History WhatCouldHaveBeen / DisneyThemeParks

* With ''WesternAnimation/Encanto'' due in theatres of November 2021, rumors are already flying that if the film is a smash at the box office, it could be used to justify a future Colombia pavilion, just as it was hoped that ''Gigantic'' would for Spain (see above).

[-[[caption-width-right:350:''"It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed."''[[note]]Concept art of Creator/WaltDisney's original vision of EPCOT.[[/note]]]]-]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:''"It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed."''[[note]]Concept art of Creator/WaltDisney's original vision of EPCOT[[/note]]]]-]

** Epcot was originally planned as a fully-functioning city rather than a theme park, and was a major part of Walt Disney's personal plans for "The Florida Project." (in fact, Epcot was ''the'' primary focus of Walt's florida project, with Magic Kingdom only being developed because [[ContractualObligationProject it was required for him to build Epcot]]) After Walt died, the idea fell by the wayside for over a decade. When the plans were revisited, the prospect of building Epcot as a functional city exactly as Walt envisioned it was simply too impossible, so it was re-tooled into a theme park. The would-be model is now a display viewed from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority [=PeopleMover=] while transiting through the show building that formerly housed Stitch's Great Escape. More details about the original plan for Epcot and what it would have been like is explored more in-depth in the famous [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag Epcot video]] by Walt Disney, as well as WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'s video [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=tKYEXjMlKKQ covering it]] and its demise.

[[caption-width-right:350:''This'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen could have been]] Walt Disney World.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' was meant to be its own area at first that also would've included an unrelated Scandinavian area. It was scrapped in favor of adding more Disney properties (such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} and ''WesternAnimation/{{Peter Pan}}'') to the concept, forming the upcoming "Fantasy Springs" area.

* With ''Encanto'' due in theatres of November 2021, rumors are already flying that if the film is a smash at the box office, it could be used to justify a future Colombia pavilion, just as it was hoped that ''Gigantic'' would for Spain (see above).
* A fourth update of Spaceship Earth (retooled to focus on storytelling through the ages) and a ''Film/MaryPoppins''-themed extension to the United Kingdom pavilion were announced as part of the massive overhaul of Epcot in the runup to the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World and from there the 40th anniversary of Epcot itself, but the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic and the gigantic delays to the project led to both being indefinitely delayed.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' was meant to be its own area at first that also would've included an unrelated Scandinavian area. It was scrapped in favor of adding more Disney properties to the concept, forming the upcoming "Fantasy Springs" area.

* The first iteration of what would become Disneyland was extremely different compared to the park that opened. It originally started out as a much smaller theme park called "Mickey Mouse Park" (later called "Disneylandia") that would have been located right across the street from the Walt Disney Company headquarters in Burbank California. However, this plan was cancelled after Burbank's city council rejected the plans out of a desire to not have a carnival in the city, despite Walt's attempts to persuade them otherwise. Many ideas planned for the park however, would later be realized for Disneyland.

*** Elements of the boat rides for Germany and Italy actually did see the light of day. One was the massive show building in Germany being built and still standing, the other being the boats for the Italy ride, which are now static props in the World Showcase Lagoon in front of Italy.
** Japan was also originally going to have a ride. Possibilities included a Mt. Fuji roller coaster (supposedly scrapped because of Fuji Film, and Creator/EastmanKodak sponsoring other rides...seriously), and a Circlevision (similar to what Canada and China has) bullet train simulator, one version of which called for the train to be attacked by Franchise/{{Godzilla}}! The Godzilla part may have fallen through because Toho wasn't making ''Godzilla'' films after the mediocore box-office returns for ''Film/TerrorOfMechagodzilla'', and Godzilla wasn't relevant at the time, and wouldn't be until two years after Epcot.

*** A Spain pavilion was given a second chance when Disney announced ''Gigantic'' in 2015, an adaptation of JackAndTheBeanStalk set in Spain during the Age of Exploration (a bootleg copy of it was even being sold by Duke Weaselton in ''{{Film/Zootopia}}'' as "Giraffic"). Originally scheduled for a 2018 release, it was the perfect excuse to build a new pavilion to hype the movie. However, in spring of 2017 the film's release was pushed back two years. Six months later, it was announced that the film had been [[DevelopmentalHell shelved indefinitely]], killing any chance of a new Spain pavilion.

* A fourth update of Spaceship Earth (retooled to focus on storytelling through the ages) and a ''Film/MaryPoppins''-themed extension to the United Kingdom pavilion were announced as part of the massive overhaul of Epcot in the runup to the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World and from there the 40th anniversary of Epcot itself, but the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic and the gigantic delays to the project led to both being indefinitely delayed (and likely dead in the case of the latter given the relatively muted response to ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'').

* Also in the early '90s, Disney tried to get Creator/{{Nintendo}} to license their characters for their theme parks. This was actually part of a huge plan then-Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg had formulated for Nintendo had the ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' LiveActionAdaptation been successful. They would have begun efforts to integrate Nintendo into their business in every possible medium they had. The film, however, ended up becoming a TroubledProduction, and it was ultimately released to disastrous reviews and box office returns, though it has since become a CultClassic. Disney soon abandoned these plans once Nintendo started becoming more restrictive toward their property after the film's failure, along with Katzenberg's departure from Disney a year after the film's release to start Creator/DreamWorks. Two decades later, in 2015, Disney's [[NeverLiveItDown worst fears]] [[LaserGuidedKarma were realized]] when Nintendo snubbed them for Universal.

* Ever wonder why there's a dragon in the logo for Animal Kingdom? That's because the original plans for Animal Kingdom had called for a land called "Beastly Kingdom" (or perhaps "Kingdomme") based around mythical animals, which would have included a dragon-themed roller coaster where talking bats recruit you to steal from the dragon, a unicorn-themed hedge maze, a ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' boat ride, and a Loch Ness Monster resturant. Budget cuts forced that to the back burner. Camp Minnie-Mickey was constructed in its place and nineteen years later was replaced by Pandora: The World of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', finally realizing the "land of fantasy creatures" idea.
** Rumor has it that the designers of Beastly Kingdom jumped ship to Universal and took some of their ideas with them. Specifically, Dueling Dragons (later the Franchise/HarryPotter themed ''Dragon Challenge'') would have been a major thrill ride for Animal Kingdom as "Dragon's Keep".

* Disney initially sought out Music/TheRollingStones to be the band featured in Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, but while the band was enthusiastic about the idea, their asking price was too high for Disney's liking. The same issue also ruled out Disney's next choice, Music/{{KISS}}, while Music/{{U2}} wasn't interested at all.

** The basic idea of Disney forming their own city was not forgotten however, and the idea was later realized when Disney created the town of Celebration, Florida. Elements of the original E.P.C.O.T. plan, such as a shopping and entertainment district and residential areas would also be realized in the form of Buena Vista Shopping Village (now Disney Springs), which opened in 1975, and the Golden Oak residential community, which opened in 2010.

* Tony Baxter, former Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering, joined the company after sharing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU6X1eLoVWI this concept]] for a ''Film/MaryPoppins''-themed ride. Had it actually become built, guests would mount merry-go-round horses that would leap off their turntables, and prance through the same chalk drawings where Mary Poppins, Bert, and the Banks children shared a "Jolly Holiday". After the rain dissolves the drawings, the horses would take their riders across the rooftops of London. The idea of a Mary Poppins ride came up again as part of the overhaul of Epcot (which began in 2019), but once again, seems to have been scrapped because of the budget crunch resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

** Epcot was originally planned as a fully-functioning city rather than a theme park, and was a major part of Walt Disney's personal plans for "The Florida Project." After Walt died, the idea fell by the wayside for over a decade. When the plans were revisited, the prospect of building Epcot as a functional city exactly as Walt envisioned it was simply too impossible, so it was re-tooled into a theme park. The would-be model is now a display viewed from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority [=PeopleMover=] while transiting through the show building that formerly housed Stitch's Great Escape. More details about the original plan for Epcot and what it would have been like is explored more in-depth in the famous [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag Epcot video]] by Walt Disney, as well as WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'s video [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=tKYEXjMlKKQ covering it]] and its demise.

* The original concept of ''Superstar Limo'' was a thrill ride in which the riders were cast as movie stars being chauffeured to a movie premiere at Graumann's Chinese Theater. On the way they'd have a run-in with hordes of obnoxious paparazzi, which the limo driver would gun it to avoid, taking them on a high-speed chase through Hollywood and past setpieces featuring well-known celebrities such as Music/ElvisPresley. In a ''really bad'' case of FunnyAneurysmMoment, Princess Diana was killed in a similar situation, resulting in the Imagineers heavily retooling the ride into the slow, stereotypical, cartoon-ish dark ride that ended up opening instead. Given how the ride ended up being one of the most-reviled attractions in Disney history, one can only imagine how different things would be if the "paparazzi chase" concept had been utilized.

** Prior to WestCOT's announcement, the original plan for a second California park was going to be DisneySea ([[IncrediblyLamePun get it?]]), and was selected to be built in Long Beach. Like it's eventual successor at the Tokyo Disney Resort, all of it's lands and attractions would've been based on the various myths & legends of countries with a history of seafaring. It was also going to be part of a much larger resort called Port Disney, which would've dominated much of the city's waterfront. A citizen's revolt prompted Eisner to relocate next door to Anaheim.
*** And in between those two ideas, the idea for a second gate was possibly going to be sister park for the new Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. Among other things, it would've included a clone of The Great Movie Ride, an entire land dedicated to the Toon Town from ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' (this would gradually be whittled down to the much smaller Mickey's Toon Town in Disneyland), and attractions to several of their upcoming live action adaptations, beginning with a ''Film/DickTracy'' dark ride/stunt show (this also was reduced to a minor show in the Florida park after the film under-performed at the box office).

* Early concepts for Disneyland called for Adventureland to be where Space Mountain is now (directly east of Main Street - it was built directly west instead). Some prototype maps even show parts of it existing on ''both'' sides of Main Street. (It was moved on the recommendation head Disneyland landscape artist, Bill Evens, to take advantage of the existing Eucalyptus trees on the other side of the park.)

** One scene in the original Journey Into Imagination ride's Theater Realm was supposed to involve Figment chasing a ballerina across the stage. There was no time to implement it though and instead a scene of Dreamfinder conducting a laser light show in the manner of an orchestra conductor was included instead.

* There were originally plans to have an entire themed land based on Franchise/TheMuppets called Muppet Studios, which besides ''Muppet-Vision 3D'' would had also included a parody of the Great Movie Ride (The Great Muppet Movie Ride), an interactive restaurant called The Great Gonzo's Pizza Pandemonium Parlor (which would had animatronics of the rats serving food to customers) and a show known as ''Swedish Chef's Cooking School''. Unfortunately, the death of Creator/JimHenson in 1990 [[AuthorExistenceFailure put a screeching halt to the entire project]], leading it to get scrapped entirely. While the idea of a Muppet-themed area did get realized with the area around ''Muppet-Vision 3D'' becoming Muppet Courtyard (albeit only briefly as the land was rethemed to Grand Avenue only a year after), the Muppets being far less popular by then meant it was massively scaled back in comparison to the plans, with only a modest version of the pizza restaurant realized as [=PizzeRizzo=].

** Scrapped attractions for World Showcase included boat-based rides for Germany and Italy. ''Meet the World'', an Audio-Animatronic show retelling the history of Japan, made it as far as its show building going up -- but since it glossed over the country's actions in World War II, Disney executives feared it would offend Americans (especially veterans). The show did successfully make it into the original Tokyo Disneyland lineup.

** The basic idea of Disney forming their own city was not forgotten however, and the idea was later realized when Disney created the town of Celebration, Florida. Elements of the original E.P.C.O.T plan, such as a shopping and entertainment district and residential areas would also be realized in the form of Buena Vista Shopping Village (now Disney Springs), which opened in 1975, and the Golden Osk residential community, which opened in 2010.

** Epcot was originally planned as a fully-functioning city rather than a theme park, and was a major part of Walt Disney's personal plans for "The Florida Project." After Walt died, the idea fell by the wayside for over a decade. When the plans were revisited, the prospect of building Epcot as a functional city exactly as Walt envisioned it was simply too impossible, so it was re-tooled into a theme park. The would-be model is now a display viewed from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority [=PeopleMover=] while transiting through the show building that formerly housed Stitch's Great Escape. More details about the original plan for Epcot and what it would have been like is explored more in-depth in the famous [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag Epcot video]] by Walt Disney, as well as WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'s video [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=tKYEXjMlKKQ covering it]].
** The basic idea of Disney forming their own city was not forgotten however, and the idea was later realized when Disney created the town of Celebration, Florida.

** ''Spaceship Earth'' would become a thrill ride called ''Time Racers''' sponsored by Microsoft, though its post-show Global Neighborhood would still be sponsored by AT&T for some reason. The attraction would be a look at how man is literally racing through time.

* After the massive success of ''{{Film/Coco}}'', it was claimed that the Gran Fiesta Tour would get another retooling to reflect Dia de Los Muertos, but so far all there's been is Miguel occasionally joining in with the pavilion's mariachi band to tell the story of Coco. However, ''Coco'' characters and songs have been worked into Epcot's 2021 fireworks show ''[=HarmonioUS=]'' and the updated version of ''Ride/MickeysPhilharmagic''.

* After the massive success of ''{{Film/Coco}}'', it was claimed that the Gran Fiesta Tour would get another retooling to reflect Dia de Los Muertos, but so far all there's been is Miguel occasionally joining in with the pavilion's mariachi band to tell the story of Coco.

* There were initial planes for a polar-set area called "Glacier Bay". Why it never came to be is unknown.

* During the early development stages of what would become Disneyland Paris, several countries in Europe were considered early on, with the most popular choices besides France being Britain, Italy and Spain. The former two were dropped due to a lack of flat space and location, although the latter did become a frontrunner alongside France, France was ultimately chosen due to its more suitable climate and closer proximity to the rest of Europe.

** After the success of ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', there was a proposal to retheme ''Journey into Imagination'' into a ride based off of the movie. The plan was discarded after Pete Docter, the film's director, balked at the idea, as he didn't want an ''Inside Out'' ride to come at the expense of Figment. A new 3D movie themed to the film was rumored to have been floated as a replacement for the ''Ride/CaptainEO'' revival, but instead the Magic Eye Theater currently hosts the Disney-Pixar Short Film Festival.