It’s All in the Details: Big Thunder Mountain Imagineers

One of the things you’ll hear me or any of the podcast hosts talk about is how important it is to soak in your environment when you are in Walt Disney World.  It’s All in the Details.  No matter where you are, from the high profile lobby of a hotel to the back and forth cutbacks of a 45-minute line for an attraction, it’s all in the details.  Disney Imagineers have always given us those great Easter Eggs to keep you looking around, but in the last 10-15 years, they have reached another plateau in hotel/attraction extras.

On our last trip to WDW this past November, we did something we don’t often do and that is to get in the stand-by line of Big Thunder Mountain.  We usually do the Fast-pass on this attraction so this was a nice change up.  We had not seen the new additions to the queue and there were many.

As I was reviewing my pictures when I got back home, I came across this one.  This is the Fusing Cage in the WDW Big Thunder queue.  Whenever there is a list of names like this you can be sure it’s gonna be dedications to people that were important to either the attraction or the actual Imagineers themselves.  This is the part of what keeps me going between park visits.  I love the mystery and the history.  For these men and women, who have mostly past, it is worth the time for me to put this post together as a tribute to these very talented individuals who have brought us such great experiences.

Little Big Gibson: Blaine Gibson is best known as the master sculptor at the Disney Company.  After all, he is responsible for a lot of the animatronic faces we are so used to seeing around the parks.  The presidents in Hall of presidents were mostly done by him and you can’t shake a cutlass without hitting a Gibson creation in Pirates.  Blaine actually started with the Disney company very early on as an inbetweener artist.  He worked on most of the major releases up to 101 Dalmatians. From then on it was more of the real world(parks and sculpting)…kinda.

Jolley the Kid:  Bob Jolley started at Walt Disney Studios and moved to Imagineering in 1973.  Bob worked on Big Thunder Mountain (BTM) in Disneyland and was a great resource and mentor for Tony Baxter who was leading the BTM team in his first project.  Jolley also was the Field Art Director for World Showcase.  His specialty was aging and graining sets and buildings.  He made them look real.

Buckaroo Burke:  Pat Burke worked on the four Big Thunder Mountains at DL, WDW MK, TDL and DLP but also on Indiana Jones Adventure, the different versions of Splash mountain, on Tokyo Disney Sea Cape Cod and American Waterfront. Pat is really endeared himself to Disneyland Paris fans.  He can be credited with bringing the town of Thunder Mesa to life and made it a magical place.

Calamity Clem: Clem Hall was a very talented Artist.  He completed artwork that you will recognize from Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Railroad.  Also, if you’ve been to the American Adventure at Epcot, you have seen a lot of his art work in the waiting area of that attraction.  Wonderful creations.

Skittish Skip: Oscar Walter Skip Lange Jr. was and imagineer with the Disney Co. and started in 1970.  He was titled as a Dimensional Designer which in english means he worked on anything that you could touch.  He made what was fake look realistic and he excelled.  Skip worked all over the world in the various Disney Parks and was respected by all.

Wild Wolf Joerger: Fred Joerger was one of the original three Model Makers picked by Walt

in 1953 who would later, as a group, be known as Imagineering.   Fred created the model for Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland.  He also made 3D renderings that were used to build Main St., the Jungle Cruise, the Matterhorn and so much more.  He was known for rockwork in the attractions.

Matchstick Marc:  Marc Davis, like so many other Disney Imagineers, worked in animation from early on as an animator and then as a animation director.  Davis joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1961 and remained there until his retirement in 1978. He developed story and character concepts for numerous attractions including the New York World’s Fair shows; “Country Bear Jamboree”, “Haunted Mansion”, “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln”, “Jungle Cruise”

“Nature’s Wonderland”, “The Enchanted Tiki Room”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “America Sings”.  For Big Thunder, Marc was asked by Roy Disney to create something that exceeded anything WDI had developed at that point in its history. Additionally, Davis was instructed to create something “like” Pirates of the Caribbean, yet completely different. It was to be designed as a boat ride, make greater use of audio-animatronics, but with a different story.  And we know how that turned out.  A boat ride, huh?

Mama Hutchinson: Helena Hutchinson worked in the figure finishing department at Imagineering since the mid-1960s and worked on every attraction they did from Pirates of the Caribbean on up until she retired in the 1990s. She was the resident fur expert and was especially good with difficult figures that had a lot of animation.

So the moral to this story is that almost everything on display at any Disney park is open for the Easter Egg challenge.  Wherever you are from any of the bathrooms in the parks to your favorite attraction, make sure you look around at everything.  More than likely you’re on line or waiting for someone anyway, so put that time to good use and look around.  Then, share what you find.

If you want to plan a research trip to look into all of these details, check out prices to Walt Disney World at Once Upon A Time Travel, they are the official travel agents for The Disney Nerds Podcast!  Don’t forget, they are free to use.