More from the Land that Never Was

There's only a few more things to add to the page as it was initially written last year. Any additional info any of you can offer up would be appreciated.

Some people have written me about my negative opinion on Captain Eo. My point behind Eo is this.....it was a great film. It had very impressive special effects. But, it definately didn't need Michael Jackson, and had he not been in it the movie might have survived in one of the parks. Needless to say, a reliable source wrote to me saying that there were plans for a second Michael Jackson/ George Lucas 3-d movie to replace Captain Eo (no word on if it was an Eo sequel, although from the letter sent to me I am led to believe that it was not.)

It does seem possible that this project was discussed, but I do not believe that it would have gone beyond the discussion phase. And following the controversey that Jackson found himself in earlier this decade, it is doubtful that Disney wanted to have thier name tied in with Jackson for another project.

Sunset Boulevard in Disney MGM wasn't always just supposed to be a home to the Tower of Terror. Actually, the original plans for this land called for there to be two rides there.
First, there was to be a Dick Tracy ride or show. Supposedly the ride that was planned was to be a dark ride similar to many of the rides in Fantasyland. A Dick Tracy show would have been a stage show based on the movie. This, of course, was all dependent on the success of the film.

Judging by its success, we should be happy that the ride never surfaced. Even back when they had a short mini-show during the backstage tour I was left unimpressed by the hero, just as many people were left unimpressed with the movie.
The other ride planned for Sunset Boulevard was a simulator ride called Roger Rabbit's Trolly Ride.

The ride would have been a simulator situated along the lines of Star Tours, or Body Wars. There is no reason given why this ride was never built, and I cannot understand. Disney has always been interested in confronting their competition, and a ride through Toontown would have competed very well with the Hanna Barbera ride at Universal. It is very confusing.

The two rides mentioned above were also supposedly planned for a proposed land at Disneyland called Hollywoodland. This land, which supposedly was to sit on the land currently occupied by Toontown, was also scheduled to have Baby Herman's Buggy Ride, a wild Dark ride/rollercoaster, styled as a Wild version of Mr. Toads wild ride. A version of this was also supposedly in the works for Disney MGM. I have some conceptual art somewhere in my archives, but at the present moment it has escaped me.

Another ride planned for Disneyland that never surfaced was the Lewis and Clark River Adventure. I have to warn you that this picutre is not conceptual art, but rather one taken from a children's book.

The ride was supposed to be a river rapids ride, much like that planned for the Asia section of Disney's Animal Kingdom, or the rapids ride planned for California Adventure. Acutally, sources say that the models for the ride were kept, and are simply going to be reused in the creation of the California Adventure ride.

Two rides planned for Euro Disney, besides the entire Disney MGM Europe project, that never showed up were the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast Attractions.

It has been mentioned to me that the Little Mermaid attraction planned for the park was simply a French version of the wildly popular Voyage of the Little Mermaid from Disney MGM. But, since that would be an easy and cost effective attraction to produce, I would not see any reason why Disney would not have made it by now. As for the Beauty and the Beast attraction, very little info exists on it, and I am not going to fuel rumor mills by repeating some of the rumors about what the attraction was to be like.

The rennovation currently going on in Tomorrowland in Disneyland was supposed to happen a few years back, according to sources on the internet as well as the Disney News. I have been told that due to lack of land, Disney was going to start building further up in tomorrowland, adding more attractions on the to be built third fourth or fifth levels of the buildings. While this may or may not be true, one thing is certain. The version of Tomorrowland being constructed now is not the version they had originally planned. While it was to be a vision from the past, early conceptual art had it as more of a fifties or sixties view of the future, rather than the twenties or thirties. In addition, one of the attractions planned for the reconstructed land that never showed up was none other than.......

That's right, the Alien Encounter. Luckily for us on the east coast, this attraction was not scrapped but was instead built in the Magic Kingdom of WDW.

Finally, Disney had planned a number of attractions planned based on the Muppets. Disney had entered into an unofficial agreement with Jim Henson before his death, such that he would be ensured that the Muppets would continue on after he was gone.

The agreement did not fare well with the Henson family, though, after his death, and therefore the attractions planned were eventually disbanded. The only attraction that was build was Muppetvision 4-d, but supposedly this attraction will be removed within the next few years, pending talks with the Henson family.

Special thanks to Bret Jacobs for info, and for steering me in the direction to more unbuilt rides.