Western River Expedition

[Titanfreak46]

lets get our minds off of tom sawyer island for awhile.....when are we ever going to get this marc davis gem. im tired of tda and imagineering coming up with cheap pixar movie tie-ins. This is in the same mold as pirates of the carribean who would not want another pirate type ride. It might even bring back the western genre.

[Aladdin]

I want to see this attraction at DLR, too! (the heck with
the P.C. police) Frontierland could use this attraction,
but of Course DCA is lacking ANY type of a dark ride like
Pirates or Haunted Mansion, so this would be GREAT
attraction to bring a true Disney experience to the Park
built on the cheap.

[Melonballer]

Actually I would like to see it over in DCA too.

[Barbossa]

Western River Expedition could be themed to this:



I've got the two Lucky Luke movies that Disney released, Ballad of the Daltons and Diasy Town and they are absolute gems. Would make a great attraction.

[CousinPhil]

Oh my goodness! I was trying to remember the name of that cartoon that I saw years ago! Thank you so much!

As for WRE, I would love to see an original WDI idea of that scope here. I can't even remember the last major Disneyland attraction that wasn't based on a movie.

[Doofy]

Where can you find information on Western River Expedition? I would love to see a new attraction like pirates. I love being able to get on the ride and be entertained for 15 minutes. Much better than the 2 minutes of a roller coaster.

[phruby]

If we can't have WRE, why not put in Gyser Mountain like the intended to do a few years ago. The enterance could be on TSI and you take a tunnel under the river to get to the actual ride.

[Titanfreak46]

Kill two birds with one stone Phruby. Get them over to the island and then if they want can get to another ride from the island. Brilliant!!
I actually think it would be better in Disneyland for the theme, and these Marc Davis rides really deserve to be in Disneyland not
a half-effort park like DCA.

Doofy if you want to learn more about WRE jim hill came out with a great set of articles about it. It was actually to be a 30-40 minute ride, substantially longer then pirates and the haunted mansion.

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/271.aspx Article 1
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/272.aspx Article 2
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/273.aspx Article 3
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/274.aspx Article 4
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/275.aspx Article 5
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/276.aspx Article 6
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...01/01/277.aspx Article 7
Enjoy!

[nish221]

Also a nice shorter description at Wikipedia

[sediment]

Every so often, I like to go through that JH set of articles. It's vintage stuff.

[Aladdin]

Originally Posted by Barbossa

Western River Expedition could be themed to this:



I've got the two Lucky Luke movies that Disney released, Ballad of the Daltons and Diasy Town and they are absolute gems. Would make a great attraction.

HaHaHa! Add "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin" the movie with Roddy
McDowell, Moving to San Francisco and planning on panning for gold. It would fit in perfectly!

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by CousinPhil

I can't even remember the last major Disneyland attraction that wasn't based on a movie.

I can. It pretty much destroyed 3 classic Tomorrowland attractions and only lasted itself about a year

[Opus1guy]

There have been several references over the years here to this major attraction that was planned as the next big "E Ticket" at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom just after it first opened, called "Western River Expedition."

For those unfamiliar with this planned show, this was to be a mega Audio Animatronic attraction a la Pirates of the Caribbean, only with a Wild West theme. The major designs were done by Disney Legend Marc Davis. It was supposed to open in 1976 as part of a large landmass addition to WDW's Frontierland, to be called "Thunder Mesa."

At the Main Street Opera House at Walt Disney World in Florida, they had a WDW Preview Center. In it they had moved many of the models from the original Preview Center in the Lake Buena Vista Hotel Plaza complex. They also installed many displays on the history of Disney theme parks and Audio Animatronics.

Near the end of the display area was little show with an Audio Animatronic owl that was to be part of Western River Expedition, who told you all about how he and other AA figures were made. His name (as written for the attraction) was "Hoot Gibson" (named after the legendary cowboy performer). This owl was the one that was planned to be your guide through Western River Expedition.

Myself and a few friends had these brand new Kodak Super 8 Film Sound movie cameras, that were the precursor to Home Video Tape Cameras that hadn't been invented yet. This Super 8 Sound camera (called "Ektasound") was a pretty expensive proposition to own and operate (film was expensive and the thing ate batteries like like a monster!). The Super 8 film it used had a magnetic sound stripe near the sprocket holes...that's basically how it worked.

Anyway...enough of the background. Here's some rare 1974 home movie footage (with Sound!) of the owl show which starts off with a couple of miniature mechanical figures that Walt built back in the 50's that were operated by a huge system of cables and cams...that was the precursor to Audio-Animatronics. They proved too cumbersome for practical use, so Walt shelved the idea. But when electronic controls came into being...he dusted off the idea and that's how we ended up with the Tiki Birds and Audio Animatronics. Walt's original idea was just too far ahead of the technology of the day.

The film starts off with the Dancing Man (which actor/hoofer Buddy Ebsen did the modeling for) and then shows a Barbershop Quartet with the control systems underneath. The sets were crafted by Walt Disney himself. Then the film goes to the owl (notice the "Family Owlbum"). So...from the Opus Archives...a rare film record of "Hoot" Gibson himself:

http://members.aol.com/opus1guy/uplo...rnriverowl.wmv

Enjoy!

It's a Windows Media Player file. If the Player is not already on your computer, you can download it for free from Microsoft's web site for PC or Mac.

For more information on Western River Expedition...see:

http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/wre.htm

[Speedway]

Hands off punks!
Western River Expedition was always intended for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, never ever for Disneyland. The reason for this is because it was meant to be the replacement for Pirates of the Caribbean at the Magic Kingdom. It inspired Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland but was never meant to appear at the park in it's MK-incarnation.

Oh and while I'm here, hands off Mickey's PhilharMagic too. That's staying at WDW.

[Melonballer]

Neat video Opus1guy. Thanks for posting it.