Did you know that Pirates of the Caribbean was never supposed to be built at Walt Disney World? As hard as it is to imagine, Disney felt that the Magic Kingdom was too close to real-life pirate haunts like Tampa Bay (home of the Buccaneers) for guests to want to experience make-believe pirates.
Instead, a river ride through the Wild West was slated for the Florida park, called Western River Expedition.
How Western River Expedition Came to NOT Be
The ride was envisioned as a boat ride, much like Pirates of the Caribbean. It would drift past humorous show scenes dreamed up by Marc Davis and play a catchy tune throughout. There were scenes of drunkenness and some pretty bad caricatures of Mexicans and Native Americans. The ride would have had to be vastly revamped for today’s audiences (much as Pirates of the Caribbean has gone under the knife over recent years).
Part of the expansive model for the attraction was displayed at the 2013 D23 Expo. (Photos by Noe Valladolid):
Mary Blair’s influence is seen in the shapes and colors of the backgrounds, which set off Marc Davis’ gags perfectly.
The ride was supposed to be multi-story, with a runaway train ride designed by Tony Baxter on the top level. Baxter was working on the model under his mentor, Claude Coats. But it just so happens that Coats was Marc Davis’ rival at Imagineering. When the top brass came in to look at the model, Baxter told them he didn’t like it and pointed out how much it would cost compared to his train ride. Baxter had been frustrated because Marc didn’t seem to want to pay attention to his railroad.
Soooo… as budgets and thrills over story would have it…Western River was out and Big Thunder was in. They decided to build a quick and cheap(er) version of Pirates of the Caribbean instead, as guests were lining up at City Hall demanding to know where the Pirate ride was.
Marc Davis never forgave Tony Baxter to his dying day. Western River was going to be Davis’ Magnum Opus before he retired. Instead, he worked on Tokyo Disneyland, where he was revered, and quietly retired before the park opened.
There was some talk of adding Western River to Paris, but when Michael Eisner, then CEO of Disney, saw the $150 million plus price tag, he balked and the space for the ride remains empty to this day.
What Was Western River Expedition?
The ride itself was similar to Pirates. Boats would sail by vignettes of life in the Old West, there was a lot of drunkenness shown, and there was a big waterfall, but at the end of the ride instead of at the beginning. Hoot Gibson, an owl, provided the safety spiel and some ride narration. For a time, Hoot hosted a preview of the proposed ride at “The Walt Disney Story” attraction in Florida. Later, previews of EPCOT Center took over the Western River spot. When walls were taken down during a refurbishment a few years back in the presentation area, the model was found just as it was before it was boarded up, lights on and everything!
Let’s imagine ourselves in an alternate universe where Western River Expedition had been built as originally planned. Guests would approach the Thunder Mesa ride building and find themselves in perpetual twilight, where they would board their boats to take a trip inside, outside, and around the mountain.
Scenes included a drunken cowboy on a horse on the roof of the Saloon, with the Saloonkeeper trying to shoot him down.
The images below really feel like the Marc Davis you know from Pirates and Haunted Mansion. There’s almost always some sort of humor or gag in Marc’s work.
The ride would culminate in a scene of Native Americans conjuring up a storm with a rain dance.
Today, you can tell that they only spent $30 million dollars on Pirates of the Caribbean at the Magic Kingdom. A few scenes from Western River Expedition made it into EPCOT Center’s World of Motion attraction, but those were removed for Test Track. The fabled Western River Expedition will exist only in the art and models that remain, and the stories told about it.
Western River Expedition Virtual Ride-Through
Want to know more? Andy Castro’s Dateline Disneyland attended the D23 Expo to cover the Western River Expedition panel for MiceChat way back in 2011. Hear Tony Baxter give a play-by-play of Western River Expedition using some incredible concept art:
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Let’s Hear From You
Would Western River Expedition and the expansive Thunder Mesa complex of attractions have been a hit? Would they have lasted the test of time? What are your thoughts on this ambitious project?
Special thanks to our dearly departed Alain Littaye for the inspiration, and to Jim Hill, Marc and Alice Davis, and Tony Baxter for their stories.