Western River Expedition was a planned Disney theme park attraction designed but never constructed. It was envisioned as a Western-themed boat ride intended for the northwestern section of Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, it did not include a Pirates of the Caribbean ride, a popular attraction at Disneyland. Instead, Disney Imagineers planned to introduce the Western River Expedition as the Magic Kingdom’s signature attraction.
The thought was that Florida residents, familiar with pirate lore, would find cowboys and the American West more exciting. However, guests frequently inquired about the missing pirate attraction, leading to the eventual construction of Pirates of the Caribbean in Florida, which diverted resources from WRE.
Conceived by Disney Imagineer Marc Davis, the Western River Expedition was to depict the Western Expansion of the United States. The attraction was to be housed inside and around Thunder Mesa Mountain in Frontierland.
The ride would have featured a variety of scenes, including peaceful wilderness settings, a fictional town called Dry Gulch, and encounters with Mexican bandits and Native American villagers. The ride would have culminated in a thrilling escape down a waterfall.
The WRE was designed to be one of Disney’s most complex and expensive attractions. Its high projected cost and the economic downturn of the 1970s and changing Disney management led to its cancellation.
The construction of Pirates of the Caribbean and other attractions, like Space Mountain, further diminished the chances of WRE being built.
In 1979, the construction of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on the land originally reserved for WRE effectively ended the possibility of the attraction ever being realized.
