Over the years, Disney has announced many attractions, rides, and lands that they were going to build, but not all of them have actually come to life. These are the attractions Disney announced and never built. It’s frustrating when they announce something and fans get excited, then they cancel the plans.
Mary Poppins Ride
In 2019 Disney announced that they were going to build a Mary Poppins attraction in the United Kingdom Pavilion in EPCOT. It was going to be an indoor teacups style ride. The project was postponed and never brought up again.
Play Pavilion
EPCOT’s Wonders of Life was going to be changed into a new building called Play Pavilion. It was going to have character meets, drawing lessons from Edna Mode, a Zootopia game, a Monorail Mark X, an arcade, and more. This was announced in 2019, never happened, and in 2023 Disney said it was being reevaluated.
Great Muppet Movie Ride
Jim Henson and Disney were working together in the late 1980s and early 1990s to develop plans for Muppets Land in Hollywood Studios park (called MGM Studios at the time). Their plans for restaurants and Muppet*Vision 3D happened, but have since closed. They also had plans for a Great Muppets Movie ride, which never happened. Muppets fans are hoping some of the ideas for it will be brought to life in the new Muppets version of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.
Geyser Mountain
In the late 1990s, Disney imagineers needed to come up with a cutting-edge attraction that would be popular for Disneyland park. They were expecting California Adventure to be super popular and needed guests to have a reason to still go to Disneyland, so they came up with Geyser Mountain, which was going to drill you into a geyser, and erupt sending you upward, similar to Tower of Terror. California Adventure did not do well, so they didn’t need to work on Disneyland park. This caused Disney to scrap plans for Geyser Mountain and work on California Adventure instead, so that park got Tower of Terror.
Enchanted Snow Palace
The Enchanted Snow Palace was going to be an attraction at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. It was thought up in the late 1970s and was going to be based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. The ride never happened, but there are similarities between the concept and the EPCOT ride Frozen Ever After.
Animal Carousel
Animal Kingdom has the iconic Tree of Life as the focal point of the park. It was once going to be an attraction instead though. It was going to be a three-tiered carousel. The top tier would have animals that fly, like birds, the middle tier would have land animals, and the bottom tier would be like the ocean with sea animals.
Green Army Men Parachute Drop
Maliboomer in California Adventure closed in 2010 and one idea to take its place was Green Army Men Parachute Drop. This would have fit in really well on Pixar Ier, but it wasn’t Pixar Pier at the time. Eventually the space Maliboomer was in got replaced with Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind. The Army Men ride can be found in Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland now.
Villains Funhouse Roller Coaster
California Adventure park needed some better attractions and one of the ideas was Villains Funhouse Roller Coaster, which was going to take over California Screamin’. It was going to feature different villains like Jafar and Hades. The ride never came to be and instead California Screamin’ changed to Incredicoaster.
Dragon’s Tower
Animal Kingdom was going to get a whole new land called Beastly Kingdom. One of the main attractions was going to be called Dragon’s Tower and it would feature dragons, unicorns, and more mythical creatures. This ride never came to life because Beastly Kingdom was never built.
Atlantis Expedition
Before Disneyland had Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, that ride was just Submarine Voyage. The ride was too expensive and unpopular, so it closed. Disney announced that it was going to be themed after their new movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Then the movie flopped, and plans of theming the ride after it were canceled.
Western River Expedition
Western River Expedition was going to be a log flume ride through the Wild West in Magic Kingdom. It was going to be a cowboys themed ride. Instead of building this ride, Disney put Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in the space intended for Western River Expedition.
Toontown Transit
Disneyland and Hollywood Studios were once going to both get lands themed from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. They were both going to get a ride called Toontown Transit, which was going to be a 4D motion simulation ride.
Baby Herman’s Runaway Baby Buggy
Another ride planned for the Roger Rabbit land was Baby Herman’s Runaway Baby Buggy. Guests were going to be on the set of the short Tummy Trouble, then get it baby buggies and travel around the hospital.
The Excavator
DinoLand U.S.A. was supposed to have another attraction called The Excavator. It was going to be a wooden roller coaster connected to The Boneyard area. It was canceled for financial reasons.