Western River Expedition
| Western River Expedition | |
|---|---|
| Magic Kingdom | |
| Area | Frontierland |
| General statistics | |
| Attraction type | Log-Flume Ride / Runaway Mine Train |
| Designer |
Marc Davis WED Enterprises |
| Music | Buddy Baker |
| Vehicle type | Wooden boats |
| Hosted by | Hoot Gibson |
The Western River Expedition (WRE) is the name of a Disney attraction that was designed but never built. It was to be a western themed boat ride, slated to appear in the northwestern section of Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida United States.
This Disney attraction is not to be confused with a similarly named river rafting outfitter with a plural spelling (Western River Expeditions, WRE). Both the Disney attraction and the rafting company were conceived at roughly the same time (early 1960s) and it is unknown if either knew of the other's existence until recent web searches began producing results for both.
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, it featured many popular Disneyland rides, but not Pirates of the Caribbean. The Western River Expedition was to have been Walt Disney World's answer to this ride. When plans were being made for the Magic Kingdom, Imagineers had no plans to replicate Pirates of the Caribbean for the Magic Kingdom. At the time, it was believed by many Imagineers that Florida residents were too accustomed to pirates, as pirates are part of Florida's local legends and lore. Disney management thought that cowboys and Indians would be more surprising and exciting to Florida residents. However, this led to many inquiries of "Where are the pirates?" and complaints being filed during the early days of the resort's operation.
The attraction began life as a proposal of a historical recreation of the Western Expansion of the United States, that would have been built on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, near the Jefferson National Memorial. Animator-Imagineer Marc Davis designed the attraction and characters in the form of drawings and models over a five-years period. Disney executives such as Richard Irvine and Roy Disney both liked the idea when presented with Davis' concepts. The attraction was to have been located inside, outside and around an architectural feature in Frontierland known as Thunder Mesa Mountain.
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