OUR STORY SO FAR: Roy Disney personally okayed development of “Western River Expedition (WRE),” a massive new attraction for WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Marc Davis – the Imagineer who dreamed up the original concept for the ride – wanted “WRE” to be the most ambitious theme park ride Walt Disney Productions had ever built. Those lucky enough to have seen Marc’s concept drawings and / or view the model of the show say that this water based audio- animatronic extravaganza would have truly set the standard for all theme park rides to come.
Unfortunately, “Western River Expedition” was such an immense undertaking was that there was no way the Imagineers could have had the ride ready for WDW’s October 1971 opening. So construction of the attraction was pushed back ’til sometime in 1973-1974.
Then – in December 1971 – “WRE”‘s biggest supporter, Roy Disney, passed away. Roy’s position at Walt Disney Productions was quickly filled by Card Walker, an executive who expected results. So when visitors began complaining that WDW’s Magic Kingdom didn’t have a “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride, Card immediately ordered the Imagineers to develop a version of this Disneyland favorite for the Florida theme park.
This news concerned Davis and the other Imagineers working on “Western River.” They worried that – once Walt Disney World had a copy of Disneyland’s “Pirate” ride – there would be no need for WED to go forward with construction of a similar attraction in Florida.
As it turned out, Marc and the other folks had every right to worry. “Western River Expedition” *WAS* in trouble. But not for the reasons you might imagine.
Nowadays – when Disney announces with great fanfare that they’re adding a brand new attraction to one of their theme parks, then sometime later quietly pulls the plug on the project – people look for that one big reason that the Mouse cancelled the show.
These days, it’s usually the projected cost that causes the proposed project to get shut down (EX: Tomorrowland 2055). Or sometimes it’s just that the Disney film that the ride would have been based on didn’t do as well as the studio had hoped (EX: the ‘*** Tracy Crimestoppers” ride).
But – in some cases – there’s just not one big reason why an attraction never makes it off the drawing board. Sometimes, unrelated circumstances combine to suddenly make it seem ill advised for the Mouse to move forward with a project.
Such was the case with “Western River Expedition.” Even though this proposed WDW attraction had been announced with much fanfare and its construction site along the Rivers of America had already been cleared and prepped, this water based ride still managed to run aground.
Why for? There wasn’t just one reason why “Western River ” never set sail. In the Fall of 1973, three or more obstacles suddenly leaped up in the project’s path. None of these – all by itself – was enough to stop the show. But when they combined … Ai-yi-yi …
The first reason that “Western River” never made it off the drawing board was the project’s loss of momentum. During the early days of Walt Disney World – when there were no shows like “Pirates of the Caribbean” to be found anywhere in Florida – the Imagineers were determined to bring this type of attraction to WDW ASAP.
But – once Card Walker ordered WED to put a version of “Pirates” into Florida’s Magic Kingdom – the “WRE” project lost all sense of urgency. After all, why should the Imagineers rush to add a western style “Pirates” ride to WDW’s Frontierland when the “Reader’s Digest” version of the Disneyland original was already up and running in Adventureland?
Sensing that the “WRE” project had lost some steam, Card Walker used this opportunity to try and talk to WED about making some cuts to the proposed attraction. Given that the projected cost of building the entire Thunder Mesa / “WRE” complex was the then astronomical amount of $60 million, Walker was anxious for the Imagineers to find ways to economize on the ride.
For example, Walker was wondering if it was really necessary for WED to sculpt a new set of heads for the AA figures to use in “Western River”? Wouldn’t it be simpler – and cheaper – if the Imagineers just re-used the masks and molds they made for “Pirates of the Caribbean”?
When Marc Davis heard about this, he found Card’s suggestion laughable. These two rides were set in two entirely different regions of the globe. There was no way that the swarthy ethnic faces that the Imagineers had sculpted for the figures in “Pirates” would look right among the all-American buttes and mesas of “Western River.” So Marc flatly rejected Card’s proposal.
Walker was upset by by Davis’s spurring of his “WRE” cost-cutting idea. As the head of a major corporation who had to answer to his board of director and stockholders, Card didn’t relish greenlighting construction of an attraction that he personally felt was unnecessarily expensive.
But – before Card could meet again with the Imagineers to discuss other ways WED could save money on “Western River” – a larger crisis appeared that threatened not only Walt Disney World, but the entire Disney Company. This was the Energy Crisis of 1973 / 1974.
Youngsters today might have heard about the bread lines in the 1930s. But how many know about the gas lines of the early 1970s? It’s true, kids. A decision made in October 1973 by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to restrict the sales of crude oil to the West (which ended driving up the cost of oil by as much as $25 a barrel) initially caused chaos in the United States.
As a direct result of this “Energy Crisis,” there were scattered brown-outs in major metropolitan areas during the Fall of ’73. For a few months, gasoline was actually rationed (Depending on your license plate number, you were allowed to fill up your car on odd or even numbered days ). Things got so bad that – to set an example for the American people – then-President Richard M. Nixon ordered that the White House’s outdoor Christmas lights display not be turned on that year.
How did the Energy Crisis effect WDW? Well, given that 70% of the tourists visiting Disney’s Florida resort were supposed to arrive by car, this played hell with the theme park’s attendance levels. Some reports suggest that attendance may have fallen as much as 15% at WDW during the first three months of 1974.
This news sent Walt Disney Productions stock into a tailspin. Desperate to turn this slide around, Walker knew that he had to send a message to Wall Street. He had to make a grand gesture to show the investors that Walt Disney Productions would do whatever it had to get through the Energy Crisis.
So Card instituted some deep cost cutting measures at the resort in early 1974. These included laying off a thousand WDW employees as well as postponing construction of the Persian, Thai and Venetian Resort Hotels. In addition, no work on major new attractions for the Magic Kingdom could get underway ’til the Energy Crisis had passed.
Which meant that “Western River River” and Big Thunder Mesa were now on hold.
This couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Davis and his “Western River” team. For the Disney Board of Directors had become increasing conservative and cautious under Walker’s leadership. And now some of these executives were voicing objections to the story and characters Davis had created for “WRE.”
The first problem that these Disney executives had with “Western River Expedition” is that the attraction had a western-based story line. (A western based ride for WDW’s Frontierland area? My God! What a shocking idea! What could that maniac – Marc Davis – have been thinking?! ) Didn’t the Imagineers realize that the western was dead as an entertainment genre? There hadn’t been a hit western film in years. Even television’s most popular “horse opera” – “Gunsmoke” – was on its way to Boot Hill (After a record breaking 20 year run, this longtime CBS favorite was finally cancelled in the Spring of 1975).
One of the main reasons that the popularity of westerns waned in the earlier 1970s was that the American people no longer found amusing to watch cowboys shoot Indians. The American Indian Movement changed all that – with its 71 day occupation of the site of the infamous Wounded Knee massacre.
That event helped sensitize the general public to the plight of Native Americans – but also put the Imagineers and “Western River Expedition ” in an awful spot.
You see, when Marc Davis had done his original character designs for “WRE,” he had brutally caricatured *ALL* aspects of the western genre. So all of the ride’s cowboys were lean, lanky galoots; his dance hall girls were bosomy floozies; his Mexican bandits all had huge mustaches and shiny gold teeth. And Marc’s Indians …
Do you remember Princess Tiger Lily and the Indian Chief from Disney’s “Peter Pan?” Those cartoon “redskins” with their long skinny necks, huge noses and beady little eyes? Well, if you’ve seen the Indian characters from that film, you’ve pretty much seen what Marc Davis came up with for the raindance sequence in “WRE.”
Now – in today’s politically correct times (where people bend over backwards in an effort not offend anyone) – some sensitive souls might view Marc’s “WRE” Indians as being racially insensitive. A more reasonable individual might point out that *ALL* of the characters Davis designed for “Western River” are broad comic caricatures. Not *JUST* the Indians.
But, back then, the Disney executives don’t know from political correctness. They just knew that – if they opened a ride at WDW that featured Indian AA figures that were as brutally caricatured as Marc intended them to be – Native American protesters were sure to come picket the park. Which would draw a lot of media attention to the new attraction. Which was just the sort of publicity for their Florida resort that the Mouse *WASN’T* looking for.
Wouldn’t it be simpler – these Disney executives suggested – just to ditch all this Wild West stuff and come up with a thrill ride for the park?
Marc and his “WRE” design team laughed at the executives’ suggestion. I mean, they were joking, right?
Right?