Rocketeer "Bulldog Cafe" pic...

Thanks for clearing this up. Did it look like the interior had been separated or removed from the outside shell? And what was it made of? One source I've read said some kind of "durable foam". Can't wait to see the pics!

I havent been on all day, so I am barely seeing this stuff now...

It was made out of durable foam, chicken wire, and plywood. It was about 24 feet tall the one near Piru.
 
Yes, it was covered with fiberglass or some other type of material or mixture there of. It was well coated, but I could tell that it would not last in Orlando's infamous humidity. I've attached pics (hope they show up) from the time we spent out there. Again, my cousin (a castmember) said he had gotten permission for us to go back there, so I decided that we would be polite and step out of the way whenever a tour tram came by, and we did. We spent about 2 hours out there. Right as we were getting ready to leave he admitted to me that he had not gotten permission after all. WHAT?!? I was pretty made at him for misleading me, and don't you know it, right then a security guard comes around the corner on a scooter. He stops right in front of us with a scowl on his face, and I thought, well...the jig is up, we're going to Disney jail or something, but the guard then smiled, waved, and puttered off. WHEW!!!! Oh yeah, and the guests on the trams (especially the kids) knew what the Rocketeer was all about. They'd get real excited seeing the Cafe. A day I won't forget that's for sure!
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the interior. My best guess is that the Cafe exterior was just lowered in sections and assembled over the interior set. Then the joins/parting lines were filled and paint applied. When they moved it to Florida they took it apart, then reassembled it without the interior. Of course thay had a seperate interior stage set too.

The maquette of the Cafe (I own one) does not have the back room/house section attached to it. That's because it wasn't originally designed that way. However, they wanted to have some action in the Cafe between Cliff and the bad guys, so this section was added to provide additional room for any stunts or additional bits of business that they would like to do.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the interior. My best guess is that the Cafe exterior was just lowered in sections and assembled over the interior set. Then the joins/parting lines were filled and paint applied. When they moved it to Florida they took it apart, then reassembled it without the interior. Of course thay had a seperate interior stage set too.

The maquette of the Cafe (I own one) does not have the back room/house section attached to it. That's because it wasn't originally designed that way. However, they wanted to have some action in the Cafe between Cliff and the bad guys, so this section was added to provide additional room for any stunts or additional bits of business that they would like to do.
Thanks for posting the Bulldog Pics! When you wrote "of course thay had a seperate interior stage set too" It got me thinking... Then I took another look at the picture I posted myself - and the blueprint. AHA! The scenes in the Bulldog's head must have been shot in the hangar. Seems that there was only ONE complete Bulldog built (outdoors) and a separate Bulldog HEAD built in the hangar. This would explain why we can't see any interior in the attached picture and there is no indication of any head interior in the blueprint. I know that there was no Bulldog interior built on any of the Disney soundstages - but the interior of the head must have been built in the hangar (San Pedro). Thanks for helping me think thru this. Could be... mystery solved!
 
No, I didn't take any pictures of the interior. It was pitch black in there and hot as hell. There was standing water in there too and a few snakes. I basically stepped on the concrete pads that the steel cables were connected to in order to get to the front door, then took a quick pic of my cousin looking through the front door while wearing the helmet. I think we took the pics in 1995 or 96 ( I could have my years mixed up). Anyway, it was a long time ago and there was absolutely nothing worthwhile to see inside. I was in there long enough to take the pic and got out. Glad you guys like the pics though.
 
I believe there are several more blueprints regarding the bulldog cafe. I remember seeing some on the head and the eyes construction

Yep. That item can be found here:

The Rocketeer Bulldog Cafe "Eyes" Production Blueprint

"Used during Filming to construct Full-Size Bulldog Cafe Eyeballs (10/26/90)". This must have been the San Pedro Bulldog "attic" set - especially since the main Bulldog set was already built by then and used for filming (starting 9/10/90).
 
No, I didn't take any pictures of the interior. It was pitch black in there and hot as hell. There was standing water in there too and a few snakes. I basically stepped on the concrete pads that the steel cables were connected to in order to get to the front door, then took a quick pic of my cousin looking through the front door while wearing the helmet. I think we took the pics in 1995 or 96 ( I could have my years mixed up). Anyway, it was a long time ago and there was absolutely nothing worthwhile to see inside. I was in there long enough to take the pic and got out. Glad you guys like the pics though.

Thanks for this info, Tony! Any idea if anybody documented the tearing down of the the Bulldog Café? Seems like somebody must have taken some pics as it was taken down - or being removed... About all I know is that it was put in place in May or June of 1991 and removed in the summer of 1996. The last Disney-MGM Studio Map/Guide I have found that shows it in place is dated Saturday July 13, 1996. By the next one I have found (Sunday August 18, 1996) it's gone.
 
Great new info and relevations! Thanks, folks!

Over the weekend I saw a promo for a PBS show about quirky buildings, and there was a quick shot of an old photo of something nearly identical to the Cafe from back in the day. Was neat to see.
 
Great new info and relevations! Thanks, folks!

Over the weekend I saw a promo for a PBS show about quirky buildings, and there was a quick shot of an old photo of something nearly identical to the Cafe from back in the day. Was neat to see.



4e894e3b.jpg
 
Here's the link to the Google satellite view of the of the Disney World "boneyard" mentioned earlier (not the backlot, the one for the whole park)

disney world - Google Maps

I don't see the Bulldog Cafe but it's a safe bet some pieces of it as well as the Gee Bee & Autogyro are there somewere. (you can still see the hulls from some form of boat)
 
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Here's the link to the Google satellite view of the of the Disney World "boneyard" mentioned earlier (not the backlot, the one for the whole park)

disney world - Google Maps

I don't see the Bulldog Cafe but it's a safe bet some pieces of it as well as the Gee Bee & Autogyro are there somewere. (you can still see the hulls from some form of boat)
Thanks for the aerial, Jay. Maybe somebody familiar with where the Bulldog ended up can do a screen grab and mark it up.
 
From what I remember the Cafe was removed within a year or so of my visit. I recall that my cousin (the castmember) told me that it was being removed to make way for some type of Christmas lights exhibit and that it was being destroyed. That was very sad to hear, but on my visit it was starting to look like it wouldn't last much longer anyway. Regardless, it's a GREAT memory, as my cousin was tragically killed in an auto accident in July 2009. We had a lot of fun adventures together and this was most certainly one of them.


The last time I visited the Disney MGM studio, there were still "Dolphins" statues from the South Seas Club outside of the main movie artifacts exhibit area. I don't know if they are still there though.
 
Here's a pic of the real Bulldog Cafe. I came across a bunch of information on it somewere, I'll try to find it again.

bdcafe.jpg
 
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