My Disneyland Bucket List - Item #7

You learn something new about Disneyland every day. Well, maybe not every day, but there seems to be no shortage of new things to stumble upon going on at the park. I've written before about how I am a fan of the little petting zoo at Big Thunder Ranch. It's charming and great for kids. The goats and other animal residents make me smile and smiling is what Disneyland is all about.

So I knew that the goats reside at the petting zoo during the day. I knew their permanent home was back in the friendly confines of Circle D ranch which is behind Frontierland. What I did not know until a little while ago is that every day about 4 pm there is a very minor event affectionately known as "The Running of Goats" - Disneyland's takeoff on the Running of the Bulls annual event in Pamplona Spain (complete with human carnage).

At 4 pm, the Petting Zoo handlers herd the goats up to the gate then open the gate and let the little rascals make a made dash off to the Circle D Ranch. There are a couple of short YouTube videos below to show the goats sprinting back to their home. And as of today, it's something I really want to see perhaps just once. The Running of the Goats is officially on my Disneyland Bucket List. I do not believe there have any humans trampled during this event.

Does Disneyland Need A Petting Zoo?

Name Me - A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Disney Parks Blog posted a photo of its newest edition to its petting zoo located at Big Thunder Ranch in Disneyland's Frontierland. This weekend they are holding a contest to name the cute little critter. A petting zoo in Disneyland? What's that all about?

The Big Thunder petting zoo is hardly a must do on anyone's check-off list with a trip to Disneyland. Its small and the animals contained in the pen are primarily comprised of docile goats and sheep. But they are cute and exhibit a bit personality as they look for a quiet spot to chill out only to be pursued by children with little outstretched hands who want to touch them. Sometimes they get into a bit of  mischief but always under the careful watch of their Circle D Ranch handlers. Circle D Ranch is Disneyland's backstage location used for the care of all park animals.

My encounter with the animals is pretty much limited to when Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I have a bit of wait to get into the Big Thunder Ranch Bar-B-Que (which is seldom a long wait). Of course, we don't actually go in the pen as it really is pretty much an activity geared to small children but its a very pleasant little diversion to watch the kids have fun with the animals and I kinda think down deep, the animals don't mind getting the attention as well.

Does Disneyland need a petting zoo? Of course not but it is one of those things that gives the park such a pleasant atmosphere - literally something for everyone. It brings a bit of joy and diversion to kids that are probably having the time of their lives. Chasing a goat just adds to the list.

Note: During Christmas, the petting zoo in converted into the Reindeer Round-up complete with Santa Claus. Reindeer - they're a bit larger than the goats.

More photos from the Big Thunder petting zoo (while waiting for lunch).

The Majestic Horses of Disneyland's Main St.

Take One:  Many years ago, I used to carpool with someone who kept a horse on a rural piece of property a few minutes off our carpool route.  A few times she asked me if I would mind if we could stop on the way home to see the horse who was getting up in years and actually no longer rideable.  Now I'm an inner city kid who moved to suburbs as a teenager.  Horses were kind of foreign to me.  I really hadn't seen very many up close and personal.  Man that horse was big but it was also quite friendly and loved visitors. But it was the eyes, those big soulful eyes that had my heart melting.  So hard to describe, I'll never forget it.

Take Two:  Again many years ago, the Rolling Stones, Mick and Keith, wrote a song called Beast of Burden.  Of course, the song was written about people in a relationship of sorts but its one of those songs that just kind of sticks in your head and surfaces every once in awhile.

Take Three:  Arriving at Disneyland first thing in the morning right after opening, you can see the cast member attendant and driver of the horse drawn streetcars that parade up and down Main Street pull one of the majestic horses out from behind a gate by the firehouse to begin the morning's service.  What a beautiful animal.  As an adult, I kind of made a vow to myself that I wasn't going to let one of these glorious creatures drag my sorry behind around Disneyland.  That horse was not going to be my "beast of burden".

Someone I work with now is a horse person.  She owns 7 of them and rides competitively in endurance events.  We don't specifically talk about horses because, even now, it is subject that I'm not really familiar with but over the last few years I've gained enough information from her to know that horses really kinda of like having something to do.  They can get bored.  So the horses that go up and down Main St. might actually like it.  

I actually think the Disneyland horses (I don't know the breed, sorry) have a pretty good life.  Main St. vehicles (all of 'em) only run up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  They are done when people start getting lined up to watch the afternoon parade.  And if you watch closely, the horses get rotated fairly regularly so its not the same horse doing the streetcar pulling for hours on end.  They get to go back to their comfy home at Disneyland's Circle D Ranch, a first rate animal facility just outside the park where I am sure they are well, well taken care of.  One day I was partaking in one of my favorite Disneyland pastimes - a cruise around the Rivers of America on the Mark Twain.  I know the recorded schpiel by heart.  So I glanced over at the Indian village and almost shockingly I saw a horse doing a little running in pen tucked up behind the village.  It took me by surprise at first, was it an advanced animatronic?  No, it was just one of the Main St. horses out having a nice time for himself.

I'm still not going to get in a Main St. horse drawn streetcar.  No, I'm sticking with my conviction of not letting that animal drag my rear end up Main St.  He's not going to be a beast of burden to me but the reality of it is - he's probably got a pretty good life with a lot less stress, worries, and fears than my own

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Disneyland and the Lucky Ducks

Disneyland has hundreds of duck residents, maybe thousands. You see them everywhere. They really like it down on the Rivers of America and the Hungry Bear Restaurant. What's not to like? - water, shade, and abundant food scraps. You see ducks in the moat around the castle and the ponds that separate the entrances to Adventureland and Frontierland. Sometimes you just see them wandering the streets.

A duck in Disneyland? Not a bad life. They probably enjoy their stay in the park as much as any guest and they don't need hundred dollar bills and credit cards to get in. Of course the can't get into any of the indoor shows but I'm sure their parade views are spectacular. They can't get on rides but you're a duck, you can fly. If you can fly, do really need to get on a ride for a thrill? It's gotta be a pretty good life for a Disneyland duck. There is some competition for food, but I doubt that any of them starve. And you do have to make a run for it once in awhile trying to escape the clutching arms of a 3 year old.

One of the memorable sights of my last trip to the park was early morning in Fantasyland by the Tea Cups. A mother duck was walking around with 3 baby ducklings that were probably out walking around for the first time. They were really, really little. Rather than seeing the baby ducks get trampled under foot, 3 Disney cast members circled around the mother duck and her family and protected them in their early morning stroll. Eventually, I think they made it of the The Storybookland Canal where they probably call home. I'm sure 3 Disney cast members had better things to do but on this morning, nothing was more important to them than to see a family of ducks have a good time too.