Tag Archives: Western River Exhibition

We all know Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; these iconic attractions have been thrilling guests for years and are the anchor rides for Frontierland. But how many know that a much larger, more complex attraction area was planned for the space that these favorites now occupy? Walt Disney World was first planned out in the early 1960’s after the major land purchases in Florida (47 square miles!). By 1967, right after Walt’s untimely death, everything was running in high gear but the Disney Company never had plans to construct a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction like Disneyland’s, which opened six and a half years earlier. Disney believed (And mistakenly so!) that since Florida was located right next to the Caribbean that the area would be accustomed to tales of Pirates and yearn for a different adventure.