The Ridiculously Detailed History of Disney World’s Frontierland

Let’s go back in time…

Frontierland has been a cornerstone of the Magic Kingdom since Disney World first opened in 1971, with the Western-themed land being home to three of the park’s most popular attractions. At the 2024 D23 Ultimate Fan Event, Disney announced massive changes coming to Frontierland, which have stirred controversy amongst Disney fans. However, looking back over Frontierland’s history — for better or worse — change has always been a constant. 

As most of you probably know, the concept of the land predates Walt Disney World, as a version of Frontierland opened with Disneyland in 1955. In fact, given the popularity of westerns at the time — including Disney’s own Davey Crockett series — Frontierland was arguably the most popular and relevant land in Walt’s original park. In its initial years, the land mainly featured stagecoaches, pack mules, a Conestoga wagon, and The Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland ride (which opened in 1960). The land also featured the docks for the Mark Twain Riverboat and Sailing Ship Columbia, both of which took guests along the Rivers of America, most of which was bordered by Frontierland, and travel to Tom Sawyer Island. 

The Magic Kingdom’s version of Frontierland  — which opened in 1971 as mentioned above — was slightly different from the Disneyland original. Disney World’s version was positioned slightly differently in the park, melding with the Magic Kingdom-exclusive Liberty Square land to create a full tableau of 18th through 19th century America, and featured a stop on the Walt Disney World Railroad.

Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland also featured an exclusive headline attraction: The Country Bear Jamboree. The animatronic show — which was originally developed for the unbuilt Mineral King Ski Resort that Walt and the company had been working on during the early 1960s — featuring singing bears quickly became a massive fan favorite.  In fact, it became so popular that it was quickly added to Disneyland. While the Country Bears have gone through a few incarnations over the years — most recently refurbished into the Country Bear Musical Jamboree — the show remains a staple of the Magic Kingdom. 

The Country Bear Jamboree wasn’t supposed to be the only exclusive attraction in the Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland. When the park was being designed, a MASSIVE area of land was set aside for Thunder Mesa. This humungous structure was planned to house a pack mule ride, a runaway mine train roller coaster (keep that in mind for later), and its piece de resistance: The Western River Expedition. 

This unbuilt Disney attraction was the brainchild of legendary Imagineer Marc Davis. On the scale of Pirates of the Caribbean, the attraction was scheduled to be an animatronic-filled boat ride through the Wild West, full of Davis’s trademark humor and visual gags. At one point Thunder Mesa and the Western River Expedition were planned to be opening day attractions at the park, before being pushed to Phase 2 of Disney World construction. Plans to add the attraction were so far along, that postcards were sold featuring the Mesa, and it was featured in numerous brochures, books, and preview displays. However, it wasn’t meant to be. 

When the Magic Kingdom first opened, one of the biggest complaints to guest relations regarded the lack of Pirates of the Caribbean. See, when Disney was building the park, the company believed that Florida residents would find pirates “boring” since their lore was already ubiquitous in the area, so the attraction was left out of the park (essentially to be replaced by the Western River Expedition). However, Disney didn’t count on how many guests who grew up watching “Uncle Walt” hype the Pirates of the Caribbean on television would want to see the ride. In response to these complaints, and much to the chagrin of Marc Davis, Disney quickly greenlit a cut-down Pirates for Disney World, allegedly using the budget set aside for Thunder Mesa. 

Despite the building of Pirates of the Caribbean, Marc Davis and his then-protege Tony Baxter continued pushing for Thunder Mesa and the Western River Expedition to be added to the Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland. However, thanks to economic instability, the oil crisis, and Disney’s desire to add more thrill rides, it never came to be.

Instead, Tony Baxter took his plans for a mine train coaster that was originally planned as an ancillary attraction to the Western River and fleshed them out into Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The coaster was built on a portion of the land that was set aside for Thunder Mesa — which allegedly led to a long-standing grudge from Davis towards Baxter — and opened in 1980 as a massive addition to Frontierland. 

The land remained relatively unchanged for the next decade until Disney began construction on Splash Mountain. A sister attraction (but not a direct clone) of Disneyland’s log flume of the same name, Magic Kingdom’s Splash Mountain was built next to Big Thunder Mountain, also on land originally planned for Thunder Mesa. (The fact that BOTH Big Thunder and Splash Mountain could fit on the expansion pad highlights just how large Thunder Mesa was supposed to be). The attraction — which was controversially (even then) themed to Song of the South — opened in 1992 and became a massive hit and definitive part of Frontierland. 

Splash Mountain wasn’t supposed to be the only major attraction added to the Frontierland area during the 1990s. Late in the decade, a massive new attraction called Fire Mountain was scheduled to be built between Adventureland and Frontierland, which would have towered over both lands. Based on Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the attraction was rumored to be a suspended roller coaster. However, the financial failure of the film combined with the post-9/11 tourism downturn led to the cancelation of the attraction.

Frontierland essentially sat unchanged for the first two decades of the 21st century. That changed in the early 2020s when Disney announced that Splash Mountain would be retimed and refurbished into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, based on the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. Despite the opposition of a vocal minority of fans, Splash Mountain closed in 2023 and reopened as Bayou Adventure in the summer of 2024. However, the changes were only just beginning. 

In the spring of 2024, Disney announced that the Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade — an opening day shooting gallery attraction — would be closed to make way for a Disney Vacation Club member lounge.

That set the stage for the 2024 D3 Ultimate Fan Event, where it was announced that a massive sub-land dedicated to the Pixar film Cars would be added to Frontierland, replacing Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America. 

Despite the fact that cars didn’t exist during the Old West period Frontierland depicts, Disney claims that the property fits into the land because the property fits “into the themes of exploration and adventure that inspire so many of us to keep propelling forward.” As always, we’re reserving judgment until the land is constructed. 

The Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland has a long, and twisted history of construction, unbuilt attractions, and changes, all of which have made change one of the few constants in the land’s history. Stay tuned to AllEars for further deep dives into Walt Disney World’s history. 

Why We’re Worried About the Future of Magic Kingdom

What’s your favorite era of the Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland? Let us know in the comments below. 

Post a Comment