Could Have, Should Have, Would Have- The Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the company's second foray into the world of theme park operations, opened in 1971, sixteen years after it's sister park in Anaheim. Like Disneyland, the Florida park has it's share of attractions that Disney should have kept, could have built, and would have built if not for another important factor.

Could Have- Kept the Plaza Swan Boats

The Plaza Swan Boats opened in 1973, two years after the park opened. The elegant boats drifted down the canals around the Hub and down into the jungles of Adventureland with a circle around the Swiss Family Tree house, albeit seasonally. Featuring a graceful swan with a glittering crown, the boats fit the gingerbread elegance of Main Street and the then-candy striped vessels of the Jungle Cruise. Unfortunately, the Swan Boats closed in 1983, ten years after they first began navigating the Magic Kingdom's waterways. The canals and loading dock still remain, now a smoking area, so if the ever capacity minded Disney executives want to open a new attraction, the Swan Boats would be an easy and inexpensive choice. Changes would have to be made, however, such as replacing the live Cast Member with a recorded narration, similar to Living with the Land at Epcot to save the igh operational costs. Also, the crowned Swans could easily be renamed Cinderella's Royal Swan Boats to appease the Princess audience. While it certainly would not be meant for roller coaster fanatics, but the Swan Boats were a calm, enjoyable ride, similar to the surprisingly popular Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The two have many similarities, such as the glide pat the Swiss Family Tree house echoing the TTA's dip into Space Mountain, which never ceases to thrill. Both also provide a kinetic aspect to their respective areas, working as what Walt termed a "weenie" to lure guests into the themed lands. The Plaza Swan Boats also include water, which is known to attract guests, making it an ideal attraction that Disney could easily revive.

Should Have- Built Pirates of the Caribbean for Opening Day

Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction opened in 1967 in the New Orleans Square area of the park. When Walt Disney World was announced, fans assumed the Magic Kingdom would have it's own New Orleans Square and Pirates attraction as well. Disney executives thought otherwise. Florida, they thought, was already rife with pirate tales and too close to the real New Orleans for it to be exotic. They planned to replace it with the exclusive Western River Expedition, an attraction that would rival Pirates in scope and creativity. However, Western River did not make it, and the Magic Kingdom was left without a major ride. Guests at the park were shocked not find the Disneyland Pirates ride that they had heard so much about, and poured into City Hall on Main Street with complaints. Disney realized that guests had heard stories of pirates, but never actually got to experience them first hand, as in the attraction. So, to appease the angry guests, a shortened version of Pirates of the Caribbean was quickly put in a "Caribbean Plaza" area of Adventureland. While the queue, set in the labyrinthine Castillo Del Morrow, equaled the stellar themeing of Disneyland's tranquil Blue Bayou, the attraction itself was greatly abridged. The attraction, while popular, feels distinctly like an afterthought, and should have been built at park opening with identical parts as were being installed at Disneyland, in the same manner as the Haunted Mansion. Even if Western River was built, two amazing adventures have never hurt a park, have they?

Would Have- Western River Expedition

The fabled replacement for Walt Disney World's Pirates of the Caribbean was to be an elaborate boat ride past scenes of the old west. Western River Expedition was to be but a small aspect of the large Thunder Mesa, to be built on land now occupied by Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, which would have included a flume ride, a runaway mine train roller coaster, and hiking trails up to a pueblo village. Long a staple of the preview center, the future seemed bright for Thunder Mesa and the Western River, but Disney is the entertainment industry of the Festival of Fools from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," so nothing is as it seems, and a series of unexpected factors did in the Expedition. First of all, times had changed since Marc Davis did the first concept drawings for the river, and his scenes of red skinned Indians doing the rain dance were considered offensive and Politically Incorrect. Also, an expensive, audio-animatronic heavy boat ride was introduced to the park with the aforementioned Pirates of the Caribbean, so the Western-themed animatronic boat ride was deemed unoriginal. Finally, in a move that led Marc Davis to hold a grudge against imagineer Tony Baxter for decades, the company decided that the park needed more roller coasters, ending all hope for the Western River and putting Big Thunder Mountain Railroad into the spotlight.

For more information of Thunder Mesa and it's attractions, Jim Hill has written an excellent series called "Why Western River Went South" at his blog, Jim Hill Media.