Greetings, Babes In Disneyland readers! ‘Tis I, Mike, a former Disneyland Jungle Cruise skipper and now the proprietor of a cobwebbed corner of the internet known as “Jungle is 101 ,” at your service and here today for your edification as a guest blogger. Thanks, Lisa!
For “Fun Fact Friday,” I thought we would go to the spot in the Park where Dumbo now sits in Fantasyland and spin back the clock to my era—the 1980s—Fall of 1981, to be exact.
In the days before the New Fantasyland debuted in 1983, “old” Fantasyland had Captain Hook’s proud vessel floating in its mid-section. The ship, last known as Captain Hook’s Galley, was a counter-service restaurant location. For many years it was known as the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant. Not far from its bow, and nestled alongside Monstro the whale at the entrance to Storybookland, was Skull Rock Cove, with its signature rock feature and flowing waterfalls. Between the pirate ship and the tracks of Casey Jr. Circus Train was a seating area with tables and pirate-sail shade covers (see photos in attached article). One could access this area either through the pirate ship or walking through a tunnel behind Skull Rock.
Skull Rock stood in the general area where the ride operator’s control booth is located at the Dumbo attraction of today. Sadly, there’s no hint of the old pirate ship or Skull Rock, though Disney’s Imagineers managed to create a tribute to this area at the Disneyland Hotel’s Never Land Pool.
Today’s Fun Fact is that the Dumbo attraction in modern Fantasyland sits pretty much in the middle of what used to be the lagoon for Skull Rock cove. In order to give you a glimpse of what was there before, we turn to the pages of Disney News magazine from the Fall 1981 issue and journey to “Peter Pan Country.” The article’s opening page-wide photograph of Skull Rock is colorful and gives you the flavor of what this area used to look like. The article gives a bit of the history of the old pirate ship and its restaurant iterations. The pirate ship was demolished in 1982 in order to make way for the new Fantasyland.
While we cannot order seafood at Captain Hook’s Galley any more, that does not stop us from sampling a bit of nostalgia when as we venture into Fantasyland. So here’s to old Skull Rock and Captain Hook’s Galley, may they always live on in our memories!
***I would like to thank Mike for the AWESOME Fun Fact Friday guest post. Mike’s blog, Jungle is 101 is great and a must for all Disneyland fans. –Lisa***
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wow, how interesting! i never knew about this, and have never seen any of those images. it looked really great, too bad it is gone. it would have been better to have left it there, and add fantasy land somewhere else. the ship looked giant! what a shame. thanks for sharing this!