Rolly Crump

Greetings family, friends and theme park buddies!  Today's memorable character is Roland Fargo "Rolly" Crump, The "Whimsical Imagineer".............Bill

Memorable Character

ROLLY CRUMP - DISNEY IMAGINEER 

We spent a memorable evening with Rolly Crump at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Bird Cage Theater in April of 2010 along with Christopher Merritt and Eric Lynxwiler, authors of Knott’s Preserved, from Boysen Berry to Theme Park, The History of Knott’s Berry Farm. Also celebrating the books publication with a photo history presentation by the authors were Walter and Cordelia Knott’s grandson Steve, Disney Legend Tony Baxter, and the publishing team from Angel City Press. Although Rolly is a Disney Legend and is primarily known for his theme park design contributions, he was also the lead designer of Knott’s Bear-y Tales 1975 dark ride and shared entertaining stories about the development and construction of the attraction.

THE “BEAR-Y” FAMILY poses for a picture in Knott’s Berry Farm’s animated fantasy ride, Bear-y Tales. Miniature trolley cars take riders on a whimsical journey passing more than 200 animated characters - through Frog Forest, Gypsy Camp, Thunder Cave and Weird Woods. The final destination is a spectacular 1920’s County Fair, where the Bear-ys win first place and take a hot-air balloon ride.

Circa 1970’s Knott’s Berry Farm Postcard

Rolly’s career began in 1952 when he was hired as a “in-betweener” by Walt Disney Productions and after serving as assistant animator on a half dozen animated classics, Rolly joined WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) where his unique and recognizable whimsical style is apparent in Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, It’s a Small World, and the Tower of Four Winds at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. Many of his conceptual sketches were incorporated into Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Rolly joined the Disney on Parade team in the late 1960’s creating a successful road show that performed in arenas throughout the country predating Disney on Ice and today’s Disney Broadway Shows. He left Disney briefly with an interest in designing satirical counterculture psychedelic posters, and pursued several freelance theme park design opportunities, returning to WED once again for Walt Disney World assignments in Florida. and later in his career created Mariposa Design Group. Rolly Crump, a truley unique and memorable character and author of It’s kind of a Cute Story, left an indelible impact on Walt Disney Productions and an unforgettable evening at Knott’s Berry Farm.    -Bill 2/23

https://www.yesterland.com/bearytales.html