M422 At Disneyworld

[GPA2196]

Hey Guys,

I'm sure most of you know this already but I was surprised to see a M422 on the Jungle River Ride at Disney world. Its in the first encampment you pass at the beginning of the ride. Its flipped upside down and laying on the shore.... Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of it, was just surprised to see it... seems a waste since an overturned CJ would have done just as good a job and not wasted a relatively rare Mite. Also so a military water buffalo at the Animal Kingdom....

Tony

[FUBARjeep]

Hello, all. I live about thirty miles from Walt Disney World and though I am loathe to do it, I will stop by in the next couple of months to see if I can get some good photos of the Mite on the Jungle Cruise ride. I worked at WDW for seven years and only wish I'd known that I should have been getting backstage to take pictures of the thing. Now, to see if I can rustle up some of my old compadres who still work there and see if we can't get up close and personal with the Mighty Mite...

I wonder if it has any parts that I need?

[mvpile]

If you go to Disney land in Califonia they have a Mite in the jungle cruise too. I guess they standardized everything on thier ride designs. With the Mite they never have to worry about rust.

Steve

[FUBARjeep]

Seven years of driving monorails and instead of stealing the parts to build my own train, I should have been raiding the Jungle Cruise. Any idea what models they are?

[mvpile]

The one in Southern CA was an A1. When I was restoring mine I was on vaction down there. The kid that was running the ride wasn't busy so he stopped so I could try to get a good look from the boat. The guys running the ride were kind of impressed that the thing that was upside down with 4 spinning tires was a rare vehicle.

Steve

[FUBARjeep]

I was telling some friends about the Mite here in Florida and how we were going to need to "get at it", and happened to mention the CJ-2A that is sitting backstage (minus engine, transmission, and transfer case) near the PPG paint store. Since it has been sitting unused for a few years (it is an old prop), I suggested that the old flat fender might make a good body for a rock crawler with one ton truck axles, 5:1 transfer case, and a small block chevy, etc. Within minutes, plans were being formulated to "remove" it from the property...

[NavSecGru Joe]

Guys,
The M422 is still there and the headlights are still burning.....






Supposedly, that gorilla in the tent caused all the ruckus and took it out on the poor mighty-mite.

[mrdibbles]

Fantastic story. I have seen that Mite a ton myself and never did I know what I was looking at until now. Walt was a genius.

[FUBARjeep]

The Jungle Cruise is one of the last rides that Walt was involved with before his death on Dec. 15, 1966. It's just not conceivable that the Marines would have been giving up vehicles during the escalation of a conflict when those vehicles were still, at their oldest, only seven years old. My guess (and I stress "guess") is that they had some other steel bodied jeep in that show scene that was a real hassle from the constant corrosion and at a later time, the MMs were substituted for their rust resistant properties. Since the WDW Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, it might have also originally had a CJ or M-series steel jeep.

[BL3Manx]

Besides the Mighty Mites on the Jungle Cruise in Disneyland and Disney World, there is also a Mighty Mite in the Safari ride in Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. Its the "crashed" poachers jeep.

[FUBARjeep]

Yeah, one of my BEST friends who is also into jeeps (XJs though), works part time at this very attraction within Disney's Animal Kingdom. I called him when I saw the post above and he said "Oh didn't I tell you? We've got a Mighty Mite on our ride."

Another parts car for me!

That makes about seven in the Orlando area that I know of besides mine

[Spike]

I think it has to do with perspective and scale, more than those other factors. Full-size props take up too much of the limited space. Miniaturized props give the appearance of an authentic scene. Main street buildings, in Anaheim DL, are scaled down structures, they look like what a person might perceive a town could look like from that era. Part of the concept is based on what is some-times called the golden rectangle.

[FUBARjeep]

Walt used forced perspective a lot in the parks, so I guess that is a decent possibility.

My buddy was over tonight and now he doesn't think it's a Mighty Mite on his ride at the Animal Kingdom. He's trying to get me to come look, but I can't stomach any more time on that property than is necessary.

[reptiles]

Greetings,

About 15 years ago a nice fellow in Virginia (who's name escapes me) sold me a Mighty-Mite.

He mentioned that he had a couple other Mighty-Mites but sold them off previously (at a much better price!) to Walt Disney World via a procurement agent.

My Mite was in terrific shape, except for the front bumper was bent and the associated skid plate was also bent up. My mite also has a couple bullet holes, but nothing too distracting.

A couple years later he found out that the Mites he sold to WDW were to be used as "crashed" props, he offered to make the crash scenes more realistic by substituting bent/twisted/burnt body parts for the pristine parts on the Mites at WDW.

His goal was a free vacation. For a while it looked like it was going to work out for all parties.

I was hoping to get a straight bumper/skid plate out of the project.

But, alas, it never came to pass.

The props people at WDW modified, electrified, grounded, and had the work inspected and certified, so they didn't want to mess with the Mighty Mites any further.

Regards,

Mark

[FUBARjeep]

Good story. We need more like that. Maybe someday the mystery of the little Mighty Mite will be solved...