Disneyland Ride Concept Art For Attractions That Were Never Built Auctioned In Beverly Hills

Bruce Haring
·2 min read

A rare collection of artwork featuring concepts for Disneyland rides and areas that never were built has been sold at auction. Heritage Auctions handled the sales earlier this month in Beverly Hills, California.

The event spotlighted hand-drawn sketches from the Bradley/Bushman Early Disneyland Archives, which conceptualized rides and themed lands for the Disney theme park in Anaheim.

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Among the theme park plans and concepts was an “Anything Can Happen” land, and plans for underwater aquariums. In the latter, guests would have walked into the mouths of the crocodile from Peter Pan or Monstro, the whale from Pinocchio, to view marine life.

Another concept detailed an 80-foot-tall statue of Goofy dressed as a clown. The colossus would have been located where the theme park’s Sleeping Beauty Castle now stands.

The “Anything Can Happen” land would’ve been based on “Anything Can Happen Day,” a weekly theme on The Mickey Mouse Club television series, according to a listing.

The land would have attractions themed to cartoon shorts featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto, the listing added.

Other sketches that were auctioned this month showed unrealized concept art for Steamboat Willie’s Paddle Boat, Pluto’s Dog House, the Lost Boys Tree, and a Casey Jones Jr. roller coaster.

Another area would have feature figures of lions, tigers and zebras, and, in an insurance nightmare, allowed children to swing from jungle vines like Tarzan.

Along with the Monstro aquarium exhibit, Disneyland planned to feature a water-based thrill ride that would see guests exit the mouth of the whale.

An early version of the Alice in Wonderland was originally planned to be a walk-through fun house type of attraction. Areas dedicated to characters including the White Rabbit and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were planned, as well as a section revolving around the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

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