El Rio del Tiempo ("The River of Time") was a

dark ride A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live special effects, special e ...

housed within the pyramid-shaped Mexico pavilion, in

EPCOT Center Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unre ...

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake, Florida, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando ...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida Lake Buena Vista () is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being the mailing address for Walt Disney World—although almost all of the resort facilities, including all four theme parks, are physically located i ...

. The ride carried passengers on a slow boat ride through various scenes from Mexico's history. The scenes were filled with doll-sized

Audio-Animatronic Audio-Animatronics (also known as simply Animatronics, and sometimes shortened to AAs) is the registered trademark for a form of robotics animation created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequent ...

figures clad in authentic folk clothing, singing, dancing and playing music.

Synopsis

The ride began on a quiet river under an evening sky. It passed a

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

and continued on to scenes of native inhabitants. The ride continued with scenes of swimming, jumping into the ocean and relaxing at a bar. It would pass a Mexican shop, where merchants talked directly to the riders and tried to bargain with them. The finale was a fireworks filled night sky in modern-day

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, with oversized marionettes dancing in a carousel.

Closure

El Rio del Tiempo closed on January 2, 2007 and was updated into a new ride titled Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros in April 2007. The updated ride is based on the characters from the 1944 Disney film ''

The Three Caballeros ''The Three Caballeros'' is a 1944 American live-action/animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the United States on ...

'', including

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

, Jose Carioca and

Panchito Pistoles Panchito Pistoles is a cartoon character, cartoon anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic rooster created by Fred Moore (animator), Fred Moore. He first appeared in the 1944 Disney film ''The Three Caballeros'' with his friends Donald Duck and José Ca ...

. The attraction's new story has Jose and Panchito searching for Donald across Mexico. It features much of the same settings as El Rio del Tiempo, and is located in the same place.

References

External links

Walt Disney World Resort - Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Del Tiempo Amusement rides introduced in 1982 Amusement rides that closed in 2007 Former Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions Epcot Walt Disney Parks and Resorts gentle boat rides Water rides Audio-Animatronic attractions 1982 establishments in Florida 2007 disestablishments in Florida

Synopsis

Closure

See also

References

External links