The Gullywhumper Keelboat and Fink's Place

There she is, the best-named watercraft in the history of humankind, Mike Fink's notorious Gullywhumper from Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. The days of braving Disneyland's Rivers of America aboard spunky keelboats are long past, but it's great to see this tribute to the disreputable vessel that inspired the old ride.

She's moored, of course, at the "estate" of Mike Fink himself. Fink's your one-stop frontier markeplace for furs, gunpowder and antlers. And he won't try to cheat you, no sirree!

This was once the famous "burning settler's cabin" that startled many a youngster riding the Mark Twain Riverboat beyond the protection of Fort Wilderness. There are good and bad ways to remove a controversial and costly show element, and I can't think of a better solution than the one seen here: Replace it with a classic Disney scalawag and his trusty boat!

Waiting For Fantasmic (with Fish Heads & Crumbs)

Once it was Harper's Mill and now it's Lafitte's Tavern, but in both guises the rustic structure on Tom Sawyer Island has harbored Fantasmic's main stage.

It's hard to believe the gigantic Maleficent Dragon waits below, ready to rise up and set the Rivers of America afire...only to be fried by a dreaming mouse.  The thing I love most about the Disneyland version of Fantasmic is the way the show elements leap forth to take over the whole area -- and then when it's over and the lights go up, the old river has returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

It's a good thing the stage is so pleasant to look at, because a lot of die hard Fantasmic fans camp out for hours to secure a good spot for the show...and I believe that's a cue for Fish Heads & Crumbs...

TIme Machine: The Wrecked Nature's Wonderland Mine Train

In 2007, when this shot was taken, a trip around Disneyland's Rivers of America included a view of this wonderful old Mine Train from the park's early years.

As a tribute to the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland (removed to make way for Big Thunder), this beautiful old MTTNW locomotive was set up  as though wrecked in a rockslide along one of the original ride's stretches of railroad track.

Little mechanized marmots (a species of ground squirrel) would pop up among the rocks in the mine cars, referencing a gag from the old ride.

The mine train tribute was removed during the recent refurbishment of Rivers of America, as new scenery was put in place to truly turn the river into a tour of America's greatest waterways.