Disney has completed many successful projects and has tons more on the horizon.
Journey of Water in EPCOT is one of Disney’s recently completed projects
However, there are a few projects that Disney scrapped completely and just…hoped everyone would forget about. What are these projects and what were they supposed to become? Let’s dive into four of them that WE didn’t forget about.
River Country
We’ve talked about River Country a few times here, but this is pretty wild that Disney just left this previously open water park to deteriorate for so many years.
Disney’s River Country ©Disney
River Country was Disney World’s first water park and was open from 1976 to 2001. It was themed as Tom Sawyer’s swimmin’ hole and closed due to lack of popularity when other areas of the resort began to open up, including its two current water parks.
River Country Footage
However, Disney didn’t demolish the park after its closure and only began to tear it down in 2016. In 2018, Disney announced that Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge vacation club resort would open on the property, and while it was scheduled to open in 2022, we haven’t heard much on the status in years. Will this become another abandoned Disney idea for a second time around? We’ll have to wait and see.
PLAY! Pavilion
A more recent abandonment is EPCOT’s PLAY! Pavilion, which was set to be part of the EPCOT Transformation.
©Disney
While the building looked to be getting some TLC in recent years to prepare, it stopped suddenly, and Disney has removed it from current EPCOT park maps (where it previously was listed as coming soon).
PLAY! Pavilion as of January 2023
This building was previously used for the Wonders of Life exhibit, which closed in 2007. The building hasn’t been used by the public in 16 years, but it is used for special private events every now and then.
1900 Park Fare
This one is really unfortunate — 1900 Park Fare was a buffet-style character meal in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa that closed in March 2020 with the rest of the park COVID closures, but unlike many other restaurants, has not reopened.
1900 Park Fare
While Disney has been working on renovating the rest of the Grand Floridian to get it up to their standards, there has been no mention by the company that the restaurant will undergo any changes. Essentially, it’s been in a state of limbo for close to 4 years.
Dining Room at 1900 Park Fare (2019)
We’re really hoping we’ll see this restaurant return, or at least get some official news on it sooner rather than later, but for now, we’re considering it abandoned.
Voyage of The Little Mermaid
Another COVID closure that hasn’t reopened is Voyage of the Little Mermaid in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This was a live stage show that told the story of The Little Mermaid and ran about 17 minutes.
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
This is something we’re really considering abandoned, because other than a permit filed back in May to change this attraction, we’ve heard little to nothing about it in the nearly 4 years since its closure.
©ArcGIS
Considering there are other sought-after live shows in the park, Disney may have felt that it wasn’t in their best interest to open back up a show that would likely be less popular than the others, but whatever the reasoning, we hope to hear some solid news on it soon so we can report back to you.
Hollywood Studios
We’ll be sure to keep our ears listening for any news regarding these projects, so stay tuned to DFB!
Disney spent $1 BILLION on these projects…that didn’t deliver
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Love this article and talking about things that need a little love to get them back in the mix at WDW!!
I would add Launch Bay next to Voyage of Little Mermaid. VLM was such a good show back in the day. Launch Bay is still used as a Meet & Greet for Star Wars, but Star Wars land should encompass all of what it is in Launch Bay. So out of place now… That area could be more Disney Channel focused and how about Bluey who has really taken off in the States… I know a cast member in DHS and nothing new they have heard on that area.
The other attraction kind of abandoned is Alien Encounter or Stitch or someday was supposed to be Wreck-it-Ralph in Tomorrowland. Sad to see that just sitting there too…
How is Stitch’s great escape not on this list? And if there is a place that’s abandoned its discovery island!
Also honorable mention is the abdonmensnt of Walt’s private jet! It
Used to be on the backlot tour in Hollywood studios but was moved to the power station and can only be seen on satellite images now.
One could say the space ship from the movie “flight of the navigator” has been abandoned since that also used to be on the backlot tour but was painted/augmented and is now repurposed as the “Cool Ship” in tomorrow land.