OUR STORY SO FAR: Marc Davis was tired. Tired of the excuses he kept getting as to why “Western River Expedition” (WRE) wasn’t getting built. Tired of having his other new attraction ideas never make it off the drawing board. Most of all, Marc was tired of repeating himself.
So – when Davis was asked to do yet another version of Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” attraction for Tokyo Disneyland – Marc decided it was time to pack it in. So Davis retired from Walt Disney Productions in 1978, preferring to work at home on two book projects: “The Bite of the Crocodile,” a collection of Marc’s New Guinea inspired paintings, as well as “The Anatomy of Motion,” a volume that will someday be considered *THE* drawing reference book for animators.
So – with Marc Davis, “WRE”‘s biggest champion. gone – “Western River” should have just faded away, right? With all its models packed away, its concept drawings stuffed in filing cabinets at WED, there was no reason why anyone at Imagineering should have still been talking about this dead- in- the- water, never- to- be- built ride. Right?
But they did. And they do. Even today at WDI, Marc’s concept drawings for “Western River” are regularly pulled out of the files by folks at WDI and still “Oohed” and “Aahed” over. The Imagineers look to this material for inspiration (as well as for ideas to incorporate into other Disney theme park attractions. )
Which attractions? Funny you should ask…
The heads at WED should have known they were in trouble after the robbery.
After all, how many times before had someone stolen *ALL* the figurines from a scale model of a proposed attraction? One or two figurines disappearing? That was understandable. It happened all the time. (The guys working in Imagineering tend to be a sentimental lot. They’re always taking home a little something to remind them of a show or attraction they’ve just worked on.)
But nothing on this scale had ever happened before. Folks working in the WED model shop in 1975 returned from a three day weekend to find that every figurine from the 1″ to 1′ “Western River Expedition” model had disappeared. Mind you, we’re talking about over 100 eight inch tall, hand painted and sculpted figures. It would take thousands of dollars – and hundreds of man hours – to replace all these figurines.
Given the number of figures missing – as well as the high security complex these items were stolen out of – this was obviously an inside job. But who at WED would be nutty enough to have snagged all these “Western River” figurines? Disney security investigated the case for months, but could never find the culprit.
Years later – in the mid 1980s – two of these “Western River Expedition ” figures (a medicine man as well as a drummer from the Indian village rain dance sequence) turned up in an auction held by the Howard Lowery gallery. Initially, there was hope that these two figures might help solve this 10 year old caper. Alas, these two “WRE” pieces had been placed in the auction from a reputable Disneyana dealer. He had purchased them from a third party who had no knowledge of the figurines’ shady past .. or what might have become of the other 100+ “Western River” figures.
But this was the sort of madness that “WRE” inspired in Imagineers. If they couldn’t get the actual attraction built, they’d steal pieces of the model. Or they’d quietly slip scenes from the proposed attraction into other Disney theme park shows. All out of love for Marc’s designs for the attraction.
Take – of example – Epcot’s “World of Motion” ride. Though noted Disney animator Ward Kimball had done some preliminary design work on this attraction, it quickly became obvious that Ward didn’t have what it takes to be an Imagineer. So WED quietly made a call to Marc Davis in early 1980, asking him he’d be willing to unretire for a few weeks and help them get this GM sponsored ride back on track.
Davis initially said “No.” He had heard that Card Walker was up to his old tricks, asking the Imagineers to recycle masks and molds from other Disney attractions so that the Mouse could save some money on the “World of Motion” AA figures. (Indeed, many of the faces used on the figures in the GM ride were painfully familiar to Marc. They were the very same masks that he had had Blaine Gibson sculpt for Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” back in 1966 – some 14 years earlier. ) Davis wanted no part of another Disney AA attraction that would be done on the cheap.
But then the show producers of “World of Motion” took Marc to lunch. After a few drinks, these Imagineers admitted that it wasn’t much fun using old faces on the new AA figures in their GM ride. So these guys decided that they wanted to pull a fast one on Card Walker. And they needed Davis’ help to pull it off.
Do you remember the “Train Robbery” sequence in GM’s “World of Motion?” It featured some broadly comic western characters – masked bandits, the schoolmarm, a heroic sheriff with a tin badge on his chest – in a setting that featured a steam train as well as the bright red rocks of the American Southwest. Does any of this sound familiar to you?
It should. It’s just the Imagineers paying tribute to “Western River Expedition,” with a scene created by Marc Davis himself. True, it’s not really a sequence that was slated to go into the original attraction. The train scene in “World of Motion” is loosely based on similar scenes Davis had drawn up for WDW’s “WRE” ride. But – by slipping that sequence into the GM pavilion – Marc finally moved “Western River Expedition” off the drawing board and into reality. And that felt pretty damned good.
The beauty part of this “WRE” scene being in “World of Motion” is that Card Walker never caught on to the gag. He personally okayed all the sequences that were to be featured in Epcot’s GM attraction, but never recognized the train robbery scene featured in this Future World ride as something that might have been designed for “Western River Expedition.”
As word began to spread around WED about the “WRE” stuff that was being slipped into “World of Motion,” other Imagineers wanted to get in on the gag too. The guys putting together the “Listen to the Land” boat ride for Kraft Foods’ “The Land” pavilion also decided that they wanted to put one over on Card Walker. And so they did.
Do you recall those AA buffaloes and prairie dogs featured in the “Prairie Fire” sequence early in the attraction? Did they also look vaguely familiar? They should. These robotic animals are based on designs Marc Davis originally drew up for “Western River Expedition.”
Again, Card Walker never had a clue to the significance of the AA buffaloes and prairie dogs in Kraft Foods’ Future World pavilion. He never heard the Imagineers snickering behind his back, secretly thrilled that another piece of Marc’s dream attraction had made it off the drawing board.
Mind you, putting one over on the boss is fun. But it wasn’t quite as satisfying as actually getting a full- size, really- for- real version of “Western River Expedition” would have been. So WED’s “WRE” fans – every couple of years – would once again pull out the plans and try to sell their bosses on the idea of actually building the attraction.
Once Michael Eisner came on board at Disney Company CEO in the fall of 1984, he too got a sales pitch from WDI about building “Western River Expedition.” Given how passionate the French were about the American West, the Imagineers had hoped that they be able to get Eisner to sign off on adding Big Thunder Mesa to the list of attractions that would be featured in Euro Disneyland’s Frontierland area.
But – in the end – Eisner didn’t bite. He preferred a more elaborate version of that old Tony Baxter favorite: Big Thunder Mountain Railway. Only this time around, that thrill ride was to be located in the middle of the Rivers of America – occupying the spot that Tom Sawyer Island traditionally held in the Disney theme park landscape.
This didn’t deter the Imagineers from folding bits of Marc’s “WRE” plans in the company’s European theme park. If you look closely, there’s at least three tributes to “Western River Expedition” to be found in Euro Disneyland’s Frontierland area. They are:
* The finale of “Phantom Manor.” As guests go underground and find themselves moving through an actual ghost town, many of the characters and set pieces featured in this section of the ride were inspired by similar scenes that Marc designed for the “Dry Gulch” section of “Western River Expedition.”
* “Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building.” This Frontierland building – which actually houses four different shops – borrows its name from the massive show building that was to have housed the “WRE” attraction.
* “Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing.” This Frontierland landmark, which serves as the docking area of the “Molly Brown” and the “Mark Twain”, also gets its name from “WRE”‘s proposed show building.
So – given how enthusiastic the Imagineers remain about Marc Davis’ concept drawings for “Western River Expedition” some 32 years after they were originally created – is it wise to consider this long proposed project dead? Is “WRE” an idea that will never make it off the drawing board?
Please keep in mind the “UFO Show” mentioned in Part VII of this series. It took almost 25 years for this ride concept to be married to the right story material – the Buzz Lightyear mythology from the “Toy Story” films – before that proposed show finally became a reality.
Right now, the “Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin” is one of the hottest attractions to be found in the entire WDW resort. WDI is already working up plans to add this amazingly popular target practice ride to the Anaheim, Tokyo and Paris Disneylands. This “Toy Story” inspired show will also be an opening day attraction when the Hong Kong Magic Kingdom opens in 2005.
All this happened because someone in Imagineering burrowed around in the pile of old, rejected ride ideas, unearthed the concept for the “UFO Show” and thought: “I think I know a way to make this work now.”
Walt Disney Imagineering vice chairman and principal creative executive Marty Sklar has said: “Good ideas never go away. They are a precious commodity, whether developed right away or not. A good idea is never forgotten. It may turn up sometime later for use in some other project, in part of in its entirety.”
So maybe someday soon, an Imagineer – looking for an idea to replace Disney Quest’s “Virtual Jungle Cruise” attraction – will come across Marc’s artwork for “Western River Expedition” and say “I think I know a way to make this work.”
Stranger things have happened, kids.