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Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes | |
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Disneyland | |
Area | Frontierland (1956–1972) Bear Country (1972–1988) Critter Country (1988–2024) Bayou Country (2024–present) |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | July 4, 1956 |
Magic Kingdom | |
Area | Frontierland |
Status | Removed |
Opening date | October 1, 1971 |
Closing date | 1994 |
Tokyo Disneyland | |
Name | Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes |
Area | Critter Country |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | April 15, 1983 |
Disneyland Park (Paris) | |
Area | Frontierland |
Status | Removed |
Opening date | April 12, 1992 |
Closing date | 1994 |
Shanghai Disneyland | |
Name | Explorer Canoes [1] 探险家独木舟 |
Area | Treasure Cove |
Status | Operating |
Soft opening date | May 7, 2016 |
Opening date | June 16, 2016 |
Ride statistics | |
Attraction type | Free-floating canoe |
Vehicle type | Canoe |
Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes is a free-floating canoe experience at several Disney theme parks. The oldest of the rides is located at the Disneyland park in Anaheim, California. Boarding from the park's Bayou Country section, up to twenty visitors paddle a canoe around the Rivers of America, accompanied by two guides. This is the only Disneyland attraction that is powered by park visitors.
The attraction originally opened as Indian War Canoes on July 4, 1956 as part of Frontierland’s Indian Village expansion. It also operates under the name of Beaver Brother's Explorer Canoes at Tokyo Disneyland and operated at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World and at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris. At Shanghai Disneyland, the ride is simply named Explorer Canoes.
At the original Disneyland version of the attraction, riders embark and disembark from a small boat dock next to the Hungry Bear restaurant in the Bayou Country section of the park. Each 35-foot-long (11 m) fiberglass canoe holds twenty guests, two per row. Each canoe has two guides dressed as frontierspeople at the bow and stern. These guides are referred to as the helmsman, bowman, and sternman.
Riders/rowers are given a short lesson on how to paddle the canoe to power the boat properly after leaving the dock. Small children are required to wear life jackets. Life jackets are also available for adults who cannot swim in the event the boat ever capsizes. As the canoe travels 2,400 feet (730 m) around Tom Sawyer Island, located in the center of the man-made river, the guides point out the sights along the way, such as a settler's cabin and the Indian chief on horseback. The ride's length depends upon how fast the paddlers are and how much other traffic is on the river.
Lacking tracks or a predetermined path to follow, they typically travel much faster than the large boats, like the Mark Twain Riverboat and the Sailing Ship Columbia which ride along submerged tracks and return by the last bend of the upcoming Tiana's Bayou Adventure. The attraction operates year-round on weekends and includes weekdays during the park's peak seasons. The canoes generally close at dusk as to prepare the Rivers of America for any night water shows such as Fantasmic!.
It is one of only two attractions in Disneyland to be in three different lands without ever being moved. Originally called Indian War Canoes, the attraction opened on July 4, 1956, as part of Frontierland's Indian Village expansion, with real American Indian guides aboard every canoe. Guests used a "D ticket" to ride the attraction. The Indian War Canoes closed with Indian Village in 1971 but reopened on May 19 as Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, inspired by the Davy Crockett miniseries, with the guides now wearing coonskin caps.
In 1972 it became a part of Bear Country, home of Country Bear Jamboree (1972–2001). The area was later renamed Critter Country in 1988.
In addition to the Explorer Canoes, Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square operated the Mike Fink Keel Boats until 1997. This attraction was based on the miniseries episode "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race".
On January 11, 2016, the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes, along with the other attractions and shows along the Rivers of America, temporarily closed for the construction of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. [2] The attraction reopened on July 29, 2017. [3] [4]
In November 2024, Critter Country was renamed Bayou Country. [5]
Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes debuted in Frontierland on opening day at Walt Disney World. A C ticket was required for guests to board the 35-foot (11 m) long canoes from a dock located to the north of the Tom Sawyer Island raft launch and travel along the same path as other watercraft on the Rivers of America. The attraction closed in 1994.
A canoe attraction opened in Tokyo Disneyland under the name of Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes along the Rivers of America in the theme park's Westernland. It was renamed Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes in 1992 with the opening of Critter Country.
An Indian Canoes canoe ride opened with Euro Disneyland on April 12, 1992. It also closed in 1994.
This attraction is known as Bilge Rat Bill's Explorer Canoes. Departing from Dead Man's Landing, the canoes travel through Treasure Cove's lagoon and Adventure Isle's Q'olari River.
Pirates of the Caribbean is a dark ride at Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris.
Fantasmic! is a nighttime show at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The show formerly operated at Tokyo DisneySea. It features fireworks, characters, live actors, water effects, pyrotechnics, lasers, music, audio-animatronics, searchlights, decorated boat floats, and mist screen projections. The narrative of Fantasmic! is a voyage through Mickey Mouse's imagination that culminates in a battle against the Disney Villains.
Splash Mountain is a log flume ride at Tokyo Disneyland. Other versions, which have since been rethemed, were formerly located at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. The attraction is based on the animated sequences of Disney's 1946 film Song of the South. The ride experience begins with an outdoor float-through that leads to indoor dark ride segments, with a climactic steep drop followed by an indoor finale. The drop is 52.5 feet.
Bayou Country is one of the lands at Disneyland Park. There is a similar land at Tokyo Disneyland called Critter Country. At Disneyland Park it opened in 1972 as Bear Country, with the Country Bear Jamboree (1972–2001) as its centerpiece. In 1988 it was renamed Critter Country, and in 2024 it was renamed Bayou Country to coincide with the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
Frontierland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Disneyland-style parks run by Disney around the world. Themed to the American frontier of the 19th century, Frontierlands are home to cowboys and pioneers, saloons, red rock buttes and gold rushes along with some influence from American history, North America in general and Latin America. It is named Westernland at Tokyo Disneyland and Grizzly Gulch at Hong Kong Disneyland.
The Rivers of America is the artificial river found in the Frontierland areas of Disneyland-style Disney theme parks around the world. The first river was built in Disneyland when the park opened in 1955. It surrounds Tom Sawyer Island, which guests reach by raft from Frontierland. Additionally, there are other water-based vehicles on the river. The various sights along the Rivers include a Native American tribe, a burning cabin, and audio-animatronic wildlife.
Jungle Cruise, formally named Jungle River Cruise, is a riverboat amusement ride located in the Adventureland themed section at various Disney theme parks worldwide. The attraction is a simulated riverboat cruise that travels along a waterway using a concealed guidance system through areas with Asian, African, and South American themes. Park guests board replica steam launches from a 1930s British explorers' lodge, and Audio-Animatronic exotic animals are displayed throughout the ride. A live Disney cast member acts as a tour guide and boat skipper that loosely follows a rehearsed script, providing passengers with a comedic narrative.
Mike Fink Keel Boats were small boats that navigated the Rivers of America at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a dark ride based upon the 1977 film of the same name, itself based on the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. The attraction exists in slightly different forms at the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland Park.
The Disney riverboats are paddle steamer watercraft attraction ride vehicles operating on a track on a series of attractions located at Disney theme parks around the world.
The Sailing Ship Columbia, located at the Disneyland park in Anaheim, California, is a full-scale replica of Columbia Rediviva, the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. The Columbia has operated in the park for more than fifty years. Passengers of the ship take a 12-minute trip around the Rivers of America. At night, the Columbia plays the role of a pirate ship in riverfront performances of the park's nighttime show, Fantasmic!
Tom Sawyer Island is an artificial island surrounded by the Rivers of America at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. It contains structures and caves with references to Mark Twain characters from the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and provides interactive, climbing, and scenic opportunities. At Disneyland in 2007, the attraction was rethemed and expanded as Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, adding references to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
Disneyland is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, and opened on July 17, 1955.
Davy Crockett was a five-part serial which aired on ABC from 1954–1955 in one-hour episodes, on the Disneyland series. The series starred Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his friend, George Russell. The first three and last two episodes were respectively edited into the theatrical films Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956). This series and film are known for the catchy theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".
Critter Country is one of the lands at Tokyo Disneyland. There was also a version of the land formerly at Disneyland Park. At Disneyland Park it opened in 1972 as Bear Country, with the Country Bear Jamboree (1972–2001) as its centerpiece. In 1988 it was renamed Critter Country, and in 2024 it was renamed Bayou Country.