Changes

Frontier land Frontierland opened with the rest of the [[Magic Kingdom]] in on October 1, 1971. The land was themed to represent a boom town in the American Old West set on the Rivers of America. Originally , Frontierland consisted of four three attractions: The the [[Frontierland Shootin' Arcade]], [[Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes, the [[Walt Disney World Railroad]] , and the [[Country Bear Jamboree]]. The land was themed to look like a boom town in These attractions were joined by the American Old West. Like [[Liberty Square]], Frontierland also sat on station for the Rivers of America, where guests could board and row the Davy Crockett Canoes. In 1973 [[Tom Sawyer IslandWalt Disney World Railroad]] opened on the Rivers of America. Based on the Mark Twain novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”May 1, the island is an “outdoor playground” where guests could explore caves, cross wobbly bridges, and even follow rugged jungle trails1972 <ref> http://touringplans. To get to the island guests were able to climb aboard large wooden rafts in Frontierland, and set sail across the rivercom/magic-kingdom/attractions/opening-dates# <ref> http://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/attractions/opening-dates# </ref>.

Although it seemed sparse on opening day, Disney had big plans for Frontierland. Chief among these were their plans to build Marc Davis' Western River Expedition. This large expansion of Frontierland would have consisted of numerous attractions for guests including: a Pueblo Village, hiking trails, and a "runaway mine train" attraction. Most importantly however, there was also to be a boat ride through the Old West attraction that was designed to top the immensely popular [[Pirates of the Caribbean]] attraction <ref> http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2000/12/31/why-quot-western-river-quot-went-south-part-3.aspx </ref>. Although Marc Davis' Western River Expedition never became a reality for numerous reasons (see [[Big Thunder Mountain Railroad]]), on May 20, 1973 [[Tom Sawyer Island]] opened on the Rivers of America <ref> http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/may20.html </ref>. Based on the Mark Twain novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, the island is an “outdoor playground” where guests could explore caves, cross wobbly bridges, and even follow rugged jungle trails. To get to the island guests would climb aboard large wooden rafts in Frontierland and set sail across the river.  Following the opening of Tom Sawyer Island, Frontierland remained mostly unchanged until November 15, 1980 when [[Big Thunder Mountain Railroad]] was builtopened. The new roller coaster gave Frontierland took its first thrill rideinspiration from the runaway mine car attraction that was to be a part of the Western River Expedition. Created by Imagineer Tony Baxter, Thunder Mountain allows guests to board a runaway train which speeds past scenes set in an old west mining townalso occupied the space near the back of Frontierland that was originally earmarked for the Western River Expedition expansion <Ref> http://jimhillmedia. com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2001/01/01/276.aspx </ref>.   Following the construction of Big Thunder MountainRailroad, no major changes occurred Frontierland once again remained essentially the same until 1993 when Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes closed. In 1994 however the landscape of Frontierland Train Station was once again changed. Chick-A-Pin Hill was built closed and moved in order to house a new make room for Disney's newest thrill ride [[- Splash Mountain]]<ref> http://www. The back story for the hill stated that the dam had broken creating a five story waterfallomniluxe.net/wyw/frlrs1.htm </ref>. Based on the 1946 Disney movie Movie Song of the South, on Splash Mountain follows guests follow the adventures of the movies main character, Brer Rabbit as he is chased and eventually captured by Brer Fox and Brer Bear. The climax of the attraction ends with guest plunging comes when guests plummet 52.5 feet down Chick-A-Pin-Hill and into the Briar Patchbriar patch. Both Besides once again changing Frontierland's horizon, Splash Mountain also expanded the land's theme <ref name="jack"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2010/06/splash_mountain_part_one_1.html </ref>. Unlike Big Thunder Mountain and the rest of Frontierland, Splash Mountain proved was set in the American South. In order to be extremely popular, help bridge the thematic gap between Splash and their additions made Frontierland one of Thunder Mountain, Imagineers used the most popular lands newly constructed Frontierland Railroad Station (which reopened in 1991) to serve as transition between the Magic Kingdomtwo <ref name= "jack"/>. Finally, on July 17, 1992 Splash opened to guests, although it was officially dedicated on October 2<ref> http://allears.net/tp/mk/mk_splash.htm </ref>.  1993 when Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes closed.