Lost Disney Rides That Should Still Be Open

Part 2 of lost Disney attractions that should still be around today (or had the chance to open): Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Great Movie Ride, PeopleMover, and Western River Expedition.

🐸 MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE 🐸

While Disneyland got to keep theirs and even got a few upgrades to boot, Magic Kingdom's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride took its last motor car adventure in 1998.

Unlike Disneyland's version, the Magic Kingdom one had two tracks with varying scenes for a different ride experience depending on which side you were on.

There were several instances where the ride vehicles from the two tracks looked like they were on a collision course with one another before veering away.

The adventure was set to the story of Thaddeus Toad Esquire from The Wind In The Willows, a story about a manic toad who grew obsessed with a motor car and embarked on a wild ride.

The Magic Kingdom attraction was a cult classic and its closure sparked a nationwide upheaval amongst Disney fans. Despite the widespread attention and in park protests (called "toad-ins"), the beloved dark ride closed after 27 years to make way for Winnie The Pooh.

It would be cool to see the return of a Magic Kingdom classic to Fantasyland! But for now, you can still catch up with Mr. Toad on the West Coast.

🎬 GREAT MOVIE RIDE 🎬

"Ready when you are, CB!"

The Great Movie Ride was originally an idea for a pavilion in Epcot's Future World to go between The Land and Imagination pavilion.

Imagineers felt that the idea would be better suited in another park, and in fact, to create another park based on the idea.

So in turn, we ended up with The Great Movie Ride, the centerpiece attraction of and reason why we have Hollywood Studios.

It was a theatrical trip through various movie scenes from Alien to the Wizard Of Oz. Live actors and cast members guides took part in the ride experience.

And similar to Mr. Toad's, Great Movie Ride's track branched off in two so riders would experience different scenes each ride.

Despite being the backbone attraction of the park, the Great Movie Ride took its last cinematic adventure in 2017 to make way for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.

With Hollywood Studios being as small as it is, it's a shame the Runaway Railway couldn't have been built somewhere else in the park to grow the park and its attraction lineup as opposed to replacing one of the few they have.

Great Movie Ride would've been really neat to see still around today with updated scenes from newer movies rather than its demise.

But it now lives on in the movies!

🚋 DISNEYLAND PEOPLEMOVER 🚋

A very sore subject for West Coast Disney fans, the original PeopleMover that opened in 1967 moved its last person in 1995.

It sported an aerial view of Tomorrowland on a leisurely ride aboard colorful retro cars.

Its counterpart attraction in Florida still operates today as the beloved highway in the sky.

The Disneyland PeopleMover was thought by Imagineers to no longer be futuristic enough and with the park seeking more thrill rides, the PeopleMover was replaced by the Rocket Rods.

The Rocket Rods proved too thrilling for the PeopleMover's structure and closed after only 2 years of operation in 2000. The damage done to the structure made it impossible for the PeopleMover to make a comeback.

It's always still a possibility in the future that the PeopleMover might return to Disneyland's Tomorrowland, but it'll be a *costly* one with demolishing the old paths and rebuilding the new.

So for now, its track paths remain abandoned in Tomorrowland, although hopefully the classic attraction returns in the future!

🏜 WESTERN RIVER EXPEDITION 🏜

Western River Expedition would've been an old west themed old mill (like IASW & POTC) ride part of the Thunder Mesa attraction complex.

The Thunder Mesa would've spanned the land Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain reside. It would've had walking trails, a pack mule attraction, restaurant, runaway train ride, and the centerpiece attraction Western River Expedition.

The lead character of Western River would've been Hoot Gibson, an owl who would narrate the boat ride through the wild west.

It would've featured scenes of the deserts, the prairies, and the town Dry Gulch where sights of a saloon show and bank robbery would've been found.

Western River's construction fell through when Magic Kingdom opened to outcry over the absence of Pirates Of The Caribbean. So the budget for Western River Expedition was spent on adding Pirates to the park and the concept was never revisited.

Some parts of the Thunder Mesa were built (not the giant mountain complex) however. The runaway mine train opened as Big Thunder Mountain. Splash Mountain's ride system and mountain design do derive from Western River Expedition although it held a different theme.

Scenes intended for Western River were embedded into other attractions like Splash Mountain, Living With The Land, World Of Motion, and Phantom Manor.

Despite the many references of the old mill and attraction complex throughout Disney Parks today, it would be neat to still see Western River Expedition finally open as it was originally intended.

It's probably one of the most fleshed out attraction concepts and only missed its chance due to its budget getting spent on another attraction.

It's even become something of legend to Disney Imagineers.

💖 Which of these attractions would you be most interested in seeing open today? 💖

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