EDITORIAL: Splash Mountain at The Magic Kingdom Should Be Turned Into “The Western River Expedition”

Tom Corless

EDITORIAL: Splash Mountain at The Magic Kingdom Should Be Turned Into “The Western River Expedition”

When I originally started working on this article, it was a plea for Disney to do something thematically consistent and for their most hardcore fans in replacing Splash Mountain. Then it happened… they announced that they would re-theme the beloved log flume ride to the animated film “The Princess and the Frog”. For Disneyland, this makes sense and is essentially an expansion of one of the best themed-lands in any Disney park in the world: New Orleans Square. At Walt Disney World, well, we’ve gotten even more nonsensical than Splash Mountain was in that space. A New Orleans bayou will now be adjacent to a western mini company, steps away from the Pueblo-style architecture of the west-side of Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.

splash mountain princess and the frog retheme announcement concept art 3
Concept art for The Princess and the Frog ride features a mountain and a waterfall… in Louisiana…

I’ve seen many a fan say “it doesn’t matter” that the land won’t make any thematic sense, to which I am stunned. What I feel makes the Disney Parks so unique is the sense of place and time that is set through intricate details, thoughtful building design, and painstaking artistic efforts. What makes Disney Parks special is not the inclusion of Disney-owned intellectual properties. Any theme park in the world can just haphazardly slap different IPs next to each other in a park, and many have. Universal Studios Florida is a good example of this. The park has been thematically wrecked over time by this method of updating and expanding. Do we want the Magic Kingdom to be next?

“The Princess and the Frog” is a great film. I remember buying special advance tickets to see it at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York. I enjoyed the music so much that we purchased autographed sheet music from the film signed by Randy Newman and others who made the film. I was ecstatic to see Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee at the Magic Kingdom, possibly the best new entertainment offering of the last 15 years at Walt Disney World. “The Princess and the Frog” SHOULD have a permanent theme park home at Disneyland and Disney World. It doesn’t need to be in Splash Mountain. I’ve said it a hundred times already, but there are no mountains and almost no hills in New Orleans. You can’t possibly make sense of this.

But you know what you could make sense of… a ride in a log down a western river… a “Western River Expedition”, if you will…

If you’re reading this site, you probably know the story. Walt Disney World wasn’t getting Pirates of the Caribbean since it was too close to the actual Caribbean. Meanwhile, today I ate at a restaurant at Disney World that is themed to Key West. Anyway…

unnamed
Concept art that was publicly released in the early days of Walt Disney World for the Western River Expedition

Instead of the guaranteed smash-hit Disneyland attraction, Imagineer Marc Davis wanted to do something bold and ambitious: build a Western-style boat ride of the same quality as Pirates of the Caribbean, but enclose it in a mountain mega-structure containing multiple other attractions such as a runaway mine train rollercoaster, pack mule rides, and more, all while the Walt Disney World Railroad would take a ride through the middle of the man-made marvel. If this sounds cooler to you than the most watered-down, cost-cut and all-around junky version of Pirates of the Caribbean ever made, that’s because it was going to be. Here’s a brief synopsis of the attraction from Wikipedia:

The attraction was to have been located inside, outside and around an architectural feature in Frontierland known as Thunder Mesa Mountain. Guests would have entered an inside boarding zone, in a twilight atmosphere (similar to the night atmosphere in Pirates of the Caribbean). After boarding a wooden launch, riders would have glided up a waterfall. The ride’s narrator, Hoot Gibson (an audio-animatronic owl) would explain the ride’s safety instructions. Then, guests would have passed by peaceful scenes in the wilderness, featuring buffaloes or prairie dogs. They would then encounter banditos robbing a stagecoach, warning them they would meet again downriver. Many following scenes would then take place in a fictional town known as Dry Gulch, where guests would have witnessed a musical show (a bank robbery, prisoners escaping the Sheriff’s cells via a tunnel, a saloon with a cowboy on horseback on its roof, plus ten other characters including a bartender trying to shoot the intruder off the roof, three saloon girls, and other cowboys hooting and hollering. Then, back into the wilderness, guests would have discovered Indian adobe houses, and even witnessed a rain dance that causes it to rain on the set. The ride would finally come to an end with guests about to be robbed by the aforementioned banditos, but escaping via a waterfall-drop finale. If built, it would have been one of the most complex and expensive Disney attractions of its time, housed in one of the largest show buildings (a large warehouse that stores the interior of the attraction) ever created by the Disney company. Its projected expense is one reason it was never built. The attraction would have also shared the show building with a “runaway” mine train themed roller coaster. Other features of the pavilion-style WRE would have included hiking trails atop the mesa, a Pueblo Indian village, and a pack mule attraction.

Legendary Disney Imagineer Marc Davis works on a model of the Western River Expedition

Western River Expedition never happened thanks to a multitude of other (cheaper) projects and the oil crisis in the 1970’s, but it came close on so many occasions. Eventually, some of the space set aside for it became the more budget-conscious (but still fantastic) Big Thunder Mountain in 1980, and the remaining bit of land was used in 1992, becoming Splash Mountain. The Thunder Mesa mega-structure never happened, but two legendary Disney mountains still rose upon portions of the earmarked site.

Western River’s legacy grew over the years: guests of the 1970’s had souvenir books that showed concept art for the attraction, the Walt Disney Story attraction in The Magic Kingdom featured a preview exhibit with an audio-animatronic owl for a period, and the Thunder Mesa name eventually was used in Frontierland in Disneyland Paris as an homage. The internet Disney fandom has drooled over the concept for decades now, and multiple Disney fan events hosted by the company have even shown off virtual ride-throughs and original models for the Western River Expedition. It is one of, if not, the most famous unbuilt Disney attraction ever. Its lore has been an integral part of the Walt Disney World story for over 5 decades now. Coming up on the 50th anniversary of the park, and with Splash Mountain’s demise imminent, was there not an incredible opportunity present? What if you could have pulled off a magical 50th anniversary surprise and bring to life (in a way) the most fabled never-realized project in the history of Walt Disney Imagineering?

I love Splash Mountain, but honestly, it too doesn’t even fit in where it was placed in Frontierland. A cartoony mountain laid between the Western streets of the main town and the mining facility on the outskirts never really worked. In the age of the internet, I feel like the fans would’ve ripped this idea to shreds. Instead, most of us grew up with this as a staple of The Magic Kingdom and it became a rite of passage into the world of thrill rides for many. I remember the first time I was brave enough to climb into that log, and I imagine everyone reading this article does too. That’s why so many people are upset at the idea of removing Splash Mountain: it holds a lot of very special memories for many guests. Honestly though, if the layout was the same and the vehicles were still logs, I don’t think I’d be opposed to something else. It’s like my feelings on The Great Movie Ride, in that I don’t think it should’ve been removed, but it definitely needed some sort of a massive overhaul. There’s nothing wrong with the spirit of the ride, just some of the material in it.

So, the problems with this “resurrect the Wester River Expedition” idea are numerous, at least they probably are from Disney’s perspective. First-off, Western River had some portions that would definitely have been given the “auction scene” treatment Pirates of the Caribbean recently received. There were some depictions of Native Americans, and of course, there’s the “banditos”, both of which were a product of their time. However, the great thing about building something new and not modifying an existing ride is you can make significant alterations to the original plans. You don’t have to follow the original concept scene by scene and cram it into Splash Mountain. You can pick out the bits that would’ve stood the test of time and fit this existing space.

You can also alter history, the ride doesn’t need to be an accurate representation of the past, it’s not the Hall of Presidents or The American Adventure.

western river expedition marc davis cowgirl

If you want female and/or black cowboys or sheriffs, go for it. You’re replacing a cartoon boat ride, you can rewrite some history to provide some positive role models that make everyone feel included. Just don’t make them stereotypical Irish women trying to peddle rum over chickens…

Secondly, it doesn’t feature some widely-known intellectual property, and we know Disney doesn’t currently develop rides with characters and themes guests don’t already know. That being said, there is a whole mess of money to be made here. Let’s not forget the tale of The Little Orange Bird, a simple mascot for an ice cream window that resurfaced due to fan response and now sells as much merchandise as many of Disney’s best IPs. Certainly, a cute Western owl named Hoot Gibson could reach similar heights, and fans like myself would gobble up all sorts of Western River goods, just as we do for original attractions like The Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and the like. Disney sadly doesn’t put a lot of stock in these “attraction franchises”, but they should. Let’s not forget that ShopDisney has been having a hard time keeping the Country Bear Jamboree Wishables in stock since they debuted.

Having dismantled the foreseeable issues, let me tell why else this makes sense. First off, they’re both boat rides concluding in drops. The opening with Br’er Frog providing some set-up for the ride as you go up the first lift hill is beat-for-beat the opening of Western River Expedition, just with the Hoot Gibson owl character replacing the animated amphibian. Br’er Fox catching Br’er Rabbit and the fall into the Briar Patch could very easily be the climactic encounter with the bandits where you escape down a waterfall. The bandits could meet a hilarious end in a similar fashion to the cartoon fox and bear, perhaps getting stuck in a patch of cacti, or maybe they don’t know how to swim and are all fighting to get into a boat or to hold on to some driftwood. I’m not an Imagineer, but I’m sure such a band of creative people can easily figure out these story points if I’m able to string them together.

Everything in-between seems easy enough to change with the size of the show scenes, and a big musical finale with the sun setting on the painted dessert is sure to please.

Funny enough, almost any and all of the audio-animatronic characters already exist for this attraction. When EPCOT was built, many of the humans and animals in rides like Spaceship Earth, Horizons, and World of Motion were just redressed versions of figures built before. Spaceship Earth is populated with pirates, ghosts, and even the mom and dad from the Carousel of Progress. Western River Expedition was certainly going to use plenty of these same figures redressed for a Western show. Hell, the buffalo, owl, and other animal animatronics meant for Western River were eventually built and used in a multitude of rides and shows. Not much new development is actually necessary, that being said, I’d love to see Imagineers use the latest in technology available and build something modern and impressive. They can either value-engineer this with existing technology or build with the determination to create the next classic Disney boat ride. Western River Expedition could be something special to so many.

Marc Davis’ scenes and gags in so many attractions have proven to be timeless. Guests still experience them every time they ride The Jungle Cruise, The Haunted Mansion, or Pirates of the Caribbean. They are beloved, and if you’re Disney management reading this, the merchandise sales for these vignettes and the characters in them are as strong as ever, if not more now than they were years ago. Go look.

A singing cactus, a bear taking photos with man for an added fee, and the like will still illicit an emotional response from your guests. Meanwhile, cramming The Princess and the Frog into Splash Mountain can’t be seen as wholly beneficial. Either build a New Orleans Square for Walt Disney World or don’t bother with this concept at all. The Princess and the Frog also has strong musical and food motifs that scream “dinner show” to me. I’d love to sit and eat some gumbo while a jazz band performs, perhaps culminating in a meet and greet with the proprietor of the “Tiana’s Place” restaurant at the end of your meal ala Be Our Guest.

People don’t ride Splash Mountain for the characters in most cases, and if they do, I would say it is a incredibly small percentage of guests. They ride Splash Mountain because it is a fun thrill ride made at the expected level of quality for The Walt Disney Company. Why not create some good will with the world by making this attraction inoffensive, while at the same time honoring the wish of the most diehard fans of your product? I honestly wouldn’t even offer Western River Expedition up as an option if there was a viable Western franchise for the company, and please, please, PLEASE do not recycle any prelmimarny work that may have been done on any audio-animatronic marionettes from a made-up Western TV show inside of a PIXAR film.

The rule of theme parks is whatever you replace something with has to be better than what is there now. You don’t remove Splash Mountain without trying to top it. How do you respond to the location, the ride system, and the legacy of Splash Mountain? Not with an IP-overlay, but with something that also has a tremendous legacy and was meant for that space.

Give The Princess and the Frog its own space with whatever rides, shows, dining and shopping make sense for it, without trying to explain tall mountains and giant waterfalls in Louisiana.

32 thoughts on “EDITORIAL: Splash Mountain at The Magic Kingdom Should Be Turned Into “The Western River Expedition””

  1. Great article Tom!
    True story: When I was 17 (about 1974) I got a private tour of WED (Imaginering). Long story how that happened, but I met Marc Davis and then I was shown the walk-through model of the Western River Expedition ride – the same one shown in the above photo. It was really neat and I’m so sorry it was never built.
    You are right in that it would a better fit but sadly there is no real IP that goes with it and folks are calling for more diversity in the characters. I like the Princess and the Frog as well, but like you I’m baffled on how it will all fit the current mountain theme.

  2. I’ve often thought that retheming the crystal palace as Tiana’s Place would make sense as a character meal

    • I had a similar thought for Disneyland for the French Market. That venue could easily be enclosed to create “Tiana’s Place”.

  3. YES! What an incredible concept and it allows for Tiana to get an appropriately placed ride in her honor as well!
    I personally had no idea about the ride and just found it adorable with great music so I think Disney should just leave it alone. I think sensitivity complaints are not really the majority of folks out there, but be that as it may, this is, and I repeat, an INCREDIBLE concept! I hope petitions begin to send this along to Chapek and Iger. I think their goal sadly is to diminish the greatness of Walt as the years progress and just turn the magic into just a bunch of random theme parks…

  4. Great idea!
    The way Disney is throwing the whole notion of fluid themes is disheartening. The new theme may work great in New Orleans Square, but it has no place in Frontierland.
    Give Tiana her own attraction.
    Politically correct, properly themed, and 1 more attraction added to MK.
    (Don’t ask me where they can put it, but hey…minor detail)

  5. It hurts me inside to know Disney probably won’t listen to ideas like this but it’s brilliant. I’m in the boat of people sad to see Splash go because of my memories on the ride and part of my anger over the situation is that my favorite ride is being redone with something that thematically makes no sense. I’m also not a huge fan of Princesses and the Frog, so a 12 minute ride themed to the characters and story holds little appeal for me. This would be so much better than a princess and the frog overlay.

  6. Words cannot describe how much I agree with this. princess and the Frog deserves more representation in the parks, but not like this. Don’t just slap a well-known princess story on a thrill ride and call it a day.

  7. Do it! Let’s all write them! I literally sent them this full editorial article with its crediting to disney! Please let all our voices be heard! Great idea! I love it!

  8. I love splash mountain and don’t want to see it go Wish that would just leave it alone. No, princess and the frog don’t belong in frontierland they belong in fantasyland. Your Western River Expedition sounds like a good idea. Rather have that.

  9. Tom, I 100% agree with you. I think you hit the nail on the head! I wish the folks at Disney World Imagineering would agree.

  10. Splash Mountain is my family’s favorite ride. It is full of fun, cute animals and scenes. I do not think it needs to be changed at all. My daughter almost cried when I told her the news. I wonder how many people who are upset with the original movie have even seen it at this point, or are they just repeating what they have heard. Is it a product of it’s time, yes. Should it be black listed, no. It takes place during Reconstruction, after the Civil War, so the blacks are not slaves. It shows the races getting along which I think is a good lesson for today. All that is going on now is causing more hurt and division than coming together. A young rich white boy who is best friends with a young poor black boy and a young poor white girl are best friends and they all adore the old black man who tells the stories of Brer Rabbit. “Can’t we all just get along?” The movie tells a good moral of getting along no matter what our color or background may be. I also think The Princess and the Frog is a good movie. I am from Savannah, GA, but lived for 10 years in Baton Rouge, LA. We spent a lot of time in New Orleans and love anything that references it. I agree with the article that it is a poor decision to overlay in Disney World. Do it in Disneyland, but leave Splash Mountain in Florida alone! Since Disney does not care about my opinion (hence the lack of a response to my e-mail to them about this matter, no surprise there) I know what I think will not matter. I do not think you need to re-theme one of your most popular rides just for the sake of diversity. After all, the critters from Splash Mountain are based on black stories and already have a diverse background. There was Brer Rabbit cartoon done in recent years by another company and the characters were voiced by black actors. But at the end if the day, if they insist on changing a ride that does not need changing, your idea is much better then theirs. I encourage anyone who hates this change to e-mail Disney though. Let them know how beloved the ride is in Disney World, and maybe, just maybe, we can change their minds for one park at least. Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it’s back to work I go now.

  11. Aw man, this is a heartbreakingly good idea. Heartbreaking because there’s no way Disney will listen to it. They’re already all in on the princess and the frog/Mardis Gras idea (seriously?).
    I would love to see this if splash had to change at all. Splash is my favorite ride and I have been devastated with the news of pasting over it with the bayou. I’ve never liked that movie so it makes the pain of replacement a hundred times worse. And the nonsensical nature of shoehorning it into frontierland makes it even worse than that. The management and imagineers failed on this idea big time in my opinion.

  12. Fun fact: Black cowboys absolutely existed, so there’s no need to “rewrite history” to make that work. Actually, they accounted for up to 25% of workers in the industry from the 1860s-1880s. And as for female cowboys, it certainly wouldn’t be hard to have an Annie Oakley or Calamity Jane -style character (or several!) in a Western River Expedition attraction. :)

  13. This is the most sensible idea I have heard so far. If it has to go (and it doesn’t) splash mountain should turn into something like this.

  14. I LOVE this idea! I am not excited about getting rid of Splash Mountain, but if this were the alternative I would be. I think all hardcore Disney Fans would like the history behind the attraction. I also think there is something to be said for not having cookie cutter rides at multiple parks, especially Disney World & Disney Land. Let the history and layout of the “lands” dictate the theme more than what can we copy and paste to save the most money.

  15. I agree with this. Plus, Princess & the Frog is, at its core, another princess movie, which means it is more geared towards little girls, of which is almost entirely the appeal for Fantasyland. We don’t need another one of those kind of rides. Let’s face it, they’re only doing this to sell merch, merch, and more merch. If they cared about not offending anyone, they’d have gotten rid of Small World, Mark Twain, Country Bears, or Peter Pan ages ago, and at least two of those aren’t even as loved as Splash Mountain. Any other thematically appropriate Disney IP would be too obscure and/or garbage to sell toys (such as Home on the Range), and the Western River Expedition would make too much sense…and wouldn’t sell toys.

    • The merchandise issue is true but they have to see if done right people would still buy plenty. We have a monorail play set, a pirate boat play set(yes I know there is a movie but my 6 year old has never seen it. He wanted the pirate boat because we had ridden the pirate ride) and I would easily buy a “western ranch set” with toy horses And cowboys. I don’t see a lot of grown men or boys buying a tiana shirt but can see my husband and sons buying a shirt with an old fashioned cowboy on it and some cute saying from the ride. You could have cowboys that shoot lassos, cow girls that come with their horse, and how bout a light up spinner of a cowboy and the spinning part is the lasso over his head. I’m with Tom, we have tons of haunted mansion stuff, we would buy this stuff to.

  16. The major issue, as I see it, is rather than reusing existing props (like the props reused when making Splash), you’ve gone and recommended the most expensive choices. And we should be honest, the Tiana retheming is cheap which is why it was most likely. They also don’t necessarily want to drop their Mountains set as that has been hood for souvenirs.

  17. Oh wow, this would definitely make more sense in frontierland for sure! I hope disney changes their minds about wdw version. New Orleans just doesn’t fit. I will personally hate walking through frontierland and then see new Orleans then go to thunder mountain…that will be silly….

  18. Rambling, disorganized, and long-winded, but correct.
     
    I agree completely, and hope WDW reads this.

  19. This is how you appease your paying clients AND SJWs. I’m 100% on board with this idea, unfortunately I’m just about as confident that it won’t happen.

  20. I agree that the Tiana theme doesn’t work in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, but they have plenty of room North of MK’s Haunted Mansion, along the Rivers of America, to add a New Orleans Square area to Magic Kingdom, and have this proposed Tiana attraction there as the center of the land. I also think they could fit a Pocahontas area there as well. It seems to me those 2 characters should have themed areas in Magic Kingdom the same way Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid do in the New Fantsayland section.
     
    One issue no one seems to mention is, that Splash Mountain is a “gender neutral thrill ride” with a height requirement of 40 inches… If it becomes the Tiana “princess ride” little girls under 40 inches tall won’t be able to ride it, and will boys want to ride it at all? They had to remove all the Dumbo ride vehicles with Dumbo wearing a “Pink Hat” because little boys didn’t want to ride them… seems like there could be similar issues with putting Tiana in Splash Mountain instead of building a new attraction for her from scratch.
     
    And while I’m not opposed to making Splash Mountain into Western River… a cheaper and easier compromise would be to just switch out the “Song of the South” music and characters with different AA figures and music, similar to what they do at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion with the Nightmare before Christmas characters and music. You could keep all the background scenery and the “America Sings” animals, and just switch out the classic Disney animated Folk Lore of Song of the South, with the American Folk Lore of Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry and others… I think that would fit well into Frontierland, Pecos Bill already has a restaurant near by, and if at some point they ever wanted to return to the Original Splash Mountain they could.

  21. I got a much easier (and cheaper) solution that still lets The Princess and The Frog work for The Magic Kingdom’s Splash Mountain while also honoring the history of WDW.
     
    Just rename Frontierland.
    To River Country.
     
    I would love to see the Western River Expedition come to life, but the sad reality is today’s management at The Walt Disney Company will never pull the trigger on such an endevour.
     
    But modifying the theme of a land? They’ve already done it. Multiple times.
     
    Paradise Pier? How about Pixar Pier?
    Adventureland not exciting enough? May I offer Pirate’s Cove?
    Tomorrowland too specific a time period? Here’s Discoveryland.
     
    Renaming Frontierland to River Country only requires a few face-lifts to some of the current facades to make them less “western” and a little more “southern” (namely the restaurants). Since The Princess and The Frog has a restaurant as a major plot-point, it makes sense to transition something like the Diamond Horseshoe into a Tiana’s. It’s not like there’s an abandoned concept for this exact thing (looking at you Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge).
     
    The Country Bears and Tom Sawyer Island fit perfectly, and Big Thunder Mountain, given it’s location at the far end of Frontierland, is also an easy fix. Big Thunder Mountain and the Frontierland Train Depot are right next to each other. Much like how Caribbean Plaza is a sub-land to Adventureland, this area will also be its own sub-land: Thunder Mesa, the Gateway to the West (sorry, St. Louis).
     
    Now the land has an actual flow when entering from Liberty Square, like you are travelling from the East Coast to the Frontier. How do you get there? Gotta go through River Country.
     
    I know none of this is ideal. I too thought shoe-horning New Orleans into the Frontier sounded dumb (it still does). But Splash Mountain is getting a makeover whether we like it or not. So if the ride doesn’t fit land, make the land fit the ride.

    • I think renaming Frontierland, or even eliminating it by expanding the borders of Adventureland, makes a lot of sense. A Princess and the Frog themed Splash Mountain as proposed would fit better if the land was renamed to Adventureland/River Country, etc. (though yes, the lack of mountains in Louisiana is a shame). I also like the idea (and had a similar thought) of the Diamond Horseshoe being re-themed to match.
       

  22. 1000 percent this! Tiana’s ride=one more princess thing my aging boys won’t want to ride. I can hear it now, “why can’t we just ride the dinosaur water ride in that other park?” BUT a western ride full of cowboys AND cowgirls, yes please. Something for everyone and original. Honestly all the fight and disappointment over splash being changed leaves me when I look at this concept. It fits and it’s great. Put the Tiana overlay at Disney land where it’s not so out of place and do this in the Wild West of the magic kingdom!!!

  23. They totally missed the opportunity to make a Pocahontas ride… Natives would fit perfectly in frontierland and the soundtrack is amazing!!!!!

  24. I was just thinking about this today. Western River Expedition was such a great concept and Marc Davis truly believed in this ride. It’s a shame it was never built. It would make a great addition to the parks and while I’m not 100% thrilled to see Splash Mountain re-themed, having it become the WRE would be a great fit. What better time than now to have this conversation. Sadly, I doubt Disney will listen to any of our comments. PATF is a great film, I really do love it. However I think there are better approaches to take than what is currently planned for the attraction.

Comments are closed.