This article is an adaptation of an original Jim Hill Media Five Part Series “California Misadventure” (2000).

Walt Disney was desperate.

Here it was, early 1955. Walt had pumped every penny he had into building “The Happiest Place on Earth” out amongst the orange groves of Anaheim. When he suddenly realized: “There’s no place for them to stay.”

Who’s “them?” Disneyland’s customers. AKA the guests.

All those people who are going to drive up from San Diego, or down from San Francisco. They’d be tired after a full day of touring his “Magic Kingdom.” Disney knew that these folks would want a nice, clean place nearby where they can stay.

But Walt didn’t have the dough necessary to build a hotel next to Disneyland. He barely had enough cash to finish the park itself, let alone build lodgings nearby. But Walt knew that having a nice hotel right next to the park would play a crucial part in the project’s success.

But what could he do? Roy certainly wouldn’t give him the money. ABC was completely tapped out. And Walt had already cashed in his life insurance.

Jack Wrather Helping Disneyland

In desperation, Walt turned to an old friend: television producer Jack Wrather. Jack was someone Walt had been friendly with for years. They were both old pros when it came to surviving in the cut-throat world of the movie business.

These days, though, Jack was definitely on a hot streak. Having produced two of TV’s earliest syndicated hits (“Lassie” and “The Lone Ranger”), Wrather was flush with cash. He had also invested wisely in real estate around Southern California — ending up with big holdings in oil and natural gas.

Using the excuse that he wanted to pick Wrather’s brain concerning his Disneyland project, Walt asked Jack to join him out in Anaheim for a tour of the construction site. It was only after Wrather got there that Jack finally realized that Disney didn’t want to pick his brain. Walt was out to pick his pocket. There among the construction footings, Walt told Jack the story of Disneyland. How he dreamed of building a different kind of family fun park. How he’d need a clean new hotel nearby for visitors to stay in.

Jack listened. Nodded. Smiled. Then said “No.”

Walt persisted. Jack resisted. I mean, to Wrather, Disney’s idea made absolutely no sense. A 17-million-dollar amusement park, built out in the middle of the citrus groves on Anaheim? Who the hell was going to drive out from LA to visit this place, anyway? Walt didn’t need a hotel. He needed his head examined.

But Walt wouldn’t give up. He kept trying to sweeten the deal, first offering Wrather a 99-year lease on the property. Then Walt threw in the Disney name, saying that Wrather could use it on any other hotels he built in Southern California.

At this point, Walt was near tears. Embarrassed at the sight of the weepy movie mogul, Jack finally caved in and agreed to help his friend. But he wasn’t going to build a hotel next to Disneyland. That would just be too expensive. Walt would just have to settle for a motel. And a small one at that.

Disneyland Motel Turns Into the Disneyland Hotel

Of course, everyone knows that Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. After a somewhat shaky first summer, the park proved to be a hit with the public. On October 5th of that same year, the Disneyland Motel opened on a 60-acre site right across the street from the park. It too would prove to be very popular with the public.

Walt is thrilled with the success of Disneyland. But no more than Jack Wrather was with the success of his Disneyland Motel, which he rapidly turned into a resort-style hotel. Three huge high-rise towers — the Bonita, Sierra and Marina — were quickly thrown up, bringing the total number of rooms on property to over 1,100. Wrather also added several spectacular swimming pools as well as a convention center to the complex.

Walt never forgot Jack’s generosity when it came to building the Disneyland Hotel. When few in Hollywood had any faith at all in Disney’s theme park project, Wrather (albeit somewhat reluctantly) agreed to help his friend. This gesture had meant the world to Walt, so he was constantly looking for ways to repay Wrather for his kindness.

Monorail to the Disneyland Hotel

Take, for instance, the Monorail. When the Disneyland-Alweg monorail system was first installed at the park in 1959, it just took guests on a quick trip around Tomorrowland. But that wasn’t good enough for Walt. He wanted his new train to actually go somewhere and provide a real service.

So, in 1961, Walt decided to extend the monorail’s route. He had a track installed that took the trains out of the park and ran them across the street over to the Disneyland Hotel. Here, passengers could disembark to do some shopping and dining at the resort. Or they could just sit tight in their seat for the return trip to Tomorrowland.

Walt spent millions building the track to get the monorail over to Wrather’s property. Mind you, he never asked Jack to help shoulder the cost. All Disney did was charge the Wrather Corporation a nominal fee to help maintain the hotel’s monorail station.

This one generous gesture added immeasurably to the allure of the Disneyland Hotel. While there may have been other hotels in Anaheim that were more luxurious and better laid out, none of them were directly linked to Disneyland via a state-of-the-art transportation system. It was this distinction that led to the Disneyland Hotel having the highest occupancy rate in all of Orange County.

In his lifetime, Walt always made sure that Jack Wrather and the Wrather Corporation were well taken care of by Walt Disney Productions. It was only after Walt’s death in December 1966 that the coziness between the two companies began to curdle.

Wrather Corporation & Walt Disney Productions

The key sticking point was that deal Disney had worked out with Jack Wrather way back in 1955. By giving the Wrather Corporation a 99 year lease on the Disneyland Hotel site as well as the exclusive right to use the Disney name on any hotels built in Southern California, Walt had effectively cut his own company off from a huge revenue stream ’til 2054.

Think about it: All those hotels in Anaheim, making millions of dollars each year off guests who have come to see Disneyland. And the Mouse doesn’t get a nickel of it — all because of some desperate deal Walt cut with Jack Wrather while weeping in the Disneyland construction site.

Mind you, it’s not like the Mouse didn’t try. Each year, Disney representatives would contact Jack Wrather, saying that they wished to discuss terms for buying out his Disneyland Hotel contract. Each year, Jack would just laugh and say “Thanks but no thanks. I’m happy with the arrangement as is.”

This continued right up until June 1984, when Disney Chairman Ray Watson personally approached Jack about buying back the Wrather Corporation’s Disneyland Hotel holdings. Wrather — whose health was fading at the time — hinted at this particular meeting that he might finally now be ready to sell his property back to the Mouse. But before negotiations could officially get underway, Wrather died in November 1984.

Michael Eisner Making Moves

By then, Michael Eisner and his new management team had already taken up residence at Walt Disney Productions. One of Eisner’s first goals was to radically improve the company’s bottom line, which meant he had to quickly increase the amount of money the company’s theme parks generated.

To do this in Florida, Eisner just okayed construction of two huge new hotels at the WDW resort: The 900 room Grand Floridian and the 2,100 room Caribbean Beach Resort. Eisner had planned to do the same thing at Disneyland — only to discover that A) the Disney Company didn’t own any hotels in Anaheim, B) they didn’t have sufficient land to build any new resorts, anyway, and C) only the Wrather Company had the rights to use the Disney name on hotels built in Southern California.

Eisner was dumbfounded when he heard about this. He turned to his newly hired Disney Chief Financial Officer Gary Wilson and said: “Handle this. I don’t care how you do it, but I want that contract broken. The Walt Disney Company has to be the sole owner and operator of the Disneyland Hotel.”

Wilson met with Watson and learned that Wrather had really almost been ready to sell Disney back the Disneyland Hotel when he passed away in November. In the meantime, Wilson gathered intelligence about the Wrather Corporation. He learned that — since Jack’s death — the company had fallen on extremely hard times. To keep afloat financially, the Wrather Corporation had already sold off several premium assets: Its oil and natural gas holdings, as well as the syndication rights to “The Lone Ranger ” and “Lassie.”

Wrather Corporation Under Attack

It seemed like this financial crisis might be the ideal time to approach Wrather with an offer to buy up the Disneyland Hotel acreage and contract. And Wilson was just getting to do this, when word came from Wall Street that a New Zealand-based firm — Industrial Equity — had bought up 28% of the Wrather Corporation.

This firm — run by corporate raider Ronald Brierley — quickly made its intentions known: It filed reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it intended to buy up at least half of Wrather Corporation.

Sensing that Disney’s opportunity to gain control of the hotel was slipping away, Wilson and his team moved quickly. They immediately asked for a meeting with Wrather Corporation management. While in that meeting, Wilson voiced Disney’s disapproval that the ownership of the Disneyland Hotel could slip away to a foreign green-mailer like Brierley.

While Disney officially could do nothing to derail Wrather’s deal with Industrial Equity, Wilson did point out that the hotel’s monorail maintenance contract was soon up for renegotiation. Wilson then told Wrather management that the Mouse was considering a slight hike in the monorail maintenance fee. Like to — say — $10,000 a day?

Disney’s threat was none so subtle, but very clear. Should Wrather try to sell off their Disneyland Hotel holdings to anybody but the Mouse, Disney would make operating the monorail so prohibitively expensive for the new owners that there was no way that they could ever make money off the hotel. Faced with these terms, Wrather had no choice but to begin serious sale talks with the Mouse.

Unfortunately, the Disneyland Hotel sale negotiations dragged on for months. Disney felt that Wrather was asking too high a price for the property, while Wrather’s people thought that the Mouse’s offers were embarrassingly low. With no resolution in sight, the sales talks plodded on into 1987, eventually rolling into 1988.

Walt Disney Company Gains Control of the Disneyland Hotel

Desperate to finally get its hands on the Disneyland Hotel, the Mouse did the unthinkable: It actually got in bed with Ronald Brierley and Industrial Equity. Together, the two companies bought up the remaining 78% of Wrather Corporation for $109 million. Each firm got 50% of the Wrather Company. But only the Mouse got the rights to run the Disneyland hotel as well as develop the surrounding Anaheim property.

Six months later, the Mouse turned around and bought out Industrial Equity’s portion of the Wrather Corporation. This took over $85 million, which Brierley gleefully pocketed before heading back to New Zealand.

So, in January 1989 — after 34 years and a total of $161 million dollars — the Mouse had finally regained control of the Disneyland Hotel. Given that Wrather Corporate has allowed the hotel’s 1,100-plus rooms to fall into disrepair, the first order of business was a $35 million rehab of the entire resort.

But the big news is the Walt Disney Company had finally regained control of its own name. Now it could launch a whole series of Southern California hotels if it chose to …

Only Michael didn’t choose to. He realizes that Disneyland — as it is currently configured — is strictly a one-day park. Guests would typically arrive in Anaheim that morning to see the park and its new attractions, then drive back home that night.

Consequently, there was no point in doing a Walt Disney World-style ramp-up of the number of Disney-owned hotel rooms at the Disneyland resort.

Unless…

Unless there was a reason for all those people to now stay two days in Anaheim. Like — say — a brand new Disney theme park in Southern California for them to see?

Intrigued by this idea, Eisner calls in the Imagineers. He outlines his idea of building a second Disney theme park in Southern California. He sends them back to WDI, telling them to return in one month’s time with plans for new Disney theme parks. His one creative directive: “Amaze me. Astound me.”

When the Imagineers finally do return one month later to show Eisner their proposals for new Southern Californian theme parks, they did actually amaze their new boss.

They’d proposed building two distinctly different Disney theme parks in two unlikely locations — one in Disneyland’s old parking lot, the other along the waterfront in Long Beach.

Long Beach vs. Anaheim

The rumors began flying in March 1990.

The Mouse was up to something.

Something big.

For months now, Disney had been meeting privately with the port authorities and city officials of Long Beach. Everyone the Mouse spoke with was sworn to secrecy. But — even so — little tidbits had begun to leak out about this highly hush-hush project.

Like … whatever Disney was up to, the company would be spending at least a billion dollars to get the thing up out of the ground. And … The project would feature a massive port for cruise ships, as well as several seaside luxury hotels. Best of all, there was talk of an elaborate new Disney theme park.

Long Beach residents were thrilled by these rumors.

The people of Anaheim, as you might understand, were not.

For years now, Orange County residents had listened politely as Disneyland cast members complained about how the company’s pre-existing deal with the Wrather Corporation prevented the Mouse from expanding in Anaheim. Well, that contract was null and void now. So where was Disney? Not planning any projects for Orange County, that’s for sure. The Mouse is down by the water, mapping out mega-resorts with his new pals from Long Beach.

Anaheim officials felt hurt and betrayed by what they perceived as the Mouse turning his back on his long-time friends. But — rather than get mad — these Orange County officials became determined to win back Disney’s affections. They’d do whatever they had to get back in Mickey’s good graces.

Which is exactly what the Mouse had hoped they’d do.

Ah — if we’d only known for sure what the Disney Company was actually up to, way back then in 1990-1991. We could have gotten a big box of popcorn and sat right down front. ‘Cause this was “Show Business” on a grand scale, with the real emphasis on “Business.”

As in “Giving Someone the Business.”

I mean, this was manipulation on a masterful, massive scale. The Walt Disney Company successfully pitting two major Southern Californian cities against one another, with Anaheim and Long Beach battling to see who would have the privilege of paying a billion dollars for public improvements (stuff like new highway ramps, street widening, etc.) that Disney insisted were necessary to properly launch its new theme park. All that time, all that energy, all the money expended, just so that city can have the bragging rights to having bagged the new Disney kiddie park? It hardly seems worth the effort.

Is the Mouse really that Machiavellian? Let’s look at the time line, kiddies.

Westcot & Disney Seas

January 1989: Michael Eisner asks the Imagineers to come up with some ideas for new Disney attractions for Southern California. WDI delivers two killer concepts to its CEO: Westcot Center and Disney Seas.

Truth be told, there are some obvious similarities between the two proposed theme parks. Westcot Center and Disney Seas both had bold designs that depart radically from the look and feel of classic Disneyland. Mind you, the two proposed parks aren’t that original. Both used a giant knock-off of Epcot Center’s Spaceship Earth as their centerpiece / icon (Westcot Center has its great golden Spacestation Earth, while the Disney Seas park has its bright blue Oceana.)

Most importantly, both Westcot Center and Disney Seas are going to be almost prohibitively costly to construct. Initial estimates suggest that the parks will each cost $3 billion to build.

That’s a lot of money for the Walt Disney Company to have to lay out all on its own; particularly in 1989, when the Mouse is still recovering from the massive construction bills the company ran up hurrying to finish Walt Disney World’s (WDW) Disney-MGM Studio theme park in Orlando in time for its grand opening in May of that year.

And then there’s the cash the Mouse has to have on hand to cover the costs of its portion of the Euro Disney. (This was way back when Disney thought that Euro Disney was going to be a guaranteed goldmine. Which just goes to show that the Mouse doesn’t always know what it’s doing. Anyhow… )

Disney needed a way to make either of these projects more financially viable (read that as “cheaper to build”). The easiest way to do this was to persuade an outside party to take on a portion of the cost. Someone with deep pockets. Like — say — Long Beach, or Anaheim, or even the State of California.

Fighting for the Mouse

Disney worked hard to keep all the outside parties involved in this project off-center and out of the loop. For example, the Mouse officially announced the “Port Disney” project in April 1990. However, within just a week’s time, the Mouse put out a press release that — in a nutshell – said: “By the way, if we don’t get that modification to the State Coastal Act that we’re looking for, we’re pulling the plug on the whole damned project tomorrow.”

Long Beach — which was desperate to land this $3 billion project (with the hope that it might revitalize its depressed downtown area ) — repeatedly jumped through whatever hoop the Mouse set up. High-ranking city officials even put pressure on Peter Douglas, executive director of the Coastal Commission (reportedly even threatening to have him removed from his $70,000-a-year job), just because he dared to speak out against the “Port Disney” project.

Meanwhile, Anaheim officials continued to pester Disney management, hoping to get it to change its minds about Long Beach and refocus its expansion efforts on Orange County.

One enterprising politician even used Disneyland’s July 17th birthday celebration as a forum to plead the county’s case. Standing on stage in the Magic Kingdom, he departed from his scripted birthday greeting to personally urge Michael Eisner to bring the California second gate project back to Anaheim. Michael was not amused.

Little did this politician realize that the other shoe was about to drop. Disney was continually finding its efforts to clear all the legal hurdles to build Disney Seas / Port Disney stymied by environmentalists. Three of California’s largest environmental groups had banded together to protest the project. They had a particular problem with the Mouse’s plan to fill in 256 acres of San Pedro Bay so it could build its Disney Seas theme park.

Sensing that “Disney Seas” might end up going the way of the Titanic, the Mouse unofficially put the word out during the summer of 1990 that it might have another Californian theme park in the works, just in case “Port Disney” fell through.

Orange County officials were further heartened in February 1991, when they learned that the Disney Company had purchased 23 acres of land in Anaheim. Why would you buy land if you didn’t intend to build something on it?

Still, the Mouse worked hard at keeping Anaheim officials off-balance. It would leak detail about the proposed Anaheim second gate, then have a ribbon cutting for the “Port Disney” visitor center the very next day.

By May 1991, when Disney finally officially unveiled its $3.1 billion plan for the Westcot / Disneyland Resort project, the Anaheim city fathers were complete basket cases. While they were thrilled that Disney had finally revealed its plans for a second Anaheim park, they were also terrified that the project might suddenly fall through.

The Mouse had these guys right where it wanted them, particularly when it began issuing statements such as (when asked in a straightforwardly fashion) whether the company intended to build just Westcot or just Disney Seas, a Mouse-ka-spokesman replied: “While it wants to build both, the Walt Disney Company can only build one of these parks in the 1990s. The company will build first in the city that provides us with the best support package.”

The Mouse’s message was clear: Give us what we want (In Anaheim, Disney was looking for $1 billion worth of street widening, tree planting and public improvements. At Long Beach, Disney was asking for $880 million worth of highway improvements) or we’ll go with the other guy.

In the end, Anaheim did exactly what Disney asked. They even tabled discussion of a theme park admission tax because the Mouse threatened to cancel Westcot if the proposed tax ever came up for a vote.

By the fall of 1991, though Disney would never publicly admit to it, the company had given up on its Long Beach project. The state of California had refused to give the Mouse the zoning variance it needed to fill in that portion of San Pedro Bay. Without that additional land to build on, the whole “Port Disney” project was no longer viable.

Just days before Christmas, Long Beach got a huge lump of coal in its stocking, as Disney officially cancelled the “Port Disney” project. Had the project actually gone forward, “Disney Seas” would have created 20,000 jobs for the community.

Orange County officials rejoiced at this news, little realizing how often they’d been manipulated by the Mouse during the selection process.

And the manipulation would continue for months to come — as the Disney Company would repeatedly seek Anaheim’s approval for the numerous changes it would make to Westcot’s master plan.

Would Westcot Have Been Better Than Disney California Adventure?

Why do Disneyana buffs constantly complain about Disney’s California Adventure?

It’s not so much about what DCA is, as it is about what that park isn’t.

Imagine if there was an announcement in your local paper that a major company intended to build a world class restaurant, right in your home town. Their plans called for the restaurant to be housed in an elegant building surrounded by beautiful gardens. Inside, they’d serve delicious food while live bands performed.

Wouldn’t you be excited if you heard that a place like that was coming to your town?

Conversely, wouldn’t you be disappointed if you were to learn that — after years of hype — the same company had decided not to construct the elegant restaurant, but were opting instead to build a McDonalds on that site?

One might argue that a restaurant is a restaurant. Food is food. It doesn’t much matter if an elegant restaurant is replaced by a fast food place. You still have somewhere to eat.

This is why Disneyana buffs are so upset. In their minds, they were promised the beautiful restaurant (Westcot) but ended up with McDonald’s (DCA).

It doesn’t much matter that many of the very same Imagineers who dreamed up Westcot also worked on attractions for DCA. Not to the Disney die-hards, anyway. All that they remember — all too keenly — are the plans for Westcot. Next to the greatness-that-might-have-been of that grandiose resort, everything — particularly California Adventure — pales in comparison.

Was this abandoned-but-not-forgotten project worth all this fuss? In a way, yes. Had Westcot been built following the project’s original plan, it would have been the culmination of Disney’s theme park experience. Everything that the Mouse had learned while building resorts in Florida, France and Japan was going to be used back in California.

And how fitting that Disney was going to re-invent the theme park experience — right back in the place where theme parks had been invented in 1955.

Westcot and the original Disneyland Resort plan was truly groundbreaking stuff. It sought to turn Disneyland and the tired collection of motels and fast food joints that surrounded the park as something extraordinary: a lushly gardened, brightly lit urban entertainment center. Had this project gone forward as originally planned, Anaheim could have emerged as one of California’s premier destination resorts.

Journey Through Westcot

You want to know what all the fuss was about? Do you long for a taste of the wonders of Westcot? Here, let me take you on a journey to the greatest theme park the Disney Company never built:

Your day at Westcot begins as you zoom off Interstate 5, driving straight in to one of two massive parking garages that border the reconfigured Disneyland Resort. After parking your car, you hop aboard an elevated shuttle (modeled after the automated system that Orlando International Airport uses to shuttle passengers to its outermost air terminals) which takes you quickly and quietly to Disneyland Plaza.

Though it’s only a short trip to the plaza, you still use this opportunity to eyeball the plush new resort. Off in the distance, you spy the Magic Kingdom Hotel — one of three new resorts the Walt Disney Company has built outside the parks. Its red tile roof and stucco stylings remind you a lot of the historic Spanish missions up in Santa Barbara.

The shuttle’s elevated track also takes you past Disneyland Center — a retail, dining and entertainment area located next to a six acre lake. You notice that many of the buildings in this part of the resort are modeled after memorable Californian landmarks: Catalina’s Avalon Ballroom, Venice Beach’s Boardwalk as well as San Diego’s Coronado Hotel. You make a note to do a little poking around here after your day at Westcot.

But now it’s time to disembark. As you stroll down the steps into Disneyland Plaza, you can’t help but think: this used to be the parking lot? Now it’s a tree-lined, fountain-filled open space, which allows guests a moment or so to get themselves oriented before beginning that day’s adventure.

To your left is Disneyland “Classic.” To your right is Westcot, a stylish rethinking of WDW’s Epcot Center. Everything that makes that Florida theme park fun is recreated here. Everything else that made Epcot somewhat creepy and a bit of a bore has been left behind.

As you push through the turnstile to enter Westcot, the first thing you see is the park’s icon, Spacestation Earth. A giant 300-foot-tall golden ball reminiscent of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth. Even in the distance, it towers over everything. Sitting on a lush green island at the center of World Showcase lagoon, Spacestation Earth is home to the Ventureport.

You’ll have to cross a pedestrian bridge out over the water to reach Spacestation Earth and the Ventureport. But here, you’ll get your first taste of the Wonders of Westcot. Many of your old favorites from Epcot’s Future World — the “Journey into Imagination” ride with Figment and Dreamfinder, the “Body Wars” ride from the”Wonders of Life” pavilion as well as the “Horizons” ride — will be waiting for you here, where you can “Dare to Dream the Future.”

Well, the Future’s a fun place to hang out for a while. But suddenly your stomach’s growling. Maybe now would be a good time to sample all that international cuisine that’s available around World Showcase Lagoon. So you walk back around that pedestrian bridge and begin exploring the Americas.

(Westcot’s World Showcase is a little different than the Epcot version. Here, you won’t find separate countries, but countries grouped by regions. So, if you want to check out the international area, you have a choice of heading to the Americas, Europe, Asia as well as Africa & the Far East. Four distinct districts that try to span the globe. Today, you’ll begin your journey in the Americas.)

As you walk back across the pedestrian bridge, you can’t help but notice how cleverly Westcot is laid out. The buildings that form the Americas area (which also double as the main entrance to the park) have been done in an early 1900s style, reminiscent of the way New York City must have looked like at the turn of the century. Architecturally, these buildings have just enough in common with the buildings that make up Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. that the two theme parks blend together effortlessly. There are no jarring transitions for guests who are exiting one park to visit the other. It all flows together seamlessly.

Inside World Showcase, this sort of architectural blending continues. Instead of doing what the Imagineers who designed the original Epcot did (i.e.: building large, free-standing international pavilions with wide swaths of greenery separating each building from its neighbor), the team that designed Westcot put its buildings right next to one another. That way, you can — for example — see how Japanese architecture borrowed from Chinese design, which — in turn — influenced Indian ornamentation.

You also notice that Disney has obviously learned from the other mistakes it made with Epcot. There are fewer travelogue films to be seen here, but a lot more rides. Kids won’t complain about there being nothing to do in this park, particularly with attractions like “Ride The Dragon.” This steel coaster roars across the rooftops of the Asian section of World Showcase, following a track that’s designed to look like the Great Wall of China.

As you explore the many shops and exhibits you find in the park’s international area, your eye keeps being drawn to the top three floors of the six story buildings that ring World Showcase Lagoon. What a thrill it must be to have a room up there — in one of two new Disney Resort hotels, where guests can actually “live the dream” of staying inside a theme park.

I bet those rooms offer a great view of the nightly fireworks extravaganza.

Speaking of night, where did the day go? It seems like you just got to Westcot, yet it’s already time to head back home. You barely got to see half of this hyper-detailed theme park. I mean, how did you end up missing taking a trip on “The River of Time,” the park’s signature attraction? That 45 minute boat ride would have taken you all the way around the park, past elaborate audio animatronic recreations of great moments in history.

Oh well. I guess you’ll just have to catch that the next time.

You walk out of Westcot. And — while you are sorely tempted to catch that rock concert that’s currently playing in the Disneyland Arena (a 5,000-seat venue located just outside the entrance of Westcot, right next to Harbor Boulevard) — you know it’s really time to go home. That’s another one of the many attractions that will have to wait ’til the next time you visit the new and improved Disneyland Resort.

But — given all the new stuff that there is to see here — you’re sure you’ll be back soon.

The Promise of Westcot

You see. THAT’S what we missed out on. NOW do you understand all the endless griping you read about California Adventure as you’re out trolling the Internet?

This was a version of the Disneyland Resort that you could never have seen in one day. You would have — at the very least — needed three days: One to visit Disneyland “Classic,” one to visit Westcot, as well as an additional day to explore the new hotels, and to shop and dine at Disneyland Center.

This was exactly what Eisner wanted: Walt Disney World recreated in Anaheim in miniature. A world class resort built on a postage-stamp sized parcel of land. Best of all, in spite of the number of attractions the Imagineers had crammed into the project, the Disneyland Resort would not have seemed cramped. All the plazas, trees and fountains would have given guests the illusion that there was plenty of open space.

One of the things that really excited Eisner was that “Live the Dream” program, which would have allowed guests to stay in hotel rooms that were actually located inside Westcot’s World Showcase. Extensive survey work at Disneyland had showed that guests were willing to pay top dollar — $300 to $400 a night — to stay in these rooms. That would have made this part of the resort a tremendous money maker for the Walt Disney Company.

The beauty of this plan was that — in designing six story structures for World Showcase that housed shops, shows and restaurants on their first three floors and guest rooms towards the top — is that the Imagineers created a unique variation on Disneyland’s berm. The very height of these combination show buildings / hotels prevented guests from seeing out into the real world, perfectly preserving the sense that they had been transported to a different place.

The Westcot project seemed to have everything going for it. It had looks. It had style. It had the potential to make massive amounts of money, which to Michael Eisner’s way of thinking, is a lot more important than looks and style. It had Orange County officials drooling over the idea of hundreds of thousands of people putting off that WDW vacation in favor of visiting Disney’s newest resort in Anaheim.

There was just one slight flaw in this plan: No one had bothered to ask Disneyland’s neighbors — the folks who actually live in homes off of Katella and Ball Street — what they thought of all this development.

As it turns out, they had plenty to say.

Problems with Residents

There was no getting around it. Spacestation Earth was going to be impressive.

At 300 feet, Westcot’s centerpiece building was going to be the tallest structure in all of Orange County. As big as a 23-story skyscraper, but round and covered in gold. Shimmering under the Californian sun, it would dazzle your eye and be visible for miles around.

Impressive, yes. But would you really want one towering over your backyard?

That was the problem Curtis Sticker and Bill Fitzgerald had. As long-time Anaheim residents, they had grown accustomed to the nightly crackle of the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. They had learned all the short cuts to get around traffic jams on Interstate 5. That’s just what you had to do when the Mouse was your neighbor.

But now here comes Westcot with its 4,600 new hotel rooms, its 17,500 new employees, and its 300 foot tall golden ball. All those dramatic changes to Disneyland were bound to have an impact on the local community, right?

That’s what Sticker and Fitzgerald thought. But when they tried to voice their concerns about the project during a June 1991 Wescot public forum all they got was Disney’s dog and pony show.

When asked about traffic flow, the Mouse pointed to the project’s two huge parking garages (which on the model loomed over Fitzgerald’s neighborhood like the Great Wall of China.) “They’ll be the largest parking garages in the whole world,” the Disney Guest Relations spokesperson squeaked proudly.

When asked about noise, the gosh-how-cute spokesperson tried to deflect the crowd’s concerns by pointing out the Disneyland amphitheater. “It’ll seat 5000,” she said, “And we’ll get neat people like Neal Diamond and Barry Manilow to come there and play.” (Sticker couldn’t help but notice given the way that amphitheater was situated on Disney property that the natural acoustics of the place would drive a lot of noise from those concerts right into his neighborhood.)

“What about our schools?” the neighbors asked. “Won’t they get swamped when the children of those new 17,500 cast members try to enroll?” This was the cue for Disney media relations staff to play up the educational aspects of Westcot. “Your kids will be able to take field trips here and learn all about other lands as they tour World Showcase. And have you noticed Spacestation Earth? That will have lots of science exhibits in it, too.”

Fitzgerald and Sticker had heard enough. It was obvious that Disneyland thought its Anaheim neighbors were a bunch of complete idiots, the types of yokels that could be distracted from voicing their petty concerns by lots of bright, happy talk about the wonders of Westcot. “Oooh! Look at Spacestation Earth! It’s so big and shiny.”

Let this be a lesson to Mickey: Never piss off a suburbanite.

Gathering the Troops

In the days that followed, Fitzgerald and Sticker met with other area residents who were equally bothered by the Mouse’s seemingly cavalier attitude towards the concerns of the local community. They felt something should be done to make Eisner aware that the locals weren’t too thrilled with his ambitious new plans for Anaheim. Someone suggested that they get a petition going, maybe form a group.

This is how the Anaheim Homeowners for Maintaining the Environment (“Anaheim HOME”) rose up in Spring 1992 and grew to bite Disney squarely in the ass. 1,600 members strong, this neighborhood-rights group quickly became a force for Disney to reckon with. Anaheim HOME did things that terrified the Mouse, and that forever changed the way Disney did business in Orange County.

Take for instance the tickets scandal. For 38 years, one of the nicest perks Anaheim city employees got when they worked in the Mayor’s office was free tickets to Disneyland. You just told the Mayor’s secretary when you wanted to go, and she made the call to Disneyland’s City Hall. Your passes would be waiting at Guest Relations when you arrived at the park.

Anaheim HOME got wind of this decades old practice. Since the people who worked in the Mayor’s office were obviously going to have some influence over the Anaheim Planning Commission (the folks who’d actually say “yea” and “nay” to Disneyland’s expansion plans), wouldn’t it stand to reason that giving free tickets to the Mayor’s staff could somehow be viewed as influence peddling by the Mouse? Kind of like offering them a bribe?

Anaheim HOME clued the local media in to the free tickets scam. In the firestorm that followed, hundreds of Orange County employees had their reputations sullied for allegedly taking illegal gifts from the Walt Disney Company. The Mayor’s office was forced to hand down an official edict: no city employee would ever be allowed to accept free tickets — or free anything — from Disneyland ever again. It was the end of an era.

It was not, however, the end of Anaheim HOME’s guerilla tactics in its attempts to make the public aware that the Mouse was one awful neighbor. Guests driving into the Disneyland parking lot during Christmas Week 1993, had to actually roll through a Anaheim HOME picket line. As guests slowed down, they were offered a leaflet detailing the less savory aspects of Disney’s expansion plans.

As you might imagine, Michael Eisner didn’t have a happy holiday when news of this got back to him.

Countering the Negative Publicity

Disney tried to turn around the bad buzz about its Disneyland resort project. The Mouse quietly recruited prominent local businessmen like KTLA’s Ed Arnold, Coporate Bank Chairman Stan Pawlowski and Pacific Bell executive Reed Royalty to head a pro-Disney organization that area residents would be asked to join.

This organization, which came to be known as “Westcot 2000,” meant well. But the overly-polished and professional way Arnold, Pawlowski and Royalty produced their pro-Disney rallies easily gave away the Mouse’s influence over the group. One infamous “rah-rah” session was actually staged in the Disneyland Hotel convention center. Though 4000 people were in attendance singing the praises of the Walt Disney Company, it was the Anaheim HOME team, with its dozen volunteers, carrying signs that trumpeted “Disney Greed” as they picketed out in front of the hotel, that got all the TV coverage.

It seemed that no matter what the Mouse tried to do to turn around Wescot it just couldn’t catch a break. Take, for example, the giant parking garage that Disney was planning to build for the expanded Disneyland resort. Through extensive lobbying in the US House and Senate, the Mouse was able to persuade Congress in the summer of 1994 to pick up $25 million in construction costs toward the project. Seems like a pretty clever thing to do, right?

Not in light of what happened next. Later that fall, word got out that Representative Bob Carr (D. – Michigan), one of the authors of that appropriations bill, had accepted sizable campaign contributions from several senior Disney executives. Mind you, nobody did anything illegal. But it still didn’t make the Mouse — or Westcot — look good.

Euro Disney and Scaling Back

In the meantime, big problems were flaring up elsewhere the Disney empire. Euro Disney, what many Mouska-fans had figured would be a sure-fire success, floundered immediately after its April 1992 grand opening. It took Walt Disney Attractions president Judson Green and a cadre of accountants almost 18 months to clear up the resort’s cash flow problems. Finally, in October 1994, a workable financial restructuring plan was in place and Euro Disney, now renamed Disneyland Paris, slowly inched its way out of the red.

Now, it’s important to understand that in the 18 months it took to get the Euro Disney bail-out strategy in place, Michael Eisner really lost his taste for huge ambitious Disney theme park projects. He saw how Euro Disney had been dragged down by the six luxury hotels that surrounded the theme park and thought: “I’m never going to overbuild another Disney resort ever again.”

So the word came down in Spring of 1993. Michael wanted the Imagineers to scale back the Disneyland Resort plans. How far did Eisner want the plan rolled back? The project’s original specs called for 4,600 new hotel rooms to be built within the Disneyland Resort. Westcot 2.0 would feature only 1,000 new hotel rooms.

Spacestation Earth? Gone. In its place was a new icon: a 300-foot-tall, tapered, white spike. At its base, the spike featured a 35-foot-tall, blue-and-green, revolving globe. Not exactly awe inspiring sounding, is it?

The Mouse also had to make numerous changes to its original Disneyland Resort master plan to appease the irate locals. It seems that Disney, on their Westcot overview site plan map, listed the company’s plans for parcels of property the Mouse didn’t actually yet own.

As you might guess, this last bit of news truly ticked off the owners of the Melodyland Christian Center and the Fujishige strawberry fields. Both of these parcels had been listed as possible locations for the Disneyland Resort’s second giant parking garage. This was odd, given that neither owner had any intention of selling his property to the Mouse.

In a particularly fiery letter dated June 1993, Carolyn Fujishige stated that her family “would never sell [its] property to the Disney Company or to anyone that is affiliated in any way to the Walt Disney Company.” Of course, one must remember never to say never. The Fujishige family, giving in after decades of pressure from the Mouse, finally sold its 52+ acres to the Walt Disney Company in August 1998 for an estimated $90 million. (I wonder what Carolyn’s cut of that windfall was? Anyhow …)

Making Westcot Go Away

On and on, year after year, Westcot’s problems kept hammering away at Eisner, draining his confidence and raising his doubts about the project. All he had wanted to do was recreate Orlando in Anaheim. How had this seemingly simple plan get thrown so far off track?

In the end, Eisner turned to his new hatchet man, Paul Pressler. A bright, young executive who had worked wonders with the company’s retail division, Pressler had recently moved over from the Disney Stores to head the Disneyland Resort.

Eisner told Pressler: “I’m tired of all the mess and bad press that’s associated with Westcot. Make it go away.”

So Pressler did.

On the day before Disneyland’s 40th birthday, Pressler called in the local media and broke the bad news: Disney was abandoning its plans to build Westcot, as well as scaling back all previously announced expansion plans for Disneyland.

When pressed for information about the Mouse’s future plans for Anaheim, Pressler said, “We’re going to build a second gate, absolutely … Our (Eisner’s / Pressler’s) vision is consistent. Make Disneyland the best resort we can. Certainly a second resort is part of that vision. My job is to figure out how to do it.”

Does that sound ominous?

It should.

Coming Up With a New Plan

Westcot was dead. Long live Westcot.

Eisner and his Imagineers had tried to do something bold, something ambitious in Anaheim. That didn’t fly with the locals or, in the end, make that much financial sense for the company.

But now the clock was ticking. CalTrans had already begun work on a multi-million dollar face-lift of Interstate 5. Once this six-year-long lane-widening, bridge-building and exit-ramp-constructing project was completed, folks could once again be able to zoom down the 5 to Anaheim to see …

What? Disney had persuaded the state to put all that money into highway improvements to help support their new expanded resort. Now that plan was in ruins. The Mouse had better come up with something quick. Otherwise Governor Pete Wilson and those fine folks up in Sacramento are going to be plenty pissed.

As you might understand, the pressure was on as Eisner held a design summit up at his Aspen retreat late that fall. Chief among those in attendance were senior Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) officials Marty Sklar and Ken Wong, Disneyland President Paul Pressler as well as Imagineering rising star, Barry Braverman.

Braverman had recently come to Eisner’s attention because of the exemplary job he’d done putting together the “Innoventions” project at Epcot Center in Walt Disney World (WDW). Using just his tongue and a telephone, Braverman had persuaded many major American corporations to pay the Mouse to build and staff exhibits of their new products. By doing this, Barry had rethemed and redressed Future World’s entire Communicore area for virtually no money.

Sure, Epcot’s “Innoventions” might have looked more like a mall than a theme park attraction. What did that matter? Guests seemed to like the place. More importantly, it had been inexpensive to build and was even cheaper to run. That made Braverman look like a genius in Eisner’s eyes. Which is why Michael invited Barry to join WDI’s senior staff at this meeting in Aspen. Eisner was hoping that Braverman might be able to work some more of his budgetary magic on the Disneyland expansion project.

From the very start of the charrette, the group agreed about what Westcot’s main problem had been: The plans for Disneyland’s second gate had just gotten too big, and too unwieldy. In attempting to make sure the expansion plans met with the high quality of the existing park in Anaheim (arguably the best theme park in the whole Disney chain), the Imagineers had let the project get out of control.

This time around, the Mouse wouldn’t try and top America’s original theme park. Eisner wanted a second gate for Anaheim that the company could build quickly, but was still affordable. He wanted this new theme park to be a modest companion to Disneyland, rather than its flashy competitor. But, most importantly, this second Anaheim theme park had to be able to generate a huge cash flow for the Walt Disney Company from the very first day it opened.

Designing the Second Park

Let’s go over those design parameters again, shall we? Easy to build, but cheap to do. Must compliment — not compete with — Disneyland. And must be able to turn a profit as soon as the place opens.

With that assortment of meager ingredients, could you cook up a great theme park?

Well, at least the Imagineers tried. They talked about doing a smaller version of Disney Seas (too costly) or doing a scaled back Disney-MGM Studio theme park. (Why would folks want to visit a fake movie studio, when there are real ones to tour 30 miles up the road?) They also looked at building just Future World or just World Showcase. But — if they built that — guests would just complain that Anaheim had a half-assed version of WDW’s Epcot.

It was obvious that none of the ideas that Disney had used for its previous theme parks would work in this situation. So the team began attacking the problem from another angle: What was it that was missing from Disneyland? Why do guests leave the resort and continue their Southern Californian vacations elsewhere?

Well, that one seemed obvious. People left Disneyland because they wanted to see more of California. They wanted to walk along the Boardwalk at Venice Beach. They wanted to hike through the Redwoods in Sequoia National Forest. They wanted to ride the killer roller coasters at Magic Mountain, and take the tram tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. In short, these vacationers wanted to sample everything else the State of California had to offer.

For a moment, Eisner and his design team just sat there, blinking at each other. The answer to their problem couldn’t be that obvious, could it? A theme park that celebrated California. A place that recreated — in miniature — the best that the Golden State had to offer. Guests would no longer have to leave Anaheim to continue their Californian adventure (Oooh! Hang on to that! I think we just tripped over the title!). Everything they were looking for, and more, would be right next door to Disneyland.

That’s all Eisner had to hear. “That’s it,” he said. “Let’s build it.”

And that — swear to God — is how the concept for Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) theme park was born.

California Adventure

The project quickly went into overdrive from there. Since Pressler and Braverman were the first to suggest a California-based theme park, Eisner put them in charge of developing it. This, as events continue to unfold, might have proven to have been a mistake.

Braverman, who was just coming off his first big success with WDW’s “Innoventions” project, was anxious to see his star continue to rise within the Walt Disney Company. Eisner wanted a cheap park? Fine. Braverman planned to budget Disneyland’s proposed second gate so tightly that the blueprints would squeak.

But Pressler was also an ambitious man. He too was already plotting his next move up the Disney corporate ladder, perhaps parlaying his Disneyland presidency into something further up the food chain. But, to do that, he’d really have to deliver the goods on the Disneyland second gate project.

So Pressler took Braverman’s initial budget estimates … and slashed them by a third.

Okay, so now we’ve got two ambitious people, each out to impress upper management by delivering a low-budgeted project on a high-speed timetable. Can you say “recipe for disaster”? Sure you can.

No Imagineers for California Adventure?

Pressler and Braverman got the project off on the wrong foot when they announced that they didn’t want “Disney’s California Adventure” designed by WDI. Instead, they wanted Disneyland’s second gate to be created by the same folks who designed WDW’s hotels: the Disney Development Company (DDC).

What was the deal here? The Imagineers had, somewhat unfairly, taken the rap for all the cost over-runs Disney racked up on Euro Disney. Never mind that Eisner himself had suggested dozens of last minute changes to that park that had tacked on tens of millions of dollars in construction costs to the project. When the red ink started flowing in France, Uncle Mikey needed someone to blame. (Guess who he picked?) Pressler and Braverman wanted to deliver “Disney’s California Adventure” on time and under budget. Since DDC had a better reputation inside the company for meeting its deadlines and controlling costs, Pressler and Braverman wanted to give the park to it to develop.

When word of this got out, the Imagineers hit the roof. For over 40 years, WDI had designed every theme park, ride and attraction the Walt Disney Company held ever built. Now their jobs were to be usurped by the same guys who brought us the Dolphin and the Swan hotels at WDW?

No way.

Veteran Imagineer Chris Caradine (best known as the designer of WDW’s Pleasure Island) did more than just complain about this injustice. He circulated a letter to all of WDI’s senior architects, condemning Pressler and Braverman’s cost control maneuver. He then had all of these Imagineers sign the letter, which he then personally hand delivered to Eisner.

Concerned that his senior Imagineering staff was about to revolt, Eisner got the message. He called Braverman and Pressler into his office and told them that they had to use Imagineers to design Disneyland’s second gate.

This was the first of several short-sighted decisions that Pressler and Braverman made concerning “Disney’s California Adventure.” Individually, none of these decisions were bad enough to sink Disneyland’s second gate. But combined?

Well, let’s just say that there are a lot of folks at Walt Disney Imagineering who view DCA as an almost fatally flawed project.

Problems with Disney’s California Adventure

What exactly are the project’s problems? Some point to Pressler and Braverman’s decision not to develop many new rides and shows for DCA, but opting instead for a lot of attraction recycling.

While it was undoubtedly more cost-effective to take shows that have already proven popular at other Disney theme parks (like Disney-MGM’s “Kermit the Frog presents MuppetVision 3D” and Animal Kingdom’s “It’s Tough to Be a Bug”) and redress them a bit to fit in DCA, is this really the best long-range strategy?

Isn’t it possible that using old WDW shows could actually have a detrimental effect on Disneyland Resort’s attendance levels?

Think about it.

Wasn’t Eisner’s main reason for building a second gate at Disneyland to turn the company’s Anaheim holdings into a vacation destination like Walt Disney World? But why would folks from the East Coast fly all the way out to California just to see shows that they’d already seen — years earlier — in Orlando?

Don’t get me wrong. “MuppetVision 3D” (WDW debut: May 1991) as well as “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” (WDW debut: April 1998) are both fine shows. And there are millions of people west of the Rockies who’ve never seen these attractions and will happily make a special trip to Disneyland just to see Kermit and Flick in 3D.

But if Disney really wants to turn Anaheim into a destination resort like WDW, recycling old shows from Walt Disney World probably isn’t the smart way to go. Adding fresh new rides and attractions that are exclusive to DCA is the only way to guarantee tourists from both coasts will make a point of frequenting the park.

Speaking of rides, another problem a lot of Imagineers have with DCA are those off-the-shelf carnival-style attractions being used in Paradise Pier.

But it’s not for the reason you think.

Sure, the rides over here might look hokey and cheap. (And I can’t help wondering how Orange County feels, having spent all those millions, renovating and expanding its convention center into a state-of-the-art meeting facility, only to have Disney build a deliberately chintzy looking Ferris wheel and roller coaster in front of it.) But the rides are supposed to look that way, folks. This part of DCA pays tribute to those old amusement piers you used to find along the California coast.

And I know that it’s popular to bash this part of the park on the Web.

But I won’t.

Why? Because I like it. I think that Disney’s done a great job of recapturing the look and feel of an old turn-of-the-century seaside amusement park.

But you know what the real irony is? All the old cheesy-looking amusement piers disappeared because squeaky clean theme parks like Disneyland drove them out of business. So now here’s the Mouse, bringing the amusement pier back from the dead, with all its grubbiness intact.

But what do the Disney dweebs on the Web do? Complain loudly about how “cheesy” Paradise Pier looks. It’s supposed to look cheesy, guys. Get it? And — off-the-shelf or not — those old fashioned carny rides you’ll find along on DCA’s Paradise Pier will be a kick to ride.

Capacity

The real problem is capacity. These old fashioned rides are slow to load and unload. Even with their projected painfully short ride times (Example: Guests will supposedly only get 90 seconds to savor the low-tech thrills of the “Orange Stinger”), there’ll still be huge lines over in Paradise Pier.

Why? Because, on opening day, DCA is only going have only 22 rides and attractions. But Disney’s own attendance projections show that, on a typical summer day, 30,000 guests will be wandering around DCA, looking for things to do.

Editor’s Note: This article is an adaptation of an original Jim Hill Media Five Part Series “California Misadventure” (2000). Disney’s California Adventure opened on February 8, 2001 and years later saw a complete overhaul in 2012.

Think about it. Are you really going to be happy, having paid $40+ a head to get into DCA, only to stand in a two hour long line just to ride “Mullholland Madness?”

This is what worries the older Imagineers. During that first crucial summer of operation, guests will undoubtedly exit DCA — having spent most of their day standing in very long lines for the all-too-short attractions — then go home to tell their friends and neighbors about what an awful time they had at Disney’s new theme park. This is why WDI is pressuring Disney management to begin DCA’s Phase II construction NOW.

Pressler and Braverman honestly believe that they’re improving Disney’s bottom line by bringing DCA in on time and under budget. But where will the great savings be if Disney has to turn around and immediately begin pumping millions into the park in a desperate attempt to boost its hourly ride capacity?

WDI has reportedly repeatedly warned Disney’s top management team about DCA’s potentially fatal flaws. Privately, Eisner has evidently acknowledged that Disneyland’s second gate could be in for a rough couple of years. Even so, he expects DCA to make a lot of money for the company as well as eventually grow into a worthy companion to Disneyland.

Well, here’s hoping.

Myself? I’m hoping that — as I stroll into DCA on opening day — that the theme park is at least as intriguing as the story of its development and construction.

Doesn’t seem very likely now, does it?

THE END – for now…

Want more behind-the-scenes Disney stories? You can also hear more stories on The Disney Dish podcast, where Jim Hill and Len Testa explore Disney news and park history. Listen now at The Disney Dish on Apple Podcasts.

This article is an adaptation of an original Jim Hill Media Four Part Series “The ExtraTERRORestrial Files” (2000).

It was the attraction that was supposed to be the next big thing for the Disney theme parks. The show that would change forever how guests would think about the Mouse by mixing in-theater effects with 3D sound to create high-tech terror.

At least that was what was supposed to happen. But — instead of becoming a franchise attraction like Space Mountain, with different versions of the ride being built in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris — only one version of this Tomorrowland show ever made it off the drawing board.

“Alien Encounter.” Eight years after this hi-tech horror show first opened — then quickly closed for a mysterious six month revamp — this Disney World attraction still remains highly controversial in theme park circles. Many WDW fans consider this intense show to be the best thing WDI’s ever done. Other Disneyana enthusiasts — particularly those with small children — think that this horror show is horrible. They argue that something this scary just doesn’t belong in the Magic Kingdom.

Well, if you thought that “Alien Encounter” — the attraction — was scary … wait ’til you hear the terrifying behind-the-scenes tale of how this troubled Tomorrowland show was creates.

It begins on a dark night … where a dark man waits … with a dark purpose …

No. Wait. My mistake. That’s “Aladdin.”

Michael Eisner’s Plan for Theme Park Attendance

The “Alien Encounter” story actually begins back in September of 1984, when former Paramount studio head Michael Eisner first took control of Walt Disney Productions. Upon entering the Mouse House, one of Eisner’s first goals was to boost sagging attendance levels at the company’s theme parks. While it was obvious that Disney had a lock on the family audience, Michael believed that the Mouse’s parks lacked teen appeal. He based this opinion on his teenage son, Breck, who — when asked by his dad to join him a familiarization tour of Disneyland — reportedly said “That place is lame, Dad.”

Fearing that his son spoke for teens everywhere, Eisner quickly commissioned a marketing survey. Teenagers exiting Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World were asked what they thought the Mouse’s theme parks were missing. These teens reportedly said that they wanted more thrill-based attractions in the Disney parks, similar to what they could find at the “Six Flags” parks and Universal Studios.

Something radical to cut through all the sweetness.

With the results of this survey in hand, Eisner ordered WDI to immediately begin development of several radical new shows that could be added to the Disney theme parks. Buoyed by the acclaim “Star Tours” had received when that simulator ride first opened at Disneyland in January 1987, the Imagineers toyed with the idea of bringing a few more of 20th Century Fox’s sci-fi creatures on board at the company’s theme parks.

But these wouldn’t be George Lucas’s cute and cuddly “Star Wars” creations. The Imagineers wanted the black and slimy, acid drooling monsters from the hugely popular “Alien” movie series.

Bringing “Alien” to Disney Parks

Strange but true, folks. Using the story and settings from the first “Alien” film as a starting point, the Imagineers cooked up a concept for a hi-tech interactive attraction they called “Nostromo.” On this proposed attraction, visitors would have rolled through the darkened corridors of the Nostromo — the spaceship Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) piloted in the first “Alien” film — riding inside of heavily armored vehicles. Armed with laser cannons, these folks were supposedly on a rescue mission. Their goal was to find the missing members of Nostromo’s crew as well as rid the spaceship of all alien intruders.

“Nostromo” certainly was a radical new idea for a Disney theme park attraction. Perhaps too radical. In the end, WDI opted not to go forward with the “Alien” ride project. Why for? Well, while they recognized that “Nostromo” would have been a thrilling addition to any theme park, certain senior members of the Imagineering staff voiced concerns that any ride that featured the “Alien” monsters might be too dark and intense for Disney’s family-based audience. These same Imagineers were also troubled by the image of children blasting space monsters with laser cannons. “Walt would never have approved of a ride like this,” they grumbled. So WDI’s first stab at an “Alien” attraction ended up being blown out an airlock. This show concept never made it off the drawing board.

Well, even though “Nostromo” was a no go, some good did eventually come out of the aborted attraction. 13 years after work on the interactive “Alien” ride-thru show had been halted, Tomorrowland finally got its laser-cannon, alien-blasting attraction … but in a much more family friendly form. WDW’s “Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin” uses many of the concepts that the Imagineers created for their first “Alien” show.

Plus all the development work WDI did on the proposed “Nostromo” attraction did make Disney executives aware of the inherent in-park value of the “Alien” monsters. So the Mouse decided to license 20th Century Fox’s characters for use in its theme parks. Ripley and the “Alien” monsters were featured prominently in the “Great Movie Ride” when that attraction opened at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in May 1989. But except for the first few years of the Fox licensing deal that was the extent of Disney’s use of the “Alien” characters in their theme parks.

Updating “Mission to Mars”

A year or so later, some youngish Imagineers were wondering what to do with “Mission to Mars.” Eisner had tasked them to come up with a thrilling new replacement for this lame old Tomorrowland show. He wanted something just as exciting as “Star Tours,” but in a sit-down theater setting.

Just down the hall, another group of new Imagineering employees were looking for ways to use a 3D sound system Disney had just developed. A small post-show attraction at Disney-MGM Studio’s “Monster Sound Show” — where guests were exposed to auditory illusions like too-close haircuts and arrows whizzing by their ears — was the first use, and it hinted at the system’s possibilities. But these Imagineers dreamed of doing something bigger with 3D sound. Maybe building a whole show around the cutting edge system, even.

Inevitably, the “Mission to Mars” team met up with the 3D sound system guys. Then someone remembered that Disney had licensed the monsters from “Alien” for theme park use. Mashing all three of these ideas together, this young enthusiastic group of Imagineers began mapping out plans for an attraction that they hoped would change the way people thought about Disney theme parks forever …

“Alien Encounter” Project

The Imagineers had decided to go for broke.

This being WDI’s first real attempt at a horror-based attraction, the “Alien Encounter” project team didn’t want to just frighten their audience. They wanted to break through the fourth wall and really assault the guest’s senses. That’s why they decided to push the envelope when it came to the proposed show’s use of in-theater effects.

Picture this: The audience sit in the darkened “Mission to Mars” theater. They’ve told that the monster from the “Alien” movies is loose in the building. They can hear the creature creeping up behind them. They can feel its drool dribbling onto their clothes. And as the monster’s tongue begins flicking through the hair on the back on their head … AIEEE!

All these atmospheric elements that WDI wanted to use to make “Alien Encounter” a sensory break-through show may sound cutting edge and expensive. In truth, they were all low-tech effects that were incredibly easy to do. The sensation that the monster is right behind the audience member, breathing down their neck? Simple. That’s just warm, moist air being blown through a hole in the guest’s headrest — synchronized to raspy breathing sounds on the show’s soundtrack. That dribble of monster drool? That’s less that a teaspoon of warm water — dripped from a precisely positioned pipe, hidden high in the ceiling of the theater. The monster’s tongue, flicking through the guest’s hair? That’s a single strand of plastic coated wire, that quickly pokes out of the headrest and lightly brushes the guest’s hair. All ingenious illusions, it’s true. But — more to the point — they were in-theater effects that could be produced on a bargain basement budget.

Keeping the installation costs down of their proposed new Tomorrowland show was one of the “Alien Encounter” team’s main goals. With the hopes of impressing Eisner with their ingenuity, these Imagineers deliberately designed “Alien Encounter” so that it could be staged in the pre-existing “Mission to Mars” theaters with minimal structural changes to the show building. If all went according to plan, Disney could get a brand new cutting edge attraction at cut-rate prices. Best of all, WDI would finally give Eisner what he’d been begging for all these years: a Disney theme park attraction that had some real teen appeal.

On paper, it looked like this idea couldn’t miss. By combining all these in-theater effects and the “Alien” movie series mythology, Imagineering wouldn’t just be creating a thrilling new show for the “Mission to Mars” theater. They would be moving the Disney theme park experience to a whole new level. This time around, guests wouldn’t just passively sit, watching a show. They’d feel like they were right in the middle of the action.

When Eisner heard the pitch for “Alien Encounter,” he loved the idea. He immediately saw the show as a franchise, an attraction that the Disney Company could install at each of its theme parks worldwide. He quickly okayed development of the project, with the hope that “Alien Encounter” would be ready in time to serve as the centerpiece of Disneyland and WDW’s long overdue Tomorrowland overhauls which were tentatively scheduled to get underway in the early 1990s.

The young Imagineers immediately threw themselves into their work. They quickly created a prototype chair for the “Alien Encounter” attraction that featured hidden speakers in its headrest. VIPs touring WDI during this period were often treated to a demonstration of Disney’s 3D sound system. They vividly recall being strapped into the chair — with the “Alien Encounter” test soundtrack playing through the speakers — squirming helplessly as a monster snuck up behind them.

The demo version of “Alien Encounter” proved to be a hit with WDI visitors. Even so, those same senior Imagineers who had earlier shut down the “Nostromo” project began whispering in Eisner’s ear about their concerns for the new “Alien” project. They still worried that a show built around a creature as frightening as 20th Century Fox’s “Alien” monster didn’t belong in a Disney theme park.

Xenomorph

In response, the “Alien Encounter” team insisted that their proposed attraction had to be built around 20th Century Fox’s monster. Their argument was simple: by using a character that most theme park visitors were already familiar with, the Imagineers didn’t have to waste precious showtime on needless exposition. In-park surveys showed that the average Disneyland guest already knew who the “Alien” monster was. Upwards of 80% of those polled had seen one or more of the films in the series.

This — the Imagineers argued — was the added bonus of using the monster from the “Alien” film series for their proposed attraction. Guests who’d seen the “Alien” movies and liked them would rush to see an attraction based on the series. Those Disney theme park visitors who hadn’t cared for the movies would just steer clear of the new show. It was a win-win situation.

Having listened to both arguments, Eisner sided with the “Alien Encounter” team. Recalling the boffo business Disneyland did when “Star Tours” opened, he reasoned that another attraction based on a popular sci-fi film series could have a similar impact on attendance. Besides, having a direct tie-in to 20th Century Fox’s movies would make “Alien Encounter” that much easier to promote. It seemed like the logical choice to Eisner.

This news appalled the senior Imagineering staff. They were horrified at the thought of the “Alien” movie monster starring in a Disney theme park attraction. Since Eisner hadn’t heeded their counsel, these Imagineers decided to appeal to a higher authority: George Lucas.

Working with George Lucas

At the time, Lucas was working closely with Walt Disney Imagineering. He was helping WDI finalize plans for the “Indiana Jones Adventure,” a ground-breaking new attraction that the Imagineers hoped to install at Disneyland’s Adventureland in the mid-1990s. Given Lucas’s extensive experience with special effects and sound effects, he and his staff at ILM were also doing some consulting on the “Alien Encounter” project.

What is known is that these senior Imagineers discreetly approached Lucas and voiced their concerns about “Alien Encounter” being too intense for small children. George allegedly listened politely, then agreed that 20th Century Fox’s movie monster probably didn’t belong in a Disney theme park. Lucas promised to talk to Eisner about the proposed attraction, and then …

New Alien-Monster

A few days later, Eisner called a meeting with the “Alien Encounter” production team. He announced that he’d had a change of heart and no longer believed the show should be built around 20th Century Fox’s movie monster. Eisner went on to say that he felt that the “Alien” monster was just too scary to serve as the central character of a Disney theme park attraction. He then said — while he appreciated all the hard work the Imagineers had put into the Fox monster version of the show — he was certain that WDI could come up with a monster of its own that would be just as good. One not quite as frightening as the first monster was, mind you, but something that would still work within the confines of the show.

Oh … and one other thing Eisner mentioned: George Lucas would now be acting as an unofficial producer on the “Alien Encounter” project.

While the senior Imagineers were secretly thrilled with this news, the “Alien Encounter” team was aghast. Rework the show so that it no longer featured the movie monster? Was that possible? Would “Alien Encounter” still work under these conditions? And why was Lucas suddenly riding herd on the project?

It was at this precise moment that many folks at WDI believe that “Alien Encounter” went off track. By not making use of 20th Century Fox’s well known monster, the show suddenly lost its hook. Without having the easily recognizable “Alien” creature driving the action of the show, the attraction’s storyline became harder for the average theme park guest to follow. The Imagineers would now have to make sure that the audience understood exactly what their new monster was capable of doing before they turned off the lights. Otherwise, the guests would just sit there in the dark, having no idea what was going on around them.

Since the initial concept for the “Alien Encounter” show had now been creatively compromised, many at WDI felt that Imagineering should have pulled the plug on the project. But Eisner was still so enthusiastic about the idea of Disney doing a “monster-in-the-dark” show. He seemed downright eager to give the Imagineers all the money they needed to develop all those special in-theater effects. And WDI did want to keep the boss happy.

So the Imagineers reluctantly began to revamp “Alien Encounter.” But — before they started on a new version for the show — one of the first things they did was called Disney’s publicity department. The Imagineers then asked the PR people to return all “Alien Encounter” pre-production art they had been given to help promote the proposed attraction. The reason the Imagineers did this? All that artwork was from the original version of “Alien Encounter,” which prominently featured 20th Century Fox’s movie monster.

Disney’s PR department ignored WDI’s request. In fact, they continued to use that “Alien Encounter” pre-production artwork — which clearly showed 20th Century Fox’s monster bursting out of the tube at the center of the proposed attraction — to promote the show for the next two years.

Developing the “Alien Encounter” Story

The Imagineers then turned their attention to producing a new script for “Alien Encounter.” For months, they labored — trying to come up a new plot line that audiences could grasp quickly. Finally, they settled on the ‘XS Tech’ scenario — where a sinister alien corporation tries to sell teleportation equipment to the people of Earth … when something goes horribly wrong! Admittedly, this version wasn’t nearly as much fun as the original 20th Century Fox’s “Alien” based story. But the Imagineers hoped that the show’s innovative use of in-theater effects would still put “Alien Encounter” across to the Disney theme park audience.

Eisner — who reportedly really enjoyed the jabs at greedy corporations the Imagineers slipped into this version of the script — okayed the ‘XS Tech’ scenario. Lucas also gave his approval of the new storyline. So WDI threw together a production team and gave the project a preliminary budget. With that, work on ‘Alien Encounter’ officially got underway in the fall of 1992.

The “Alien Encounter” Team

Given the multi-media aspect of the show, lots of individual pieces had to be put together before Imagineering knew if “Alien Encounter” was actually going to work. Academy Award nominee Jeffery Jones, comic Kevin Pollak and TV favorite Kathy Najimy were hired to play XS Tech employees for the film vignettes to be featured in the attraction. Elaborate foley sessions were staged to record the numerous 3D sound effects used in the show. AA figures for the pre-show, as well as the two “Mission to Mars” theaters, were built at WDI’s Tujunga facility.

Imagineering Troubles

As work continued on “Alien Encounter,” Imagineers assigned to the project kept wondering when George Lucas was going to get actively involved with the show. During the development of “Star Tours” and the “Indiana Jones Adventure,” Lucas had played a very active part in the creative process on these attractions. But on “Alien Encounter,” Lucas offered very little input. After attending a few initial story meetings, he pretty much left the Imagineers working on the show alone. For all intents and purposes, George was the absentee landlord of this attraction, its producer in name only.

Now, it’s crucial to understand that — while “Alien Encounter” was actually in production — the Imagineering division of the Walt Disney Company was going through one of the worst periods in its corporate history. Euro Disneyland has just opened and was hemorrhaging money. The Westcot and Port Disney projects had stalled. And Disney management was putting tremendous pressure on the division to cut staff and contain costs.

So WDI was hit by wave after wave of layoffs, which left the remaining staff depressed and demoralized. Then Imagineering management — in a further attempt to keep costs down — decided to cut back on in-house testing on work-in-progress attractions.

This last bit of news terrified the “Alien Encounter” production team. WDI had never put together a theme park attraction that was as complicated as “AE” was. For this show to succeed, video clips, binaural sound, in-theater physical effects, and audio animatronic figures would all have to work in perfect synchronization. Without that split second blending of multimedia technology, “Alien Encounter” would be a hopelessly jumbled mess.

To avoid this sort of disaster, the Imagineers needed as much time as possible to run tests on the “Alien” attraction at WDI headquarters in Glendale, CA. At least there — if they ran into problems — the “Alien Encounter” team would have other talented Imagineers right on hand to help them quickly debug the attraction.

WDI management wouldn’t hear of it. They insisted that — after the physical pieces of “Alien Encounter” were completed — they were to be immediately shipped out to the field for installation. After the equipment was loaded into the “Mission to Mars” show building, then the “Alien Encounter” team could make all necessary adjustments to make the show succeed.

The “Alien Encounter” team begged for more time, but WDI management turned a deaf ear to their pleading. They couldn’t be bothered with the production staff’s complaints that their show wasn’t getting enough advance in-house testing. The heads of Imagineering were far more concerned with determining which Disney theme park would get the “Alien Encounter” attraction first.

Disneyland – “Tomorrowland 2055”

Almost from the inception of the project, it had been assumed that the “Alien Encounter” show would open at Disneyland first as part of the “Tomorrowland 2055” project.

“Tomorrowland 2055.” Sigh. Just mentioning the name of this proposed Disneyland redo is enough to send some Imagineers into a spiraling depression. Championed by veteran Imagineers Bruce Gordon and Tony Baxter, “Tomorrowland 2055” wouldn’t have just been a simple retheming of this side of the park. But rather, a elaborate rethinking of the whole Tomorrowland concept.

“Tomorrowland 2055” Concept

Picture Disneyland in 2055. A time when a trip into the vast reaches of outer space is no big deal, like strolling ’round the block. An age when we take for granted that there’s intelligent life elsewhere in the universal. How do we know for sure? Because quite of a few of these extraterrestrials have made the star trek to Anaheim and have set up shop here right in Tomorrowland.

I mean, take a gander at what used to be the Carousel of Progress. No, that’s not a spinning electronics trade show. That, my friend, is a full-sized flying saucer that’s vaguely reminiscent of the Mother Ship from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Were you to wander up that gangplank, you could sample the out-of-this-world entertainment presented at “Plectu’s Fantastic Intergalactic Review.”

Overhead, shiny steel catwalks allow guests access to a whole new level of Tomorrowland shops and restaurants. On the ground, odd crystalline shapes that glowed brightly and weirdly shaped other-worldly plants would have given this side of the park a truly exotic feel.

“Tomorrowland 2055” would have become a real showplace at Disneyland. It could have set a whole new standard for theming and storytelling at the Anaheim park by taking guests on a fantastic trip to the future. But what do we get instead? An economy class ticket to “Imagination and Beyond” aboard Tomorrowland 1998.

Sigh.

Now do you understand why Imagineers get depressed when you bring up “Tomorrowland 2055?”

Budget Cuts to “Tomorrowland 2055”

Don’t get me wrong, folks. Baxter and his “Imagination and Beyond” team did do the best they could with the money they had. And they did create a dazzling new entrance to Disneyland’s Tomorrowland by bringing Disneyland Paris’s Orbitron over to Anaheim, placing it just off the hub and framing it with that rockwork.

But the loss of “Tomorrowland 2055” still pains the Imagineers. Mostly, because this Disneyland redo seemed like a done deal. So much so that Disneyland actually closed its “Mission to Mars” attraction in November 1992 to make ready for the supposedly soon-to-begin radical revamp of this side of the park.

The Imagineers even designed a new art deco exterior for the show building that was to house the Anaheim version of “Alien Encounter.” (Those of you lucky enough to see “Theme Park Design: The Architecture of Reassurance” exhibit during its nationwide tour a year or so ago may recall the model for Disneyland’s “Alien Encounter” show building. Its chief design feature was the stylized sculptures of oppressed workers that served as support columns for the exterior of the attraction. Insert your own over-worked Disneyland employee joke here.)

Sadly, Disneyland’s long planned “Tomorrowland 2055” project hit an unexpected snag in early 1993 when the Euro Disneyland resort began hemorrhaging money. Suddenly concerned about containing cost in all corners of the Disney Company, Eisner reportedly balked at the estimated cost of the elaborate Anaheim redo. Though Michael really liked a lot of the concepts WDI had cooked up, he just couldn’t stomach “Tomorrowland 2055″‘s projected price tag. At least not then. So he ordered Tony’s team to scale back their plans until they came up with something more affordable for Anaheim. All that redesign work pushed the start of construction on Disneyland’s new Tomorrowland back from Fall 1994 to Spring 1997.

Remnants of “Tomorrowland 2055”

The loss of “Tomorrowland 2055” for Disneyland remains a real sore point with many Imagineers, particularly since Eisner came so close to actually greenlighting the project. How close? The next time you’re at Disneyland, go into the Tomorrowland Terrace and look up at the ceiling. Pretty cool, huh?

This ceiling was actually done as a test for “Tomorrowland 2055,” to see if the wild palette of colors and shapes WDI proposed using on this part of the park would work. A similar test was done on the old “Mission to Mars” show building, where one stylized window was retrofitted onto the exterior of the attraction.

Tests were also made for the atmospherics that would have been featured in “Tomorrowland 2055.” Bruce Gordon commissioned a new soundtrack for the proposed revamp of the park. This futuristic music wittily combined old Tomorrowland favorites like “Miracles and Molecules” and Buddy Baker’s “Monorail March” with memorable Epcot tunes like “It’s Fun to Be Free.” Bruce even got this recording played regularly in Disneyland in the mid-1990s. The downside was that the only place you could really hear the entire “Tomorrowland 2055” soundtrack was if you stood inside the Tomorrowland men’s room for an hour or so. Which made it kind of tough for female Disneyana fans to check out the new tunes. But I digress …

The ceiling, that window, and Bruce’s soundtrack music weren’t the only pieces of “Tomorrowland 2055” that actually made it into Disneyland. Take a look to the Moonliner. A recreation of that 1950s Tomorrowland icon also factored heavily into “2055”‘s design plans. But not as some dinky drink dispenser. Picture that slick looking retro-rocket being three times as high as it is now, towering over Tomorrowland.

The Imagineers were so certain that the Moonliner would make a cool icon for “Tomorrowland 2055” that they actually had a logo made up for this Disneyland redo project that prominently featured the sleek finned spaceship. This image was then slapped on “Tomorrowland 2055” production team jackets, t-shirts, and coffee mugs.

These in-house WDI promotional items for “Tomorrowland 2055” have now become highly prized items among Disneyana collectors. The Imagineers? They really don’t seem to like seeing this stuff. It just brings back too many painful memories of a great thing that almost happened.

Sigh.

“Alien Encounter” at Walt Disney World

Enough about the tomorrow that never came … let’s get back to the saga of “Alien Encounter,” shall we?

The delay of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland redo meant that — by default — “Alien Encounter” would open in Florida first. Disney’s sensory horror attraction would have its world premiere in the Fall of 1994 at WDW’s Magic Kingdom. The show would be the last thing to open as that park completed its own year-long rehab of its Tomorrowland section.

This change of plans also meant that it would be a year or more before serious work would continue on “Alien Encounter.” That’s why the team at WDI that originally dreamed up the project moved on to other assignments. In the interim, Eisner began to have real concerns about whether or not this proposed Tomorrowland show would be too scary for the typical Disney theme park guest to handle. So he ordered WDI to assign a new team of writers to the “Alien Encounter” project deliberately lighten the show up a bit, add a few laughs to the attraction.

This these Imagineers did. Which made Eisner happy. The downside is that these new gags significantly weakened the show’s story. But that wouldn’t become apparent ’til things were almost too far along at WDW’s Magic Kingdom.

Speaking of which … Walt Disney World senior staff was thrilled when they learned that the Florida park would get to premiere this ambitious new attraction. That’s why WDW’s publicity department pulled out all the stops to promote “Alien Encounter.” This office created a clever series of teaser ads that made the soon-to-open show sound like the scariest thing that had ever been staged in a Disney theme park. WDW management was so certain that the attraction would be a hit with the public that they ordered up a ton of “Alien Encounter” souvenir merchandise.

Exterior work on the old “Mission to Mars” show building was completed by August. WDI’s installation team had “Alien Encounter”‘s hardware loaded in by late October. All that was left for Imagineering to do was a few weeks of on-site “test and adjust” work on the attraction. Then they’d turn “Alien Encounter” over to the operations staff at WDW’s Magic Kingdom.

That was the plan, anyway. WDI spend the first part of November training the opening crew for “Alien Encounter.” They’d then run a few test audiences through the attraction … just to make sure that everything worked the way it was supposed to. With any amount of luck, “Alien Encounter” would be up and running by late November and the California-based Imagineering installation team could be back home in time for Thanksgiving.

Too bad it didn’t quite work on that way.

The Team That Built “Alien Encounter”

But — up until that point — everything about this Tomorrowland attraction seemed to be right on track. After all, Disney had its “A Team” working on its “ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter” show.

I mean, listen to the folks that the Mouse had riding herd on the original version of WDW’s “AE” show:

Tom Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President of Theme Park Productions. Tom had had a hand in the creation of numerous Disney theme park attractions that successfully combined film elements with audio animatronic figures. Prior to “Alien Encounter,” Fitzgerald had helped produce “Star Tours,” “Jim Henson’s Muppetvision 3D” as well as “From Time to Time.” So Tom certainly seemed up for the “AE” challenge.

Then there was Eric Jacobson, Senior VP in charge of Creative Development at Walt Disney World. Name a huge new attraction that’s opened at the Florida parks in the past 10 years — “GM Test Track,” “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster,” etc. — and Eric’s probably had a hand in it.

Disney also recruited top notch talent to handle the film portion of WDW’s “AE” attraction. Sitting behind the camera was noted animation director Jerry Rees. Best known as the visual effects supervisor on “Tron” as well as being the director of “The Brave Little Toaster,” Rees had also helped produce another fine little film for the Disney theme parks. Do you remember the “Michael and Mickey” movie that used to run at the Disney-MGM Studios? You know, the one where Chernabog cowered before the Disney CEO and said “Sorry, Mr. Eisner. It’ll never happen again.” Jerry did that.

The Mouse then recruited a talented group of actors to appear in Rees’ “Alien Encounter” film sequences. Among these was Academy Award nominee Jeffrey Jones as Chairman Clinch, the head of X-S Tech; TV favorite Kathy Najimy as the cautious Dr. Femus and comic Kevin Pollak as Spinlock, the impatient alien marketing rep. (Special bonus for all you “AE” trivia buffs: That out-of-this-world spokesmodel you see on the video monitors in the lobby? Under all that green make-up, that’s Supermodel Tyra Banks!)

But — even with all these talented, experienced people on board the project, trying to get “AE” to succeed — there was still no getting around the flaws in “Alien Encounter”‘s badly reworked script. According to WDI insiders, the production’s first real mis-steps came when it was time to decide who would do the voice of the sales-droid in “AE”‘s pre-show.

Hoping that he might be able to give WDW guests a few big laughs before they got scared out of their socks by the show in the main theater, the Imagineers hired Saturday Night Live star Phil Hartman to provide vocals for the robot who ineptly demonstrated X-S Tech’s teleportation technology in the pre-show. Being the old show business hand that he was, Hartman turned in a wonderfully smarmy performance, very reminiscent of his failed B movie actor Troy McClure from The Simpsons.

Imagineering had assembled what they thought was a top flight production. They spent months redoing the exterior of WDW’s old “Mission to Mars” show building so that it became the bland but somewhat sinister looking Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center. When test audiences first entered the inner lobby area in December 1994, they were amused by the numerous in-joke meeting announcements they read on the overhead monitors (Eg: “Lunar Disneyland — The Happiest Place Off Earth” and, my personal favorite, “Mission to Mars: Fact or Fiction?”). After that, these same WDW guests wandered into the pre-show, where they’ll chuckled warmly as Hartman’s robot character accidentally fried Skippy. Smiling broadly, these folks then wandered in the main theater …

… and that’s when all the trouble started.

Scary Problems for “Alien Encounter”

Given how light and comical the pre-show elements of “Alien Encounter” had been, test audiences were shocked by how dark and intense the show in the main theater was. As guests left the “AE” show building, they complained long and loudly to cast members doing exit polls about the attraction that they had not been properly warned that this Tomorrowland show was going to be really, REALLY scary. They had assumed that “AE” would like all of the other supposedly scary Disney theme park shows, which are thrilling … but not truly terrifying.

But even with no 20th Century Fox “Alien” creatures in sight, WDW guests still found this new Tomorrowland attraction plenty scary. And — given that members of the test audience had walked right by huge signs that clearly told everyone about “Alien Encounter”‘s intense nature — the Imagineers wondered what else they could do to better prepare audiences for the show they’d see inside.

The obvious place to start was “AE”‘s pre-show. As funny as Phil Hartman’s performance as the sales-droid might have been, it was clear that this piece of the attraction wasn’t doing that good a job of setting the stage for the show that followed. Sensing that “Alien Encounter”‘s introductory scenes needed more menace, the Imagineers shelved Hartman’s recording as they reworked the script for “AE”‘s pre-show — deliberately putting a much darker spin on the proceedings.

The Imagineers then asked “Rocky Horror Picture Show” legend Tim Curry to come and record some new dialogue for the sales-droid. The new script and Curry’s sinister vocals did the trick. Guests still laughed at what they saw in the pre-show, but they were a little creeped out too. As they turned to enter the main theater, these WDW visitors were now filled with a vague unease. Which meant they were in the perfect frame of mind for the carnage that was to follow.

Having fixed the pre-show, WDI now turned its attention to the “Alien Encounter” attraction itself. Test audiences had found the first version of the 3D sound show intense but also hard to follow. By sitting in on dozens of performances of “AE,” the Imagineers determined that the audience was screaming so long and so loudly at parts of the show that they were missing out on several crucial pieces of expository dialogue. Consequently, a lot of the members of the test audiences had trouble following the original version of the attraction’s storyline.

Disney CEO Michael Eisner — who first experienced “AE” in the field in December 1994 the weekend he was down at WDW to attend the grand opening of Pleasure Island’s Planet Hollywood — also agreed that the attraction had some serious story problems. (It’s been rumored that Michael actually took Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzeneggar along with him the first time he test-drove this Tomorrowland attraction. Which is not as far fetched as it might seem, folks, given that both of these men were also in Orlando the weekend that Eisner was. Since all three were taking part in the WDW PH festivities. But — to date — I’ve never been able to get any official confirmation on this story. Sorry about that. Anyway …) That’s why Eisner agreed to let the Imagineers shut down “The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter” — so that WDI could have all the time it needed to make the appropriate repairs to the attraction’s plot holes.

Updating “The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter”

So all those stories that you’ve heard over the past six years about how Michael Eisner ordered “Alien Encounter” closed because he didn’t think the show was scary enough … well, they’re not entirely true, folks. Sure, Michael wanted extra thrill elements to be added to the show. But the real reason that Eisner allowed the Imagineers to temporarily close “AE” was because he wanted the show’s storyline to come across more cleanly, more clearly, more coherently. Michael’s main aim in closing the show wasn’t to add extra scares. But rather because he wanted “Alien Encounter”‘s story to be easier for the average WDW visitor to follow.

Mind you, this simple sounding task took an awful lot of effort. Some of the changes that WDI made to the “Alien Encounter” show were small and subtle — like waiting an additional six seconds before playing a crucial piece of dialogue over the speakers in the theater (just so the line wouldn’t be drowned by the audience’s screams). Other changes involved providing the people who were in the middle of experiencing “Alien Encounter” with additional visual reference material (I.E. throwing a graphic up on the theater’s four video monitors that clearly shows that the monster that was trapped inside the teleportation tube has a pair of wings … that brief image was just enough to get WDW guests to finally understand how the monster was making its way around the room once it supposedly broke out of the containment field).

Perhaps the biggest change that was made to the in-theater portion of the “Alien Encounter” attraction was the show’s new finale. In the original, jokier version of “AE,” after the alien has been successfully beamed out of the theater, Chairman Clinch is finally beamed in. However — given how disastrously the demonstration has gone — Spinlock and Femus are reluctant to raise the blast shield on the teleportation tube. So, as WDW guests exited out of the theater, they could clearly hear the increasingly exasperated X-S Tech Chairman banging on the inside of the tube, demanding to be let out.

Again, a funny idea. But not really in keeping with the tone of the scary show that preceded it. That’s why the Imagineers opted to drop the gag-filled ending of the show and go with a new “Blood & Guts” finale. To add a disgusting coup de gras to the whole “Alien Encounter” experience, the guests seated in the “AE” theater now got splattered with warm water just as the teleportation device supposedly overloaded and blew the evil alien creature in a million tiny wet chunks. (To put a grotesque but funny tag on this part of the show, the Imagineers deliberately added one additional piece of dialogue to “AE”‘s explosive finale. The fat stupid guy who’s supposedly been sitting behind you now says “Yuck! I had my mouth open.” Ewwww!)

Given that most of these changes don’t seem all that involved — a new line here, a graphic there — why did it take the Imagineers so long (nearly six months) to finally fix WDW’s “Alien Encounter?” Simple. Given all the elaborate technology that was necessary to seamlessly co-ordinate the hundreds of elements of this Tomorrowland show, it took weeks to properly reprogram the show’s computers so that they could smoothly handle even the simplest of changes.

For all you techno-nuts out there, here’s a little insight in the gear involved with running “Alien Encounter”: “AE” actually works off of an SSU — a show-supervisor unit. This rack mounted system controls all the lighting and smoke effects as well as the audio and video elements used in the show. This ambitious little machine also keeps tabs on three SIUs — show-interface units. One of these state-of-the art machines rides herd on the pre-show, while the other two take care of the side-by-side sit-down theaters. (Aren’t you glad you asked?)

Shutting Down “Alien Encounter”

In order to get all the necessary changes made (which often involved hours and hours of trial and error), Disney officially closed WDW’s “Alien Encounter” in January 12, 1995 — less than six weeks after the Mouse had been begun doing test and adjust on its new Tomorrowland attraction. Though the show had never officially opened to the public, Walt Disney World was still abuzz with rumors about why the new Magic Kingdom attraction had suddenly shuttered.

The Mouse tried to put a funny spin on the story. They distributed thousands of copies of a flyer property-wide that had supposedly been written by X-S Tech Chairman, L.C. Clinch. In his message to WDW cast members, Clinch apologized for the delays involved with getting “Alien Encounter” opened. “We look forward to a profitable relationship with your species,” or so said the pretend memo. The flyer then went on to say that the projected re-opening date for this new Tomorrowland attraction was Easter 1995.

Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny would be long gone before most WDW guests finally their chance to “Seize the Future with X-S.” It wasn’t until June 20, 1995 before “The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter” officially re-opened in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. By then, Michael Eisner had reportedly lost all enthusiasm for this new Tomorrowland attraction.

The End of “Alien Encounter”

What exactly caused Eisner to sour on it? Some say that it was the additional $10 – $15 million Disney had to pump into “Alien Encounter” so that this new Tomorrowland attraction would finally play properly for WDW guests. Others suggest that it was all the negative publicity that was associated with the “AE” redo.

The most likely reason for the Disney CEO falling out of love with “The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter” attraction? I believe that Eisner eventually began to believe what those old Imagineers had been saying: that a scary show like “AE” doesn’t really belong in the Magic Kingdom. Given the hundreds of letters that the Walt Disney Company still receives every year from angry WDW guests — people who’d just gotten off “Dumbo the Flying Elephant” or just been whirled around in the Teacups, only to unwittingly wander in “Alien Encounter” and find themselves locked down in a chair, suddenly being threatened by a rasping, drooling monstrosity — there are obviously quite a number of folks who feel this way.

Which — to some Disneyana fans’ way of thinking — is a real shame. For — as vocal as “Alien Encounter”‘s critics may be — there’s an equally hardcore group of theme park fans who absolutely adore this Tomorrowland show.

These are the folks that you’ll spy at the N.F.F.C. conventions proudly wearing their “Fried Skippy” t-shirts. These are the same people who eagerly snatched up all the “Alien Encounter” action figures Disney began selling last year. You can usually pick out their cars in the WDW parking lot. Their vehicles are the ones with the Skippy beanie baby sitting on their dashboard.

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that there are also a lot of “Alien Encounter” fans inside WDI. These are the Imagineers who had their hearts set on adding this edgy attraction to every single Disney theme park worldwide. These guys insist that — if Eisner had okayed construction of “Tomorrowland 2055” and followed Imagineering’s original plans for “Alien Encounter” (and not the dumbed down, gag-filled WDW version) — Disneyland’s “AE” show would have been a huge hit right out of the box. A “Star Tours”-sized success which would have served a template for all the other “Alien Encounter” attractions to follow, giving the company a successful franchise show that they could have quickly rolled out at the corporation’s theme parks worldwide.

Ah, but I guess that’s not going to happen now. WDW’s “Alien Encounter” appears to be the one and only version of this high tech new Tomorrowland attraction that will ever make it off the drawing board. (Though I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the “Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter” interactive game that’s currently available for play at DisneyQuest. I’m told that this multi-player game — which is very loosely based on the WDW attraction — is hugely popular at both the Chicago and the Lake Buena Vista DQ locations.)

Editor’s Note: This article is an adaptation of an original Jim Hill Media Four Part Series “The ExtraTERRORestrial Files” (2000). DisneyQuest closed in 2017.

But still you have to wonder. Given that WDI’s reportedly in the process of putting together a new dark, scary, intense attraction — the long-rumored “Armageddon” exploding-Russian-space-station effects show — for both Disney’s California Adventure and Disney Studios Europe, wouldn’t it just be cheaper and smarter just to do “Alien Encounter” as it was originally supposed to be done? Featuring the creatures from 20th Century Fox’s “Alien” movies?

Come on, Disney! “Seize the Future.” Take another stab at doing “Alien Encounter.”

Only this time, don’t let Eisner muck it up.

Want more behind-the-scenes Disney stories? Jim Hill – along with Len Testa and Imagineer Jim Shull did a deep dive on “The ExtraTERRORestial Alien Encounter” attraction on Disney Unpacked. This 51-minute special can be found on Patreon. You can also hear more stories on The Disney Dish podcast, where Jim Hill and Len Testa explore Disney news and park history. Listen now at The Disney Dish on Apple Podcasts.

This article is an adaptation of an original Jim Hill Media Three Part Series “Is DAK’s Beastly Kingdom DOA? (December 2000).

You can park your car in the “Unicorn” parking lot.

You can buy your admission ticket at a ticket booth with a huge dragon’s head on it.

And — for a while there — you could even catch a glimpse of a fire-breathing monster as you took a cruise along Discovery River.

So how how come it’s more likely that we will see real unicorns or dragons before the we ever see a “Beastly Kingdom”?

What happened? Why did Walt Disney World decide to scrub its years-in-the-making plans for expansion of its animal theme park? Why table what would seem to be a sure-fire addition to Disney’s Florida resort?

The Price Tag on Building a New Land

Those who have been following the Walt Disney Company’s over the years will not be be surprised to learn that the projected high price tag for building “Beastly Kingdom” factored heavily in upper management’s recent decision to postpone indefinitely any major expansion of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. After all, if times are so tough for the Mouse that they have to lay off the Magic Kingdom’s marching band as well as Epcot’s fife-and-drum corp, what are the chances the company would be willing to spend $200 to $300 million to add a new land to DAK? Slim to none.

Mind you, Mickey was perfectly willing to pony up the $100 million necessary to build the Animal Kingdom Lodge . But that’s different. That’s a hotel. That 1307 room resort starts making money for the Walt Disney Company the moment it opens.

But “Beastly Kingdom?” Exit surveys suggested that — even if Disney went forward with the construction of Beastly Kingdom, Walt Disney World wouldn’t see a large enough increase in attendance at WDW’s fourth theme park to justify the cost of actually building “Beastly Kingdom.”

Guests Wanted to See Unicorns and Dragons at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The real irony here is that one of the only reasons Disney’s Animal Kingdom ever got built was that way back in 1993, guests who were surveyed about ideas for a fourth WDW theme park responded strongly to the notion of having a place in Florida where they could see unicorns and dragons.

Want to hear what folks were told about “Beastly Kingdom” back then? What follows is an excerpt from an exact transcript of an early marketing presentation on Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It describes in great detail the fun that would have been had in this part of the proposed park:

Sounds pretty impressive, yes? Those WDW guests surveyed back in 1993 thought so. They identified “Beastly Kingdom” — with its mix of roller coasters and imaginary animals — as the number one reason that they’d want to visit this proposed fourth theme park.

Opening Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Real Animals

So why wasn’t “Beastly Kingdom” part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom when the park opened on April 22, 1998?

Again, cost played a big part in delaying construction of this highly anticipated land.

But DAK’s future planning had to be factored in too.

After all, it took the Walt Disney Company three years and $800 million just to get “Phase One” of DAK open. And — since the park’s name actually had the word “animal” in it — the Imagineers felt that opening day guests would want to see some actual live animals. So the majority of DAK’s capitalization was poured into building the Africa and Asian safari areas.

After that … well, someone had to make a decision. Disney’s Animal Kingdom was supposed to celebrate all animals: the live ones, the extinct ones, as well as the imaginary. The African and Asian enclosures would take care of the live animals.

But — in doing that — Disney blew through most of DAK’s initial budget. There was only enough money left to build one more land.

Which should the Mouse go for? Dragons or dinosaurs?

“Dinosaur”, Frustrated Imagineers, and Roller Coasters

In the end, the deciding factor here was the money the Disney Company had already blown on the soon-to-be-released computer animated film, “Dinosaur.” Even back in 1995, the Mouse had already invested upwards of $30 million into production of this movie. (Current estimates suggest that Disney may have spent as much as $150 million to finish this film, making “Dinosaur” even more expensive than James Cameron’s infamously over-budget 1997 epic, “Titanic.” ) Eisner wanted to make sure that Disney’s “Dinosaur” movie made a return on that investment, so he insisted that DAK feature an attraction that heavily hyped the forthcoming film.

That decision angered Joe Rohde and the other Imagineers on the Disney’s Animal Kingdom project. After all, one of the real reasons that DAK was being built was to keep WDW guests from leaving property to go visit Busch Gardens – Tampa Bay.

And what was Anheuser Busch’s Florida theme park best known for? Its animal displays and its killer roller coasters. With African and Asia, Disney had all the animals it needed. But where were the coasters?

“Dragon’s Tower” at Beastly Kingdom

According to Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s original plans, “Dragon’s Tower” was to have been this park’s signature attraction. That’s why the dragon was featured dead center in DAK’s logo. After guests visited WDW’s fourth theme park, this was going to be the ride they raved about the folks back home about.

What was so special about “Dragon’s Tower?” This high tech thrill ride would have been the Walt Disney Company’s first in-park use of an inverted roller coaster. This attraction would have also featured the largest AA figure ever built for a Disney theme park. The angry jewel encrusted dragon found in the ride’s finale — belching fire and smoke at your car as you zoomed on by — would have easily dwarfed any of the dinos found in “Countdown to Extinction” (AKA the “Dinosaur” ride).

But Eisner insisted that it was more important that DAK feature an area that synergized with the upcoming “Dinosaur” film.

“Beastly Kingdom” would have to wait ’til DAK’s “Phase Two” … which, back then, was to have been completed no later than Spring 2003.

Phase One – “Beastly Kingdom” Easter Eggs

So — with this understanding that “Beastly Kingdom” hadn’t been cancelled, but merely postponed — WDI agreed to scale back their initial plans for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. But, even as they mapped out plans for the “Phase One” version of DAK, the Imagineers deliberately put in some pretty broad hints of the fun yet to come when “Beastly Kingdom” finally opened. That’s why you can park your car in the “Unicorn” lot as well as buy your tickets at the dragon headed ticket booth.

Dragon on Discovery River

As for that fire-breathing dragon found in the cave down along Discovery River … before cost over-runs in other areas of DAK severely cut in the proposed budget for this part of the park, that make-believe monster was just one of many fantastical show elements that would have been found along this part of the river. That whole stretch of Discovery River was supposed to be one big coming attraction for “Beastly Kingdom.”

Had the Imagineers gotten all the money they were originally supposed to get, here’s what you would have experienced after your boat pulled away from the dock and began its cruise around Discovery River:

But of course … this didn’t happen. As DAK’s opening day grew nearer and it became obvious that the whole project was going over budget, great show elements like the Kracken and the Unicorn got cut from the “Phase One” version of the park. In the end, there was only enough money left in the budget for put one creature along the entire length of Discovery River.

Again — because Eisner insisted that “Dinosaur” be heavily synergized at DAK — the Imagineers decided to build a full-scale version of Aladar, the heroic iguanadon from the forthcoming film. That’s the AA dinosaur guests glimpsed roaring and splashing at water’s edge as their Discovery River boat floated past Dinoland USA.

Unfortunately, this decision left the other leg of the Discovery River boat cruise a five minute cruise past nothing. So Joe Rohde begged, pleaded and wheedled … and eventually got Eisner to kick in another couple of thousand dollars. With this tiny chunk of change, Joe was able to get the rock dragon that spews water along this part of the river built, as well as a very stripped down version of the park’s fire breathing dragon.

But don’t go looking for an Americanized version of Disneyland – Paris’s majestic AA dragon to be found along this part of Discovery River. Rohde’s Imagineers did the best they could with zero cash. All you’ll find here now is a somewhat dinky cave at water’s edge. As the boats went by, a ferocious roar would echo out of the cave, followed by a burst of flaming propane. These effects hinted that there was a dragon somewhere deep back inside that cave … but guests never really got a glimpse of the thing.

Discovery River Disappointments

As you might imagine, WDW visitors were pretty unimpressed with what they saw along Discovery River once DAK opened. In fact, this was the ride that guests singled out — right from Opening Day — as the worst attraction in all of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. After waiting in line for over an hour to board the boats, they were furious to find that there was virtually nothing to see along the water during their five minute journey to Harambe.

The Imagineers were obviously embarrassed by this situation. It was particularly frustrating to WDI because they knew that they had a solution to the Discovery River problem, ready to go. But Disney management was too cheap to put up the money to make the fixes.

But that had been typical of Disney management’s handling of the whole DAK project. Given the choice between doing things the right way and the inexpensive way, the Mouse always opted to go cheap.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Opening Day Capacity Problems – “Camp Minnie-Mickey”

Take — for instance — how the Mouse handled the park’s capacity problems. When it became obvious that Asia was not going to ready in time for Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s April 1998 opening, the Imagineers began warning Disney management that DAK would not have a full day’s worth of shows and attractions. After having paid full price for admission, guests were sure to complain if they only got a half day’s worth of entertainment.

Eisner’s solution? Slap in a temporary land, similar to the “Mickey’s Birthdayland” area that the company had created for WDW’s Magic Kingdom way back in April 1988. From its first conceptual drawing right through to the first guest walking into Mickey’s house, “Mickey’s Birthdayland” had only taken 90 days to install.

Rohde and his Imagineers was appalled at Eisner’s suggestion. But — rather than tell the boss that his idea was terrible and that they wanted nothing to do with it — the DAK design team insisted that they were far too busy supervising construction in the rest of the park to work up any new temporary lands.

So Eisner ordered WDW’s entertainment office to take over the project. Using “Mickey’s Birthdayland” as their template, the entertainment staff came up with the concept for “Camp Minnie-Mickey.” Since there was no money available for even the cheapest of off-the-shelf rides, the WDW team opted to build “Camp Minnie-Mickey” around two low budget stage shows and several no budget character encounter areas.

How quickly and cheaply was “Camp Minnie-Mickey” thrown together? Do the float units the characters perform on in “Festival of the Lion King ” look familiar? They should. They’re the exact same parade floats that Disneyland ran up and down Main Street USA during the three year run of its “Lion King Celebration” parade.

Hope for Joe Rohde and Imagineers in Phase Two

Having this rapidly slapped together area sitting alongside lands that they’d spent years designing really irked the Imagineers. But Rohde advised his team to be patient and hold their tongues. After all, once Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened on April 22, 1998 and proved to be a huge success, then WDI would finally get the time and the money necessary to fix all the stuff that was wrong with the park.

Then the Imagineers could get the chance to put back all the stuff that was cut out of Discovery River. Then they could quietly pull the plug on that monstrosity, “Camp Minnie-Mickey.” Then WDI could finally get around to DAK’s “Phase Two” and build Beastly Kingdom.

Well, April 22, 1998 arrived and Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened …

But — after that — things didn’t quite go according to plan.

Eisner’s Expectations for Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Okay, kids — before we get back to the story of how “Beastly Kingdom” ended up on Disney Animal Kingdom’s (DAK) endangered species list — you need to understand what the Mouse’s original expectations were for its fourth Walt Disney World (WDW) theme park.

Here’s what Disney CEO Michael Eisner had hoped would happen when DAK opened on April 1998:

• Attendance levels would go through the roof at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the Disney-MGM Studios, as a record number of visitors rushed down to Florida to check out WDW’s fourth theme park.
• Guests who had previously stayed on property at Walt Disney World hotels for four days would now book five day vacation packages — just to be sure that they didn’t miss any of the new shows and attractions that had recently been added to the resort.
• All this extra guest traffic would result in increased revenues for WDW’s hotels, shops and restaurants — which would have an immediate positive impact on the Walt Disney Company’s bottom line.
• Eisner and his staff would bask in the glow of the unparalleled success of Disney’s Animal Kingdom for a moment … then get right back to work, brain-storming ideas for WDW’s fifth theme park.

That’s what Uncle Michael had hoped would happen, anyway.

Reality proved to be infinitely harsher.

Walt Disney World Attendance in 1998

In spite of the Mouse’s rosy projections, Disney’s Animal Kingdom — in its first year of operation:

Actually drove down attendance levels at the other three WDW theme parks in 1998.

• 8% fewer guests visited the Magic Kingdom
• 9% fewer went to the Disney-MGM Studios
• Epcot’s attendance levels dipped a startling 11%

What happened? In a word — cannibalism.

How Does Opening a New Theme Park Affect the Other Theme Parks?

“Cannibalism” is the term Disney Company executives use to describe what happens when a brand new theme park opens and begins eating into the attendance levels of the older, more established parks at the same resort.

Epcot Opening

In 1982, when Epcot opened, that park initially cut significantly into the number of guests that annually visited the Magic Kingdom. However — over time — attendance levels at Magic Kingdom bounced back to what they once were after the newness of Epcot had worn off. Meanwhile, Epcot Center began drawing guests all on its own to WDW. In the end, it all worked out just fine.

Disney-MGM Studio Opening

A similar thing happened in May 1989, when the Disney-MGM Studio theme park threw open its gates. For almost a year, attendance levels at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot slumped while guests opted to go to the new WDW theme park rather than visiting their old favorites. But — once again, over time — the situation sorted itself out. Attendance levels at the older WDW parks slowly rose back up to where they once were, as the Disney-MGM Studios began luring millions of new tourists to come see Disney’s Florida resort.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Opening

The Mouse had been anticipating that — when Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened — that it too would initially bleed guests away from the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the Disney-MGM Studios. That’s why Eisner had had the Imagineers add new attractions and/or complete major rehabs to each of the older WDW parks in the 18 months prior to DAK’s opening.

This was Uncle Michael’s brilliant scheme. He honestly believed that — if the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the Disney-MGM Studios each had new rides and shows for visitors to see — guests who had come down to WDW just to see Disney’s Animal Kingdom during its first year of operation would still end up of staying on property an extra day or so just to check out all the new stuff at the other parks.

On paper, that really did seem like a brilliant plan. Too bad reality got in the way.

Eisner’s Attendance Plan Doesn’t Go as Planned

What happened to ruin Eisner’s plan? For starters, Epcot’s heavily hyped new thrill ride — GM Test Track — was beset with horrible technical problems and ended up opening a full 18 months behind schedule. So that park really had nothing new to offer to returning WDW guests the year DAK opened.

Over at the Disney-MGM Studios, a much anticipated addition to the park — “David Copperfield’s Magic Underground” restaurant — never made it off the drawing board because the magician’s outside financing for the project disappeared. It would now be months after DAK’s opening before the studio theme park’s next big attraction — an East Coast version of Disneyland’s “Fantasmic” — would be ready to start entertaining WDW visitors.

As for the Magic Kingdom … truth be told, very little thought was put into to adding new shows and attractions to WDW’s first theme park. The Magic Kingdom had always been the favorite with Disney World visitors. Eisner and WDI felt that — what with the recent “Mickey’s Toontown Faire” redo as well as the 25th anniversary parade that was still running daily at the park — there was still plenty of semi-new stuff to entice people into making a return trip to the Magic Kingdom.

So — given all the money the Walt Disney Company had pumped into the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the Disney-MGM Studios to counter-act the effects of DAK’s opening — Eisner had anticipated that the attendance levels at WDW’s older parks would only dip by 5% in 1998. He was said to be furious when — almost across the board — attendance fell by almost twice that amount at all three of the other WDW theme parks.

This news immediately put WDW’s management team into crisis mode. The big boys in Burbank wanted attendance levels at each of the older WDW parks driven back up immediately. The managers of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the Disney-MGM Studios reminded Eisner and Company that — in order to do that — they’d need money fast for new shows, parades and attractions. Eisner immediately agreed to free up some funds for the Florida park.

And where did Eisner get the money to create these new WDW shows? You guessed it. He snagged the funds that had been previously earmarked for expansion of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Specifically, the money that would have been set aside for construction of “Beastly Kingdom.”

“Beastly Kingdom” Defunded – Problems at Animal Kingdom

Rohde and his Imagineers began complaining about the short-sightedness of Disney management’s fiscal planning. With that money gone, it would now be five years or more before there’d be any money in the budget to create any new significant attractions for DAK.

WDW managers admitted that this was true. But — given all the problems that Disney’s Animal Kingdom was having during its initial year of operation — it didn’t seem too wise right now to complain about the park’s future. Unless these problems got resolved quickly, it didn’t look like DAK would have much of a future.

What sort of problems was Disney’s Animal Kingdom having back then? You name it, the park was having problems with it.

Guests Getting Lost at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Due to the twisty, turny nature of the park’s walkways as well as all the lush vegetation, guests were constantly getting lost as they walked through the park. Disney had to spend thousands on new, bigger signage for the theme park to help guests find their way around the place.

Guests Leaving Disney’s Animal Kingdom Early – Busy in the AM

Then there was all the troubles with DAK’s shops and restaurants. Particularly during the first eight months Disney’s Animal Kingdom was open (when only the African safari adventure was up and running), the Mouse had an awful time getting guests to stay inside the theme park past 4 p.m.

What was the problem? Due to the horrible heat in Florida, most of the animals along the African safari route would go lie down in the shade — disappearing entirely from view — by about 10 a.m. each morning. Once DAK management learned that its African menagerie had begun dropping from sight most days before noon, it quickly put the word out to WDW’s hotels to encourage their guests to visit DAK as early in the day as possible.

This resulted in a completely unworkable traffic flow situation at DAK. By 7:30 a.m. most mornings during that first summer of operation, the park would already be full. By 8 a.m., there’d be a two hour long line in the queue for the African safari ride as well as guests waiting for over an hour to get in to see “It’s Tough to Be a Bug.” Given that so few of Disney Animal Kingdom’s restaurants had been designed to serve breakfast, there were never enough places open at that hour to handle all those sleepy, cranky people looking for food. That first summer at DAK was a complete disaster.

But — as bad as the early morning hours at DAK were — the late afternoon was even worse. Why for? Because the crowds — having blown through Disney’s Animal Kingdom minimal number of shows and attractions in just a few hours — had already left the park for the day. By 4 p.m. most afternoons, you could have fired a cannon down the middle of the street in Safari Village and not have wounded a single soul.

Poor Merchandise and Restaurant Sales

Having the park virtually empty by late afternoon played hell with DAK’s projections for food and merchandise sales. All the managers of the park’s stores and restaurants were begging WDW management for help in turning around their depressed sales. (The folks running the giant “Rainforest Cafe” at the entrance of Disney’s Animal Kingdom were particularly desperate. They had paid big bucks for the right to build this branch of their restaurant chain right outside the entrance to WDW’s newest theme park. But most evenings, barely a third of the cavernous cafe had any guests in it.)

Fixing Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Night-Time Entertainment

WDW management tried to come up with a solution to DAK’s traffic flow problems. But it quickly became obvious that there’d be no quick fixes for this situation. After all, it wasn’t like Disney could do here what they did at Epcot and the Disney-MGM Studios to keep guests in the park at night. Since the lights in the skies and all the noise was sure to frighten the animals, a nightly fireworks display was out of the question.

There was also some talk of creating a special night-time parade to roll through the streets of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and entertain guests after dark. For a time, WDW management even considered bringing Disneyland’s much maligned “Light Magic” streetacular to Florida to provide after-hours entertainment at DAK.

But Rohde and his team of WDI designers quickly killed any talk about night-time streetaculars at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. They pointed out that the park’s streets and trails were just too tight and narrow to allow even the smallest floats easy passage. The Imagineers reminded WDW management how much trouble DAK’s small day-time parade — “The March of the Art-imals” — was having making its way around the park in broad daylight. Imagine how much trouble a similar parade would have making its way around DAK in the dark.

Fix Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Problem with Attractions – Build “Beastly Kingdom”

Rohde’s team insisted that the solution to the traffic flow problems at Disney’s Animal Kingdom was obvious: beef up the parts of the park that didn’t rely on real animals. That meant adding new shows to Dinoland USA as well as finally building Beastly Kingdom. By adding these additional shows and attractions, WDW management would give guests a real reason to stay at DAK after dark — rather than trying to trick visitors into staying with a lame after-hours parade and/or a smallish fireworks display.

Privately, officials in WDW management agreed with the Imagineers that this was the logical, reasonable way to fix Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The trouble was that the folks back in Burbank weren’t acting reasonably or logically right now. Disney Company management had panicked when they had seen the drastic dip in attendance at WDW’s three other theme parks. Now they were running scared.

And Eisner had already okayed WDW management’s decision to grab the money that had been earmarked for DAK expansion and use it for bolstering sagging attendance at the other three WDW theme parks. That meant that Imagineering had next to no money left to fix all the glaring problems at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. More ominously, it now looked like it would be five years — or more — before WDI could afford to add any significant new attractions to DAK.

It was a very depressing time for the Disney’s Animal Kingdom design team. But — again — Rohde told his Imagineers not to lose heart. He told them that DAK — in particular “Beastly Kingdom” — might still be saved yet.

Competition for Disney – Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure

For Joe knew that Seagrams / MCA was spending two billion dollars to expand its Universal Studios Florida theme park complex — which was just down the road from WDW. And the centerpiece to this ambitious expansion project was a brand new theme park: Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure.

Rumors were flying around the theme park community that Seagrams / MCA was spending hundreds of millions of dollars on their new Florida park because they were out to top Disney. Universal wanted “Islands of Adventure” to have such amazing state-of-the-art attractions that this park would top any ride that could be found at Walt Disney World.

Secretly, Rohde and his Imagineers were hoping that Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure would be a huge success. Why for? Because the Walt Disney Company would then be embarrassed that it didn’t have the best rides in Florida anymore. And then maybe the Mouse would get worried that they were starting to lose guests to the new Universal park.

If that happened … well, then Eisner would finally have to open up his wallet then, wouldn’t he? Just as a matter of pride, he’d have to insist that WDI install the greatest rides that they could come up with at each of the WDW parks. For Disney’s Animal Kingdom, that could only mean that the Imagineers would finally get the chance to build “Beastly Kingdom.”

That was how Joe Rohde hoped things would play out, anyway.

Buzz Around Islands of Adventure Opening

Well, in the spring of 1999, Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure did finally open up. Unfortunately, it was not quite the roaring success Joe had hoped for.

Worse still, some of the attractions to be found in the new park looked awfully familiar …

December 1998. Everyone at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) is abuzz with news about Universal Studios expansion plans for its Florida property.

“I’ve heard that — on opening day — they’re going to have three mega-coasters up and running.”

“Well, I’ve heard that their ‘Spiderman’ attraction is going to blow the doors off ‘Star Tours’ and ‘Body Wars.'”

“That — plus ‘Jurassic Park – The Ride,’ that ‘Dudley Do-Right’ flume thing as well as the ‘Popeye’ raft ride. This new Universal park sound better than anything we’ve got in Florida.”

Were these Imagineers frightened at the thought of all these great attractions being built in a theme park just down the street from WDW?

Hell no. The folks at WDI were thrilled that Seagrams was spending a reported $2 billion to remake their Universal Studios Florida theme park into a Disney quality resort. Why? Because that meant that the Mouse would finally have some serious competition in Orlando.

You see, Disney CEO Michael Eisner is a very competitive guy. He hates to lose — at anything.

If attendance at WDW started to noticeably slip due to the Mouse losing customers to Universal’s new theme park, Michael would have to do something. Eisner’s enormous ego just wouldn’t be able to handle the idea of Disney being No. 2 in the Orlando market.

So he’d turn to the Imagineers and say: “Make the best attractions you can.”

Not “Make the best attraction you can on a limited budget.” (i.e.: WDI’s controversial rehab of Epcot’s “Journey into Imagination” ride. During its three months of operation, the revamped version of that Future World attraction racked up more guest complaints than most shows produce in a year.)

Not “Make the best attraction you can with minimal changes to the pre-existing ride building.” (i.e.: The Magic Kingdom’s “Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin” actually runs its ride vehicles along the very same track and layout the building’s previous tenants — Delta’s “Dreamflight” and the unsponsored “Take Flight” — used.)

Not “Make the best attraction that reflects the sponsor’s agenda” (i.e.: Any exhibit you’ll find inside either version of “Innoventions.”)

Just “Make the best attractions you can.” Period.

And WDI would absolutely love to hear Michael Eisner say this.

The Imagineers Finally Able to Build Attractions

For years now, the Disney Imagineers been developing ideas for absolutely killer theme park attractions, only to be told by Disney Company senior management that ” Gee, we’d love to build that … but it’d be too expensive” or “No one else in the industry is doing that” or — worst of all — “We don’t have to try that hard.”

So now — for the first time ever — it appeared that Walt Disney World was going to have some real competition in Florida. And the top guys at the Mouse Works must have been taking Universal’s Islands of Adventure seriously, for — in January 1999 — they ordered WDI to work up a WDW contingency plan.

The purpose of the plan was this: Should Universal’s Islands of Adventure actually begin to seriously nibble away at Disney World attendance levels in 1999, the Mouse wanted a way to quickly recapture those wandering visitors. WDI felt that the easiest way to get folks excited about going back to WDW again was to add a huge new E ticket attraction for each of the four Florida parks. More importantly, they wanted to have each of these rides up and running in time for the kick-off of Walt Disney World’s 30th anniversary celebration in October 2001.

“Fire Mountain” at Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom was to have gotten “Fire Mountain,” a state-of-the-art roller coaster themed around story elements from Walt Disney Pictures’ Summer 2001 animated release, “Atlantis.” What would have truly been intriguing about “Fire Mountain” is that it was to have been the world’s first morphing coaster. Visitors would start their ride seated securely in their ride vehicle. At the midway point in the attraction — as “Fire Mountain” erupted — the bottom would have dropped away from their ride vehicle, leaving the riders dangling from above as they zoomed through the rest of the ride.

“Villain Ride” at Disney-MGM Studios

Over at the Disney-MGM Studios, that park’s signature attraction — “The Great Movie Ride” — would have gotten a massive makeover. In its place, visitors would have been asked to put on 3D glasses before taking a trip through the Chinese Theater’s “Villain Ride.” Here, WDW visitors would have been menaced by three dimensional recreations of Disney’s most famous fiends before the forces of good finally came to their rescue.

“Mission: Space” at Epcot

Epcot would have had its dated Future World “Horizons” pavilion pulled down to make way for the new “Mission: Space” attraction. This cutting-edge ride would use centrifugal force to give visitors the sensation of being blasted out into space. They would also feel tremendous G-forces pressing them down into their seats as well as a brief moment of weightlessness before their ride vehicle made re-entry.

“Beastly Kingdom” at DAK

As for Disney’s Animal Kingdom … well, since it was the least developed of all four of the WDW theme parks, adding just one new attraction wouldn’t have given visitors enough incentive to return to DAK. So the Imagineers opted to go for broke here. They suggested adding a whole new land to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Which land? You guessed it, kids. “Beastly Kingdom.”

Disney’s Plan to Counter-Act Universal’s Island of Adventure

Disney Management reviewed WDI’s plan in March of 1999 and agreed to put it into action if … and this is a really big “if” here, folks … it could be proven that Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure was having a significant detrimental effect of WDW’s attendance levels.

So — for the first time in the history of the Walt Disney Company — the Imagineers actually hoped and prayed for a competitor’s theme park to succeed. For — if Islands of Adventure really had an impact on WDW’s attendance — all of their great new proposed attractions would actually make it off the drawing board.

After two months of soft openings, Universal finally did officially open Islands of Adventure (IOA) on May 28, 1999. Just as the Imagineers had hoped, IOA had it all. Three huge roller coasters. Their state-of-the-art “Spiderman” attraction. Three water-based rides (“Jurassic Park – The Ride,” “Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls,” and “Popeye’s Bilge Rat Barges”). Everything a modern theme park needs to succeed.

Well … almost everything.

What was missing?

Crowds.

Was Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure a Flop?

To this day, no one knows quite what went wrong with the launch of Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure. Some blame the marketing of the new park and resort, which somehow lead the public to believe that IOA wasn’t a whole new theme park, but rather just a new land that had been added to Universal Studios Florida (USF). (This certainly was a popular explanation within the boardroom at Seagrams. They asked for — and received — the resignations of most of USF’s marketing staff.)

Whatever the reason, the crowds just did not come out for IOA during its first year of operation. Universal’s new theme park under-performed in a spectacular manner, drawing less than half the projected number of bodies Seagrams had said would visit its revamped resort in 1999. Worse still, the limited number of visitors IOA got seems to have all been bodies that the new park lured away from its older Florida theme park. Unconfirmed reports suggest that attendance at Universal Studios Florida may have fallen off by as much as 30% during IOA’s first few months of operation.

But worst of all — at least from the Imagineers’ point of view — is that IOA was having virtually no impact on WDW’s theme parks. As the months went by, it became obvious that — in spite of the $2 billion Seagrams had spent — their revamped resort was having little or no effect on Disney World attendance levels.

Without proof that IOA was impacting WDW’s attendance levels, WDI’s ambitious plans for adding a brand new E-Ticket attraction to each of the Disney Company’s Florida theme parks by October 2001 seemed doomed to failure. Sure enough, Walt Disney Imagineering president Paul Pressler called a meeting at WDW’s WDI headquarters earlier this year to announce a radical rethink of the Florida property’s expansion plans.

Did Walt Disney World Respond to Islands of Adventure?

At this meeting, Pressler said that — since IOA had obviously proven to be a non-threat to WDW attendance levels — there was no reason to go forward with the previously announced aggressive building program. In its place, Paul proposed a significantly spread out schedule as to which Florida Disney theme park got new attractions and when.

Pressler believed that it was now time to prioritize. WDW attraction construction money would be allocated first to whichever Disney theme park in Florida most needed a boost in attendance. That was obviously Epcot, which perpetually had problems drawing visitors back in for return visits. That’s why the Walt Disney Company opted to stage its 15 month-long Millennium celebration inside this Florida park.

Under the new schedule, the first new WDW E-ticket would be built inside on Epcot. “Mission: Space” would still rocket visitors off into the cosmos. Only now these visitors would have to wait ’til 2003 before they got the chance to board Disney’s shuttle simulator.

Next up would be the Disney-MGM Studios’ E-Ticket. However, construction on the “Villain Ride” wouldn’t even begin ’til 2003. Pressler’s plan was to have the “Villain Ride” up and running by May 2004 — just in time for the studio theme park’s 15th anniversary celebration.

After that, “Fire Mountain” would rise up over at the Magic Kingdom in 2006. This volcano-based Adventureland attraction would serve as the centerpiece of WDW’s 35th anniversary celebration.

Then in 2008, Disney’s Animal Kingdom would finally get its new E-Ticket. Just in time for that park’s 10th anniversary, “Beastly Kingdom” would throw open its doors. Visitors would then get to sample the thrills of “Dragon’s Tower” and wander the leafy green maze over at “Quest for the Unicorn.”

Obviously, Imagineer Joe Rohde and his DAK design team were tremendously disappointed with this last bit of news. But Rohde — ever the optimist — tried to stress the positive in this tough situation. “Okay, so it’s going to open 10 years late,” Joe said. “But at least ‘Beastly Kingdom’ will finally be part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.”

At least, that was the plan … until Eisner got around to visiting Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure in January 2000.

Eisner Visits Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure

Eisner and a small entourage quietly toured the park that day, riding most of the major attractions as well as scoping out a lot of the shops and restaurants. After Michael got back to California, he told the Imagineers that he thought that — while IOA wasn’t quite up to Disney standard — the place still looked pretty good.

There was a pause. Then Michael added “But a few of those attractions looked awfully familiar.”

This is where one of the scummier secrets of the theme park industry gets revealed: theme parks regularly steal attraction ideas from one another. Just like in the computer world or the auto industry, industrial espionage is just one of the many ways that theme park companies like Disney, Universal, Six Flags, and the Cedar Fair Corporation try to stay ahead of the competition.

Of course, Disney didn’t help matters by laying off hundreds of Imagineers following the disastrous opening of Euro Disney. Many of these disgruntled former Imagineers walked out the door, carrying with them the plans for the proposed attractions they had been working on when the Mouse let them go.

“Dragon’s Tower” at Islands of Adventure – Disney Imagineer Layoffs Create “Lost Continent”

Among these folks were several Imagineers who had been working on the “Dragon’s Tower” attraction for DAK’s “Beastly Kingdom.” After a few months, these former WDI employees got hired by Universal to work on their proposed second theme park for Florida. They ended up being assigned to work on that park’s “Lost Continent” area.

“You guys got any ideas for attractions for this part of the park?,” their Universal bosses asked.

Indeed they did.

“Borrowed” Ideas for Disney Attractions

Now, before you get all indignant about the idea of Universal stealing ride ideas from Disney, please keep in mind that the Mouse has also been doing it for years. For example: how do you suppose the Skyway and Monorail ended up in Disneyland? Walt saw similar attractions while touring amusement parks in Europe in the 1950s. He decided to “borrow” the concepts of these rides from those European venues for installation at his Anaheim park.

And — while Tony Baxter is universally recognized as a modern master of Imagineering, having come up with the concepts for such classic Disney theme park attractions as “Big Thunder Mountain Railway” and “Splash Mountain” — employees of Knotts Berry Farm are all too willing to point out the similarities between those attractions and Knotts’ “Calico Mine Train” and “Log Ride.” Given that Baxter has admitted to spending a lot of his free time back in the 1960s when he was a Disneyland employee prowling around Knotts, is it possible that Tony could have — just like his hero, Walt — “borrowed” the concepts for these Knotts attractions to use as the basis for “Big Thunder” and “Splash Mountain?”

Anything’s possible, kids.

“Dragon’s Tower” becomes “Dueling Dragons”

Anywho, back to Islands of Adventure … is “Dueling Dragons” an obvious rip-off of “Beastly Kingdom”‘s proposed “Dragon’s Tower” ride? Perhaps. But how can you rip off something that hasn’t actually been built yet?

Some might argue that Universal — being the first theme park company to build a mega-coaster that featured a dragon storyline with a queue area that was themed around a decrepit castle — must now get credit for creating that attraction. Which means Universal effectively owns that ride idea. That would mean that — should Disney ever go forward with their “Dragon’s Tower” attraction idea — the Mouse would now appear to be copying ride ideas from Universal, rather than the other way around.

Never mind that Disney came up with the original idea for a dragon-based coaster. Never mind that Universal may have acquired the concept for their dragon coaster attraction under somewhat questionable circumstances. In the end, all that matters is: Who built the ride first? Since Universal was the first to build a dragon-based coaster, that ride concept now belongs to them.

“Beastly Kingdom” Loses Its Icon – Land Cancelled

And — since Eisner didn’t want it to appear as if Disney was stealing ride ideas from Universal — he asked the Imagineers to remove the “Dragon’s Tower” ride from all future plans for “Beastly Kingdom.” But — without the tumble-down burned-out castle (that would have served as “Dragon’s Tower”‘s show building) to serve as the centerpiece for this proposed addition to WDW’s fourth theme park — “Beastly Kingdom” was left without a “weenie,” a strong visual element that would lure people down into this side of the park. Without “Dragon’s Tower,” “Beastly Kingdom” now seemed kind of pointless.

Dinoland USA Expansion

As painful as it might be, Joe Rohde and his Imagineering team now had to face facts. “Beastly Kingdom” — as they had originally planned it — was dead. WDI would now have to abandon all the witty plans they’d come up with for this part of the park and dream up some new attractions for DAK’s east side.

Mind you, there was no time to mourn “Beastly Kingdom”‘s demise. Rohde and his team were too busy fighting with Disney management over their bargain basement expansion plans for DAK’s Dinoland USA. Assuming that — when Disney’s “Dinosaur” movie opens in theaters later this month — this side of the park will see a huge surge of new traffic, Eisner ordered that several lightly themed off-the-shelf carnival-style rides be added to Dinoland USA to increase capacity.

Rohde was said to be furious when he learned of this plan, particularly since WDI had already put together an elegant expansion plan for DAK’s dino area. He’s reportedly particularly enraged that the name that his Imagineering team came up with for a runaway-mine-car-through-an-abandoned-dinosaur-dig ride — the Excavator — for Dinoland USA’s “Phase II” will now be used for a smallish kiddie coaster Eisner is quickly tossing into the area.

Adding to Rohde’s aggravation: DAK’s ‘temporary’ area — Camp Minnie-Mickey — was becoming all the more permanent as each day went by. Exit polls showed that this area’s “Festival of the Lion King” show was the most popular attraction in all of Animal Kingdom. So popular that Disney had to add additional seats to DAK’s “Lion King” theater to increase the show’s capacity. And — with “Lion King III,” another direct-to-video sequel to the original 1994 film, currently in the works — it could now be years before the “Lion King” phenomenon finally fades … leaving all the land around that once-thought-to-be-temporary theater available again for development.

As you can see, Rohde and his Imagineers didn’t have time to moan over “Beastly Kingdom”‘s loss. They’re too busy fighting with Disney Company management, trying to keep Eisner and Co. from ruining the park with their bone-headed cost-cutting maneuvers.

Editor’s Note: This article is an adaptation of the original three-part series from Jim Hill Media, “Is DAK’s Beastly Kingdom DOA?” (December 2000). Pandora – The World of Avatar officially opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on May 27, 2017, in the area originally proposed for Beastly Kingdom.

Will There Ever Be a “Beastly Kingdom” at Walt Disney World?

But is “Beastly Kingdom” really dead? At least for the immediate future, it would seem so. Any ambitious plans the Mouse may have had for expansion of Disney’s Animal Kingdom are now completely on hold.

Why for? Because there’s so much other stuff at DAK that’s currently in urgent need of repair. For example: Conservation Station is thought to be a complete disaster. Visitors repeatedly name that area as their least favorite part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. So the Imagineers are frantically searching for ways to fix up that facility.

And then there’s Kali River Rapids. Though only a year old, the centerpiece attraction for DAK’s Asia area is already falling apart. There are currently so few of that attraction’s original rafts in working condition that visitors often have to wait as much as an hour in line before there’s a raft available for them to board.

But all those Disney unicorn and dragon lovers out there shouldn’t completely lose heart. Long-time Disney theme park observers know it’s wise never to consider a really great concept for a theme park show or attraction completely dead. For the Imagineers have this awful tendency to recycle abandoned ideas.

Consider Disneyland’s long proposed Discovery Bay. Though Tony Baxter hatched the concept for this Jules Verne-meets-Gold Rush-era-San-Francisco Frontierland expansion back in 1977, it wasn’t until 1992 that elements of this proposed Disneyland addition finally turned up in a Disney theme park. Unfortunately for all those US-based Discovery Bay fans, the park that got the land (DiscoveryLand, to be exact) that was inspired by Tony’s concept art was Disneyland – Paris. But some of Discovery Bay did finally make it off the drawing board.

So who knows? Maybe in ten years or so, some Imagineer may come with a clever way to rework the “Dragon’s Tower” storyline. Perhaps that long rumored South American Disney theme park will have a Sleeping Beauty’s castle with a thrill ride — rather than a walking tour — as its main attraction? Maybe this thrill ride will feature a huge AA version of the Maleficent dragon, snarling and breathing fire at riders as they whiz through the attraction’s finale? Stranger things have happened, kids.

Here’s hoping that — some day, in some way — dragons and unicorns turn up in a Disney theme park.

After all, there’s always room for a little more magic in the Magic Kingdom.

Want more behind-the-scenes Disney stories? Dive deeper into the magic with The Disney Dish podcast, where Jim Hill and Len Testa explore Disney news and park history. Listen now at The Disney Dish on Apple Podcasts. For exclusive bonus episodes and even more insider content, check out Disney Unpacked on Patreon.