046_04 - "Mickey Moo Mix-Up"
Here's my shot of Disney's famed bovine at Walt Disney World. When I took it, I was sure it was the world famous Mickey Moo.

Mickey Moo was a simple cow that had a spotting that resembled Disney's famous mouse. When Michael Eisner heard (herd?) about it, he purchased the cow and placed it in Disneyland's Thunder Ranch for all to see (spot?). Though I visited Thunder Ranch many times, I never got to see Mickey Moo's famed spot, for she frequently was laying on it.

A bit of history. Disneyland took the remaining area of the Mine Train ride (left over from replacing that classic ride with Thunder Mountain), and put in a petting zoo. The area was called "Thunder Ranch". I coined the term "fly-land", due to the frequent insects found around the animals, and many in the Park began using the name. The Park soon dropped the petting zoo and tried to do a number of things with it from holding Santa's Reindeer to hosting a HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME show (which wasn't too bad). The best thing was a pretty good barbeque restaurant that had irregular hours at best. At one point in this dirt circus Mickey Moo was on display.

Flash forward several years when Rachel and I were visiting Florida on a wedding anniversary. Low and behold, I spot Mickey Moo. And I can see the spot! I take a photo and feel I have accomplished something. I will admit that now the conquest seems a bit hollow.

Adding insult or even disinterest to the proceeding is the fact that I since discovered it was not Mickey Moo! Seems Mickey Moo was strictly California beef. The cow in Florida is Minnie Moo. I haven't found any lineage from Minnie. I can't even verify if the spots are real or painted. Heck, at that distance, it could even be audio-animatronic! However, one website states she passed away in 2001, not long after this photo would have been taken.

Eisner took a considerable amount of ribbing at the time he bought Mickey Moo. It certainly started a string of folks seeing things in animal markings. We even saw the symbol of Apple Computers on the legs of one of our Danes. Of course many of the studio's current stockholders probably think, as silly as it may have sounded, the purchase of Mickey Moo was a better buy than ABC.