The first question regarding 1x02 has already been answered, and it that case it has been determined that those scenes were all shot in the real cave. Anyway, I succeeded in contacting Jamil last month, and what she told me helped me understand the truth about the exterior of the cave shown in episode 1x08. These are her words:
Not every day that one gets a message from El Zorro. I first visited the studio in 1986; it was a perk that Disneyland employees could take advantage of. We could have an all day visit to the valley which encompassed visiting the original studio, WED Enterprises (now Imagineering), MAPO (where the animatronic figures were actually built), and the old animation facility (before the current facility was built across from the original studio lot). The "cave exit" location was actually along the interior studio perimeter on the north side of the property bordering Alameda. There was a lot of ivy and other landscaping there. For all I know, the groundsmen may have added a landscaped rigging in order to make room for the horse and rider - for a giggle, across the grass from this spot was a fence and the facades of backs of houses that were built for the film "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," used for backyard exteriors (including the structure used as a home minaret for the neighbor who regularly performed the Muslim call to prayer). There's been a huge parking structure in the cave exit spot since the early 90s, and I believe the area where the BH houses were is now the plaza in front of the Team Disney Burbank building. We had a company employee from Cast Activities who took us around to all four locations and explained their significance. I was really bummed because we missed out on the exterior Zorro sets - the facades making up the whole of El Pueblo de Los Angeles had been torn down the previous year. That entire section was filled with portables (along with the fountain from Splash). Looking at a satellite photo of the lot, it appears that the entire backlot is now gone - in addition to the Zorro sets, there had been a Western portion of the backlot, as well as a sort of suburban anytown area - only the suburban portion was left, including a large gazebo bandstand, in 86. I worked for the company for 14 years, from 1984 forward, and made several visits to the studio lot, but that first visit was the only time I got to see the area where Zorro rode out. BTW, if you ever get the chance, the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco has Guy William's black and silver saddle on display in a corridor which is faced by a glass wall which allows you to see the Golden Gate Bridge. I was really happy to see it, along with some blow-ups of Guy on Toronado, representing the series. For more info, I would suggest billcotter.com - he's written some Zorro and Disney related books, and Guy William's son Steve does visual effects now with his company zorrofx.com.
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