The Grand Canyon Diorama Animals are characters featured in the Grand Canyon Diorama tunnel at the Disney Parks.
Background[]
Most of the animals featured in the Grand Canyon Diorama are animals found in the Grand Canyon in real life. They consist of a diverse group of animals found in Arizona in real life - ranging from mammals, birds, or reptiles. Some of the animals featured in the ride can either appear in more than one while others appear in singular individuals. In addition to the animals featured within the tunnel, the diorama gives guests an experience of what it is like to be in the Grand Canyon encountering animals they never saw before. While most animals are easy to find in the scene, some animals in the ride can be a little hard to see, regardless of what seat the guests are seated in the train such as snakes, rabbits, or even an armadillo, making them almost easy to miss.
Development[]
While the Disneyland Railroad itself opened in 1955, the Grand Canyon Diorama actually opened on March 31, 1958. Before the attraction was added at Disneyland, producer Walt Disney (who was an animal lover as well as having a love of nature) went on a trip to the Grand Canyon at Arizona to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. After Disneyland opened on July 17, Walt felt like that the only thing missing in his park was a grand finale so he went on a trip back to the Grand Canyon as a fitting climax for Disneyland. While creating the Diorama, Walt assigned Claude Coats to research the natural wonders of Arizona and after his trip with many photographs, sketched, and other research materials, Coats created concept art and storyboards for the Diorama.
In addition to the painting made to resemble the Grand Canyon landscape in the diorama, the animals seen through the ride were authentic created through taxidermy and seen in vignettes through the diorama. While Walt accepted the authenticity about Coats' research, he became skeptical about the turkeys being included, which he explained to Coats, "Are you sure about these turkeys?" Before the attraction was finalized, Coats double checked with a park ranger at the Grand Canyon and the Coats assured to Walt that the turkeys were not only amongst the Canyon's wildlife population but also their flocks were increasing, leading the turkeys to be included within the diorama. In addition to the animals added, foliage was also added in the diorama, such as the trunks of the Ponderosa, Jumper, Piñon Pines, and Aspens. "The real pine branches and Aspen trees used in the attraction had to be preserved, flame proofed, and painted," stated Bob Sewell, who contributed with Coats in developing the diorama. "Then, they were hung upside down for a year while they cured, so as not to droop when installed in the exhibit, and have a natural look for years and years." In addition to these plants as well as the animals, the score heard was the "On the Trail" excerpt from the "Grand Canyon Suite", composed by Ferde Grofé in the early 1930s, which was featured in the Grand Canyon short, which in turn was Walt's inspiration for the attraction.[1]
Appearances[]
Grand Canyon Diorama[]
As the train enters the tunnel leading from Tomorrowland to Main Street U.S.A., the train conductor presents the guests the majestic Grand Canyon-themed diorama. Amongst the animals the train passes through are rattlesnakes, deer, porcupines, cougars, eagles, skunks, turkeys, or bighorn sheep.
As of the post-2017 revamp, an animated projection effect showing birds flying around the Grand Canyon was added as part of the Disneyland Railroad at the first part of the diorama.
The Disneyland Paris version of the attraction includes a completely different layout as well as containing different animals and is much shorter than the California version, where the train enters the tunnel leading from Main Street, U.S.A. to Frontierland. Amongst the animals the train passes through are deer, cougars, a bear, skunks, turkeys, coyotes, or pronghorns.
Other appearances[]
Animals mimicking the same pose in the poster illustration of the Grand Canyon Diorama attraction briefly appear in the Mickey Mouse episode "Nature's Wonderland", where Mickey sings a verse about the Grand Canyon. Amongst the animals featured in the shot are an eagle, a cougar, three deer, and two bighorn sheep. They are based on the illustrations of the animals from the attraction poster for the Grand Canyon Diorama at Disneyland in California.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Earlier safety spiels in the Disneyland version in California included the announcer reminding guests not to "scare any animals", prior to being replaced by a Spanish safety spiel at an unknown date, even before the 2017 refurbishment of the Disneyland Railroad.
- Some of the animals seen in the diorama also appeared in the 1958 non-dialogue live-action short, Grand Canyon, which was released in theaters with Sleeping Beauty - although not all of them that appear in the short appear in the diorama. Some of the animals that appear within other than those in both the short and diorama respectively include tarantulas, sidewinders, canyon rats, spotted skunks, or Gila monsters.
- Notably enough, the Grand Canyon Diorama opened months before the Grand Canyon short film was released to the public.
- The armadillo is one of the hardest animals to see in the Grand Canyon Diorama, due to it camouflaging with one of the bighorn sheep at the end of the diorama[2][3]. While armadillos are native to Arizona in real life, armadillos are not native to the real Grand Canyon unlike the one in the Disneyland Railroad.