There are some stories Disney would prefer guests just forget…
If you’re a Disney history fan, there is a good chance you may have been watching The Imagineering Story on Disney+– and if you haven’t, you need to. The six part documentary is a must-see for Disney enthusiasts, presenting an in depth look into the minds behind the parks, from Walt Disney to Disney Imagineers. The show offers a refreshingly honest take into the company’s history, highlighting both Disney triumphs across the globe while not shying away from unflattering stories like the rocky openings of EuroDisney and Disney’s California Adventure. We were genuinely surprised how many bumps-on-the-road-to-magic the documentary explored without trying to give them a polished shine—even when talking about failed attractions like Superstar Limo or the limitations of former Disney overseers.
Despite this, there’s only so much content that can fit into six episodes, and there were understandably a few stories that the filmmakers—and Disney—chose to leave out.
We love Disney parks here at Theme Park Tourist, but we also respect that the journey to the parks of today included some hiccups—including a few that can be called disasters. Indeed, we have an entire library of Disaster Files, Lost Legends, and Possibilityland features where you can read the history-behind-the-history in The Imagineering Story. While many of these tales end with happily ever afters, we can’t help but feel Disney would probably prefer guests forget about these five specific mistakes which didn’t make the cut for series.
1. The failure of Disney MGM as a studio park
The Imagineering Story mentions that Disney’s MGM opened with the intention of being a working studio park that ultimately changed focus—however the park’s actual history is a little more complicated than they let on.
You can read more about the park’s history in our exploration of 10 Misconceptions People Get Totally Wrong About Disney’s Hollywood Studios and our Disaster Files piece on the Backlot Studio Tour, but Disney MGM Studios started off a bit peculiar from the start. Largely, it’s speculated that the park was Michael Eisner’s response to the ever-growing popularity of Universal Studios Hollywood—a park that was getting ready to open an Orlando counterpart. Eisner’s roots were in the movie world, and his influence launched Disney into its Renaissance animation period. Films played a key part in saving Disney’s reputation, and for Eisner, the logical conclusion was for Walt Disney World’s third gate to be dedicated to the world of movies.
Disney’s ambitious plans weren’t just for a park dedicated to cinematic history but rather to out-do Universal at their own game and make a park where guests could watch films be produced in real time at a working studio—including Disney’s own take on a Backlot Studio Tour. To amp up the park’s name and prestige, Disney bought the licensing rights to use the MGM name and access to their film library even though MGM had nothing to do with the actual park.
Disney did manage to get some film production going in the park. Portions of Passenger 57, Honey I Blew Up the Kids, Newsies, Instinct, From The Earth to the Moon, and The New Mickey Mouse Club were all filmed in their studios. The problem was that Disney’s backlots were all designed for guests to be able to view productions in progress through huge glass windows, creating liability and privacy issues for film crews and cast—just the sort of things most film companies prefer to avoid. Despite a few neat special effects segments, Disney’s attempt at a Backlot Tour fell flat—the ride was long, convoluted, and guests rarely saw any production taking place. Universal Studios didn’t even seem phased—they simply cut up their own backlot tour and amped each of the segments into acclaimed-attractions of their own like Jaws and KONGfrontation.
In the long term, the “studio” part of Disney MGM Studios didn’t work out. People just weren’t interested in filming at a theme park under the fishbowl-gaze of tourists, and matters weren’t helped by legal problems with MGM, who didn’t like Disney attaching the MGM name to productions filmed in the park. The park was ultimately rebranded as Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and both the working studio and backlot tours were dropped.
In an interesting counterpoint, this isn’t to say that Disney MGM Studios utterly failed as a working studio. The Magic of Disney Animation attraction successfully housed a satellite production house for animators working on films like Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and other Renaissance classics. Some of Disney’s later animated films like Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear were almost entirely animated within the view of guests. While the Magic of Disney Animation eventually closed with Disney’s shift to Pixar films (the building lives on as Star Wars Launch Bay), in this one area, Disney did actually succeed in bringing the magic of moviemaking to guests.
2. The Tomorrowland that wasn’t meant to be
The Imagineering Story did a great job highlighting how EuroDisney—eventually rebranded as Disneyland Paris—conquered a quintessential problem with Tomorrowland. Both Tomorrowland and Epcot struggled with the same challenge over the years—what do you do when the future becomes today? The concrete and sleek rockets that marked the future in Walt’s day came across as distinctly retro by the time EuroDisney was developed. To solve this issue, Imagineers retooled the Tomorrowland concept into DiscoveryLand—a timeless tribute to futurists of the past like Jules Verne, hued with bronze and copper architecture echoing the steampunk genre. Despite the park’s problems, Discoveryland was a gorgeous success, and Disney started weighing the possibilities to use the concept to revamp the US Tomorrowlands.
The plan was to overhaul both Tomorrowlands into the ultra-futuristic Tomorrowland 2055—an immersive science fiction-centered upgrade calling to mind images from the minds of Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury with flying saucers, otherworldly transports, and dazzling lights. The concept for The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter came from this design phase. Despite some potential hiccups, the plans looked great on paper.
Then EuroDisney failed.
We get to see some of this drama play out in The Imagineering Story, but the financial disaster in Paris led Eisner to put a hard halt on all major projects the company was working on. The death of Frank Wells likely had a stifling effect on this season as well. Magic Kingdom’s New Tomorrowland redevelopment was already underway and survived the axe with something-not-entirely-unlike Tomorrowland 2055, albeit a muted version.
Disneyland’s Tomorrowland didn’t make the cut in time, but it still needed something. The best the company was able to come up with was to give the land a vague paint job based on Disneyland Paris. The exterior of Space Mountain was given an oxidized copper overhaul, but the colors just didn’t match the architecture—and to make matters worse, the inside remained unchanged. Other halfway measures only exacerbated the issue—Tomorrowland 1998 was no Discoveryland.
On top of the bad paint job, the overhaul saw the park’s Submarine Voyage close and the beloved Tomorrowland PeopleMover transformed into the disastrous Rocket Rods. To save money, Disney attempted to overhaul the PeopleMover track with Test Track style technology to produce a thrill ride—a terrible idea since nothing about the PeopleMover was designed with high speed in mind. The attraction came across as painfully lame with its bizarre stops and starts, a cringeworthy insult atop the already poorly done renovation. The ride broke down constantly due to mechanical issues.
Ultimately, Disney ended up backtracking on nearly all of the changes made to Tomorrowland in 2005, redoing the paint back to a more familiar science fiction scheme and introducing new attractions like Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. While this chapter in Disney’s history is grim, it would have definitely made for some interesting storytelling within the framework of The Imagineering Story.
3. The downfall of DisneyQuest
In the early 90’s, guests visiting Disney parks may have had the pleasure to participate in quiet demonstrations of virtual reality technology. Thanks to VR, experiences like flying a magic carpet became astonishingly real. In 1998, Disney committed full force to this idea with DisneyQuest– a digital theme park and mega arcade for the whole family, utilizing cutting edge technology to give guests an interactive experience like no other. At its opening, DisneyQuest was AMAZING. Across the arcade’s five stories, guests could fight off aliens, use a real laser sword, become a human pinball, and even build a digital roller coaster then ride it on Cyberspace Mountain, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Disney intended to cash in on this golden goose across the country and succeeded in opening a second DisneyQuest location in Chicago. Their long term plans included planting DisneyQuest locations throughout North America, even adding a sister location to Downtown Disney in California.
Unfortunately, technology can prove a fickle mistress, and Disney found this out in spades when DisneyQuest Chicago closed after just two years. The technology that made DisneyQuest stand apart in the 90’s aged poorly with each passing decade. The average teenager could find better graphics on a Playstation 2 than anything DisneyQuest had to offer, and Disney quickly realized that the investment required to keep DisneyQuest cutting edge was far higher than they intended.
So, they literally did nothing with it.
It would be one thing if Disney changed course or found a more attainable way to make DisneyQuest work. Instead, they completely dropped the ball and never added anything to the experience. Rides fell into disrepair, clunky VR and blocky graphics aged like souring milk, and some of the cast members working within the structure slowly gained a haunted, distant expression guests couldn’t help but notice. Disney was content to utilize DisneyQuest as an arcade experience and nostalgic throwback, but their lack of investment quickly gave the place a depressing vibe.
I recall on a visit during the digital park’s final weeks seeing a pinball machine smashed to bits by a guest—what the scenario was that led to the shattered glass, we couldn’t guess, but it painted a grave picture that summed up the death of DisneyQuest: a broken machine that Disney preferred to sweep away rather than repair. DisneyQuest finally closed to make way for the not-much-more-popular NBA Experience—no happy endings here yet.
4. The land that Disney lost
Ever wonder why Disney’s Animal Kingdom includes a dragon on its sign? There’s actually a reason for this, and it involves the story of one of the greatest Disney lands that never was.
We covered this tale in depth in our Possibilityland series, but Beastly Kingdom was meant to fulfill a missing element within Disney’s Animal Kingdom: the overlap between mythology and nature. Like Galaxy’s Edge and Pandora to come years later, the land’s layout defied traditional structure by giving guests a choice to explore a realm of good or evil. The “light” side would house a charming dark ride based on Fantasia, as well as a cutting-edge walkthrough labyrinth where guests would set out on an interactive quest to seek a lost unicorn. This journey would lead guests through a wonderland of mythological creatures and illusory experiences, ending with a penultimate encounter with the unicorn.
The dark side was where things got really interesting. Guests who dared would tread through a brooding forest and derelict town, long burnt and desolated by a terrible dragon. The half-land’s sole attraction would draw guests to a tall tower, atop which loomed a fierce fire breathing dragon hidden in cavernous shadows. Inside the castle, guests would be lured on a quest to try to oust the dragon—accomplished via an indoor roller coaster through the castle halls all while being pursued by the deadly beast. It was a mind-blowing concept that could have been Disney’s best ride ever for that era.
Unfortunately, it never got off the ground.
According to Imagineer, Joe Rodhe, Beastly Kingdom was cancelled well before it was a real project and capital authorization was complete. However, clearly it a was seriously considered idea to some degree since the dragon ended up on the park’s sign and a steaming vent into the dragon’s lair end up on the Discovery River boats. Ultimately, ongoing budgetary constraints forced Eisner to choose which elements of Disney’s Animal Kingdom to open in the park’s phase one. Dinoland USA made the cut while Beastly Kingdom was shelved for a later time. Perhaps he fell into the trap once again of trying to outdo Universal, but it seems fair to say this gamble didn’t play out. Disney’s Dinosaur didn’t take off the way the company had expected, and Dinoland USA to this day feel’s like one of the resort’s weakest lands. Even the gripping Countdown to Extinction attraction lost its teeth in favor of trying to appeal to younger visitors.
The Beastly Kingdom concept was sidelined for good… That is, until Universal Studios figured out how to make it a reality in Universal’s Islands of Adventure by recruiting some of the talent behind the project. If some of the elements within the Dragon’s Tower sound familiar, it’s because you may have seen them before. The concepts for Beastly Kingdom ultimately became the inspiration for The Lost Continent—particularly the Dueling Dragons coaster—as well as its successor, a certain wizardly land…
5. The one that got away
Beastly Kingdom wouldn’t be the last time Disney lost a major idea to their prime competitor. Indeed, most guests may not realize they lost one of the biggest properties in the storytelling world to Universal as well.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter almost became part of Magic Kingdom.
Disney originally was in talks to gain the rights to Harry Potter, which they intended to use for an expansion to Fantasyland with two small attractions—a Buzz Lightyear-like dark ride and a magical creatures petting zoo. J.K. Rowling was extremely specific about what she wanted for Harry Potter land—an immersive experience where guests wouldn’t just wander through a museum of props and warehouses paying tribute to Hogwarts, but where they could actually dive into that world and experience it. The level of creative control she required was above what Disney was looking for, as was the immense financial commitment.
As with The Lost Continent before it, Universal jumped on the chance, and unlike Disney, they agreed to give Rowling a land unlike guests had ever seen before.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter became a skyrocket draw for Universal, eventually ballooning to a three land monster. It was a land with immersion on a level that left Disney looking placid in comparison. In trying to be over-frugal and demand too much creative control, Disney lost out on one of the biggest theme park properties in history.
Fortunately, this disaster worked out famously for Disney fans in the end.
Disney wasn’t about to let another mega-property get away. They purchased Marvel Comics in 2009 (stunting Universal’s future development with Marvel properties in Orlando) then jumped on the rights to James Cameron’s Avatar in 2012. This may have seemed an odd choice, but Imagineers seized the opportunity to make another go at the lost fantastical side of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and came up with the World of Pandora, one of Disney’s most celebrated lands to date. Even more significant, a year later, Disney purchased Star Wars, eventually leading to the building of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge— a land that may have gotten off to a rocky start with the media, but is now drawing record crowds with what’s being hailed as Disney’s best ride to date, Rise of the Resistance.
Disney may have faced a few disasters along their journey, but ultimately, the future looks like one of happily ever afters for the House of Mouse. Though these tales didn’t make the cut, we were ultimately thrilled with The Imagineering Story and can’t wait to see what Iwerks & Co. comes up with next!
