Story by Dan Stark
Editor’s note: Last week we featured the second part of a series of stories from Alumni Dan Stark about his time as a Cast Member and more at Disneyland, in particular his time at the Circle D Pony Farm where he came up with the idea that eventually became Big Thunder Ranch. You can read that story at this link on the club’s blog.This is the final installment in the series.
Once the Big Thunder Ranch project was approved and moving forward, what was then called Participant Affairs (they developed sponsorships) contacted me and wanted to discuss who we could get to sponsor it. Consequently, I gave them a comprehensive list of animal-related companies that they could pitch to.
They called me and said as they didn’t know anything about feed, animal supplies, etc., I would need to work directly with them on the pitches, which entailed numerous meetings with potential sponsors. This alone was an education in and of itself and that experience has served me well as I’ve used that knowledge in various other career roles.
Public Relations let me know that the Disney Channel, then in its nascent stage, wanted me to do some periodic updates on the project. I had already been asked by Disneyland PR to do occasional print, radio and TV interviews about our horses whenever they went out on press junkets, so this wasn’t a problem. But as this was the Disney Channel, Disney aficionados were regularly tuning in.
So, when guests came to the Park, I would have people stop me and say they recognized me from TV. I found that funny, as I just don’t recognize anybody that’s in film or TV, so it just didn’t click with me why anyone would recognize me. (As an aside, when I was a ride operator I once had Bob Newhart on my Jungle Cruise boat and had to ask who that guy was that was laughing all the way around. He and his family were escorted by a VIP Hostess so I knew he must have been somebody!)
However, I guess someone at the Studio had heard about this new project or saw a clip on the Disney Channel while the project was under construction. About a month or so from opening, I received an urgent call from Security to come over to the Administration building. They said for me to pick up the keys to one of their station wagons and take a couple of VIPs to see the construction site.
When I walked into the Security office, this couple dressed casually in boots and jeans stood up and introduced themselves. It seems that the Vice Chairman of the Board, Roy E. Disney, had made an unannounced visit to the Park with his wife and asked me for a tour of the new area.
As you can imagine, this created quite a stir, but Roy was very pleasant and asked not to have an entourage escort them. They had heard, and seen, some of the updates on the project and wanted to come and see it, even though it was not quite finished.
Unbeknownst to me, they loved horses and we had a nice visit. They liked all of the vintage pictures in the cabin and commented on the picture of Walt Disney riding a horse with Fess Parker, in his Davy Crockett garb, in Frontierland on opening day.
Two days after this tour, I received a call from Participant Affairs in Burbank telling me they had signed a sponsor. I replied, “Great, who is it? Purina, Farnham or who?” He told me it was none of those. It was a company called Central Soya, an Ag company based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which only did business in the Midwest. He also told me that I needed to get on a plane as soon as possible and head to Fort Wayne to speak to their executives.
I told him that I was not familiar with this company and, although pleased they wanted to sponsor the attraction, I was just curious to know why? If they don’t do business west of the Mississippi it seemed to not make any sense that they would want to sponsor this attraction.
His response was that Central Soya was owned by Shamrock Holdings; a private equity company, owned by Roy E. Disney. He said that Roy and his wife were so impressed with the project, he decided to personally sponsor the attraction and did it through one of his family’s private companies.
So, Big Thunder Ranch became the “Home to the Happiest Horses on Earth” sponsored by Central Soya. Frank Wells came to the ribbon cutting and sent me a very nice personal note thanking me for my efforts and how much he enjoyed the attraction.
Ironically, when the decision was made to finally close it and take the area for Star Wars some 30 years later, leave it to Disneyland to track somebody down. Tom Meslovich in Cast Communications, whom I had worked with on the Jungle Cruise, contacted me.
He asked if I would be willing to fly down for the day, mic me up, follow me around with a camera, and talk about the history of the area. They wanted to document things about the old backstage Pony Farm/Circle D, which was just then in the process of moving off property to Norco, and give some background on Big Thunder Ranch, He also wanted to get memories about the Pack Mules and the Mine Train, both of which I had previously worked.
So, I got it scheduled. It was a bittersweet day, since Big Thunder Ranch was in its last week of operation. I walked them around the old Pack Mule trail up by the falls, talked about the Mine Train and pointed out some of the features from those attractions that Walt Disney Imagineering had left in place when they designed Big Thunder Ranch, although that area had changed significantly over the years. It was a great treat to be able to do this and then to be hosted to one of the last BBQ lunches at its restaurant.
July 13th, 2022