Having just spent a week away on the water, I started thinking about the love affair between the Disney Imagineers and attractions that best take advantage of man made rivers, lakes, and streams. The numerous waterways at Disney theme parks have always provided a nice respite from the heat and whether they are the routes of simple transportation or used to showcase numerous attractions, they remain some of my favorite attractions.
Our family loves being on the water any way we can. If it's traveling across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom to one of the resorts or leaving a resort to dock at Disney Springs, you can be sure there will be smiles on our faces as we travel. Honestly, waterways are something in rather short supply at Disneyland and especially the newer California Adventure, but they are in joyful abundance at the numerous bodies of H2O and how to travel on them in Walt Disney World.
These attractions make for some stunning pieces of concept art by the Imagineers! Here are just a few pieces with a nautical focus. All are watercraft of various styles, but each piece is in a size you'll certainly want to click on, enlarge, and save.
Up at the top: Above is a look at a long abandoned theme park idea, Disney's America.
The patriotic but controversial theme park in Virginia was derailed by the locals only
to have the land later replaced by strip malls and very commonplace
buildings found everywhere in suburbia. Short-sightedness at best. (Imagine the uproar now!) The
sole redeeming factor of the project's cancellation seems to be the
elegant pieces of concept art. As you can see, this never built park looks to
represent a more gritty and honest look at our history, one with
troubles examined and solutions considered, but it's still a country
very worthy of celebration. Wouldn't it have been great to watch a
fireworks show with a replica Statue of Liberty in the background? What
lost opportunities.
Next- This is an absolutely beautiful piece of concept art celebrating the riverboat at the Magic Kingdom's beautiful but often overlooked Liberty Square. Just look at this detail! The Hall of Presidents
sits in the distance as does Cinderella Castle. Did you notice the trio of
folks on the riverbank just watching the vessel go by? It's these kind
of details that make the Disney concept art of old so appealing, subtle and beautiful. Isn't
this much better than many newer pieces where people are photoshopped
in? So much better.
Not all of Disney's seaworthy vessels are outdoors. Yes, it's Splash Mountain (soon to be Tiana's Bayou Adventure) shown here. In one of the largest set pieces ever built, the amazing adventure down the longest and steepest flume ride ever built culminates with a stunning view of the party going on aboard the Zip A Dee Doo Dah Lady. It will be interesting to see what changes when Tiana and company from The Princess and The Frog move in. Will the vast number of Audio-Animatronics remain? That is something we're all wondering about.
Not far away at either Stateside castle park, is the much beloved Pirates of the Caribbean and its life size vessel, the Wicked Wench, home to all those lovable, lawless, and now politically correct revelers. The ship's been recently comandeered by Barbossa as he searches for Jack Sparrow, but it is still very impressive!
This is just the beginning of your seaworthy adventure. Back on the Rivers of America, there's the canoes, the Tom Sawyer Island Rafts and more. More than just an Honorable mention goes to the opening day attraction, the Jungle Cruise boats.
On the West Coast, you can add the Columbia Sailing Ship, and of course all of the submarines still thankfully found there. Those lovely vessels found only at "Walt's park" are also found on the canals of Storybookland. But we say R.I.P. to the park's Motor Boat Cruise in Fantasyland which used to take guests up close and personal as they could view guests on the Nautilus fleet.
In Florida, sadly, we've lost the Plaza Swan Boats, the Mike Fink Keelboats, and those fantastic, oh so elegantly beautiful Nautilus submarines that used to travel the sparkling waters of the 20K Leagues Under the Sea Lagoon.
In the secondary theme parks at Walt Disney World, there's no water based attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Such a missed opportunity! There's only the Na'vi River Journey or Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom. The long lost Discovery River Boats were short lived and ill-designed. In Epcot, your choices to cruise are only slightly better with only Frozen Ever After, the Gran Fiesta Tour, and Living With the Land. At least there are still the Friendship Launches to get from the communities of Future World to World Showcase.
We can only dream of the unbuilt Rhine River Cruise in Epcot's Germany and a planned but never finished boat ride along the Thames in the U.K. We'll never see the Western River Expedition in the Magic Kingdom... and probably a host of other unbuilt waterborne attractions.
(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)
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