Brer Fox of the Caribbean

Here I am with Brer Fox at his favorite place to hang out at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Florida back in 1990. Yes, Brer Fox from Song of the South loved to spend the afternoon in Adventureland at the entrance of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

In this picture, I am wearing a Splash Mountain shirt from Disneyland (which I still have). Disneyland's Splash Mountain opened at that park's Critter Country (formerly called Bear Country) in 1989.

I was absolutely obsessed with Splash Mountain, and the Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear characters associated with the ride. I was very excited to get a picture with Brer Fox here.

Splash Mountain did not open at Walt Disney World in Florida in the Magic Kingdom's Frontierland until 1992, so Brer Fox felt free to roam around wherever he pleased before the attraction debuted.

You can see an animatronic parrot wearing a Pirate hat in this picture (he's under the Pirates of the Caribbean sign). He's no longer there--when the attraction was updated to tie in to the recent hit films, he was removed (he moved to the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney).

A Little Off Model

Here are pictures from Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1986. I'm sporting an Epcot 83 shirt (it had been my brother's, and I'm aware that it is a little snug on me). Anyway, I'm posing with Alice in Wonderland's White Rabbit and Tigger (and for the record, I'm not related to any of the other people in these pictures---the place was just mobbed, and Meet N' Greets weren't even a glimmer in a Disney Executive's eye yet).

OK, this has bugged me for years. Who approved this White Rabbit costume? The clothes look right, but the head looks nothing like the character. It looks like a white version of Thumper with a black nose. Maybe I just answered my own question---they may have gone the cheap route and just altered a Thumper costume. At any rate, they have the costume looking on-model these days. And the old White Rabbit costume is what they use for their Easter Bunny and Mrs. Easter Bunny.

Then there's Tigger. Tigger only has a black nose at the theme parks. The answer to this riddle is in the picture---Tigger's black nose features mesh eye/air holes so the poor soul inside can see the possible abuse some little rugrat is about to inflict. Does the current costume have these holes in the nose? If not, maybe they should think about addressing the color. Nitpicking, I know!

Check out the stylin' Epcot shirt seen in the Tigger picture. I love the 80s.

Mini Winnie the Pooh Zoo Crew

These little articulated rubbery PVC figures of the old school Winnie the Pooh costume characters were part of a Magic Kingdom playset collection at Sears in the late 1980s. These figures are small (about 2 inches tall) and rather cheaply made, but the likenesses of the characters is pretty much spot-on. This set was only available through the Sears Catalog, and included Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Cinderella. There was a big Main Street set you could get with Mickey and Minnie, too. This collection, like many Sears items at the time, was not very popular and not made very well.

But I love these little figures, and the costumes they are based on.