mules.

[@mwbenedict6297]

Excellent job. Keep up these great videos.

[@shosht4998]

I think out of all the extinct disney attractions, this is the one I wish I could have experienced the most

[@stevemellin5806]

I really liked the mine train it's was relaxing. To bad they don't have room to bring it back .

[@aggiesjc]

I loved the devil's paint pots and geysers.

[@derekp308]

Seems like the Jungle Cruise but with a train and American animals replacing boats and jungle animals. I definitely recognized the voice of the narrator-the same actor also is the narrator of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

[@russellloomis4376]

I remember riding it barely but I remember.

[@MarkWayUp]

would have loved to ride the pack mules! fun adventure - long before the high tech rides - can you imagines that? :) love the retro commercials!

[@AlextheHistorian]

Very good episode! I enjoyed it!

[@davidcampbell9564]

I really like your channel!

[@beautifulandrogyne6901]

This looks amazing, I wish they’d bring it back. What ride was that last scene from in the cavern with the colored lights, was that big thunder?

[@myriadmaestro572]

The production quality on these are good, I am surprised they do not have a bit more traction.

[@MountaineerProductions]

Thank you so much!! You can help by sharing the videos to everyone you know!! :)

[@DavidVitrano]

Does this make you want to see Nature's Wonderland Train ride come back?

[@joshuatichota5046]

I wish they had kept that ride

[@trevorrandom]

Another good video

[@kevinpeterson6468]

So jungle cruise but in the desert and on a train.

[@mikebowser48]

I miss the very merry christmas parade.

[@martincervantes8722]

Awesome vid! Vintage Frontierland at it's best. Plus that crazy narration. Can't get away with those comments about women these days lol.

[@MountaineerProductions]

Haha I know!

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

Oh don't worry, men still open their mouths and spew out that sexist bs because they think they're endearing, and have been reassured it's just "guys being guys". So go ahead, spout whatever demeaning misogynistic crap you want! Just know I won't shed any tears when you get a deserved broken nose for it!

[@SirBlackReeds]

Anyone else feel like they're the only one that realizes Disney's acquisition of Fox isn't finalized?

[@nightisright1873]

It’s Paycheck

[@samuelgomezrodriguez3172]

Luckily, they stopped exploiting those mules

[@Cpt.Sailor]

"Does gettin two womenfolk mean yer the winner or the loser?" ok, this is epic!

[@0oidiedinatimemachineo024]

lol yeah I actually laughed at that.

[@willstout5988]

Love the format, but too much fluff. You could've shown footage but didn't need to include the whole thing, there's other videos that do that already. That, plus the two ads, padded out almost all of this video, and the rest was about thunder mountain

[@johnk3831]

Thanks again Let me know if you want to chat disney sometime on fb or Skype Would love to talk the attractions I most muss Adventures thru inner space anyone? Have a magical day!

[@MountaineerProductions]

Join my discord server and you can talk with all of us!

[@TheRealSteveWilson]

Looks like a Red dead redemption train ride

[@alexanimationss]

YEE

[@jon-kl9mk]

How could this be built in 53? the park opened in 55

[@johnk3831]

Is matterhorn matt? I think I have discord so will do that

[@MountaineerProductions]

it's linked in my latest videos!

[@Trainlover1995]

If Chapek took over Disney, it would be Eisner all over again.

[@jevijevita]

BNSF1995 meaning?????.

[@nostalgiaworks5999]

Eisner was all about making money and being cheap

[@howtubeable]

6:36 This man's clothes amaze me. I understand that he's wearing a sportscoat, which was considered "sporty." It just seems that, by the end of the day, he would be drenched in sweat. Couldn't he have worn a short-sleeved print shirt? I guess maybe a sportcoat was just more "manly" and dignified. Still, he's at a amusment park wearing a coat and tie!

[@tomsharpe5890]

Is there a reason for the picture-in-picture effect here? This would have been a keeper but that was a pointless distraction.

[@johnk3831]

Thanks for seeing my comment I am good friends with mr cheezypop on here and Disney dream girls As well As this Orlando life Would be really great to chat sometime Was just in disneyland - have an annual passport Been to disneyland Paris 3 times And made my first trip to wdw in dec

[@PoleTooke]

A weird amount of jokes at the expense of women in that ride narration

[@meetmeinmontauk1506]

I'm pretty sure @ 6:00 that's just a guy in a bear costume rubbing his junk against a tree.

[@kellyweingart3692]

lol 😂😂😂😂

[@that.hamster.cheez-it-su7fu]

Y

[@MountaineerProductions]

Z

[@MrsMoonify]

So fun to see original Frontierland! Though I'm glad the sexist narration is a thing of the past 🙄

[@dustydesigners8657]

Your faux commercials are cringey at best

[@MountaineerProductions]

Epic