Redevelopment a la Disney: Wild West Goes Medieval

It’s urban renewal time in Frontierland. Disneyland constructioneers are bulldozing the old Big Thunder Ranch to make way for the Festival of Fools, a live stage show to accompany Disney’s upcoming animated feature, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

It’s just the latest in a string of tie-ins and cross promotions Disney has devised to plug its films and merchandise in its theme parks. Witness the Lion King parade and the Pocahontas and Toy Story live stage shows currently running at Disneyland.

The Festival of Fools will re-create a medieval pageant on five open-air stages featuring Quasimodo, Esmeralda and other characters from “Hunchback.” The Big Thunder Barbecue and a nearby souvenir shop will be renamed and re-themed to transform the Old West into the Middle Ages.

But what happened to all the horses, sheep, goats and other pet-able critters on Big Thunder Ranch?

Bovine buffs will be sad to know that Mickey Moo, the Holstein whose spots formed a Mickey Mouse silhouette on her side, has gone to that great cow pasture in the sky. Big Thunder Ranch’s most distinguished resident died two years ago of old age, says Debbie Sligh, manager of Disneyland’s backstage animal corral, the Circle D Ranch.

Sligh says some animals have returned to the Circle D stables, while others have been shipped back to the animal and veterinary science department of Cal Poly Pomona, which operates an animal exchange program with Disneyland. Still others found new homes with Disneyland employees such as Sligh, who adopted 10 goats.

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Marla Dickerson covers tourism for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5670 and at marla.dickerson@latimes.com.