Dick Tracey's Crime Stoppers: Never Built Disneyland Part 7

Never Built Disneyland

Dick Tracey Crime Stoppers Disneyland Concept Art

Dick Tracey was set to be Disney's next big film. Coming off the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit they were looking for the next experimental hit film that was riskier than Disney's traditional movies. They were so certain it was going to be a success, an entire E-Ticket attraction was designed for this film before it even came out.

Today we are exploring the never built history of Dick Tracey's Crime Stoppers. Be sure to check out the entire Never Built Disneyland series so far here.

Dick Tracey adapted some 1930s comic book characters into a modern crime thriller, that Disney was certain was going to be a hit. Then it flopped. An entire franchise was abandoned along with the proposed ride.

But before this happened an elaborate ride was designed and announced, utilizing a brand new ride system for two different Disney Parks, Disney's Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney MGM Studios) and Disneyland.

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In Disneyland, it was set to be a part of an elaborate Hollywood Land addition between Main Street USA and Tomorrowland that would combine attractions from Disney MGM Studios, and original attractions based on Roger Rabbit and Dick Tracey.

The Dick Tracey attraction was set to utilize a new ride system that would combine a dark ride with a simulator and a shooting dark ride system. You would join Dick on a journey through the streets of Chicago, recreating what were expected to be iconic scenes from the film.


The ride system developed for this ride ended up creating two of the most iconic rides of all time, Indiana Jones Adventure and Dinosaur, giving them a ride system with more freedom of motion than any dark ride built in a Disney ride before.

This ride made Disney warry of investing too much in incorporating a movie in the parks before it opened, a trend that continues to this day, and is in part the reason why the Disney Reinassance is so underrepresented in the Disney Parks. The ride is one of the few of the Disney Decade canceled for legitimate reasons beyond the financial failures of Euro Disneyland.

Thanks for exploring this ride with us and be sure to check out the rest of Never Built Disneyland so far here. Also, be sure to come back next week when we discuss the Who Framed Roger Rabbit plans for Hollywood Land.


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