35 years ago this week, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first began
rolling through Disneyland's Frontierland. And while
millions of theme park fans have enjoyed "The Wildest Ride in the
Wilderness" since then, few folks today realize that — if Disney's
Imagineers had had their way back in the 1970s — this thrill ride wouldn't have
just been a stand-alone attraction. No, Big Thunder was supposed to have served
as the gateway to this entirely new "land" at "The Happiest
Place on Earth."
What am I talking about? Well, imagine if the miners who dug
all of those tunnels deep down into that mysterious mountain hadn't blown all
of their hard-earned gold on wine, women and song? What if they had spent their
fortunes instead building a "San Francisco
of the 1850s – 1880s" right at the northern-most edge of the Rivers of
America?
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
This proposed western port city — Discovery
Bay — has been the stuff of legend
within the Disneyana fan community for decades now. Theme park buffs have been obsessing
over this themed expansion of Disneyland ever since the
project was first announced in Walt Disney Productions' annual report for 1976.
At that time, Discovery
Bay was described as a place that
celebrated
Concept art for the interior of Discovery Bay's Grand Salon restaurant
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
… an age of discovery and expansion. Here would be located
attractions based on the motion pictures "Island at
the Top of the World" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," the
latter featuring "undersea" dining in the Grand Salon of Captain
Nemo's famous submarine.
Sadly, almost as soon as the Imagineers produced an
elaborate scale model of Discovery Bay (which was then put on display in the
Disneyland Preview Center on Main Street, U.S.A.), Mouse House managers began
having second thoughts about the project. Mostly because the Disney-produced
action-adventure that was supposed to have served as the jumping-off point for
this new "land" — 1977's "The Island at the Top of the
World" — bombed at the box office.
A very young Tony Baxter futzes with the model for
Discovery Bay. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved
Ah, but that wasn't the end of Discovery
Bay. Even as Walt Disney
Productions execs were taking the budget that had originally been set aside for
this celebration of Jules Verne & H.G. Wells and then using it on a
retooling of Disneyland's Fantasyland (which opened in late 1982 / early 1983),
the Imagineers were finding new ways to keep this steampunkish place alive. First
by reimagining the Tomorrowland area that had been proposed for Euro Disneyland
as Discoveryland and then by making Mysterious Island a
centerpiece of Tokyo Disney
Sea.
In short, Discovery
Bay is one of those Disney-created
ideas that just wouldn't die. Its
influence can be felt even today with Marvel's new best-selling series of
"Figment" comic books. Which stars the Dreamfinder character from
Epcot's "Journey into Imagination" attraction. Though — truth be
told — the Dreamfinder & Figment's origins can actually be tracked back to
(you guessed it) Discovery Bay.
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So given that this never-built theme park land has had such
a profound impact over the past 30 years, it only makes sense that D23 — the
Official Disney Fan Club — has decided to explore the convoluted history of
this project at its upcoming Destination D event, Attraction Rewind.
During Attraction Rewind's "Rediscovering
Discovery Bay"
panel, Disney Legend Tony Baxter will take guests on an in-depth tour of the
never-built themed expansion for Disneyland, through
rarely seen concept artwork and models that he worked on during his time at
Walt Disney Imagineering.
Would you believe Discovery Bay as its very own, stand-alone theme park?
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
"Of all the Disney
Park projects that have
"not" been realized during my years as an Imagineer, Discovery
Bay stands out as the most
intriguing," Baxter stated. "This unique D23 presentation will chronicle the Discovery
Bay Journey from the story's very beginning. From hen gold was discovered deep
inside Big Thunder
Mountain, providing financial means
for its mythical founder, Jason Chandler, on through many designs for the Bay
and its attractions, all the way to a full fledged theme park concept. I
guarantee there will be some real surprises along the way."
So if you'd like to discover how "The Wildest Ride in
the Wilderness" was just supposed to be the initial stepping-off point for
an even wilder adventure along Disneyland's waterfront,
then you should definitely check out D23's Destination D: Attraction Rewind
event. Which will be held at WDW's Contemporary Resort Hotel November 22 – 23.
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on September 3, 2014