How I met Chief in super colorful comix form!

True Life Adventure Comics 1 & 2

The amazing tale of the how Chief and I met plus plenty more TRUE stories from the Magic Kingdom!

RATED "R"

Just like real life!

The Last of the Lost?

 I almost typed that this would be the last post for Mesa Verde Times. I'm not going to do that because you never know what'll show up in future as we learned the other day. This blog, folks, has been the absolute highlight of my entire life. I've been through many adventures and many struggles but Mesa Verde Times always comes back to keep me going and so does Ed. 

Most of you have no idea that Ed and I hadn't talked to each other for five years when I started this blog. We had a falling out over something crazy and acted like idiots to one another. I started this blog and then reached out to him to join me in posting this adventure and it healed our friendship. It also galvanised it. I was extremely lucky to gain his friendship back and enjoy his company for a short time before cancer took him away. All because of this grand adventure. 

 Now I'm alone in posting these forgotten pictures but I feel like he's seeing them too and reading my posts from somewhere in the great beyond. I keep expecting the phone to ring and he says "Nice post, Man! That was funny as hell". I keep expecting to see his comments on it shedding more light on the subject. Someday. 

 I'd like to thank every single person who ever read this blog and felt inspired by it. Hell, I'll even thank the people who hated it for giving us fun comments to read. Ed loved to meet people and answer questions about our adventures. He loved to spread the joy of it all. 

You made a hero out of Ed Barlow. You made him feel important as a true Disney fan. A Disney Cult Legend. A title that he was very proud of. I thank every one of you "Last of the Cool People".

- Dave "Hoot Gibson" Ensign

The last Picture of Hoot and Chief

Last batch.....for now

 I know at one point I posted the picture of the Zero G bicycle girl but this pic of Fonz Behind the set was never shared.

Here are the last three. GE Fiber Optic Logo. long turned off. Scuba Class, and Fonz in the Control booth in Mesa Verde.

 Here we have Fonz and myself entering the Space Shuttle scene. You may remember the floating luggage in the lower right corner. 

Anyone would be proud of getting their picture taken in this scene. Just like arriving from Earth on a Space Shuttle. 

Hard to believe that this is all long gone.

 

Lost Mesa Verde Times Part Five

  Check out how Mom is right in the middle of a sentence with her mouth flapping open! Haha. At first it was strange to see these animatronics moving as we touched them but a few times in we didn't even notice anymore. If you feel like wasting hours of your life you can find the footage I was shooting in this picture and match it all up into a coherent timeline. I might get to it when I retire.

 Wanna buy me a beer? Hit that nice donate button over there to the right. 

Lost Mesa Verde Times Part Four

 Most of these pictures are of Fonz and me. The only reason I can imagine that Chief would have omitted them would be because it would have taken too long to blur his face out of every one. You see, Fonz got hired at Disney right after these pictures were taken. From time to time I see him around and he thanks me for not outing him as part of this particular tomfoolery.

Maybe Ed gave him the second set of prints as a souvenir? That's most likely what happened because I know that Ed was fond of the Fonz. 

That doesn't explain why I had copies of some of the pictures in this envelope...................

Lost Mesa Verde Times Part Three

 

 I recognized these as being from the first trip in which "Bionic Fonzie" joined us. As you may recall, the fonz, had the best Horizons info site on the World Wide Web. I enjoyed it very much so I decided to invite him along on one of our trips. I felt like Captain Nemo when he says to the Professor "Your works are brilliant but the real story begins where you left off"

Me and Fonz 

Of course all of these pictures were taken by Chief. In this one he had run ahead and was up there with the bathtub lady. 

Of course he did the right thing while he was up there:)

 If you're enjoying this and want to buy me a beer hit that Paypal donate button over there on the right.

Lost Mesa Verde Times Part Two

 Sure as hell, I was looking at a roll of pictures that were taken in 1997. Images that I never would have thought existed. It was like seeing another chapter in a story you wrote yourself and there I was, 29 years old, running around a Disney attraction with a video camera and my best friend. 

The mystery is why didn't Ed share these when this blog was relevant 12 years ago? Maybe I'll figure it out.

 

Long Lost Mesa Verde Times Part One

  The strangest thing that ever happened came a couple of weeks ago when I went over to Chief's moms house to pick up some more of his belongings that she thought I'd like. She's always right I love anything that reminds me of my old friend. This time was a bit different. She gave me a plastic box with a bunch of Paul F. Anderson cassette tapes and a pack of photos mixed in with tons of other stuff. 

After a week or so I got around to the plastic box. I was surprised to see that the photo package had Horizons pics that weren't in the huge photo album with all of his other Horizons stuff. What were these? Extras? You can't imagine how surprised I was when I found that I had never seen most of these pictures before!! Why? We gave each other copies of every single roll of film we took. 

....and now General Electric, The Walt Disney Company, and Pabst Blue Ribbon proudly present "Chief's Mystery Photos"

And then a film.

Months ago, a young film maker messaged me about doing a film about our adventures, as you see them here on this blog. He didn't know whether or not I would like the idea and he did something extraordinary. He made the film almost complete to show how much he loved the story! I thought it was wonderful after watching it 16 times and told him he had my blessing 100%. Not only was he driven as an artist and film maker but he is naturally gifted in the fine art of story telling. The Film maker is Mathew Serrano.

RIP Chief

X-Rated Motels of the Future

 I love to read articles like this one. It's funny how different reporters perceived EPCOT Center, it's attractions, it's impact etc. This article's fun because it mentions X-rated Motels as well as Horizons. 

 It's no surprise to me because the few times we stayed overnight in the Disney area we stayed at horrible roach motels on 192. You see folks, my mom's a very interesting person. She didn't (and still doesn't) give a shit about "a nice Hotel". She wants the cheapest and that's that. 

 Mom: I'm going in to check the rates. You kids hide on the floor so they don't see you.

 Me: There's a man laying in the bushes.

 Mom: Well that's none of our God damned business!

 Dad: If he messes with us he'll be running around without an ass.

Mom: Yes, sir, what are your room rates?

Clerk: $3 an hour, baby.

Mom: Wonderful! I'll take 6 hours please.

Mom: Hoot take that bucket down and get some ice.

Me: I'm afraid, Mom. I heard gun shots.

Mom: THOSE ARE THE GOD DAMNED DISNEY FIREWORKS!

Me: But we saw the fireworks.

Mom: They shoot 'em off all night. Everybody knows that.

Me: Can't you send sis? She's older than me.

Mom: Hell no! She'll get raped or something. Get going.

Me: They have a juice machine by the ice. Can I have some change for an orange juice?

Mom: How much are they?

Me: 25 cents

Mom: YOU CAN BUY A WHOLE GOD DAMNED ORANGE TREE FOR 25 CENTS!!

The good 'ol days:)

NEW HORIZONS DISCOVERY! Hold on TIGHT!

Just when you think it's all over and it's all been said....POW! Something amazing about Horizons hits you right in the face!

Folks, I'm sitting here going through old pictures trying to find suitable reference for issue #2 of the comic book. I happened upon some classic shots from 2004 when, as you may recall, Chief and I found ourselves working in a Magic Kingdom art department. Briefly. Very briefly but that's another story.

One of the first things I did was to explore the several storage containers that sat in the parking lot. That's when I discovered a rack full of Horizons character heads! That in itself is amazingly cool. There was so much cool shit in there I lost track but over the next few months I took plenty of photographs. Like This:

In the middle is the woman from the Space scene. She was piloting that robot armed craft. To the right is the dad who was trying to get the shoe in the Space Shuttle dock.

Below that there where shelves of Haunted Mansion stuff. You can see Gus, Little Leotta, and Ezra. The guy in charge of the mansion figures would come in here and pretend he was working. He primed Little Leotta there and got primer all over the place. 

ANYWAY as I sit here in December 2013 I find this picture and I wonder "why is little Leotta not in the Haunted Mansion and where is her head?" 

POW! BECAUSE THAT ISN'T LITTLE LEOTTA IN THE HAUNTED MANSION THAT'S THE MINI HOLOGRAM GIRL FROM HORIZONS!!!!!!! THEY WERE THE SAME FIGURE! The Horizons Hologram Girl is standing at the exit to the WDW Haunted Mansion! Flesh colored hands and all. 

AND that's why Hologram Girl's costume was on Ebay years ago!

AND that's why the non moving Leotta figure is laid to rest right under the Horizons heads!

AND why was her head in the black light paint room and cast in clear resin? I DON"T KNOW!

AND now General Electric and Hoot Gibson present "Brian Removing His False Teeth and Gumming Hoot's Big White Ass!". Ain't THAT a hoot?

Long live Mesa Verde Times.

The Further Adventures of Hoot and Chief

...and now for the first time ever, Kraft cheese and Polaroid Film proudly present The Further Adventures of Hoot and Chief!

Click to purchase from WardDizzley.com! 32 pages of hair raising adventure! You might puke! Choose from either real printed on paper copy or futuristic electronic version (Kindle) from the brave new world of the 21st century! Either version will provide perfect reading on the go or on the crapper. Hours of fun!

GET YOURS NOW AND HELP DEFEAT COMMUNISM!