What's the outlook on Frontierland?

KeithVH

KeithVH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Was talking with my kids the other day (all girls). Saw an article on Fess Parker's Palm Spring home for sale (wow!) and got us chatting about certain things. While they truly liked all the parts of the park, Frontierland was their least favorite. Just because many of the offerings have not been girly-girl focused. Nothing negative, just little appeal or connection to their interests.

And on that note, I then have to ask - how long before Frontierland, especially the "frontier" aspect goes away? With IP updates and changes, and cultural interests waxing and waning, not to mention the current mishmash of theming between Liberty Square and BTMRR, does anyone know what long-term plans TDO has for this Land? Technically, this applies to DL too, especially since they still have the formal gate entrance (but little else of frontier focus).
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
well Frontierland at WDW will be getting a Princess log flume - the only thing that’s left is big Thunder, country bears and Tom Sawyer.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Frontierland remains my fav area of MK. It could use a boost but does not need to be girli- fied or get a drastic change over. MK has much throughout the park to suit all tastes. I doubt Frontierland will be altered much by woke, culture, alternative choice, issues. Frontierland gives us a nice look and historical feel that we don’t get elsewhere.
 
LittleMerman

LittleMerman

Well-Known Member
I dunno what their plans are for the actual lands but they talked about "Beyond Big Thunder Mountain" at D23 with Coco, Encanto, and a villains area. Coco and Encanto don't really make sense to me but villains would be cool.

I do think it would be wise to section off Tiana's Bayou Adventure into it's own little New Orleans mini-land with a restaurant and axe it from Frontierland completely. Would make much more sense. They could even re-theme Pecos Bill since that's kind of the spatial outlier.
 
KeithVH

KeithVH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
LittleMerman said:
I dunno what their plans are for the actual lands but they talked about "Beyond Big Thunder Mountain" at D23 with Coco, Encanto, and a villains area. Coco and Encanto don't really make sense to me but villains would be cool.

I do think it would be wise to section off Tiana's Bayou Adventure into it's own little New Orleans mini-land with a restaurant and axe it from Frontierland completely. Would make much more sense. They could even re-theme Pecos Bill since that's kind of the spatial outlier.
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Yes, that would make complete sense to me. Especially with DW becoming a bit more like DL in this area.I think your point about Pecos Bill get to the heart of the matter for me. Frontierland, when it first appeared, was all about coonskin caps, exploration, and stepping out into an earlier period of history. Now it seems to have become a catch-all of various themes and period all mashed together lacking coherency. Am I in the wild west? No, I'm in 1920s New Orleans. No, wait a minute, back at BTMRR and the wild west again <sigh>.
 
KeithVH

KeithVH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
JIMINYCR said:
Frontierland remains my fav area of MK. It could use a boost but does not need to be girli- fied or get a drastic change over. MK has much throughout the park to suit all tastes. I doubt Frontierland will be altered much by woke, culture, alternative choice, issues. Frontierland gives us a nice look and historical feel that we don’t get elsewhere.
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And I absolutely agree with you. Not everything in the dang park needs to be a princess. However, I do expect consistent theming and a solid story end-to-end where I constantly vacillating between meh and bad show at certain locations. Because Tiana fits in so well with shootin' things in the arcade.
 
Doberge

Doberge

True Bayou Magic
Premium Member
The biggest issue is that what Disney presents as "frontier" is pretty limited to "western." It made a lot of sense for a western themed area in DL in the 1950s with Lone Ranger a huge hit and western movies generally popular. It's not terribly different than Disney now creating entire lands to Frozen, Toy Story, Avatar, etc, but now Disney is unabashedly IP focused when something like Frontierland was inspired just by what was en vogue in the period. It still worked at WDW because western nostalgia still existed for years after MK opened.

But now? When was the last time you watched a western? It's not what it Used to be in pop culture and most Disney parks fans attachment had moved beyond the inspirations for the land and have attached to the land itself. Ultimately, I think the answer is to redefine "frontier" beyond western and to broaden it to simply "the outer limits." Starting from Diamond Horseshoe as an old Missouri frontier, progress through student different American frontiers. 1920s Louisiana swamps fits as an outer limit to society in New Orleans. Country Bears could be more Tennessee (or old Missouri to fit places like Diamond Horseshoe). Or just make them Louisiana bears. Adventuring beyond BTMR, beyond what we believed were borders, the "new outer limits" are where villains hide.

Is a lot of this forced? Yeah, but it can still work well enough if not limiting one's definition of frontier to strictly western. No idea how to make anesthetically but if they can make the story work well enough then people more creative than me can figure out how to make it look.
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Doberge said:
The biggest issue is that what Disney presents as "frontier" is pretty limited to "western." It made a lot of sense for a western themed area in DL in the 1950s with Lone Ranger a huge hit and western movies generally popular. It's not terribly different than Disney now creating entire lands to Frozen, Toy Story, Avatar, etc, but now Disney is unabashedly IP focused when something like Frontierland was inspired just by what was en vogue in the period. It still worked at WDW because western nostalgia still existed for years after MK opened.
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It is the Frontier that never was and always will be. So a lot of it will seem like Hollywood Western. American Mythos. Just like Tomorrowland is very American past present and future retro 50s modernism.

That being said. Davy Crockett is a Tenn to Texas legend as much as anything else, and Country Bears are more eastern, as was Splash.
 
ppete1975

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
I dont see them changing the name of the land, slowly it will lose every semblance to what you would consider belonging in a frontierland.
I feel country bears and the shooting arcade wont last the decade.
Kind of like tomorrowland... it will just become a name of a random collection of rides, restaurants and attractions.
 
ppete1975

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
Its a real shame that Universal owns Cowboys and aliens, they could have placed that in frontierland.
After all its Jon Favreau and Harrison Ford
:)
 
Walt Disney1955

Walt Disney1955

Well-Known Member
The younger people's birthdates are, the more likely you'll get dumb ideas about how to "modernize" Frontierland. Basically you have people making decisions now - or influencing them within the company - that were born from 1990 onwards. This is likely only to get worse as time goes on. Because that era generally doesn't "get" Frontierland or why it is what it is. This is the same crowd that toiled with Splash Mountain. What they don't get is that Frontierland is supposed to have that blast from the past feel. It isn't supposed to be specifically targeted to girls.
 
K

kingdead

Well-Known Member
If you were born in 1990, you're of an age to have kids to take to Disney World. That and you wouldn't have been raised on Westerns. Not saying that younger people would find Frontierland offensive, they just wouldn't have the same nostalgic reaction. It doesn't have meaning to them.
 
ppete1975

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
kingdead said:
If you were born in 1990, you're of an age to have kids to take to Disney World. That and you wouldn't have been raised on Westerns. Not saying that younger people would find Frontierland offensive, they just wouldn't have the same nostalgic reaction. It doesn't have meaning to them.
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Agreed, if built today there wouldnt be a frontierland (its no longer culturally relevant). It was built as copy of disneyland, which had their frontier land built due to kids love of westerns and Davy Crocket especially. The question I have is what lands would be built today, Maybe music? Or would it all be IP?
Between the 2 domestic parks you have
Main street USA
Adventureland
Frontier Land
Liberty Square
Fantasy land
Tomorrowland
New Orleans Square*
Critter Country*
Star wars GE*
Mickeys Toontown*
*denotes disneyland only.
 
drod1985

drod1985

Well-Known Member
LittleMerman said:
I dunno what their plans are for the actual lands but they talked about "Beyond Big Thunder Mountain" at D23 with Coco, Encanto, and a villains area. Coco and Encanto don't really make sense to me but villains would be cool.
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I'm still scratching my head at this one. Epcot would've been the perfect home for both Coco and Encanto. Insert Coco into the Mexico pavilion instead of the Gran Fiesta tour. Build Colombia into one of the expansion pads in World Showcase with a Mystic Manor-esque ride around the Casita.

Villains area in MK will be cool though.
 

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