Changes

The attraction that would one day be known as The Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros, began as a planned attraction for the Mexico pavilion titled "Las Tres Culturas de Mexico" (The Three Cultures of Mexico) <ref> http://www.lostepcot.com/worldshowcase.html </ref> . The ride was going to be an indoor/outdoor boat ride, which took guests through the history of Mexico, showcasing its diverse culture. Las Tres Culturas de Mexico took its ride structure from [["it's a small world"]], and even used a similar, repetitive theme song. The attraction’s storyline came from a Mayan myth which told about the Gods taking the gift of music from the jealous sun, and giving it to the songless Earth. The myth concludes with the idea that "Life was all music from that time on”<ref name= "Martinvid"> http://www.martinsvids.net/?cat=10&paged=3 </ref>.

Although Las Tres Culturas de Mexico was fully designed in time for EPCOT Center’s opening day, Disney initially wanted to push the attraction’s construction back until EPCOT Center's Phase II <ref name= "Martinvid"> http://www.martinsvids.net/?cat=10&paged=3 </ref>. According to these plans, the attraction’s lagoon and load area were to be built first, with space left open for the boat ride itself to be constructed at the later date <ref name= "Martinvid"/> . When other World Showcase attractions were put on hold (including the planned Japan attraction and Germany's Rhine River cruise) however, Disney realized that they did not have enough attractions for the parks expected capacity. Eventually, Disney decided that they would need to construct the Mexico attraction, which was now called El Rio Del Tiempo, in order to help meet capacity <ref name= "Martinvid"/> . With both time and money running out, various cuts were made to the original designs for El Rio Del Tiempo. The whole attraction was moved indoors <ref name= "Martinvid"/> , and it was decided that the ride’s track would need to be shortened by 40%.