What Remains of Disney's America Today: Never Built Disney's America Part 18

Never Built Disney's America 

Soarin Hanger Grizzly Peak Airfield Disney California Adventure

Disney's America had a tumultuous history, and it never even got built, despite at least three separate attempts. But no Disney project ever leaves without a trace, and many things developed for Disney's America would later end up in other parks around the world.

Today we explore what is left of Disney's America today in Disney Parks all around the world. Be sure to check out the now complete Never Built Disney's America series here.

Disney's America had numerous attractions and even new ride systems developed for it across its many different versions, and some of them would survive all of the cancelations and make it into other future parks.

Disney California Adventure would end up reutilizing many of the ideas from Disney's America into a more narrow theme of the history of the state of California, with the ideas all being tweaked a bit to fit the new park.


Notably, Soarin, which had initially been developed for Disney's America would become something of a flagship attraction for Disney California Adventure and later coming to other Disney Parks including Epcot, Tokyo DisneySea, and Shanghai Disneyland.


Grizzly River Run would reimagine the Lewis and Clark attraction into a national park setting on the fictional Grizzly Peak.

The park would even have a farm area, even if it was one of the shortest-lived areas in the park.

Pixar Pier From Lamplight Lounge at Night Disney California Adventure

The State Fair would give inspiration to Paradise Pier as a journey into the bygone era of classic seaside amusement parks and boardwalk games. This would later give life to the Incredicoaster as a classic fair roller coaster renamed in honor of an American superhero family.

Disney's America would never get built but it is far from forgotten. It gave us a modern classic in Disney Parks around the world, and provided a jumping-off point to the second park of Disneyland Resort. What could have been Disney's first attempt at a regional theme park may never have happened, but it is fondly remembered by those who followed or have looked back on its development. Its impact is felt by anyone who has flown with Soarin, gotten soaked on Grizzly River Run, or launched into action on California Screamin.

Thank you for coming on this exploration of Disney's America with us and make sure you explore the now complete series here.

Make sure you come back next week when we jumpstart a series exploring never built attractions from the original Disney park, Disneyland with an exploration of Harnessing the Lightning, an attraction that would eventually develop into Carousel of Progress.


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