Please keep in mind that none of my postings take feasibility, logistics or budgets in to consideration. Disney is a place of fantasy, as is this place on the Internet. If anyone has ideas for other rides or attractions around the parks that are not being covered in a particular topic, please feel free to e-mail me. (see my profile) I will take the best ones and post them in your name.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Headin' West

Back in the day, Imagineer Marc Davis produced concept art for an attraction by the name of Western River Expedition. Marc Davis’ concept for this ride was a cartoonish river adventure ride through the old west. The ride had visual gags a plenty and various Indian stereotypes. The degrading images of drunken Indians with big red noses and tomahawks would eventually be this rides undoing.

Frontierland could use a new E-ticket attraction. So, I propose a more true to life educational, but exciting dark ride which takes you on a journey from the east coast all the way to the Rocky Mountains. The ride cars would be an uncovered wagon which could hold six people per car. This attraction would make use of AA’s and elaborate sets.

The first scene would take place in a small eastern town. There will be a character that comes running in to town square, just back from the west coast. He would tell tall tales of gold, never ending farmland and wild game that could feed everyone in town for a lifetime. He continues, expanding on the notion of the Wild West with gun slingers, gambling establishments and moonshine.

The next scene would start the theme song for the attraction and we would begin headin’ west. The first stop would be the great plains of the Midwest. This part of the ride would have to make utilization of a rotating stage, like the original JII. Just think of how the first scene with Dreamfinder worked and you will be able to imagine what I am thinking. This scene would show a very stormy day. Before you know it you would spot a tornado bearing down on our wagon.
The tornado would start destroying all of the props on the scene. You would feel high winds and witness pieces of wood, trees and perhaps cattle whipping past your head. This part of the ride takes a page from Twister at Universal Studios. As you narrowly escape certain catastrophe you push ahead to the next scene.

Off in the distance you see the Rocky Mountains. Before reaching your destination you happen upon an Indian village. Instead of the classic guns and arrows type of warfare or any unflattering stereotypes, the scene could show the Indians and the travelers sharing ideas, trading goods and co-existing with one another.

Finally you arrive in the Wild West. The scene would take you through a typical western town of the era complete with a gun fight, outlaws, cops, and suggestive brothels.








Once again queue the theme song as we head up in to the mountains where we would see people mining for gold. There could be a couple of guys fighting over which part of the land they claimed as their own. Women and children could be sifting through a riverbed and wiping sweat from their brow. The wagon would then take you to the unload area and drop you off in the all important Headin’ West gift shop.

6 comments:

bluesky said...

Thanks a lot! I appreceiate the feedback. Your renders of Western River Expidetion look great! Keep up the good work. BTW, this wasn't meant to be seen at TA yet. :)

Unknown said...

A great idea to start, but if we're going to be honest about Native Americans, you're probably better off doing a more Lewis & Clark "Pocahontas" type ride. Go earlier in the discover of the western continent. By the time the gold rush was happening, Native Americans were being driven away and killed in numbers. If you want the settlers & Natives to get along, you need to back up quite a few years. Plus then it can sync with the Pocahontas movie.

bluesky said...

itzo, you are right. Maybe we could happen upon some Indians in hiding. Give some back story of the plight of the Indians of that period of time. Then be sympathatic to their cause and give them some direction as to where we last saw the "bad guys" that were looking for them. I appreciate your input here, I am using this particular attraction in an Imagineering contest and am first posting it here to get some feedback just like this to help me tweak the finished product. Thanks for reading.

WOKcreative said...

I can just picture the beginning - an old miner yelling "Californee, here I comes!" After the tornado, we could get caught in the middle of a stampede of wild horses or buffalo.
Without making either side look good or bad, we could come out of a narrow break in the canyon (new room) and right between a fight between the Indians behind rocks on one side, and the Cavalry in a fort on the other side (like the battle scene in Pirates) - flying arrow and bullet effects... Getting along is nice, but a good story comes from good conflict. It could be done without getting political - both fighting for the land, animals... which could be handled in the scripting of the dialogue going on.
Up ahead (and into another room) there would be more getting into the middle of the fighting, between two gunslingers, at first, until the whole town breaks into fighting - chairs and people flying through windows (no limits to budget or AA's on this site - I love it!), kids shooting arrows, horses duking it out (okay, some limits, for reality). (((Just what are they suggesting in those brothels?)))
Riding out of town, there is a brook, where the miners are. As soon as someone yells out "Eureka" more shots ring out (the way it really happened, too), and we are in the middle of another fire fight. There could even be a brief ride down the rushing river at the end.
Up ahead, there is the glow of gold. It looks like the mother load. As we get near the end of the journey, we see that it is the sunset on the water of --- the West. We made it, alive.
The store would look great in the old west town theme. There could even be a whole street section with a few kinds of stores and places to eat.
(The ride itself could fit in at Disneyland in the Thunder Mountain Ranch area where the Hunchback stage mostly sits empty. The train going right past it already would add built in authenticity to the town. Part of the ride could go over the abandoned area of the pond and tunnel that goes through to TSI, where the old train used to run.)

Thanks again for this site. Sorry it's been a while since I've visited. (What's the Imagineering contest all about?)

bluesky said...

2ndrodeo, Thank you for reading and for your input. I love the ideas you have added. The Imagineering contest is a long story, but it is no longer applicable. You are right, a battle is more compelling than getting along. However, It's not like it was ever a fair fight, so it would be historically inaccurate, which is ok I guess. I think it would be hard to do without someone getting offended. In saying all of that, setting it up like the Pirates battle is a great idea.

WOKcreative said...

Instead of the Cavalry and Indians, that scene could be between the Sheriff and his posse against the outlaws/bandits. It would be different than the fighting going on in town between more "regular" folks and trouble makers. These would be the real baddies.