Not every land at Disney Parks becomes an instant and beloved classic… When you think of Disney Parks, you probably think of incredibly themed lands rich with detail and history. From the dense jungles of Adventureland to the sweeping vista of Cars Land, Disney has always set itself apart from competitors not only by their intricate rides, but by the larger immersive environments they’re placed in.
Last year, we took a look at 8 spectacular themed lands that Disney planned, but never built. Those incredible environments never saw the light of day. Unfortunately, the 8 we’ve collected here did (sometimes instead of the never-built ones)! These lands came and went for a number of reasons. For most, they simply didn’t live up to Disney’s best efforts and fell far below standard. Did you get a chance to visit any of these forgotten Disney Parks lands? Do you think they were taken too soon? Or have their replacements more than made up for the loss?
1. Sunshine Plaza
Location: Disney California Adventure
Lifetime: 2001 – 2010
Learn more at Yesterland
When you enter Disneyland, you step into the charming turn-of-the-century Midwest town of Main Street USA – an idealized and romanticized version of the Missouri town Walt grew up in. Just across the way is the entrance to Disney’s California Adventure – a wide concrete plaza flanked by corrugated steel walls (yes, this was in a Disney Park), garish neon signs and cartoonish architecture in squashed perspective. Sunshine Plaza was a budget-conscious and lackluster entryway on its own, but compared with Main Street just a few hundred feet away, it looked positively awful.
And where Disneyland’s entry terminated in the timeless Sleeping Beauty Castle, Sunshine Plaza was built around a giant metallic sculpture of the sun. Nicknamed “The Hubcap” by fans, the giant bronze sun faced north, leaving it up to a half-dozen telescoping mirrors to reflect the real sun onto its shaded face. The effect never worked, and Sunshine Plaza remained as a dark and mediocre entrance to a mediocre park. Sunshine Plaza was symptomatic of the “edgy,” “modern” style of the original California Adventure park, which came across as more irreverent than hip and x-treme.
What’s There Now: Sunshine Plaza closed one piece at a time when Disney California Adventure’s $1.1 billion restructuring came into effect. The transformation was so intense that, for a while, entrance to the park was diverted down an auxiliary path behind Soarin’ Over California, bypassing the main entry path completely.
The vacant concrete area was transformed into Buena Vista Street – a recreation of the Los Angeles Walt first encountered in the 1920s. Now a bustling street just as detailed and timeless as Main Street, the new land is a worthy counterpart to Disneyland’s entry instead of being such a contrast. The Sun Icon disappeared too, replaced by a recreation of Los Angeles’ Carthay Circle Theater, where Walt risked it all by premiering the world’s first full length animated feature film – a testament to Walt’s history, the company’s, and California’s. Brilliant!
2. Holidayland
Location: Disneyland Park
Lifetime: 1957 – 1961
Holidayland is often recalled as Disneyland’s first lost land. No, it wasn’t an area dedicated to Christmas, Easter, and other culturally significant days of celebration. Holidayland was more along the lines of the British understanding of “holiday” – an outing or vacation. The land was accessed through a separate entrance, and contained a striped circus tent with a stage, volleyball court, a baseball field, a children’s playground, a picnic area, and horseshoe pits. You can get an idea of Holidayland’s placement and layout on this large 1962 souvenir map.
Despite its inclusion on the map, Holidayland didn’t last until 1962. It closed forever in 1961, allegedly due to its lack of shade, lighting, and restrooms. Truthfully, Holidayland was probably meant to be temporary, built with a much different lean than the rest of the park and its cinematic realism. The 9-acre spot held 7,000 guests for special events and even sold beer. Milt Albright, Disney Legend and manager of Holidayland, said of its closure, “It wasn’t any one thing that killed Holidayland. It was just the combined effect of a whole lot of things.”
What’s There Now: The map above shows where Holidayland would’ve been in 1962 if it had lasted that long. The map also shows Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, which wouldn’t open until 1967 and 1969 respectively (so the 1962 map was pretty inaccurate!). The space was used for the Haunted Mansion showbuilding and other backstage elements of New Orleans Square, which opened in 1966.
3. Old Tomorrowland
Location: Disneyland
Lifetime: 1967 – 1997
Learn more at Yesterland
Whenever a Disney Park opened, it usually came with a Tomorrowland recreating the future as envisioned by that time. Problem is, wait long enough and “tomorrow” always becomes “today.” Or, at least a very dated vision of “tomorrow.” Both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland had most famously built “Tomorrowlands” representing sleek, white, harmonious, utopian futures, albeit as envisioned in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively. Both of those styles would admittedly look great today since those geometric styles are now old enough to be “retro-cool.” But by the 1990s, they looked entirely dated.
And Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was in bad shape. The famous and beloved Peoplemover designed by Walt had stalled, leaving the overhead tracks motionless. The Carousel Theater – once home to Carousel of Progress – had been empty for years since its animatronic cast from America Sings had been recast in Splash Mountain. Captain EO was growing tired in the 3D theater, and the Submarine Voyage was on the verge of closing. The Circlevision Theatre had also lost a bit of its wow factor by the mid-90s.
Luckily, Disneyland Paris had set a new standard upon its opening in 1992, designing a future-oriented land not based on the science of what really could be, but on fantasy. Magic Kingdom followed with a New Tomorrowland based on science-fiction! Those Tomorrowland designs were timeless. That way, the “present” would never catch up. In 1998, Disneyland opened its own New Tomorrowland, based heavily on Paris’. The design flopped and was instantly disliked. You can read our standalone feature on the dismal Tomorrowland 1998 here.
What’s There Now: Ever since its 1998 redesign, Disney had worked one step at a time to undo that ill-fated Tomorrowland overlay. But the piecemeal effort has left the land disjointed and disconnected, lacking a continuity and identity that the other Tomorrowlands in the world have mastered. Fans still hope that a real, worthwhile floor-to-ceiling rebuild of Tomorrowland is in the works, as the current land contains some of the white geometry of Walt’s time, some of the organic gold from 1998, and some silver, blue, and purple attempted to cover it. It’s a mish-mash of stories and identities that refuse to cohabitate nicely… especially sad since Tomorrowland can have a very strong and impressive identity as evidenced in Orlando and Paris.
4. Camp Minnie-Mickey
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Lifetime: 1998 – 2014
Learn more at Yesterland
During Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s lifetime, it’s hosted gorgeously, thoroughly themed lands recreating a flowing universal garden, a crumbling African village, a stunning Asian market, and a North American excavation camp. Then there was Camp Minnie-Mickey. The land was a stark contrast to the realistic villages of the rest of the park, filled with temporary wooden structures and long meandering paths that didn’t seem to lead anywhere.
The decorations and even structures felt temporary. That’s because they were supposed to be. Camp Minnie-Mickey was supposed to be a very short-lived land holding the place of Beastly Kingdom, the proposed mythical creature land designed for Animal Kingdom. Of course, Beastly Kingdom was never built, so Camp Minnie-Mickey prodded on with its one show and character meet-and-greets for more than 15 years.
What’s There Now: Currently, nothing but dirt and metal. The land was finally, permanently closed in 2014. It’s not Beastly Kingdom that’s being built on its ruins but Pandora – The World of Avatar, the controversial expansion due to open in 2017. In some ways, Camp Minnie-Mickey lives on: it’s single attraction was the runaway hit Festival of the Lion King, which received a much more permanent-looking theater in the park’s Africa land when the Camp went out of business. You can read our in-depth walkthrough of what Beastly Kingdom would’ve included if you want to know more. We also had some fun imagining what else could’ve fit into the land formerly occupied by Camp Minnie-Mickey, which is well worth a read.
5. Hollywood Pictures Backlot
Location: Disney California Adventure
Lifetime: 2001 – 2012
Learn more at Yesterland
Disney’s California Adventure had only four themed lands when it first opened. The first was Sunshine Plaza (which we already discussed). The others were Paradise Pier (an irreverent and cheap recreation of a 1990s seaside pier), Golden State (an all-encompassing representation of “the rest” of California) and the uninspired Hollywood Pictures Backlot.
Inexplicably designed to resemble a Hollywood set recreation… of Hollywood… just a short drive from the real Hollywood… the Backlot area was full of “punny” business signs and window displays, cheetah print awnings, and a gritty, intentionally dirty look of old studio soundstages, 2-D façade buildings, and electrical poles. The land’s only inhabitants were a massive theatre hosting standard fare rotating musicals that played to quarter-full houses and the worst dark ride Disney’s ever built: Superstar Limo.
What’s There Now: When Disney California Adventure re-opened in 2012, it brought along with it two new themed lands (Cars Land and Buena Vista Street) while every other land was re-named and given a new identity. Hollywood Pictures Backlot would cease being a modern façade-filled studio and instead became Hollywood Land. Now tied thematically to neighboring Buena Vista Street, the land represents a 1930s “golden age” of Hollywood with the Red Car Trolley whisking guests down the street and to the foot of the glamorous Hollywood Tower Hotel.
The Hyperion Theater at the end of the street now hosts the long-running and wildly beloved Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular which defies typical “theme park show” logic by presenting the story of Aladdin in a 50 minute, Broadway-style production in a lavish professional theater. The remaining “backlot” themed portion of the land was rebranded as the more glamorous Hollywood Studios and cleaned up to more accurately resemble an idealized studio with a charming and classic Monsters Inc. dark ride. All that’s left is for a Phase II of California Adventure’s remodel to finally replace the sky backdrop with a proper exterior for the theatre as official concept art shows and we’ll be golden.
6. Bountiful Valley Farm
Location: Disney California Adventure
Lifetime: 2001 – 2010
Learn more at Yesterland
Perhaps the most laughable of all themed lands ever devised for a Disney Park, Bountiful Valley Farm was a sort of sub-land within the all-encompassing Golden State at the original Disney’s California Adventure. Very sincerely a farm, the area included such engaging attractions as life-sized cow statues, dioramas depicting the history of Catepillar (the farming equipment company, not the insect) and even a lifesized Catepillar tractor that you could climb up and sit in.
The one attraction in the land was It’s Tough to be a Bug, the 3D film based on Disney-Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. Pretty quickly, Disney executives realized that California Adventure had almost nothing to actually do, and practically zero rides for young kids. Empty space south of the park became a new land called A Bug’s Land, absording the 3D film and part of Bountiful Valley Farm.
What’s There Now: The Farm area closed for good in 2010. The land was annexed between “a bug’s land” and Cars Land.
7. Mickey’s Toontown Fair
Location: Magic Kingdom
Lifetime: 1996 – 2011
Learn more at Yesterland
In 1988, Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World introduced a new themed land: Mickey’s Birthdayland. The temporary land was built to celebrate Mickey’s 60th birthday. While clearly constructed to be temporary, it was a charming land recreating the streets of Duckburg and terminating in a large circus tent for a birthday celebration show. Mickey’s birthday could only last so long, though, and in 1990 the last was renamed Mickey’s Starland and Disney’s afternoon cartoon block characters were added.
Following in its younger sister’s footsteps, Disneyland in California added a similar, but much more permanent land in 1993 called Mickey’s Toontown. In 1996, Magic Kingdom decided to make its cartoon-themed land permanent, too. Instead of duplicating Disneyland’s Toontown, designers at the Magic Kingdom reused much of Starland’s infrastructure and developed a new story; casting the new Mickey’s Toontown Fair as a country getaway for the characters, separate from their permanent homes in California.
Toontown Fair had a meet-and-greet inside the circus striped Judges Tent, walkthrough country homes for Mickey and Minnie, and the Barnstormer, a family coaster that cast Goofy as a daredevil pilot crop-dusting his Wiseacre Farmstead. The exaggerated cartoon architecture probably read as “cheap” when compared to the realistic lands throughout the rest of the park.
What’s There Now: When Disney announced New Fantasyland for the Magic Kingdom, the land formerly occupied by Toontown Fair was supposed to become Pixie Hollow, a land of oversized blades of grass and mushrooms. It would have been home to an elaborate and expansive meet-and-greet for Tinker Bell and her fairy companions from their direct-to-video film series. Fans recoiled at Pixie Hollow and the rest of the overtly princess-themed expansion, so Disney went back to the drawing board.
Toontown Fair was, in some ways, spared, becoming the charming and outstanding Storybook Circus, a turn-of-the-century themed traveling circus area within New Fantasyland lovingly dedicated to classic (and often forgotten) Disney characters. The hyper-detailed land may share a circus tent or two in common with Toontown Fair, but the exaggerated and toon-style architecture is gone, replaced with real brick buildings, canvas signs, and charming allusions that are all class. Most prominently, Dumbo the Flying Elephant was relocated to Storybook Circus with doubled capacity and an awesome indoor playground queue.
8. Old Fantasyland
Location: Magic Kingdom
Lifetime: 1971 – 2012
When Fantasyland opened at both Disneyland (in 1955) and the Magic Kingdom (in 1971), its many charming classic dark rides were concealed behind medieval tent exteriors. Striped awnings with jousting rods as poles and simple marquees did an effective job, but were contrary to Walt’s hopes for the area.
In 1983, Disneyland welcome a New Fantasyland, replacing the aging medieval motif with incredible European facades. Suddenly, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was inside a red-brick recreation of Toad Hall; Snow White’s Scary Adventures in a German castle with vines crawling up its exterior; Peter Pan’s Flight inside a Tudor-style manor with an English clock tower outside. Finally, Walt’s dreams of a romanticized Fantasyland had arrived. But at Magic Kingdom, the medieval tents lived on – simple exteriors with dated pastel colors that did little to inform guests of the detailed dark rides within.
What’s There Now: Half of Fantasyland retains the medieval tent style, but a very purposeful New Fantasyland began construction in 2011, dividing the land in half. The eastern half was entirely rebuilt and updated in Cars Land style, with intricate details and new sub-areas (including Storybook Circus). The new style – locked behind stone walls and placed in a lantern-lit Enchanted Forest – contains a whole section of Beauty and the Beast attractions, a seaside village and Mediterranean castle built into eroded cliffs comprising a Little Mermaid area, and a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train complete with cottage that set the forest theme alive.
New Fantasyland, to some, is “style over substance,” with incredibly detailed, themed area but very few things to actually do. Including Storybook Circus, the entirety of new Fantasyland added a net one attraction to Magic Kingdom’s roster. But there’s also the new-age meet-and-greet / show / walkthrough of Enchanted Tales With Belle and the awesome Be Our Guest Restaurant. It’s sort of an evolution of theme parks – detailed environments you want to spend time (and money) in instead of focusing just on rides.
