Refreshment, Supplies & Mo'

The Frontier Trading Post is just the first of several detailed spots in Frontierland, and not the last to include a touch of Hidden Disney. Westward Ho Refreshments, operated out of a settler's shack along the riverbank, may offer corn dogs and frozen lemonade, but it also serves up a nod to the 1956 Disney film Westward Ho the Wagons!, starring Fess Parker and several of the original Mouseketeers.

Across the way are facades for a local hardware store and the general store, Prairie Outpost & Supply.

Inside, it's primarily a candy store, but there are plenty of other props, from a watering can to flour and sugar, on display to help flesh out a richer story.

The oil lamp chandeliers in the Prairie Outpost further help establish period and setting. Of course, they're really electric, but be sure to admire how these and many of the lamps and lanterns in Frontierland flicker as if they sported real flames.

Back out front is a familiar "porch magnet," the Cigar Store Indian. We already saw his twin (albeit with a different paint job) over on Main Street U.S.A. in this post. Here in Frontierland, he fits right in and also reminds us of the days when tobacco products were readily available throughout the Magic Kingdom.

There's another tobacco reference nearby. This one just cropped up recently. A crate outside the general store is labeled Davis Tobacco. Some have attributed this as an homage to legendary Imagineer and Animator Marc Davis. Between the Country Bear Jamboree and his unrealized concepts for a Western River Expedition, Marc certainly had connections to Frontierland.

Then again, maybe this is a small tribute to big contributor at Imagineering, Marvin Davis. Marvin was the architect and art director credited with creating the overall layout of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. During his Disney career, Marvin Davis also designed sets for Davy Crockett and Zorro, connecting his legacy to Frontierland.

In the end, I suppose it could be an homage to both... or neither. Anyone who knows for sure, feel free to chime in with a comment.