Changes

{{Quotation| "What if we were to incorporate a thrill ride into the 'Western River' project? Maybe have a runaway mine train that rolled across the top of the mesa as well as down along the sides of the show building?" <ref name= "hill1"/>}}

Although the Western River Expedition was announced as "coming soon" in 1973 <ref name= "dated"/>, Marc Davis' masterpiece would never come to fruition. Contrary to Disney's beliefs, one of the most common questions that visitors to the Magic Kingdom had was "where are the pirates?" <ref> http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2001/01/01/274.aspx </ref>After seeing the attraction showcased on Walt Disney's Disneyland TV show, guests in Florida had expected to be able to ride the famed attraction. Due to the amount of guest demand, Disney decided that it needed to built Pirates, and plans for the Western River Expedition were put on hold.

Although Marc Davis tried to keep his project alive, it was clear that the project would be too expensive. Disney was already using its funds to build [[Space Mountain]], the [[Carousel of Progress]], the [[WEDway People Mover]] and the [[Star Jets]] in [[Tomorrowland]] and there was not enough money to construct another large expansion <ref name= "dated"/>.

The final strike against the construction of the Western River Expedition came in 1973 when Imagineer Tony Baxter (who had been tasked with fleshing out the Western River Expedition) showed his plans for a standalone mine train, thrill ride, called Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The new attraction took some the best elements of the Thunder Mesa mine train ride, but without the expensive show building <ref> https://www.mouseplanet.com/guide/251/Walt-Disney-World/Magic-Kingdom/Frontierland/Big-Thunder-Mountain-Railroad </ref>. Although Baxter suggested that the ride could be built next to the Western River Expansion building, only Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ever saw the light of day. After seeing the proposal Disney green lit Big Thunder Mountain for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.