Hmm, I'm going to have to go over some of my notes again. Thanks for the notes though! And yes, it is confusing when each of the movies contradict eachother (4 being the worst, with that huge desert). I'm really bad at typing things, so I hope I don't sound grumpy or anything.
I forgot to say in my earlier post that there is another waterfall, it is the one that Guido and Tria almost fall off in 12. Is that what you meant by the west waterfall? That could easily drain the water of the valley.
As for the Thundering Falls, I assumed since only one waterfall is seen in the first film, and we know it is in the west that the water would be somewhere near there, maybe to the north, as the south had been explored. I think that there was only one waterfall initially, but over time, with the lands changing, more became part of the valley. There is that one lake seen in the credits of 1, and plenty of new waterfalls seen in 9, as a result of the flooding. We know Littlefoot's family lives near the falls, from films like 4 (bathing) and 9 (In the background). The morning sun is behind the falls in that shot, so presumably those are the falls he entered on.
Come to think of it, all their families may live near the falls, judging by how quickly they reunited.
I don’t think the location in the Mysterious Beyond seen in LBT II is a tar pit; probably just a stagnant pool of water situated over a volcanic vent (explaining the bubbles). I doubt the snake/lizard/aigialosaur-like creature briefly seen swimming through it could have so easily done so if it were tar. The skeletons seen there could have belonged to dinosaurs that simply didn’t make it to the Great Valley as a result of starvation or being ambushed by sharpteeth, or even succumbed to an eruption of volcanic fumes (a creepy thought... :unsure). My point being, I don’t think this is near the tar pits from the first movie. It still could be near where the gang entered the valley, though (i.e., in the east): Ducky’s family’s nest is shown as being relatively close by (Ducky was the first member of the gang to reunite with her family), and it’s conceivable that the migrating herds entered the valley from the same direction, sealing the opening behind them so that sharpteeth couldn’t follow. (Admittedly, my reasoning here is largely conjectural.)
Ducky's family could have been located close to the waterfall in the first film, as she found them relatively quickly. And it looked pretty similar to the area from the first film (which was located to the south of the valley); I'm sure the filmmakers were trying to be similar. But yes, it isn't as vicious as the lava pits seen in the film.
My reasoning for that area being to the south (or southeast) comes from the first film, where Littlefoot continues ahead, while the others go to the left. If you watch the scene with his mothers ghost (Which originally went next, according to the deleted scenes), you can see that he is at formation on the top of the hill (same slopy and raggedy rocks) and below him is the plateau with the rock waiting to fall on Sharptooth. Presumably, this places the smoking area to the south.
I remember from one of my notes that when the GOF return through the gorge with chompers egg, the sun is behind them. Of course, the sun is all over the place in the LBT films, and should be considered conjectural at best (In 9, it starts over the falls, and then again over Mo in a matter of minutes.) Plus, that gorge took them near the tar-like dead zone, which could make that area an entrance to the Burning area.
The Smoking Mountain, seen in movie II and referenced in III, is presumably in the west, as Grandma Longneck states that the sun will touch it when it is the longnecks’ turn for water, and at the time it already appears to be too late in the day for the sun to have not touched it yet on its morning ascent into the sky.
If my assumption that the Thundering Falls is located at the west end of the valley is correct, then the parts of the Mysterious Beyond seen in LBT III must also be in that direction. My belief is that it is northwest (the ledge from which the gang first discovers that the water is blocked being in the north).
My main criticism with that is that the Thundering Falls appears to be the main water source, and I assume that's how Littlefoot entered the valley. If that was a lesser fall, even that would still be delivering water if the main was stopped.
I missed that line of Grandma's when mapping areas, thanks for posting that! Of course, since the valley is in a mountain chain, volcanos could be all over the place. Littlefoot's mother called the area the "Mountains that Burn", I just assumed they were part of the Smoking Mts. Maybe the mts that burn is the nasty place from 1, and the smoking mts the other places?
I personally doubt that the swamp in LBT X is the Land of Mists; probably just a similar-looking region. Same goes for the rocky area.
Yeah, it was a bit of a long shot. I just used that because it made things fit better, and required the least changes to be made to one of the maps. It does have merit though, as where have we seen such lands before? Those ridiculously high rocks don't look like any of the mountains around the valley.
Actually, I want to know more about the (west?) end of the valley, as it has changed quite a bit. In 7, the way to Threehorn Peak is made by crossing a gorge, instead of mountains. And after fooling Rinkus and Sierra, you can see that the valley is not even protected on this side by mts, only by its height! And in 12, the waterfall must go to a lower area too. Maybe there's a lower area in the valley?
I really need to upload my notes, this would make describing things much easier! I have a lot of papers covered with notes, and several maps of varying quality. The only problem with each of them is that each has at least one mistake that I noticed too late, and so made another map, not noticing another mistake made...and so on.