Unbuilt Disney Attractions

Over at Top10Disney.com there's a great list of 10 unbuilt Disney attractions. Her3's one of the 10 but you can read the entire list at here.

WestCOT

Planned as an Epcot style park for the west coast, WestCOT was to be built on the area that was the Disneyland parking lot and is now Disney’s California Adventure. With guests visiting Walt Disney World in Orlando for several days – or even a week, Michael Eisner wanted to keep guests at Disneyland for more than one day. The answer was to build a second park and he challenged the Imagineers to “wow” him. The result was a three billion dollar park, WestCOT. However, following the dismal financial performance of the opening of EuroDisney (now Disneyland Paris), Michael Eisner was weary of investing such a large sum of money. Instead he had plans drawn up for a less-expensive option for a second park, and Disney’s California Adventure was born.

Remember when?

Remember when your journey into Epcot's Universe of Energy used to begin with this song?

Parades from the Past - Walt Disney World's 15th Anniversary Parade

1986 marked the 15th anniversary of Walt Disney World. To celebrate, a new parade in the Magic Kingdom was introduced. The parade featured roller skaters, some funky break dancing inspired moves... all very 1980's! There were even some great lyrics suck as "You're looking good, you're looking fine, you're looking just like Frankenstein."

Overall, this parade was a fun, classic 1980’s Walt Disney World parade… fun with great music.

Parades from the Past - Party Gras Parade

The year was 1990 and Disneyland was celebrating 35 years of magic. The 35th anniversary of Disneyland was marked with a Party Gras parade. The Latin music and larger than life floats made this an occasion to remember. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see this parade in person (my first trip to Disneyland wasn't until 15 years later for the 50th anniversary).

Thanks to YouTube, this great parade lives on.

Rememer When?

During Walt Disney World's 15th anniversary in 1996 every guest would get a ticket upon entering the either the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT Center from the Dream Machine for a chance to win a car (one given away per day) or some other prize?

Walt Disney World's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Gone, but not forgotten, Mr. Toad's wild ride lives on thanks to YouTube. Although the last ride to "nowhere inparticular" took place on September 7, 1998 (at WDW at least; the ride still lives on at Disneyland), I still remember it like it was yesterday.

EPCOT Center - 25 Years Later - EPCOT '94

Back in 1994, EPCOT Center, as it was then known, was renamed EPCOT '94 and then EPCOT '95 the following year. The idea was to give the park a World's Fair type name to make it seem more relevant or new (at least the marketing folks at Disney thought they needed to give EPCOT Center an image boost; however, in my opinion Epcot was and still is relevant and new). However, it soon became clear the renaming the park each year was going to be too difficult. Changing the signs, brochures, merchandise, etc. was all to much, so in 1996 the park became just Epcot.

Here's a clip from a new show at Epcot '94, Epcot94 Presents Splashtacular