Walt Disney World had opened successfully. Approximately 52 million
Americans watched the NBC television special introducing the park, which
aired on October 29, 1971. The park would attract over 10 million visitors
in its first year; however with Roy Disney’s death in December, 1971,
the company had lost its other founder. The leadership role would now
be taken by E. Cardon (“Card”) Walker, with Donn Tatum in the
number-two spot.
Thankfully, Roy had at least been able to enjoy the opening of the resort.
Imagineering chief Dick Irvine, on the other hand, never saw the park
operating in person. He became ill and went home less than a month before
the park opened. And while people brought him photos and reports on how
well the park was doing, he remained ill at home for five years before
passing away in 1976. The Imagineers honored him by naming the Magic Kingdom’s
second steamboat after him. The Richard F. Irvine debuted on May
20, 1973, the same day as Tom Sawyer Island.
It has been said that Walt’s way of managing had trained some to imitate
his style, but without the genius. It has also been said that—after
Walt and Roy’s deaths—the company to some extent adopted a philosophy
of “what would Walt have done?” This, however, looked to the
past, neglecting to consider the fact that Walt was always looking for
the newest technology and the newest tools for telling the best stories
that he could. In addition, without a strong-willed Disney presence, the
company placed increasing emphasis on what the shareholders wanted, as
opposed to putting the product first. Instead of adopting Walt’s philosophy
of finding new ways to tell good stories, the company’s leadership decided
to continue to turn out “more of the same.” Projects already
in motion that Walt or Roy had been behind were pushed through, regardless
of how much story was lost in the process. New ideas were pushed to the
back burner, usually never to be heard from again.
The Western River Expedition saga
One casualty of the rush to open, cost-cutting and playing it safe was
the Western River Expedition, thought by some to be the greatest Disney
theme park attraction complex never to be built (others argue for Discovery
Bay or Tomorrowland 2055, but those are other stories.)
Originally conceived for the cancelled project in St. Louis (see part
2 of this series), the Western River Expedition was Marc Davis’ masterpiece.
Conceived as a boat ride through scenes from the Old West, Western River
Expedition took advantage of lessons learned from the design and construction
of Pirates of the Caribbean, and everything learned since then.
The attraction would be one of three to be housed in or on Thunder Mesa,
a huge ride building themed as a Western tabletop mountain. The other
two attractions would be Thunder Mine, a runaway train ride, and a flume-like
canoe ride, both of which were to have ride vehicles designed by MousePlanet
contributing writer George McGinnis, with Bill Watkins and Ed Feuer, respectively,
as ride engineers. The massive Thunder Mesa complex was slated to be built
in the approximate location of the current Splash Mountain and Big Thunder
Mountain.
Since Disney wanted to differentiate the new park from the old, it was
decided that the Florida park would get Western River Expedition instead
of Pirates of the Caribbean. With the real Caribbean so close, Imagineers
figured guests would want an attraction themed to something less readily
accessible in the immediate vicinity. Due to the cost of the attraction,
work was postponed until after the park had opened.
Less West, more Pirates
Of course, after the park opened, the most asked question at City Hall
was, “Where are the Pirates?” They had heard so much about the
famed ride at Disneyland, they naturally assumed that it would be duplicated
in Florida. As a result, Disney decided to push the Thunder Mesa complex
back to a 1974 start of construction and instead rush Pirates into production.
Partly as a cost-saving measure, partly because the attraction didn’t
have to go underneath railroad tracks to get to the show building, and
partly because there was no Blue Bayou-type restaurant in Adventureland,
Walt Disney World’s Pirates attraction was built at approximately two-thirds
the length of the Disneyland attraction with no modifications to the show
scenes other than some reordering.
While Western River Expedition and Thunder Mesa remained on the Phase
I coming attractions list (construction within five years of the park’s
opening) for a while, it was eventually relegated to the annals of history.
The Thunder Mine attraction resurfaced as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
in the late 1970s with Tony Baxter as show designer, debuting in 1979
in Disneyland before spreading to all of Disney’s other Disneyland-style
Magic Kingdom parks around the globe.
For another synopsis of the attraction’s history and some photos of work
that was done on the attraction, check out the Western River Expedition
page on the Widen Your World site (link).
For those with lots of available time to read, check out the 10-part epic,
“Why ‘Western River’ Went South” at Jim Hill Media (link).
The rest of Phase I
In the meantime, other Phase I attractions did open, including If You
Had Wings, Tom Sawyer Island, the Plaza Swan Boats, The Walt Disney Story,
Star Jets, the WEDway PeopleMover, Space Mountain and (imported from Disneyland)
the Carousel of Progress. The Magic Carpet ‘Round the World film
would replace America the Beautiful in the CircleVision theater
in Tomorrowland.
In addition, the Easter Parade, Grad Nites, the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical
Revue in the brand-new Pioneer Hall, and Fantasy in the Sky fireworks
all debuted in that time frame. The inaugural Walt Disney World Golf Classic
was held in December 1971 (won by Jack Nicklaus). More resort hotels opened,
both on Hotel Plaza Boulevard (Royal Plaza, Dutch Inn, Howard Johnson)
and around the property (Treehouse & Vacation Villas, Golf Resort, Fairway
Villas). Discovery Island, River Country and the Lake Buena Vista Shopping
Village (now Downtown Disney Marketplace) opened in those first years,
as well.
By March of 1976, over 50 million people had passed through the Magic
Kingdom’s turnstiles. No more major construction would take place until
the clone of Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in 1980. The resort
was a hit. Now came time for the next daunting task: Epcot.
Next time
In our next installment, we look at the beginnings of how Imagineers
got from Walt’s original vision of E.P.C.O.T. to the EPCOT Center theme
park, and how the executives handled the project.
