The Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s California Adventure, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland. As every theme park enthusiast knows the six aforementioned theme parks are among the most popular in the world and are currently among eleven Disney theme parks. Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom are now household names, but what about WestCOT, Port Disney and Disney’s America? These three are among many Disney theme parks that were planned out but never realized.

WestCOT, as the name implies, was to be the west coast version of Walt Disney World’s Epcot. At the time when this park was first being considered, five Disney theme parks were in existence: Disneyland, The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Tokyo Disneyland, and the Disney-M.G.M. Studios. Michael Eisner, CEO at the time, wanted to make Disneyland into a massive resort like its Floridian counterpart. More hotel rooms were at the top of Eisner’s list and for this to happen, much more Disney-brand entertainment would be needed. The obvious solution was a second theme park in Anaheim. This new theme park was to change the face of Anaheim. The heavy traffic, fast food joints, and cheap motels surrounding the Disneyland Resort would be transformed into an urban entertainment center, complete with bright lights and lush gardens. Three new Disney hotels would be added to the site, along with a shopping center so that the Resort could now truly be called an all-around entertainment destination. Due to space restraints, the resort hotels would actually be on park-property, a first for the Disney company.

Guests would get to the park via Disneyland Plaza where the entrance to both parks would have been. From the parking garage to this plaza, a monorail would have been used. Like all Disney theme parks, the park needed an icon that would symbolize it; SpaceStation Earth was chosen, which was a supersized replica of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth. Instead of standing at180 feet, like the latter, SpaceStation Earth would tower above the Disneyland Resort at 300 feet. While WestCOT would be a new park, it would also feature many of the same rides and attractions as Epcot. World Showcase Lagoon was planned as a six-acre lake located smack in the middle of the park. One of WestCOT’s highlight attractions was to be the World Cruise which would take you around the world, all while in southern California. Instead of separate countries in the World Showcase like at Epcot, there were to be four distinct regions that covered the world: The Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa & The Far East.

Ten years after the opening of Epcot, Disney had improved its park-building skills. Instead of having multiple movies in each region showcasing the region it represented, the fun factor would be taken up a notch. Kids, teens and families alike could experience Ride the Dragon, a steel roller coaster without a layout made to mimic the Great Wall of China. The building that made up World Showcase would average six stories. The first three floors would house numerous shops, restaurants and other entertainment venues. The upper three floors were to house guest rooms, as part of the new plan to be able to stay overnight actually in the park.

So, with all of these fantastic ideas and seemingly perfect conception, how could the park have gotten its plug pulled? Unfortunately, there were multiple reasons that prevented WestCOT from ever being built. After all this planning had been done, and was announced to the public in 1992, Disney faced a powerful opposition: the neighbors. Anaheim residents complained that they would be able to see the massive SpaceStation Earth from their backyards, and it would be an eyesore to them. The neighbors also had plenty else to say, such as complaining about increased noise, pollution and traffic to an already hectic neighborhood. However, there was still a bigger problem: the price tag. With all of the planned attractions, hotels and everything else that was to go into WestCOT, the total cost came in at a monstrous $3 billion. To add to Disney’s financial woes, Disneyland Paris was a major financial disappointment which constricted the company’s costs. In 1995, after five years of planning and design by Disney’s imagineers, Michael Eisner announced the cancellation of WestCOT.

The land for WestCOT would not go to waste however. Disney’s California Adventure was announced soon after, with construction beginning in 1998. Three years later, Disneyland Resort’s second theme park opened nearly fifty years after the original. Along with this brand new theme park based on California, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, Downtown Disney, and renovations of both the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. Unfortunately for Disney, their new theme park was another failure and since it’s opening nearly seven years ago, has failed to draw in the crowds like its next-door neighbor. Disney fans around the world still claim that had WestCOT been built, the face of the Disneyland Resort would have changed forever, for the better.

Before, and for a while during, the WestCOT project another project was in the works; an entire new Disney resort complex. This was also to be located in California, although in Long Beach which is a good distance away from Anaheim’s Disneyland. When Michael Eisner wanted more parks in California, Port Disney and WestCOT were butting heads to see which would become a reality. Sadly, neither would, but the WestCOT project lasted much longer than Port Disney and was the winner of the California feud.

Port Disney would open with a sole theme park; DisneySea Theme Park. However, this park was very different from what it became when it opened in Tokyo Disneyland in 2001. The Californian DisneySea would have held a large focus on education, even more so than Epcot, which is easily Disney’s most educational theme park. As with all Disney parks there would be multiple themed lands, with Oceana as the centerpiece.

Located in Oceana would be an “Oceanarium,” Disney’s take on the aquarium. Recreations of habitats and water-based ecosystems from around the world were to be spread throughout the Oceanarium. Guests would traverse the Oceanarium using walkways travelling over the exhibits and some under with glass porthole allowing underwater viewing. Spread throughout Oceana would have been a multitude of interactive displays, including devices that allowed guests to see through the eyes of numerous undersea animals.

The Future Research Center was the only other land that had been officially given the green light, and was described as being a working research laboratory, complete with some of the best marine scientists in America. This area of DisneySea greatly resembled The Living Seas, now The Seas with Nemo & Friends, in Epcot’s Future World. An attraction similar to Star Tours was also planned for the Future Research Center. It was to focus on the dangers of being a deep sea diver who studied marine life. Since this would be an actual working laboratory, guests would be able to witness first-hand what exactly goes into being a marine scientist.

Oceana and the Future Research Center were the only two confirmed lands that would be featured in DisneySea. However, a few others were in the works. Venture Reefs would take guests to the sandy and beautiful shores of the Caribbean, the Pacific and Polynesia. From what little information was released about this land, it appears to have been mainly a shopping and dining area. Hero’s Harbor and Mysterious Island on the other hand, would feature the park’s most thrilling attractions focusing on myths and folklore from the dawn of man. Fleets of Fantasy would hold more children’s attractions centered around stories involving the sea.

Although only one theme park would grace the land of Port Disney, there would be other features of the resort. A Disney staple, there would be five hotels on site to hold park guests who wanted to experience the magic twenty-four hours a day. Something similar to Downtown Disney would also have been built along with a marina capable of holding 400 boats. Even though the Disney Cruise Line would not debut for years after this park was announced, imagineers were a step ahead of the game and had planned for a permanent port for a west-coast Disney ship.

In the end, the idea for Port Disney did not last long, as WestCOT was decided on the more logical and popular solution for a second California theme park. However, remnants of the park can still be found, most obviously in Tokyo’s DisneySea although even that park is drastically different from the Long Beach DisneySea.

While the feud between the two new Disney parks in California ensued, another idea was springing up across the country. In 1993, the Disney company began seriously considering opening up a third American resort complex. This one was to be located in northeastern Virginia, on an area of roughly 3,000 acres. Like Port Disney, this park would be educational, although as opposed to concentrating on the sea, the Virginian park would hold a theme of American history. Thus, the idea for Disney’s America was born.

At a time when the project was still in motion seven themed lands were planned. A Civil War era village would serve as the hub of the park, much like Main Street USA in the classic Disneyland-style parks. President’s Square would be a land where guests of all ages could meet every President of the United States of America, with a little help from Disney’s Audio-Animatronics. A more serious area of the park, Civil War Fort, would show one of the darkest periods of American history, including a recreation of the famous Monitor and Merrimac Naval Battle.

To lighten things up a bit, We the People takes place in a large building made to look like Ellis Island. In this festive land, park guests could experience different music, foods and other pieces of the many cultures that make up America today. Native America goes back to the earliest known time in American history, when our native ancestors ruled the world before all the European explorers entered the New World. Located in this land would be a thrilling white-water rafting ride. Enterprise was to greatly resemble a factory town and featured perhaps Disney’s America’s most thrilling ride, Industrial Revolution. Lastly, Victory Field shows exactly what U.S. soldiers on the battlefield experienced.

Of the 3,000 acres Disney had planned to build on, Disney’s America itself would take up 1,200. Although the aforementioned lands were about as detailed as plans got over the year or two the park was worked on, some indefinite long-term plans were considered. As with all Disney properties, numerous hotels would have been added along with a golf course and plenty of open, environment-friendly space for the benefit of the surrounding area.

However, all of this would not come easily. Much land would have to be ripped up and miles of new pipes, electrical wires and others would possibly damage the surrounding land. Since most of Virginia is known for its history, many groups fought against Disney’s America. The most notable of these groups was Project Historic America, led by Shelby Foote. After much convincing by numerous historic preservation groups, Michael Eisner cancelled the project on September 28, 1994.

On the other hand, not all were against the new Disney theme park and many other counties across Virginia and West Virginia would be welcome to host the new resort. When Bluefield, West Virginia offered the Disney company land behind the airport, officials claimed that not only would it be difficult to build on hilly West Virginian land, but also that it was far too risky to build a major tourist destination in such a rural location.

Just when all seemed lost, a new ray of hope was shed on Disney’s America. Around 1995, the Knott family announced that it would be selling its California park, Knott’s Berry Farm. Imagineers decided that it would be feasible to convert the park into the quality Disney is known for, and more importantly, Disney’s America. Nearly all of the same lands from the original plans for the park were included in this one, including a Native American area, President’s Square and Enterprise.

The Knott family finally came to the decision that they didn’t want their beloved park to change so drastically and was afraid of just how much Disney would change it. This second letdown for Disney’s America caused Disney to truly pull the plug on the project, and no new news has been heard of the project since. Despite the two failed attempts at building Disney’s America some evidence of the park can be found in Disney’s California Adventure. Grizzly River Run is reminiscent of the white water rapids ride that was to have been built in the Virginia park, and California Screamin’ is similar to how Industrial Revolution in Enterprise was described.

Although WestCOT, Port Disney and Disney’s America may not be around today, numerous remnants of the parks can be found in places such as Disney’s California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea. Even though these parks seem to have been truly laid to rest, with the Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Company, it is impossible to know what they will do next.