Mission Statement

In light of the decision to remove the classic mountain attractions from the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney Imagineering wanted to ensure that whatever took their places not only was something noteworthy, but also would bring new life to Frontierland.

The goal of Nature's Wonderland is to not only keep true to the themes of the western American frontier, but offer new and exciting landscapes to discover. Landscapes new to Disney parks, with never before seen attractions as well. In addition, not only are Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain going to be replaced with respective E-tickets, there will also be a variety of D and C ticket attractions to balance the count throughout the land.

While two iconic attractions are going away, in the end, guests will actually be getting an expansion of Frontierland in the long term despite the short-term removal of attractions.

2017 - 2022 Construction Schedule

Open 2020: Replacing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will be Iron Mountain - a thrilling dark ride hybrid coaster through the Wyoming mountain range in search of the riches and treachery they hide. Iron Mountain will be the centerpiece E-Ticket and first attraction to open in Nature's Wonderland!

Opening 2021: Replacing Splash Mountain will be Journey to Cibola - a submarine, attraction that takes you to the 'lost city of gold' underneath a springs section of Utah's natural canyons. The Journey to Cibola attraction will lead into Monument Village, which is a southwest 'cowboy' town with restaurants, shopping, and interactive experiences.

Opening 2022: Replacing Tom Sawyer Island will be the Black Hills of South Dakota and the spirit of America walk-through trails of history. On the northern coast will be Glacier Park, inspired by Glacier National Park in Montana. From there, Nature's Wonderland will wrap around to the eastern United States and an adventure with Pocahontas, transitioning and creating better guest flow into Fantasyland via a northern entrance path.

Timeline

Iron Mountain

Journey to Cibola

The Black Hills

Glacier Park

Pocahontas

Monument Village

Attractions & More

projects.

about.

Backstory

In the year 1865, at the forefront of Post-War America, Dr. Maxwell Letterhorn journeyed out west with a fellow explorer Ezekiel Moreland, to the frontiers of the great nation. While Moreland settled down in Yellowstone and decided to construct the Wilderness Lodge for adventurers trekking through the region, Dr. Letterhorn set his sights on an area north of the lodge towards the infamous Iron Mountain.

Iron Mountain was, as legend says, a mountain of riches and treasure unlike anything the world has ever seen. Oral tradition has passed down that Iron Mountain is complete with an unlimited supply of precious metallic minerals untouched by humans for centuries. It is a place teaming with possibilities for those with the fortitude to find it for themselves.

Being a mechanical engineer and a philosopher in eastern America, Dr. Letterhorn pioneered the expansion of the First Transcontinental Railroad construction, as a means to find and transport the riches of Iron Mountain back to the east, or to further populate the west. The opportunity swiftly shaped local economies and swept the nation into the Second Industrial Revolution. Yet when the Transcontinental Railroad spur reached the foothills of Iron Mountain, the facade was too harrowing to maneuver through. Explorers and scientists tried to find a way in order to enter the mountain range, but there were too many obstacles in their way, and the tools and horses they were equipped with were not adequate to travel the course of the mountain's steep slopes. Letterhorn was not dismayed though, as he quickly got to work on an intricate design of an Iron Horse.

The Iron Horse would be a technological marvel of the age, rivaling European inventors in literature writings of Jules Verne. The mechanical 'horse' would indeed be shaped in the figure of a horse, and be equipped with the prowess and skill-set to dig and transport the precious materials of Iron Mountain to the railroad lines. Two rods on both sides of the horse are used for the horse to magnetically move up and down the mountain sides and caverns. The horse will be attached with empty carriages for the workers to ride in to the top of the mountain, and then come back with the materials.

The invention ended up being a masterpiece, and Letterhorn was able to climb Iron Mountain for himself. After many trips and the eventual opening of a station near the foothills of Iron Mountain for the continued construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, Letterhorn discovered a fatal flaw of the exploration. Powerful earthquakes would rupture the support beams for the Iron Horses, creating hazards in the journey back and forth between the top and bottom of the mountains. The persistence of Letterhorn though kept the Iron Horse operational, and the mining of the mountain continued even in the face of adversity. Workers mentioned that the plot of land might be sitting on an active volcano - a cousin of Yellowstone's great volcanic activity, and that by continuing to mine the mountain, it is causing the volcanic activity to spike, resulting in short-term earthquakes, and potentially fatal long-term results.

Many have abandoned Letterhorn's project, and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad is currently being rerouted away from the mountain range. Yet local explorers and adventurers dare to take the challenge and work with Letterhorn to continue his quest to conquer the Iron Mountain.

Attraction Ride-Through

Load
Boarding your carriages you can hear the clicks and the clacks of other horses trekking up the mountain sides. A whistle beckons from the Iron Horse and you depart the loading area into a mined shaft that briefly ventures outdoors.

Construction - Scene 1
Beginning the journey with a quiet, peaceful look at the surrounding landscape, you swerve around a corner and see a large steam engine parked at the end of the Transcontinental Railroad line, and animatronic workers on the rails. You hear the sound effects and the chatter of the workers as they whistle a tune to themselves. The guided track weaves around and you enter the dense forest and if lucky, can catch a glimpse of the Walt Disney World Railroad line beyond the trees ahead.

Nature - Scene 2
Winding around a bend and into the dense forest, you hear birds and forest animals all around your carriage. To the left is an animatronic family of deer perusing the countryside, and on the right there are gophers digging holes throughout the landscape. This is all a preamble for the main attraction as you then go back into the mountain and begin your ascent.

The Ascent - Scene 3
The Iron Horse catches the beam to ascend up the interior of Iron Mountain and begins to click clack up towards the extraction point where Letterhorn has been collecting the valuable minerals and materials from the Mountain's core. As you continue up the 80 foot ascent which takes about 35 seconds to fully ascend, two scenes can be seen (1 on each side) of the carriage. On the left side is what appears to be shaking rock and workers scaling what was dug out of the mountain side, trying to find the minerals inside. On the right hand side is a colorful cavern that shows the beauty of the mountain range. However foreboding though, is that at the bottom of the colorful cavern appears to be a crack with red and orange outlines oozing out of it, possibly lava from an active volcano. The track shakes a little bit as you continue the ascent, but then as you reach the top your Iron Horse levels out, blows out some steam and its whistle, and you make a right and turn towards the dig site.

Ride Vehicles

Designed in a Mark Davis style 'old school' Disney ride vehicle, the Iron Horse 'engine' will be featured with a copper, mechanical aesthetic, complete with steam, bells, and whistles, as well as four legs that connect to rods that allow it to travel and carry passengers up and down the mountain. On the sides of the Iron Horse are pistons that pump the legs and move it from one place to another. Letterhorn has developed the technology to have him remotely control his Iron Horses throughout the premise of Iron Mountain, allowing multiple horses to be live at one time. To add a bit of humanity to the mechanical design, the horses actually smile in the front, giving off a more affable appearance despite the ominous circumstances of your travels.

Each Iron Horse pulls 5 cars or 'carriages, each with 4 passengers per carriage. There are 5 Iron Horses running the Iron Mountain at one time, each with a capacity for 20 passengers per horse plus the beloved treasures from the mountain to haul back down.

Queue Experience

Walking through the dense forest of Nature's Wonderland at the base of the Iron Mountain, you see evidence of industrial footprints sculpting the landscape. The dense trees give way to signs of new civilization and shelters, making up what appears to be the start of a small town. Approaching the entrance archway, you are led into Dr. Letterman's mechanic shop where he has been developing the Iron Horses. Inside the wooden lodge setting, you walk past and through his office space, noticing the blueprints and designs of the Iron Horse lining the walls and table tops. Within the blueprints, noticing closely on the desk, is a letter from Ezekiel Moreland, asking how he has been doing near Iron Mountain, and telling him about the expansions and progress of his 'Wilderness Lodge' having opened up a new restaurant called 'Artist Point' in the location he used to paint the landscape.

Also surrounding the desk are essentially 'two weeks notice' letters from some of his prior staff, articulating how unsafe they believe Iron Mountain to be, and that some things should not be meddled with no matter what the reward. One letter in particular saying that divine intervention has told him to leave Iron Mountain and pursue other options. This presents a foreboding tone to the introduction of the attraction, allowed guests to soak in the story that they are explorers happening upon a man who's ambition may be clouding his better judgement, and standing at the foothills of the beautiful landscape all around you.

The queue is then divided into several indoor and outdoor sections which include several switchbacks in order to soak up the information in each location. Coming out of Letterhorn's office space you enter his lab where he is designing the Iron Horses. You can see some on display, and the Horses themselves act as mini-animatronics, and a small pre-show, as testing and tinkering behind the scenes causes them to move. A radio broadcast of what appears to be the voice of Letterman, a strong and confidence tone, depicting the design process like it is a recipe. He is heard adjusting the mechanics of the Iron Horses and then as he is doing that, the horses will adjust on his command in front of you.

Exiting the laboratory, you walk through a series of forested switchbacks and winding elevation as you soak in the surrounding landscape. From on far you can hear the Iron Horses chugging up the mountain side and can even see a glimpse of them if at the proper angle looking through the tall pine trees of the frontier. Also in the distance, you can hear mechanical work being done on the Transcontinental Railroad, as well as the WDW Railroad steaming past your left hand side throughout this section of the queue.

The last section of the queue enters Iron Mountain and into the cool (a/c) caves of the hillside. The interior is carved out and lined with intricately laid out tracks for the Iron Horses to climb and transport good to the end of the Transcontinental Railroad line. Inside the darker caves with lanterns hanging to provide the light source, you can see the loading area where you board the Iron Horse carriages. Before entering into the carriages, you're split up on both sides of the line to board two Iron Horse carriages at the same time, then allowing one to leave at a time. One last warning sign is applied for guests that there have been signs of volcanic or earthquake activity within the region and that explorers need to know the risks before traveling on this journey. As you walk past this sign, you can smell a faint bit of burning ash, (pumped in using the same smelitzer tech of the 'Rome Burning' scene of Spaceship Earth) - presenting you with a chilling predicament before boarding your carriages.

Exit Path

Exiting the carriages, you trek back out through the dense forest and towards the main pathways of Nature's Wonderland. As you continue out there, you pass by the hot springs seen in the final leg of your journey to Iron Mountain, and catch a glimpse of the end of the attraction and the riders whizzing past as you leave the area.

Attraction Equations and Blueprints

The queue to Just Around the Riverbend: The Adventure of Pocahontas starts off with being in a small city near the water. As you continue through the queue, you continue to go through the city before leaving the city to go more into the wild. As you get further out you hit a large forest, this is where the loading dock will be. Just Around the Riverbend: The Adventure of Pocahontas is a canoe ride similar to Davy Crockett’s Explorers Canoes. The only difference is this version will be on a track. Not for controlling speed, but for controlling where the canoe goes.

The canoes are sized to hold 20 people at a time, 10 rows of 2, with a cast member in the front as a guide and one at the back of the canoe for “steering”. The canoe also features Meeko on the front of the canoe, just so you can feel even more in the movie.

The ride starts off with a fork in the river. This is where we first see Pocahontas. Here she cuts left to go down the more jagged and windy river and even though we all want to follow Pocahontas our canoe steerer thinks it is safer to go right into the large open clearing where we will be less likely to crash.

Due to going down the calmer side of the river, we see a heavy focus on the animals found along the river including turtles, doves, and a few beavers building a dam. As we continue on, there is an otter couple seen swimming the water before heading towards the shore. This can be accomplished because with having the canoe on a rail, it is known the canoe won’t interfere with the rail the otters are on. We also start to see more wildlife along the shore eating the grass or drinking from the river. After going around the Riverbend, the water gets rougher. There are a lot more rocks in the way and without our heroic guide, it would have led to certain death. This is where we come to meet Pocahontas again. This time she tries leading us down the Waterfall. But here is where Meeko, who we thought was just a statue, comes alive to beg us to take a different route to get home. Our guide and canoe driver agree that Meeko knows the river better and we should probably listen to him. While taking this secondary route, we can hear Pocahontas nearby singing Just Around the Riverbend. Upon coming around the Riverbend we see Pocahontas on the riverbank waving to us and telling us how next time we should follow her if we want to see the real sights of the river. This is then where guests unload for a new set of explorers to hop on.

Attraction Statistics

Ride Type: Canoe

Ticket: D-ticket

Duration: 3 minutes 20 seconds

Height Restriction: None

Wheelchair Accessibility: Transfer from Wheelchair or ECV to Ride Vehicle

Fastpass+: Yes

Theoretical Hourly Capacity: 1,000

Operational Hourly Capacity: 850

After exiting the attraction, you continue along this new path to what appears to be an old, abandoned log cabin left in the Appalachians. After coming closer, however, you notice that it is, in fact, a quick service restaurant themed after Johnny Appleseed. It is fairly large inside with seating capacity for almost 100 guests. In the corner is an Audio-Animatronic of an old man rocking in a rocking chair playing some quiet banjo music just for ambience. This quick service restaurant has almost every type of apple you can imagine. Whether it is a Gala, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, or something else, you name it, this place almost always has it! And with these different types of apples, there can be lots of fun treats that you can get! The common treats gotten are the Appleseed Apple Pies. You can get a slice of already made apple pie, or if you want to try out one of the more odd types of apple you can order a whole pie with your choice of apple and they will bake it fresh for you right on the spot! Here is where you can also find classic Disney candied apples with all of their fun and unique designs on them. They also have some smaller treats designed for you to just grab and continue on to the next area of this new land. These treats include Apple fritters, apple danishes, apple crisp cups, and apple turnovers.

Out of Control - Scene 7
Now outside and away from the interior of the mountain, the tracks themselves have tangled and mended off center, sending you through a series of bumps and jolts as you do a 180 banked turn against the forest trees. Now on the backside of the mountain you can look up and see lava oozing out of the sides of the mountain and smoke rising out of the top of one of the backside of the volcanic mountains which can't be seen from the front perspective of the mountain where the railroad is being built. It appears the fears have been realized, but thankfully this time, it appears to not be a major volcanic explosion. As the seismic activity begins to slow, the horses regain their composure but now the mission is to get back to base so Letterhorn can assess the damage to his inventions.

The Final Frontier - Scene 8
As you level out on ground level, you pass by some hot springs and flowing water off the sides of adjacent hills of Iron Mountain. You continue forward and are able to see the workshop and drop off point as you enter back into the interior of the mountain to the drop off point at the unload station.

Backstory
Journey to the depths of the Monument Village springs and dive down to an underwater tranquil paradise ruled by an ancient advanced civilization underneath the western American frontier.

Cibola in mythology is the fabled city of gold. In this attraction, you will venture with EAR - the Explorers Authority of Reconnaissance - who have designed submarine like vehicles to travel deep within the depths of the earth's crust to discover what lies within.

On the outskirts of Monument Village, an old legend of Cibola has made its was through oral tradition - as people in the town have witnessed odd occurrences and transport in and out of the springs throughout the years. Some people think the occurrences are coincidences or mirages, but others are convinced that Cibola is located deep within the grounds of Monument Village.

Queue and Attraction Synopsis
You meander through the outskirts of Monument Village and towards the springs where the spring lake is located and where the EAR research outpost is located, and you board the submarines to go on your journey. As you go through a waterfall of the rocks of the outer Monument Village, you dive deep down into the lake and see a glowing golden fortress in the distance. Entering closer, you have reached Cibola and can see out the windows the incredible underwater dome that encloses the city, allowing oxygen under high pressure situations. Eventually, once you enter the dome, the roof of your submarine opens up and the walls breech out so you can see the city for yourselves. Animatronics and special effects line the city streets, but as you venture further, you realize you aren't welcome in this forbidden city. The submarine quickly makes its escape and you launch up back towards the top of the lake and to safety.

The Earthquake - Scene 4

As the Iron Horse levels out and makes the right hand turn at the top of the hill, your carriage begins to swerve back and forth a little going over the uneven tracks that the Iron Horse is traveling over. Suddenly, the Iron Horse stops, and the ground begins to shake uncontrollably. A loud bang, followed by several falling rocks can be heard, and an alarm goes off in the interior of the mountain. The whistle of the Iron Horse goes off and the earthquake rotates and tilts the horse down to adapt to the tilted track and the horse begins rolling down the track and into darkness. A bit of wind and a smell of burning hits the senses of the guests.

The Ash - Scene 5

Continuing in the darkness with the burning scent around the carriages, you turn again but this time see lava evidently creeping out of the cracks caused by the earthquake. Then, a swift aftershock sends the horse down a 25 foot drop, and a coaster section begins as you maneuver around the mountain interior, speeding by work lights and additional mining tunnels throughout the work zones. The horse's whistle blows again but it seems like manual control from Letterhorn's command center has been thrown off by the seismic activity.

Wrong Turn - Scene 6

Amid the coaster section, your horse then comes to a fork in the path and winds up traveling down a mining corridor to the right hand side. This leads to another drop and then a 360 upward ascending curve, as well as another aftershock which sends a rock underneath the track upwards, pushing the guided track up and inclining the horse up and over a hill for some solid airtime for the passengers. As this moment you regain your composure after the airtime, but are then sent careening out of the interior of the mountain and outside into the untamed wilderness.

Monument Valley Restaurants and Shops

In the center of town in Monument Village, you can find a variety of restaurants and shops that compliment the E-ticket attractions of the land including...

Davy Crockett Alamo Supplies
Navajo Market (Similar to Sunset Ranch)
Thunderbird Trading Post
Peacos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café
Cow Canyon Gallery

Conclusion
On behalf of of the cast of Marvel Studios - thank you for visiting Nature's Wonderland. We hope to see y'all again soon!

Glacier Park - Mike Fink Keelboats

After racing Davy Crockett on Rivers of America, Mike Fink retired his Keelboats near the Yellowstone. These three-person Keelboats travels around the rocky waters, and this is no typical course. You'll spin around and twirl off in unpredictable directions. Who knows where you'll end up!