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.

Could Have, Should Have, Would Have- Disneyland

For the next six days, Dizzyland will feature a multiple part series of articles based on planned things that Disney could have done to improve their six American theme parks, things they should have done to greatly benefit the guest experience at the parks, and things that they would have gone through with and built, if not for another factor. Today, we will begin with Disneyland in California.

Could Have: Edison Square

Edison Square was to be an extension of Main Street USA. The architecture for the square's buildings and shops was based on more modern and populated areas than Midwestern Main Street, such as New York, Chicago, and Boston at the turn of the century. While Main Street has a proverbial foot in the 1800s and the early 1900s, Edison square would be modern and forward thinking, just like it's namesake. Built as an extension of Center Street, Edison Square would occupy the parcel of land now home to the Cast restaurant, the Inn Between, between Main Street and Tomorrowland. In a park in the center of the square would be a statue of Thomas Alva Edison himself, and the area's main attraction would be "Harnessing the Lightening," a series of still dioramas the guests would walk past about uses of electricity in the past, present, and future, which later evolved into the Carousel of Progress for General Electric's Progressland for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. I personally like Edison Square not for the "Harnessing the Lightening" show, but for it's architecture, a more logical extension of Main Street than China Town, Liberty Street, or International Street, as few towns have those, but most have an upper class area, and the proposed Hollywood area off of Main Street simply destroyed the Midwestern ambiance. Also, the exit of "Harnessing the Lightening" should have gone into Tomorrowland, because Main Street set the turn of the century scene, Edison Square showed innovation and futurism beginning to make it's way into American culture, and Tomorrowland finishes the show's scene of the future by actually entering the future itself. Edison Square is still a possibility, simply replace "Harnessing the Lightening" with a Disneyland version of the "Carousel of Progress," long rumoured to be closing at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

Should Have- Tomorrowland 2055

Tomorrowland is the most changed of Disney's lands, since, to quote Walt Disney, "Tomorrow has a nasty habit of becoming Today." When the land opened in 1955, in was incomplete, except for a few corporate-sponsored displays, such as Crane's Bathroom of Tomorrow. The first redo of the land was in 1959 with the addition of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Submarine Voyage, and the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail. 1967 brought a full rebuilding of the land, dubbed, "The World on the move." Monorails were gliding overhead, people movers meandered past the cars of the Autopia and whirling Rocket Jets. Submarines traveled in the lagoon, and the Carousel theatre spun daily with it's showings of the "Carousel of Progress," and later an audio-animatronic musical revue called "America Sings." During the late 1980s and 90s, new CEO Michael Eisner proclaimed the 90s to be the "Disney Decade" of new, exciting films, parks, and attractions. One plan was a thrilling Tomorowland refurbishment called "Tomorrowland 2055." The back-story of this renovation would be that with mysterious alien relics having been excavated in Disneyland, aliens were given the signal that Earth was now ready for intergalactic tourism and a century after Disneyland's opening, Disneyland would have become a popular destination for aliens visiting Earth. Instead of Carousel of Progress, we have a huge flying saucer housing the animatronic alien show "Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Revue." Not only would space ships orbit and saucers fly, but gleaming steel catwalks on the building's second stories would allow guests to visit exotic shops and restaurants, while down below glowing crystals and strange plants would make the area feel truly out of this world. Unfortunately, the expansive project was put on hold, and Tomorrowland received an unpopular repainting based on Disneyland Paris's retro-futuristic patina, shocking fans with a brown Space Mountain.

Would Have- Discovery Bay

This proposed Disneyland expansion would best be described by an Imagineer who actually worked on the land's design, so I will share with you, dear reader, a WED memo from October 1976 giving a clear explaination-

Along the Rivers of America in the northen portion of Frontierland lies Discovery Bay. Having as its roots a "San Francisco of the 1850-1880s," the theme area would bring to life a time and place that climaxed an age of discovery and expansion.
Discovery Bay would reflect the influx of opportunists, dreamers and adventurers that poured into this cultural melting pot after the discovery of gold. The railroad link with the East had brought with the beginnings of culture and luxury, and the area was now earning its reputation as a "city of myths and eccentricities."
With these parameters established, a Western port city would be a logical and exciting addition to Frontierland.
Such a debarkation point would be a natural for many of our exciting show concepts, as well as some exciting new ones. The flexibility of this once-only-place in time can best be demonstrated through brief sketches of some attraction possiblities.
The area would fan out around a bay inlet from the Rivers of America. Standing on a rock outcropping, the old lighthouse keynotes the styling for this age of mechanical marvels. Here the Columbia would dock, as well as several "set piece" crafts, giving a feeling of international adventure to this frontier port.

Along the docks would be a traditional Chinatown. This version would recreate a Chinese settlement in the days of the Western Frontier, with its exotoc food dishes, merchandise, and an unusual attraction called the Fireworks Factory. Here guests could test their marksmanship -- bursting skyrockets, pinwheels, and various firecracks as they move through a whimsical assembly line.
In another corner, a group of opportunists have set up shop. Among the promises and allures offered are those a of French aerial explorer. He promises brave adventurers a trip aboard a fantastic flying machine to an Island of paradise located at the Top of the World.
With this set-up, we could effectively integrate a very exciting show that has been difficult to fit into the logic of the Park's existing realms. This "Island at the Top of the World" adventure and several others are not really fairy tales for Fantasyland, nor backwoods frontier adventures. But they do date from the late 19th Century, and could use the Discovery Bay location as a debarkation point for adventure.
Another example, the motion picture "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" has its beginning in exactly this type of place. Perhaps a new version of the old Disneyland attraction could be developed. Guests might view the workings of the Nautilus and Nemo's secrets, before dining in an undersea Grand Salon.
A time machine or "dimensional" adventure also works nicely with this 19th Century port, so often the period of time depicted in the writings of Verne and Wells.
Returning now to the streets of Discovery Bay, the facades might include elaborate gaming halls with crystal chandeliers and plush interiors, while the shop windows could reflect the runaway inflation of the golden economy (eggs - $18 a dozen, Room & Board - $100 a day) -- a parody on today's economic situation. Actual shops might include "The Model Works" featuring Disney oriented scale reproductions, and a scientific supplies office.
At the other end of town would be the Railroad Station and the site of Discovery Bay's most unusual attractions. Dominating this area is The Tower, a wild structure that takes guests down a dizzy spiral and into a giant magnetic structure where the forces of magnetism are demonstrated in a most exciting manner.
Also a part of this sector is the great Western Balloon Ascent and Professor Marvel's Gallery, a fascinating visit with the foremost collector of the exotic, weird, and whimsical from all over the world.
The cornerstone of this development would be the completion of Big Thunder Railroad. This will allow access to the new area and provide a glimpse of the gold rush fever that paved the way to the land of adventurers and dreamers -- Discovery Bay, Frontierland.

The land would have incorperated the proposed China Town on Main Street and Disneyland Paris's Discoveryland version of Tomorrowland, while still remaining grounded in the story of Fronteirland. Unfortuantely, as Disney was about to go through with the project, one factor ended all hopes of Discovery Bay. Walt Disney Productions' film "The Island at The Top of The World," a major creative influence and focus of the area's centerpice attraction, a ride in the Hyperion Airship, was a financial disaster at the box office, leading Disney executives to believe that public opinion of such an area was limited. The land that the Bay was to be built upon was later used by Michael Eisner to get celebrities to sign with the company. For example, Tim Burton was promised a land based on his films, and the same was promised to Clive Barker when the studio wanted to make a film version of his novel, "Abarat". The land remains undeveloped, and vague remanants of the Pack Mule Trail can still be seen in the trails behind the Rivers of America.