Abandoned Disney Projects

you probably love learning about abandoned projects if you clicked on this video and you will not be disappointed today we'll be taking a look at the rarest abandoned disney projects not only that but we'll be showing you some stunning character models from the original western river expedition attraction model provided by van eaton galleries they have a fantastic auction coming up so stay at the end of the video to learn more about it as in previous videos the duck squad shows which project they would have loved to see come to life so we ranked these according to your votes number 10 glacier bay hong kong disney what's worse than a project being abandoned well a project being abandoned not one but two times and that is precisely what happened to glacier bay glacier bay was going to be disney's first ever entirely indoors land it was designed that way so it could create a cold atmosphere for this polar themed land the land was supposed to have several snow-themed attractions like a jet ski attraction a sled-themed attraction and a snow mountain-themed roller coaster and the whole land would be themed together by a scientific research theme the concept for this land first appears in the early designs for tokyo disneysea but for some reason it was never made disney might have put the plans away and intended to construct it in another phase because the proposed area for this land was left empty for a long while but then a new area was announced for tokyo disneysea this area is fantasy springs and it will be located where glacier bay was supposed to be so the project never came to life in tokyo then came hong kong disneyland glacier bay was proposed to be the third part of a phase two expansion of hong kong disneyland opening alongside grizzly gulch and mystic point but once again the project was abandoned why you ask hong kong disneyland is owned both by disney and the hong kong government that means that before disney can do anything at the park they need approval from the government in the case of glacier bay disney had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to do for this very ambitious land but the government did not agree the reason for this was very simple when disney presented the idea for this themed land the government rejected it because they had stakes in another park called ocean park and this park had a very similar section to glacier bay they wanted to prevent a bigger competition between the two parks than they already had and so they cancelled the land which led to the backup plan being built instead toy story land it's a shame this land never came to be because it sounds pretty great number nine dick tracy's crime stoppers hollywood studios in the 90s apart from roger rabbit dick tracy was disney's great bet to be the decade's franchise a new movie was coming out with several sequels planned and above all else a considerable presence at disney parks for this imagineers designed a little chicago mini land for mgm studios that would feature a fantastic attraction dick tracy's crime stoppers this attraction would also make its way to disneyland within a new proposed land called hollywoodland dick tracy's crime stoppers was to be an e-ticket attraction recreating the sets and pacing of the feature film yes sporting the ride would be in for a high speed chase through chicago streets chasing and shooting at gangsters as music and sound effects whizzed by the ride would have been the first disney attraction to use enhanced motion vehicle technology which we know from the indiana jones adventure and dinosaur rides imagine a mixture between indiana jones adventure buzz lightyear astro blasters and the gangster movie portion in the great movie ride all of this is surrounded by the pretty cool look and feel of the dick tracy movie sounds awesome doesn't it sadly the entire project was never given the green light the dick tracy movie while profitable was not the blockbuster success executives were hoping for and on top of that legal issues involving the film rights prevented a sequel so the franchise and of course the ride along with it was completely let go number eight mickey's mad house disneyland in 1970 disney announced a new themed land for disneyland called dumbo's circus land which we've talked about before this land would have three main attractions disney circus pinocchio and mickey's mad house today we're going to be focusing on this attraction but if you want to know more about the whole land go to this video mickey's mad house which was described as a thrilling dark ride based on the classic 1930s black and white mickey mouse cartoons and ragti music was an incredible dark ride imagineer ward kimball one of walt's legendary nine old men designed this ride to be a wild mouse roller coaster and a dark ride environment where we would see clips of old mickey cartoons and five or six different scenes in the initial concepts for this attraction we can see that the queue would be full of exhibits and props and cartoon-like representation of hollywood star's homes guests would board the vehicles and enter the studio tour in the first scene they would enter the sound stages where they would find animatronic figures of pete mickey donald and goofy filming and creating sound effects for several disney cartoons next guests would enter the sound effects and music room where mickey would be in the center of the room conducting a huge orchestra made up of many disney characters finally guests entered the mouse factory where they would see how props merchandise and different accessories were made the ride sounds so fun and it was probably going to be chock full of amazing animatronics but it was sadly never built while walt had always wanted a circus-themed land at the parks imagineers could not convince disney executives that dumbo's circus land was a necessary and wise investment so dumbo's circusland and mickey's madhouse were gone number seven mickey's movie land hollywood studios back when hollywood studios was still known as mgm studios disney was planning on building a whole land dedicated to mickey mouse called mickey's movie land this land would be located where sunset boulevard is today and it was going to be housed inside a replica of the original disney hyperion avenue studio from california inside the building there would be an attraction that showcased how mickey mouse cartoons were made in addition guests could view displays of animation equipment mickey's movie land would also have included an assortment of audio animatronic figures mickey mouse shorts classic movies and the history of movie making so what happened to this project well there were two main reasons why mickey's movie land was never made the first reason is that disney decided to go with a more interesting choice the tower of terror imagineers had proposed to build a recreation of the theater district of hollywood named sunset boulevard and this area would have the park's first thrill ride the tower of terror this takes us to the other unbelievable reason and that is that mickey mouse cartoons simply weren't as popular at the time that's right mickey was just not popular enough for disney at the time to build a whole land dedicated to him the main reason for that is that no new mickey shorts had been released since the 1950s and his last theatrical appearance had been in mickey's christmas carol which was released in 1983. so mickey was more seen as a mascot for disney not as a character in his own right actually it wasn't until runaway brain in 1995 that mickey mouse began taking off again as a character with mickey mouse works and later house of mouse bringing new shorts to the screen but it was too late for the land because the plans had already been cancelled thankfully after all this time we got a mickey and minnie inspired ride in hollywood studios when mickey and minnie's runaway railway opened number 6. godzilla bullet train ride epcot we've mentioned many times before how epcot's world showcase could have been different from what it is today and today we're going to blow your minds when we tell you how different japan's pavilion was going to be at the beginning for japan's pavilion disney had planned on building a fantastic mount fuji replica that would house a roller coaster plans were on their way for it but suddenly kodak who was a long time disney sponsor decided to go against this because fuji was the name of their main competitor and they didn't want to have anything related to them so imagineers had to come up with something else that's when they had the idea of creating an attraction featuring a japanese shinkansen or bullet train the first idea was a kind of new incarnation of disney's circle vision system guests would have either walked through or boarded a recreation of the bullet train looking at the windows they would have seen sites from across japan whizzing past the windows while the train beneath them bumped and jostled to give the feeling of moving at high speeds but this developed into another more exciting idea mixing the bullet train theme with the mount fuji roller coaster imagineers came up with the idea for a ride that would feature godzilla the one and only king of monsters gobbling up a roller coaster after a scenic journey through the country this roller coaster would have probably featured a very impressive godzilla animatronic and we would love to have been able to see it come to life but in the end disney could not find the correct sponsor for the attraction and they could not secure the rights for the king of monsters from toho japan so the attraction was cancelled rumor has it that the plans for this attraction were later redesigned and reused for expedition everest which makes sense we love the yeti but we would have loved seeing a godzilla animatronic at epcot number 5. matterhorn epcot the matterhorn bobsleds has been a huge disneyland icon since it opened back in 1959. the ride is exclusive to disneyland but imagine how cool it would be if we could also find it at other disney parks like epcot well this was actually going to be the case kind of you see in 1989 disney and the swiss government came to an agreement so that disney could build a switzerland pavilion at the world showcase in epcot the swiss government would pay 10 million dollars towards the cost of the new pavilion if the nation's private sector matched the government funding the pavilion would feature shops of the most famous products from the country a tourism center with information about switzerland a restaurant and the 192 foot tall matterhorn replica this version of matterhorn would also house a roller coaster type ride but the majority of the ride would be indoors and the story would have been vastly different not even featuring harold the abominable snowman there were two different stories created for this ride the first one would feature guests entering a bobsled training facility until something goes wrong and they end up on a much more difficult path than intended traveling through ice caves and dangerous terrain the second one was a mixture of the matterhorn with space mountain that would feature dark lightly themed caverns kind of like disneyland paris as space mountain both of these stories would end with an avalanche the pavilion would be situated between the germany and italy pavilions but unfortunately disney could not get the necessary funding from the switzerland government and even after all that had already been done for the pavilion the whole project was sadly abandoned number four fire mountain magic kingdom on september 5th 1994 one of the magic kingdom's most beloved attractions 20 000 leagues under the sea was saying goodbye and disney imagineers were already working on an e-ticket attraction to replace it they came up with two proposals the first was a flume ride based on fantasia's bald mountain sequence and the other was fire mountain fire mountain was an attraction that would take guests to a steampunk literary expedition base camp called volcania this new sub land within adventureland would likewise be themed to the fantastic otherworldly stylings of jules verne and his anti-hero captain nemo the central roller coaster ride through the peak would have been a flying coaster sending guests careening through the molten mountain with lava geysers and magma waterfalls while this attraction was being developed michael eisner decided that it would be better to theme it based on the upcoming disney movie atlantis the lost empire atlantis was a vern inspired sci-fi action film and tying fire mountain to the tale seemed like a way to get the project greenlit fast leaving jules verne behind volcania was recast as whitmore enterprises base camp set in 1916 two years after the film the story of the attraction would focus on preston whitmore seeking to make atlantis existence public and offer expeditions to visitors in newly developed vehicles however due to mishaps the vehicles would be forced to make a detour through the lava-filled caverns of the volcano but while we love atlantis the movie was sadly a box office flop the film failed to make an impression on critics or the box office also the september 11th attacks on new york city quelled the tourism industry cancelling most products disney and universal were working on at the time so this attraction and many others were abandoned number three western river expedition magic kingdom when walt disney world was being planned imagineers thought that because florida is located so close to the caribbean and pirates were part of everyday florida legends and tales pirates of the caribbean wouldn't hold the same romantic pull that it did to people more geographically distant so disney thought that cowboys would be more surprising and exciting to florida residents enter the western river expedition bringing the size and grandeur of the wild west to taurus in the east it was to be the signature attraction within the planned thunder mesa complex which was to house multiple rides including a log flume and a runaway mining train roller coaster called the greatest attraction that ever was the western river expedition was to be mark davis's chance to improve upon and surpass the wildly successful pirates of the caribbean in both size and imagination davis designed the attraction and characters in the form of drawings and models over a five-year period at 1.5 inches to 1 foot scale the western river expedition model was the largest that disney had created up to that point with costs running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars the attraction would have much of the same feel as pirates it was basically a western version of pirates even down to the boat ride and it would take guests through several wild west inspired scenes like some haunted caverns a stagecoach being held up by bandits a prairie full of classic sight gags like buffaloes playing with prairie dogs and singing cacti then there was the good old-fashioned western town of dry gulch where guests would see the dry gulch citizens daily life culminating in a shootout between the local authorities and some robbers there were also groups of native americans having a grand time and doing an authentic rain dance the ride would end plunging down a waterfall making a grand escape from the robbers guests had seen earlier the attraction and actually the whole project were very ambitious and sounded legendary but when magic kingdom opened one of the biggest complaints from guests was the lack of the pirates of the caribbean ride now thunder mesa was not set to open until the middle of the 1970s at the end of the first phase of construction on the magic kingdom so disney decided it would be in the company's best interest to take much of the budget allotted for the western river expedition and instead create another pirates of the caribbean in the magic kingdom leaving thunder mesa on indefinite hold and later completely cancelled still many of the concepts for it were reused for attractions like tom sawyer island big thunder mountain railroad splash mountain phantom manor and expedition everest number 2. roger rabbits hollywood hollywood studios in the late 80s and early 90s roger rabbit ruled the world his popularity was huge and one can even say he was more popular than mickey mouse himself guests could find roger all over disney parks especially at disney's mgm studios where as you exited the backlot tram tour you entered into the looney bin which had an acme warehouse theme from the movie including movie props the actual dipmobile as well as cut out plywood characters that you could stand next to for photo ops imagineers felt that this wasn't enough and they planned a whole roger rabbit-themed land called roger rabbits hollywood this land would be situated where the rock and roller coaster is today it would look like the cartoon studio buildings featured in the film with all the cartoon peculiarities like boxes of tnt grand pianos hanging above the sidewalk and roger-shaped holes in the walls the land would also feature working red car trolleys the famous maroon studios the noir-esque terminal bar a recreation of the bar from the film and several attractions the first attraction was toontown transit a simulator with a full wraparound screen that would take guests through toontown aboard a new character named gus the bus next came rollercoaster rabbit a coaster based on the short of the same name which takes roger and baby herman to the fair where they get in trouble aboard a roller coaster then there was baby herman's runaway buggy ride a ride based on the short tummy trouble where guests would find themselves recruited into service as stunt doubles for an action sequence that baby herman has deemed too dangerous to do himself and last a benny the cab ride which eventually evolved into roger rabbit's cartoon spin at disneyland so what happened to this land well roger rabbit was only partially owned by disney he was also owned by amblin entertainment steven spielberg's company and at the time spielberg and michael eisner were not seeing eye to eye and a conflict over roger rabbit led the entire ip to end up in limbo with all projects except the anaheim version of cartoon spin which was already near completion being cancelled some ideas behind roger rabbit's hollywood would eventually make it into mickey and minnie's runaway railway but aside from cartoon spin and the various toontowns around the world the only element of the proposed land at disney is a billboard near hollywood boulevard it is sad to see this project abandoned but thankfully we have roger rabbit's cartoon spin at disneyland number one the great muppet movie ride hollywood studios on our first unbuilt disneyland we talked about the unbuilt muppet studios land this land would be an expansion at mgm studios and it would have two main attractions muppet vision 3d and a headlining attraction the great muppet movie ride this ride would be a parody of both the great movie ride and the backlot tram tour and would take guests behind the scenes of the latest muppet projects like frankenstein and peter pan except being the muppets the shoot has gone completely bonkers apparently the ride would take guests on a misguided tour through movie history and it would have an entirely muppet cast it'll be a backstage ride of explaining how movies are shot and it's almost but all the information is wrong the experience would be hosted inside a shadowy castle complete with special effects such as buzzing generators and scientific machines guests would board enormous vehicles similar to those used in the great movie ride for their tour disney's imagineers plan to spend a fortune on the attraction making it the number one ride at disney mgm studios one of the key scenes would see kermit miss piggy bunsen honeydew and beaker starring in a parody of the 1931 movie frankenstein peter pan would also undergo the parody treatment with kermit taking the lead role skeeter fozzie and janice playing the darling children would fly over a recreation of london carried by very obvious harnesses again the project sounds fun so what happened to it well sadly when jim henson died the disney acquisition that would have enabled disney to benefit from the project fell through jim henson's estate and disney couldn't come to an accord because they decided to license the muppets characters for individual attractions so the 3d movie stage show and parade went into the park as planned but the great muppet movie ride and the rest of muppet studios were scrapped all of these are unique projects but let us know which one would you have loved to see come to life how about the western river expedition we might never be able to see it come to life but you can own a part of this historic ride you know how we mentioned that mark davis spent five years designing models for the attraction well van eaton galleries is having a fantastic new option that will be held on walt disney's birthday december 5th and you can participate online the auction is called walt disney the man the studio and the parks and it contains over 800 rare artifacts relating to the legacy of walt disney and you will find these incredible figures from the original western river expedition model among many other amazing pieces for more info on this auction visit the van eaton gallery's website www.vegalleries.com we'll leave a link in the description hope you enjoy and see you next time

Channel: Fastpass Facts

Views: 343,529

Keywords: Fastpass facts, theme park, facts, secrets, tips, history, Disney, disneyland, disney world, unbuilt, rides, attractions, vintage, on ride, abandoned, abandoned disney, abandoned attractions, roger rabbit, godzilla ride, godzilla animatronics, the muppets, the great movie ride, the great muppet movie ride, matterhorn epcot, Western River Expedition, Fire Mountain, Godzilla Bullet Train Ride, Mickey's Movieland, Mickey's Madhouse, Dick Tracy's Crime Stoppers, Abandoned Disney Projects

Id: fLRM0hwHK8U

Length: 21min 4sec (1264 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 22 2020