Comics References in the Disney Parks

As a sequel to the last post, here are some more theme park attractions that reference Duck comics.

This won't be a comprehensive list, just a few interesting items. Starting with...

Camp Woodchuck Kitchen - Tokyo Disneyland

What better place to start than the location of the subject of my last post? Honestly, the entire restaurant is a Duck comic reference, but let's take a look at a few specific examples.

Map of the Black Forest

This map, which can be found hanging on the wall of the restaurant, charts nothing less than Duckburg's famous Black Forest, a common fixture of the comics since the days of the great Carl Barks.

But that's not the only reference the map has to offer. If you look to the top-right corner, you'll see old Mount Demontooth (here called "Demontooth Mountain"), which first appeared in the 1948 Barks story The Golden Christmas Tree, and later made an arguably-more-famous appearance as the setpiece of 1953's Mastering the Demontooth.

The mountain also appeared in Don Rosa's 1994 story The Invader of Fort Duckburg, where it can be seen on a map of Calisota (the state in which Duckburg is located) in roughly the same place in relation the the Black Forest that the Camp Woodchuck Kitchen map shows it to be.

 

Mudhen Lake, meanwhile, first appeared in 1954's A Fishy Business, also by Carl Barks.

And New Fort Duckburg is none other than the rebuilt Fort Drakeborough, which was first referenced in passing in 1956's Migrating Millions. The Fort's reconstruction was chronicled in 1997's W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N..

What of Precipice Peak? Well, the perilously tall mountain is from a 1960 Bob Gregory story, A Sticky Situation.

And finally, Pickpocket Peak is the home of the Tri-Crested Tittertwill in 1988's Assignment Birdwatch, by John Antrobus and Dave Angus.

And that's everything from the map of the Black Forest - but it's not all that the restaurant has when it comes to comic references!

The Tailpin Ceremony

This painting can be found on the wall of the Kitchen alongside the map, and, also like the map, has its own share of references.

First off, the most obvious: the Tailpin Ceremony itself, at which a Woodchuck becomes an Exalted Hightail, one of the highest ranks of the organization, is from the 1953 Carl Barks tale My Lucky Valentine.

Of course, in the story itself, Donald is very much not present for the ceremony - he's busy pushing his way through a snowstorm to deliver a letter that he'd really rather not. And Daisy is at her home, having a letter delivered. But maybe HD&L were only giving the title during the events of the story, and the official ceremony was held late.

And now, onto the characters. Watching from the background, we see Doofus and Webby from DuckTales (not comic references, exactly, but still references to Duck lore), and a few others.

First, there's a pigfaced lad at the far left, who appears to be the recurring Woodchuck character Lardello from the Italian comics.

(The outfits worn by the Woodchucks are clearly inspired by the Italian outfits rather than the Barks-created ones, by the way - just look at those green shirts, red neckerchiefs, and yellow-diamonded Woodchuck caps.)

And one over from the far right is another familiar face - Newton Gearloose, Gyro's nephew created by Vic Lockman in 1965, who's been a recurring comic character ever since!

The Woodchuck Guidebook

'

The most famous fixture of the Junior Woodchucks in the comics, the Guidebook has appeared in thousands of stories - and here it is, in the flesh (er, paper?)!

This may well be a more specific reference, as well - this is obviously a very old copy of the Guidebook, and that, combined with its green color and the fact that it's being displayed in a case, may prove that it was inspired by the Prototype Guidebook, which appeared in a few Rosa stories.

Now, we're on to....

Mickey's Birthdayland (and whatever else it was called through the years) - Walt Disney World

Well, of course this place had Duck comic references - juts look at the sign that once greeted visitors upon entering the now-closed attraction:

The Clinton Coot Statue

The central landmark of the area was nothing less than Duckburg's famous statue of Clinton Coot, which first appeared in Carl Barks' 1952 story Statuesque Spendthrifts.

That wasn't all the attraction had in terms of references, though.

Here we have Cornelius Coot's County Bounty - which, I would imagine, is meant to be themed as some sort of general store, much like the one Cornelius's son Clinton once owned.

Grandma Duck's Farm

And then, of course, there's Grandma Duck's farm, one of the most common locations of the comics. In the theme park, it was home to Minnie Moo, a Holstein cow with a Mickey Mouse-shaped spot.

For your reading pleasure, here's a tie-in illustrated story (well, more of the reverse of that, really - an illustration accompanied by some text rather than some text illuminated with an illustration):

That about wraps up Mickey's Birthdayland. Let's take a look at one last location!

Il Paperino - Shanghai Disneyland

Yes, it's Il Paperino, an Italian and Donald Duck-themed ice cream restaurant in the Shanghai Disneyland theme park.

Paperino is, of course, Donald's Italian name - and the font on the sign there is the same as (or at least very similar to) the one used on the covers of the Italian comic books.

Donald Duck's Fore-feathers

Looking inside the restaurant, we find a painting which is very interesting to a comics fan:

Here it is - Donald Duck's Fore-feathers!

Now, this tree features a few characters from the comics - Hortense and Quackmore:

And Elvira and Humperdink (called Dabney in the image below - this was changed in later printings):

... but perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the new ancestors it introduces - sure to hold a place on any Duck family tree (they're definitely on mine!).

Well, I suppose that nicely finishes up this post! Let's end things with a rhyme:

He founded what!?

Quiet - Rare Bird Nesting!

 A funny-looking bird with blue-green feathers and an extravagant hairstyle can be seen at Camp Woodchuck Kitchen, a restaurant in the Tokyo Disneyland theme park:

Yes, it's the Tri-Crested Tittertwill. But where exactly did it come from? You might think that it was created for the park, as so many characters are - but you'd be wrong. No, the Tittertwill actually showed up long before - in 1988, as a matter of fact!

So, where did the bird make its debut? In a comic by John Antrobus, Dave Angus, and famed Duck comic artist Vicar (Víctor José Arriagada Ríos).

In the story, titled Assignment Birdwatch (also printed as Protective Cacophony), Huey, Dewey, and Louie (high-ranking Junior Woodchucks all) are tasked with guarding a rare bird - you guessed it, the Tri-Crested Tittertwill - mostly by keeping the area where it's made its nest quiet.

Sound familiar?

As a matter of fact, that very sign appears in the comic story, nearly identical to the one that can be seen in the park:

And how about the bird itself?

Not quite identical, you say? True... but this is a female Tittertwill, you see, while the animatronic we see in the park is male. And how do we know this?

There she is!

So... how exactly did this obscure creature from one little-known comic become such an important character in a park attraction? I... don't really know for certain, although I'll hazard a guess below.

First, though, an interesting thing to note is that, although this comic was originally published in Danish and has since been printed in many other languages in addition to the English translation, the designers working on Camp Woodchuck Kitchen were clearly working from the English version.

How do we know? Well, for one thing, the name "Tri-Crested Tittertwill" itself comes from the English version of the comic and is not used in the others - in the German printing, for example, the bird is referred to as a rare type of vulture. And the identical "Quiet!" sign is another giveaway.

Also, as can be seen on the sign above, "Garckle", "Graak", and "Gickle-Geek" are all among the calls of the Tittertwill- and all of them are used exclusively in the English version of the comic.

And the mountain upon which the Tittertwill lives is called Pickpocket Peak in the English version - and, as you'll see in the map featured on the sign above, that is indeed listed as the home of Tri-Crested Tittertwill.

That map contains many other continuity references to Duck comics, as well. Which means that someone who worked on Camp Woodchuck was probably a fan, which might explain exactly they happened upon this story, and why the Tittertwill holds such a place of prominence in the attraction.

Consider the Woodchuck theming of the book pictured up above. A Duck comic fan working on a Woodchuck-themed attraction would be likely to seek out one of the many Duck comics about the Woodchucks for reference. And wouldn't that particular book seem like an obvious choice? A distinctive creature like the Tittertwill which featured therein would probably have been picked out as a good choice to use in the attraction.

I wouldn't be surprised if that book was one of the primary reference materials used while creating the Kitchen. And Assignment Birdwatch's inclusion therein likely led to the Tittertwill's current status as mascot of Camp Woodchuck Kitchen.

That's the tale of the origins of the Tri-Crested Tittertwill - and if anyone has any other information on the subject, I'd love to hear it! There may be more to the story.

And, speaking once again of that fabled bird, I suppose I should let it end this entry with a final word.

Tittertwill?

Lovely!

Introduction

Welcome! On this blog I'll try to cover a varied array of interesting things relating to Duck comics.