Wolf! Happily Ever After?

by Nancy Temple Rodrigue

  The third set would be a barbershop complete with a quartet singing the popular Sweet Adeline. But, after another set of actors were filmed for reference, the project was stopped.

  Walt was pretty sure that the audience who would be able to view his works of art would be too limited and there wouldn’t be enough income generated to pay for the ongoing upkeep of the displays. Building his miniatures had done what Walt had wanted them to do—they diverted his attention from the worries of the Studio and allowed him to become so absorbed in the intricate work that his cares melted away…at least for a little while. Over the years, he had even built and sold around one hundred small, metal pot-bellied stoves, each about five and a half inches tall with fully-working parts, and each one decorated differently.

  By now, the Disneylandia project wasn’t proving to be feasible, so it, in turn, slowly morphed into Disneyland. In 1953, Walt’s brother, Roy, was sent to New York to begin raising funds for this larger, more complex idea. Included in the sales pitch, located between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, was a land called Lilliputian Land. Located there would be a miniature Americana village with mechanical people only nine inches tall who would sing or dance or tell you about their lives as you looked in through the windows of their small shops and houses. The tiny Erie Canal barge would take guests through the famous canals of the world.

  This special section of Disneyland never got built, but the small Erie Canal barge ride eventually evolved into Canal Boats of the World that was in operation on Disneyland’s Opening Day in 1955. The souvenir guidebook described it as the “Boats of Holland, France, England, and America that travel through canals and see the fabulous sights of Fantasyland.” With eight grandly named boats, the ride was composed of muddy water and unfinished banks of dirt decorated, part of the time, with weeds. Until the elaborate upgrade in 1956, the ride was known, out of Walt’s hearing, as the “Mud Bank Ride,” and the men who worked the attraction would have to tell the guests that the “miniature landscaping was so small that it could not be seen by the unaided human eye.”

  The new additions in 1956 were marvels of miniature technology. Doors and windows in the quaint cottages and houses could be opened. Electrical systems rivaled those of full-sized homes. Special varnishes and coatings were used so the buildings would withstand the elements year after year. One stained-glass window contained three hundred sixty pieces of cut and beveled glass. The doors of the houses were weathered with a special wire brush that scraped the wood to give them an aged appearance. The doors and latches were made of lead and weathered and hammered to also look appropriately old. Toys filled the front window of Geppetto’s workshop, so tiny that the passers-by in the canal boats could hardly see them.

  The landscaping was another wonderful element of the ride with miniature trees, bushes, shrubs and even a mountain range that all had to be one inch to a foot in perspective. Walt wanted nothing fake, so all the plants had to be live and growing.

  When a contractor complained about all the expense and work that went into things that most people wouldn’t even know were there, he suggested cutting corners to lower expenses. “Who would know the difference?” The stern reply from the boss was, “I’ll know the difference.”

  One Imagineer thought it would be a nice idea for the guests to be swallowed by Monstro the Whale, just like Pinocchio had been in the movie. Lifted high in the whale’s throat, the boats would hurl down the track into a pool below. Walt nixed the idea, thinking the adults might not want to go on a white-knuckle ride like that. Monstro stayed, but the steep water flume did not.

  Disneyland — 2008

  “Lance, we have to do something about Mato.”

  “Why? Did he try to teach Peter how to start a fire in the middle of the kitchen again?”

  “What? What do you mean ‘again’?” Hands on her hips, Kimberly stopped and stared at Lance. “When did he do that?”

  “Not to worry,” Lance waved her off, “it was nothing. The smoke detector went off and called the Fire Department. When the engine came wailing down the street, that’s when Peter knew he was in big trouble. Mato hated to think he got Peter in trouble—for some reason totally unbeknownst to him—and he said he’d never do it again. What’s wrong?”

  Kimberly tilted her head as she looked at her husband—the mask of innocence. Knowing she would get nothing else out of him, she continued with her previous thought. “I think he’s getting too bored. Wolf is almost ready to, uhm, travel again, but still not quite strong enough. We need something to divert Mato’s attention. The television sure isn’t doing the trick.”

  Lance had to laugh at that. Hoping to impress their visitor with their marvelous technology, the television had proven a dismal failure—especially the less-than-accurate Western that happened to be playing when they turned on the set. Mato had gotten angrier by the moment, even after the movie had been hastily turned off, and could never be convinced to watch another show. Muttering to himself, he had stalked out of the room.

  “Yeah, bad timing.” Lance had to grimace at the memory. He couldn’t imagine what Mato would tell his family when he got home. “Hey, what if Peter and I take him somewhere? He still gets a kick out of riding in the Mustang.”

  “Why don’t you ask Wolf what he might like to do? Perhaps he has some suggestions.”

  Wolf had laughed so hard about the fire incident that he had reopened his sword wound. Lance wasn’t so sure the younger brother would be much help. “I’ll ask, if you insist.” He knew Mato was out back showing Peter the finer points of archery. He’d have to have the holes in their new gazebo filled in later, hopefully before Kimberly spotted them.

  “Why don’t you take him to Disneyland. Show him where you and I work.”

  “Really?” Lance stared at Wolf, trying to figure out if he was kidding or not. “I didn’t get the feeling he was too impressed when Wals brought him through the portal.”

  “No, no, he really liked it,” a straight-faced Wolf assured him. “He was just too shook up from the passage to say much.”

  Lance knew Mato wasn’t “too shook up” by much of anything that he had ever had to face in his life. Looking into the sharp blue eyes of his partner, he still couldn’t tell if this was a joke.

  “I’d go with you if I felt up to it.” Wolf heaved a weak sigh, closing his eyes as he settled back onto his pillows.

  “Uh huh.” Lance knew, for a fact, that Wolf never, ever admitted to being anything less than perfect. Eyes narrowed with suspicion, Lance went back to his wife. “He says to take Mato to Disneyland for the day.”

  Kimberly had no knowledge of the subtle guy-things that men do to each other, and thought that was a wonderful idea. “Be sure to take him on the canoes. He might feel a little closer to home.” Her face lit up as she came up with more suggestions. “Besides, Peter will love it. I’m too far along to go on all the rides he likes. I wonder how Mato will like Space Mountain?”

  “I’ll let you know,” Lance replied flatly. Still not sure he was being set up, he collected together his cast member I.D., sun block for Peter, and the large Hawaiian shirt he had found for Mato to wear that he had promptly discarded. Comfortable only in his deerskin trousers and moccasins, Mato would need slightly more covering than that to go to the Park. “Here goes nothing.” With one last muttered, headed out back.

  “I want to go on the canoes!” Over-excited, Peter jumped up and down with his next demand. “Uncle Wolf said Uncle Mato would love them!”

  Glancing at the set face of the silent warrior, Lance sincerely doubted Uncle Mato would “love” anything just then. They had ridden the steam train around the Park to give Mato an idea of the different areas they could visit as well as the overall size of Disneyland. The Grand Canyon had been mildly interesting with the stuffed animals on display as they chugged by, but the Primeval World had elicited scoffing chuckles at the odd beasts. Mato had indicated, in a few descriptive gestures, that he could easily dispatch them with his knife—whi
ch Lance had finally convinced him to leave home. Getting off in New Orleans Square, much to the relief of the parents with small children who had witnessed Mato’s extensive description on how to gut a carcass, Lance hoped the graceful architecture would remind the native of the New Orleans on the outskirts of his home forest. He was still debating on whether or not to take Mato inside the Haunted Mansion. Doctor Houser had told Lance about meeting the real Master Gracie while the house was still under construction back in 1815 and wondered how a mansion now filled with nine hundred ninety-nine ghosts would go over with Mato.

  The line to the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes was thankfully short. Grabbing an oar and quickly exchanging Peter’s adult-length paddle into the proper, smaller child size, they were able to board the next canoe as it slipped into place beside them. Mato commented on the wiya who steered in the back and recognized the costume as the one Wals had worn both times he had traveled back into the past.

  Once the canoe was floating free from the confines of the wooden dock, Mato was told to watch and do what the cast member in the front was doing. Amused by the simplicity of the lesson the guide gave, Mato looked around at the thick trees that made up the interior of Frontierland, finally pleased to be back in the area that was familiar to him. Once the brief lesson in how to paddle was over, the guests were invited to begin rowing.

  “Finally,” Mato muttered under his breath.

  The canoe suddenly shot forward in the water. The guide in the front glanced back, curious to see who was actually paddling. Most guests made feeble efforts, soon tiring and then would sit back to enjoy the ride their guides had to provide. Smiling at the broad shoulders and determined look on Mato’s face, he quickly turned back and matched the energetic guest stroke for stroke. The sternsman gave a war whoop as their canoe flew past another canoe that had left the dock minutes before theirs. A couple of the other passengers onboard got into the spirit of things and the canoe almost skidded around the next bend in the river.

  Mato didn’t lessen his pace all the way around the Rivers of America. He had seen the sights when he had first arrived with Wals. Lance finally had to tell him to stop paddling as they neared the canoe dock almost too fast. The cast member in back had to both steer and backpaddle to slow them down for the proper, sedate approach.

  “Gosh, I’ve never gotten around that fast!” gushed one of the female guests in front as she eyed Mato with appreciation.

  “Good thing the Mark Twain was already docked.” The sternsman changed places with the next set of guides who had been yelling and encouraging the canoe when they had shot around the final bend. “I don’t think we could have stopped in time.”

  “Mato, that was supposed to be fun.” Lance had to rub his sore arms as he put their paddles back in the wooden bins.

  “That was fun!” Mato broke out into a wide grin as they exited the ride, looking pleased with himself for the first time in days. “What next, little one?” He turned to Peter who was wiping water off of his face.

  “Want to go see Uncle Wals on Casey Jr.?” Lance suggested before Peter could reply.

  “No! I wanna go on Splash Mountain! We’re already wet.” To make his point, he held out his arms so the water could run off them.

  “The line’s too long.” Lance pulled him off to the side, away from Mato. “I don’t think Mato would like to wait that long.”

  “Use your pass. You do it with Mom.”

  Lance stared at the innocent-looking boy. “You aren’t really six, are you?” He gave Peter a half-smile.

  “Can I have some popcorn? I’m hungry.”

  “We just had lunch at the Rainforest Café,” where, again, Lance had been glad Mato wasn’t armed when the gorilla suddenly came to life, angrily growling and shaking the tree next to their table.

  “That was hours ago.” The boy wasn’t done with his argument and tried to use his big green eyes to his advantage in swaying his father.

  Lance gave a loud laugh as they headed for the exit of Splash Mountain. “You are dealing with the master, my boy! That look won’t work on me. I perfected it!”

  As they reached the continually-moving loading ramp, Lance asked Peter if he wanted to ride the very back seat that held two people, rather than the single seats that ran down the middle of the “carved log” ride vehicle.

  “Sheesh, I’m not a baby, Dad.”

  Mato recognized the tone of voice. His son regularly used it on him as well. He gave Lance a knowing look as they exchanged smiles.

  Mato, of course, didn’t know the backstory of the log ride, but seemed entertained by the bouncing, singing animals that inhabited the sides of the flume, plus he was intrigued by the fact that the ride didn’t need paddles for the log to advance in the water. As their vehicle bounced and slid through the moving current, taking them higher and higher with a series of ramps, he wasn’t sure what to expect when the log seemed to stop in midair and there was nothing to see in front of them except the distant Park. The log tilted downward and he gave an excited, surprised yell as they flew down the sharp incline and splashed into the pool at the bottom. Reverting to Lakota, he yelled back to Lance that that was fun and was better than running the rapids at home.

  Having no way to know what Mato had just said, Lance took the wide smile on his face as an indication that he really liked it. As they shook the water out of their hair, Mato now expectantly looked to see what was next. This day at Disneyland had just gotten more interesting.

  “Big Thunder! Big Thunder! Big Thunder!” Peter chanted as he danced around the two men, leaving wet footprints wherever he stepped.

  Recognizing those words from something Wals had said when they had traveled to Rainbow Ridge, Mato indicated that was fine with him.

  “Okay, Big Thunder it is.” Lance smiled as Peter led the way out of Critter Country, bypassing the laid-back Winnie the Pooh ride. Lance idly wondered how Mato would have liked the Heffalumps and Woozles scene.

  Peter chose to sit with Uncle Mato, leaving Lance by himself in the car behind. He saw Mato closely scrutinizing the small buildings that formed the backdrop of the ride queue, Rainbow Ridge. Wals had described their trek and what the remnants of the small mining town of the past had looked like, and Lance wondered how much Mato actually recognized. Supposed to be a runaway train, there was no engineer in the cab as the train started with a jerk and quickly turned into the dark cave filled with bats and colored pools of water. Up they went toward a waterfall that split in half to allow the riders a safe, dry passage. Peter whooped as the train veered to the right and went into a hairpin curve. The brave next to him seemed fascinated by the mining equipment and animals lining the tracks as the train dipped and curved through the red-streaked rocks. He started laughing at the double, looping curve the train made after passing a goat oddly chewing on a stick of dynamite. He was still laughing when the train splashed down next to the dinosaur bones and sedately chugged past Rainbow Ridge and back into the station.

  “I wanna go again!” Peter jumped up and down, adrenaline coursing through him.

  “Me, too!” Mato grinned.

  “We’ll have to come back later. It’s too busy to take a second trip just now.”

  “Aww,” echoed Peter and Mato.

  Lance hid his grin as he led them off of the wooden train platform and back to the textured concrete thoroughfare of Frontierland. He had the distinct feeling he had created a roller-coaster monster in Mato. “Let’s go say hi to Uncle Wals.”

  That took the exuberant look off of Peter’s face. “We don’t have to ride the canal boats, do we?”

  “He’s on Casey Jr., but no, we don’t. I was thinking Mr. Toad or Peter Pan might be interesting for Mato.”

  “Space Mountain?” Peter threw out there, hopeful.

  “After we say hi and ride Peter Pan.”

  “’Kay.”

  “’Kay,” Mato echoed as he looked around at the wilderness behind Big Thunder while they walked the back way into Fantasyland. Lance
gave him a moment to stare into the green depths of the empty Bear Lake, the tunnel overhead that would have led to Nature’s Wonderland boarded over. The turkeys received a second look as they passed by the Big Thunder Ranch. Lance didn’t think his explanation of the Presidential Pardon each year at Thanksgiving would have much meaning for the brave at this point in time. “Supper?” Mato asked, pointing at the large, white birds.

  Lance glanced at his watch. These two were putting his prodigious hunger to shame! “Soon.”

  “That means later, when he feels like it,” Peter whispered to his new best friend.

  “I know,” Mato whispered back. “I say the same to my son, too.”

  Peter nodded sagely and smiled the smile of the long-suffering.

  As they continued walking toward the barbecue restaurant, Mato spied something else familiar. Walking away from his companions, his head tilted up, he circled the last vestiges of Nature’s Wonderland—two natural rock arches tinted with the familiar yellow and red stripes of the region. Wals had made the arduous, dangerous climb to the top of one of those peaks—much to Mato’s annoyance at the delay—and had almost gotten bit by a rattlesnake. Now the remnants of those arches were only a few feet taller than his head. He ran a thoughtful hand over the warm rock as the changes between their two worlds that Wolf had told them about over the years suddenly made more sense.

  Emitting a shoulder-raising sigh as they entered Fantasyland, Peter knew he wasn’t going to get to the Space Mountain roller coaster or the Buzz Lightyear target-shooting ride any time soon. Mato noticed the instant crush of more people and especially more children in this noisy, colorful area. It hadn’t been this bad when they had emerged from the back of the Castle. He grabbed an apple off of a snack cart as he walked by, and Lance had to hurry back to pay for it when he saw Mato munching away.