Disney's Western Experience

[DoctorQ9]

Disney recently announced that they will be making major changes to their Golden Oak Ranch near Santa Clarita, California. The Orange-bordered area on this map shows where new soundstages and production facilities will be built. The Blue-bordered area shows the current extent of filming areas and locations:



But notice that there is a large amount of land extending far past the current areas of use. If one were to zoom in on a particular spot near Highway 14:



Could this be the future location of Disney's Western Experience?

[KingEric]

Do you have more information on the western experience?

[DoctorQ9]

My understanding is that it sprang from Disney's failed Mineral King development and a secondary plan to create the ultimate "Dude Ranch" experience. It would be built entirely on Disney property but completely separate from any theme park (similar to Disney's Vero Beach and Hawaii resorts). Internal memos indicate some opposed the idea due to parallels to the film "Westworld" -- Disney being known for animatronic figures ("robots") even though there would be nothing like that in the Western Experience.