Frontierland is an area featured in Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland (as Westernland), and Disneyland Paris. Phantom Manor, the fourth version of the Haunted Mansion attraction, is located in Frontierland in Disneyland Paris.
Description[]
Frontierland is universally characterized across the Disney Parks as being a, "Land" themed around a romanticized portrayal of the 19th century in the United States of America.
Disneyland[]
Frontierland was originally created by Walt Disney and his staff due to the then booming popularity of the Davy Crockett serials made by Disney. Said serials having been set in a glamorized version of the American west during the frontier era of the early 19th century. Frontierland was made to capture what made the show popular, including a ranch horse-riding, riverboats, dated (racist) portrayals of indigenous American peoples, canoes, and a shooting arcade.
Over the years with the faded popularity of the properties and stories of which Frontierland was built on, Frontierland came to incorporate in a variety of different themes and properties throughout the park. This was aided by the development of the Frontierland variants found in other Disney Parks (most notably Walt Disney World), weaving in these elements to the Disneyland original. Elements of the original Frontierland still remain in Frontierland, this includes The Ballad of Davy Crockett being a staple of the land's soundtrack, his coonskin hap being an iconic merchandise piece in the park, several locations and homages to defunct attractions being present, and Crockett being referenced as a resident of the land.
Walt Disney World[]
Background[]
Walt Disney World's Frontierland is (at the time of writing) divided into five settings with different locations and eras; this is also true of its neighbouring, "Land" of Liberty Square which directly leads into Frontierland. These five areas are: the early 1800s in St. Louis, Missouri, the mid-1800s in the Colorado Rockies, the 1860s-1870s in the American Southwest, the 1870s in the American Deep South, and the 1880s in Arizona.
History[]
When Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the Davy Crockett serials had long since faded from the popularity it held in 1955. Instead, the Magic Kingdom's Frontierland was planned to be built around an attraction known as the Western River Expedition which would have been Florida's counterpart to the popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland.
The Western River Expedition was given a large development space and planned due to imagineers believing the Floridian populace would be uninterested in a pirates themed attraction due to the state's history of piracy and proximity to the Caribbean. However, when the public learned that there was no Pirates of the Caribbean planned for Walt Disney World there was relative outrage resulting in Imagineers changing plans and building a condensed replica of Pirates of the Caribbean in a small space in Adventureland; this meant however that the pivotal ride of Frontierland when un-made.
The space intended for the Western River Expedition was left empty and Frontierland was largely left as a largely unrealized area with assorted 19th century themes. This was until 1980 when imagineer Tony Baxter proposed the roller-coaster attraction Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (in-part inspired by the Western River Expedition) which became a cornerstone of Frontierland. In 1992, the popular attraction Splash Mountain would also be incorporated albeit to much controversy later in its run due to the attraction being an adaptation of the deeply racist film Song of the South (1946) and featuring inappropriate racial stereotyping in the ride itself. In 2020, this lead to the announced re-theme of Splash Mountain to be based on the 2008 film, The Princess and the Frog.
Disneyland Paris[]
Background[]
Frontierland in Disneyland Paris is themed around the fictional settlement of Thunder Mesa in the 1880s-1890s. The land is connected by an interwoven backstory which connects the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to the park's Haunted Mansion counterpart of Phantom Manor.
History[]
Disneyland Paris' Frontierland was once again largely developed by Tony Baxter which a mega-theme woven throughout the park. In addition to this, Thunder Mesa and Phantom Manor recycled several elements from the aforementioned Western River Expedition and tableaus created for it by Marc Davis.
Haunted Mansion Connections[]
Disneyland[]
A sign outside of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland pointing to Thunder Mesa.
Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad features a hidden reference to Thunder Mesa. Outside of the ride there is a sign which points to a variety of different towns including Tumbleweed, Thunder Mesa and Grizzly Gulch. All of these locations are towns from different incarnations of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island[]
Main Article: Tom Sawyer's Island
Tom Sawyer's Island in Disneyland's Frontierland features several connections and planned connections to the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, notably via the figure of Jean Lafitte. At one point it was planned for a crypt accessed from the Haunted Mansion to connect to Tom Sawyer's Island from underneath the Rivers of America.
The Ghost Post[]
The Ghost Post's interactive scavenger hunt featured missions in Frontierland. One was in the Silver Spur Supplies where a ghost named Ernst was trapped. Guests had to instigate the organ-like musical instrument Ernst was trapped in to start playing Grim Grinning Ghosts in-order to free him. Another mission took them to Fowler's Harbour on Tom Sawyer's Island where they had to free a sea captain trapped in a compass.
Walt Disney World[]
The Gastley Mansion sign from Frontierland
The Magic Kingdom's Frontierland used to feature a sign which pointed to the Haunted Mansion and identified it as the, "Gastley Mansion" with the name Gastley being scratched out and replaced with the word, "Haunted". As previously mentioned it is also neighbouring Liberty Square which it is designed to be in synchronicity with.
Walt Disney World's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad also contains allusions to Phantom Manor and the unbuilt Museum of the Weird attraction. In the queue of this attraction a portrait can be found which shows a Big Thunder Mountain Range which is a hybrid of the Big Thunder Mountains of all the parks, including that of Disneyland Paris. There is additionally a letter written to Big Thunder Mining Company owner Barnabas T. Bullion from Society of Explorers and Adventurers president, Jason Chandler. This letter has Chandler encouraging Bullion to stop mining in the mountain at the behest of one Madame Zarkov from the Museum of the Weird who warned him of the mountain's spirits.
Disneyland Paris[]
Disneyland Paris' Frontierland holds Phantom Manor, its version of the Haunted Mansion. There is extensive theming throughout Frontierland which connects to the expanded story of Phantom Manor.
Attractions[]
Disneyland[]
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (1979-)
- Big Thunder Trail
- Frontierland Shootin' Exposition (1955-)
- Mark Twain Riverboat (1955-)
- Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island (1956-)
- Sailing Ship Columbia (1958-)
Magic Kingdom[]
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (1980-)
- Country Bear Jamboree (1971-)
- Splash Mountain (1992-)
- Frontierland Shootin' Arcade (1971-)
- New Adventures with Princess Tiana (2022-)
- Tom Sawyer Island (1973-)
- Walt Disney World Railroad (1971-)
Disneyland Paris[]
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- The Chaparral Theater
- Disneyland Railroad - Frontierland Depot
- Legends of the Wild West
- Phantom Manor
- Rustler Roundup Shootin' Gallery
- Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
Westernland[]
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Country Bear Theater
- The Diamond Horseshoe
- Horseshoe Roundup
- Mark Twain Riverboat
- Pecos Goofy's Frontier Revue
- Tom Sawyer Island Rafts
- Westernland Shootin' Gallery
Shops[]
Disneyland[]
- Bonanza Outfitters
- Westward Ho Trading Company
- Pioneer Mercantile
- Silver Spur
Magic Kingdom[]
- Big Al's
- Briar Patch
- Frontier Trading Post
- Prairie Outpost and Supply
Disneyland Paris[]
- Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building
- Tobias Norton & Sons
- Bonanza Outfitters
- Eureka Mining Supplies
- Big Thunder Photographer
Westernland[]
- Frontier Woodcraft
- Western Wear
- General Store
- Westernland Picture Parlour
- Trading Post
- Country Bear Bandwagon
Restaurants[]
Disneyland[]
- The Golden Horseshoe Cafe
- Stage Door Cafe
- Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante
- River Belle Terrace
Magic Kingdom[]
- The Diamond Horseshoe
- Golden Oak Outpost
- Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe
- Westward Ho
Disneyland Paris[]
- The Lucky Nugget Saloon
- Last Chance Café
- Silver Spur Steakhouse
- Fuente del Oro Restaurante
- Cowboy Cookout Barbecue
Westernland[]
- Plaza Pavilion Restaurant
- Slue-Foot Sue's Diamond Horseshoe
- Pecos Bill Cafe
- Mile Long Bar
- Hungry Bear Restaurant
- Camp Woodchuck Kitchen
- The Canteen
- Chuck Wagon