Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Stagecoaches and Indians

The first image is one of the Yellowstone Coaches used for a short period on the Disneyland Stagecoach lines. The bright yellow color and great graphic lettering along with an interior open air ride appears to be much nicer than the usual Stagecoach ride. I would believe the use of these coaches was stopped due to their minimal capacity.

For comparison is this image of the Knott's Berry Farm Stagecoach with multiple riders on top. The ride on top I am sure is a much more thrilling ride than in the Yellowstone coach.

Of course in every theme park there was a villain to the ride just to make it more entertaining. From Knott's Berry Farm are two of the Indians who would attack the stagecoach.

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7 comments:

  1. Major Pepperidge7:06 AM

    Nice shot of the Yellowstone Coach. I guess the low capacity is the only explanation that makes sense, because it is a great looking vehicle!

    Great Knott's pix too, that closeup portrait of the indian almost looks like a hand-tinted photo from yesteryear.

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  2. Vintage Disneyland Tickets7:45 AM

    Ah ha! There it is!!!! When I posted this a few weeks ago:

    http://bp1.blogger.com/_3jV5FcVqpE8/SES55gwVsYI/AAAAAAAAB94/jrSqeyHz_08/s1600-h/page3.jpg

    I had no idea what that coach looked like or its color, now I know! Thanks for this great photo!

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  3. Chris Jepsen9:27 AM

    I believe the head-and-shoulders shot of the Indian is of the ironically named James "Osapana" Whiteman. He was really the whitest-looking of Knott's "Indians."

    I didn't know the Indians used to attack the stage. In my memories and in the older photos I've seen, the stage was robbed by outlaws with bandanas and western hats. They'd demand that everyone hand over their money.

    Does anyone remember what the Indians' routine was?

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  4. Anonymous9:38 AM

    Before attacking, the 2nd Indian's routine was to first perform "YMCA"
    followed by a rousing rendition of "In the Navy".

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  5. outsidetheberm9:43 AM

    Hmmm... have never seen evidence of indian attacks on the stagecoach at Knott's - unless this was a very short lived skit. You might have a very rare image there, if that's the case.
    All the 'attacks' we have record of here were performed by masked robbers or outlaws.
    The bottom slide may not have been taken at Knott's.

    Good stuff!

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  6. Matterhorn19597:25 AM

    Ken and Chris- the slides were found together. The one of the Indian on the horse is not marked Knott's like the other slides but is in the same mount. I just made the logical assumption that the Indians harrassed the stagecoach. I remember the bad guys robbing the trains but don't remember any bad guys robbing the stagecoach. I will admit I did not ride the stagecoach very often as a kid.

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  7. Anonymous11:17 PM

    I had that exact table on the CotS vessel. I miss the skull rock ALOT.

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