Critters

Wildlife, Animals and Critters

Some FV critters were not as easy to spot, but they lived in "The Village" nonetheless, for many years. This friendly Spider has found his home.

Another Village Critter comes out to check the size of the crowd. A ground squirrel peers out of his home from under the side walk near the Marshal's Office. Operations Manager, Warren Weitzel, was quick enough to catch this little guy on camera

We're no experts, but it sure looks like ol' FV had a wide variety of critters. Best as we can tell, it looks like a female peacock struttin' down the Maintenance road (sometimes called the Pumphouse road) pass the Stampede ride and into the back of the park.
Again, camera-addict Warren Weitzel, captures Mama Raccoon on her nightly stroll, looking for food for her and her kits. She was just coming up from under the fence near Hot Dog On A Stick area when Warren snapped this photo. Every morning the FV staff could come into work to find garbage cans overturned by energetic raccoons, looking for an easy meal.

No doubt the two most common types of critters found around the Village were the goldfish in the lake and the hundred of ducks that roamed the park, even when the park was open. Pat Hanna recalls how the goldfish came to be in the river and lake: 'We built the "gold fish toss" game in the early 70's right next to the"dime toss" game, which was built a few years earlier. The gold fish were set up in individual 1 quart small mouth fish bowls, spaced about 6 inches apart, in the play area. The Li'l Pardners that played the game pitched a ping pong ball into one of the many small mouth fish bowls to win a fish. Winners would seldom take their prized gold fish at the time they won, but would take a ticket for retrieval at closing time. Our winners would pick up their fish at closing, bagged in a plastic bag, banded at the top, for transport. There were some that, rather than take the fish home as expected, simply dumped their fish into the lake before departing home (no doubt urged by Mom to do so). In time, some of those small gold fish (the ones that survived the transition of the lake) actually grew to a considerable size.' The ducks merely migrated to the park on their own over the years.

Operations Managers have no concept of Food Service management techniques, especially when it comes to the food cost of goods percentage. Here Warren has broken open a package of Pink Popcorn and placed it atop fence support pole, at the Popcorn 2 Wagon, on the pathway toward the Mine Ride. Warren was hoping a squirrel would come along to grab the popcorn, so he could shoot a photo. He didn't have to wait long. This little guy was caught on camera climbing up the pole, looking for his Winter season breakfast.

The Blue Jays were up mighty early, waiting for some snacks from any Employee who might happen to be the morning ride operator on the Stampede (Scrambler) ride. Warren, our resident animal feeder, had one Blue Jay so well trained, the bird would actually come inside the Main Office door to retrieve nuts and snacks. We'll see if we can locate that photo in our archives.

Look closely (near the bottom of the picture). Mama Raccoon has left her Kits asleep within the security of the trunk of an old tree, along the pathway to the Kitty Hawk ride. The cute part of this story is that these two Kits slept there all day, undisturbed by noisy Guests passing by...... Obviously, this is a 'See' attraction. Think about it. Only at Frontier Village.

Here is Mama Raccoon, leaving the scene, after getting tired of Warren lecturing her (as he did with his Employees) about leaving messy overturned garbage cans each night. She had enough of Warren complaining, so she is headed back into the badlands, where it's quiet....No more Warren!

Some FV critters were not as easy to spot, but they lived in "The Village" nonetheless, for many years. This friendly Spider has found his home.	Another Village Critter comes out to check the size of the crowd. A ground squirrel peers out of his home from under the side walk near the Marshal's Office. Operations Manager, Warren Weitzel, was quick enough to catch this little guy on camera
We're no experts, but it sure looks like ol' FV had a wide variety of critters. Best as we can tell, it looks like a female peacock struttin' down the Maintenance road (sometimes called the Pumphouse road) pass the Stampede ride and into the back of the park.	Again, camera-addict Warren Weitzel, captures Mama Raccoon on her nightly stroll, looking for food for her and her kits. She was just coming up from under the fence near Hot Dog On A Stick area when Warren snapped this photo. Every morning the FV staff could come into work to find garbage cans overturned by energetic raccoons, looking for an easy meal.
No doubt the two most common types of critters found around the Village were the goldfish in the lake and the hundred of ducks that roamed the park, even when the park was open. Pat Hanna recalls how the goldfish came to be in the river and lake: 'We built the "gold fish toss" game in the early 70's right next to the"dime toss" game, which was built a few years earlier. The gold fish were set up in individual 1 quart small mouth fish bowls, spaced about 6 inches apart, in the play area. The Li'l Pardners that played the game pitched a ping pong ball into one of the many small mouth fish bowls to win a fish. Winners would seldom take their prized gold fish at the time they won, but would take a ticket for retrieval at closing time. Our winners would pick up their fish at closing, bagged in a plastic bag, banded at the top, for transport. There were some that, rather than take the fish home as expected, simply dumped their fish into the lake before departing home (no doubt urged by Mom to do so). In time, some of those small gold fish (the ones that survived the transition of the lake) actually grew to a considerable size.' The ducks merely migrated to the park on their own over the years.

Operations Managers have no concept of Food Service management techniques, especially when it comes to the food cost of goods percentage. Here Warren has broken open a package of Pink Popcorn and placed it atop fence support pole, at the Popcorn 2 Wagon, on the pathway toward the Mine Ride. Warren was hoping a squirrel would come along to grab the popcorn, so he could shoot a photo. He didn't have to wait long. This little guy was caught on camera climbing up the pole, looking for his Winter season breakfast. The Blue Jays were up mighty early, waiting for some snacks from any Employee who might happen to be the morning ride operator on the Stampede (Scrambler) ride. Warren, our resident animal feeder, had one Blue Jay so well trained, the bird would actually come inside the Main Office door to retrieve nuts and snacks. We'll see if we can locate that photo in our archives.	Look closely (near the bottom of the picture). Mama Raccoon has left her Kits asleep within the security of the trunk of an old tree, along the pathway to the Kitty Hawk ride. The cute part of this story is that these two Kits slept there all day, undisturbed by noisy Guests passing by...... Obviously, this is a 'See' attraction. Think about it. Only at Frontier Village. Here is Mama Raccoon, leaving the scene, after getting tired of Warren lecturing her (as he did with his Employees) about leaving messy overturned garbage cans each night. She had enough of Warren complaining, so she is headed back into the badlands, where it's quiet....No more Warren!