Not all Disney theme park projects ever successfully get off the ground. Several of these plans, even one conceptualized by Walt Disney himself, have had the misfortune of never making it beyond the development stage. Though they never existed fully, their stories often remain public if one looks for them.
This will be a list of those never-been theme parks, resorts that The Walt Disney Company got so far as to announce, only to fall through. Some of them were abandoned while others have had another Disney park built on its intended site. Also included are interesting snippets of history.
- Walt Disney’s Riverfront Square – what would’ve been the next theme park after Disneyland; planned at St. Louis, Missouri and was in development 1963-65; canceled due to financing and ownership disputes, as well as Walt Disney’s reaction to a local critic claiming no park could succeed without selling alcohol for adult guests; Disney moved his plans to Florida, leading to Walt Disney World
- Port Disney – a planned seaside complex containing theme parks, hotels and transportation facilities on Long Beach, California; announced in 1990 along with proposals for its first marine theme park DisneySea; cancelled in 1991 following the shift in development push to WestCOT (later also cancelled); Japan’s Oriental Land Company would revive the concept with Tokyo DisneySea, near Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disney Resort
- WestCOT – the proposed West Coast counterpart to EPCOT in Walt Disney World, Florida; announced in 1991 but cancelled in 1995 due to land acquisition issues; its site would then be used for Disney’s California Adventure, opening 2001
- Disney’s America – planned theme park in Virginia (supposed to open 1998) themed after the history of the United States; announced in 1993 but cancelled a year later after protests from citizens’ groups and historians; some themes would be reused on Disney’s California Adventure on Disneyland Resort
