This is Part 2 of my Tony Baxter series. Check out Part 1 to learn about his start with the Walt Disney Company and the complete list of attractions, lands, and parks he created.
Part 2 focuses on the amazing ideas and concepts Tony had but were never built.
Dumbo’s Circusland
Also referred to as Dumbo’s Circus and Dumbo’s Storybook Circus, this land was announced to open in 1976. Dumbo’s Circusland would have been located where Mickey’s Toontown in Disneyland is now. Ward Kimball, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men, served as a creative consultant for this land as Dumbo was said to be one of his favourite films to animate. Dumbo Flying Elephants and Casey Jr. Circus Train were going to be relocated from Fantasyland to this new land in the back of the park. Guests would have been able to travel to Dumbo’s Circusland via the Western Balloon Ascent. This was the same ride concept that was going to be used for Blueprints of Nature in Tony’s original concept for The Land pavilion in Epcot. Three new attractions were going to debut with the land. The first was called Mickey’s Mad House and was based on the old Mickey Mouse cartoons. This indoor wild mouse roller coaster would feature Mickey and his friends getting into all sorts of trouble set to ragtime music. The second attraction was a Pinocchio dark ride. Aside from an addition scene called Stomboli’s Little Puppet Theatre, this ride was going to be very similar to the realized Pinocchio’s Daring Journey in Fantasyland. The third attraction was a big top themed dark ride called Circus Disney. This attraction would be a showstopper and would feature not only characters from Dumbo, but other animal and fantasy characters that did not quite fit into other areas of the park. These characters included the Reluctant Dragon, characters from The Jungle Book, and the “Dance of the Hours” animals. Each would have their own circus act. Part of Circus Disney would be the Wild Animal Menagerie which would feature Dumbo, Horace Horsecollar, and Elliot. Daredevil acts would feature the Flying Goofys and the Disney Bears Pyramid. There would even be a clown alley.
Not all Disney executives were onboard with such an extravagant new land and Dumbo’s Circusland was scrapped. Some concepts for the land were reused in Mickey’s Toontown when it opened in 1993 and in the Magic Kingdom subland Storybook Circus.
Discovery Bay
Have you ever wondered what happened to all the gold the miners found in Rainbow Ridge? Tony Baxter created an entire land in answer to that which fit seamlessly with the storyline of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Discovery Bay was announced in 1976 and was set to be built where Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is located. Tony wanted to use up the rest of the space that Mine Train through Nature’s Wonderland occupied. Discovery Bay was designed to reflect a technology-advanced San Francisco in the late 1800’s, drawing inspiration from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells stories. New attractions would be built based on 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea and Island on Top of the World, both of which had been important in Tony’s past work with Disney. The Island on Top of the World attraction would take guests on a Hyperion airship to various mythical lands. Another attraction called the Lost River Rapids would feature the dinosaurs from Primeval World. A new loading dock would be built for the Sailing Ship Columbia, which would be separate from the Mark Twain. A restaurant themed to the Nautilus would feature a pipe organ to serenade dining guests. A main attraction would be called Professor Marvel’s Gallery of Wonders, also referred to as the House of Illusions. This carrousel theatre show would feature many of Professor Marvel’s exotic creatures including a baby dinosaur. When Discovery Bay was cancelled, Professor Marvel and his baby dinosaur morphed into Dreamfinder and Figment from the Imagination Pavilion. Linking Discovery Bay and Dumbo’s Circusland would be the Professor Marvel’s Balloon Descent.
This land was so elaborate that a TV series was going to be created called The Discovery Bay Chronicles. The character of Jason Chandler was created to be the founder of Discovery Bay and his story would link Big Thunder Mountain to this new land. Even though the land and TV show were scrapped, Jason Chandler is still a part of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers.
After Discovery Bay was announced, a scale model was even built and put on display in a preview centre on Main Street, U.S.A. Unfortunately, Island on Top of the World was unsuccessful at the box office which led Disney to rethink Discovery Bay. Instead, funds were put into the building of Epcot and Tokyo Disneyland so the land was cancelled completely. Some of the ideas from this land went into Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris and Mysterious Island in Tokyo DisneySea.
WESTCOT Center
In 1991, a west coast version of EPCOT Center was announced. The icon of this park was going to be SpaceStation Earth, a much larger, and golden, version of SpaceShip Earth. I can’t even imagine a larger SpaceShip Earth! In Future World, cloned copies of Epcot attractions would be built such as World of Motion, Horizons, and Journey into Imagination. An updated version of Adventure thru Inner Space was going to be built and renamed to Cosmic Journeys.
The World Showcase would group together the pavilions by regions instead of individual nations. The Europe section would feature the Circle-Vision 360° show Timekeeper. This show was also at one point going to be part of Tomorrowland 2055. The Asia section would have a steel roller coaster called Ride the Dragon, as well as a carrousel of mythical creatures from Asian cultures. The Africa section would be home to a rafting ride, but it also had the first planned park expansion which was a large Egyptian palace. The Americas section would reflection Main Street, U.S.A. with its turn of the 20th century theming. The American Adventure from Epcot was to be cloned, as well as the creation of new shows honoring the First Nations, the Incas, and the Aztecs. A World Cruise attraction would take guests around World Showcase. It was also announced that the first hotel to be built inside a theme park would be part of WESTCOT Center, based on the look and theme of the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
WESTCOT Center was cancelled in 1995 due to the financial restraints of building EuroDisney. Disney was also not able to purchase enough land in Anaheim to build such a large World Showcase. In 2001, Disney’s California Adventure opened up on the same spot WESTCOT Center was going to go. And it did end up being home to the first hotel built inside a theme park. Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa opened up just one month before the park did.
Tony Baxter stepped down from his role as an Imagineering executive on February 1, 2013. He is still an active creative advisor and mentor to the Imagineering department today. 2013 was a big year for him. At the D23 Expo in August, Tony was honoured with being named a Disney Legend. Then on November 1st of that same year, he received a window on Main Street. In Disneyland above the Magic Shop, a window reads: “Main Street Marvels–Tony Baxter, Inventor: Imagination is in the Heart of our Creations.” The quote is from the Sherman Brother’s song “One Little Spark” from Journey into Imagination.
And finally, I wanted to end with my favourite quote from Tony Baxter which did not quite fit anywhere else in this post and that is “Disneyland is not a museum. It is a living, breathing thing.”
Which unrealized Tony Baxter project would you love to see come to a Disney park?
Tony Baxter: Imagineering Legend: Part 1
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