A Look at Two Different Frontiers

Here's something to brighten your gloomy Monday morning: two different images of Frontierland from my photo library, one taken during a beautiful Southern California day at Disneyland and the other during an overcast morning at Disneyland Paris. Both pictures show the Mark Twain, but in California the boat travels clockwise around the Rivers of America and in Paris the boat travels counter-clockwise around the Rivers of the Far West. One photo was taken a hop, skip and a jump from the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square. The other was taken facing toward Phantom Manor (seen looming ominously in the distance).

At Disneyland Paris, Frontierland (known as Thunder Mesa, in an homage to Marc Davis' Western River Expedition) is the largest land, taking up around one-third of the park. Frontierland in Disneyland is much smaller, sharing the shores of the Rivers of America with New Orleans Square and Critter Country. In fact, the most notable Frontierland landmark in the Disneyland photo is a speck near the Mark Twain that happens to be the legendary Golden Horseshoe.

What's one thing the two locations have in common (besides a riverboat named Mark Twain)? Lots of ducks.