Sailing Ship Columbia
| Sailing Ship Columbia | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park |
| Land / area | Frontierland (Disneyland) |
| Type | Sailing ship ride |
| Opened | June 14, 1958 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering; Joe Fowler; Ray Wallace
|
| Status | Operating |
The Sailing Ship Columbia is a full-scale sailing ship attraction in Frontierland (Disneyland) at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. A replica of Columbia Rediviva, the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, the three-masted vessel carries guests on a voyage around the Rivers of America (Disneyland). By night, it also takes a second role in the park's entertainment, appearing as a pirate ship in Fantasmic!
History
By the mid-1950s Walt Disney wanted more traffic on the Rivers of America to keep the Mark Twain Riverboat company and make the frontier waterfront feel alive. He asked Joe Fowler — Disneyland's construction supervisor and a retired United States Navy admiral — to propose a historically significant vessel. Fowler recommended Columbia Rediviva, the American merchant ship that had sailed from Boston in 1787 and returned in 1790 as the first American vessel to complete a circumnavigation, a voyage on which it also gave its name to the Columbia River.
No complete plans of the original ship survived, and only a single contemporary illustration was available. Designer Ray Wallace and the WED Enterprises team worked from research material including Library of Congress sources, adapting plans of a comparable three-masted ship of the period to produce the design. Like the Mark Twain before it, the ship was built in sections at Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California. True to maritime tradition, Walt Disney placed silver dollars beneath each of its three masts during construction.
The Columbia was christened on June 4, 1958, with Fowler dressed as an eighteenth-century captain and the Mouseketeers serving as his crew for the ceremony. It opened to guests on June 14, 1958. A below-decks museum was added in 1964, recreating the cramped quarters in which an eighteenth-century crew lived and worked. After an extended refurbishment of the river in 2016–2017, the ship reopened with the Rivers of America (Disneyland) on July 29, 2017.
Experience
Guests board from the Frontierland dock shared with the river's other large vessels, near New Orleans Square. The Columbia is about 110 feet long, and its mainmast rises about 84 feet above the water, making it one of the tallest structures on the park's west side and a landmark visible from the Disneyland Railroad and much of Frontierland.
The voyage lasts about twelve minutes and follows the same circuit as the Mark Twain around Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. Unlike the riverboat, the sailing ship invites exploration while under way: guests can walk the main deck among the rigging, cannons and ship's wheel, and descend below deck to the museum area, where bunks, a galley and crew quarters illustrate life aboard a merchant vessel of the 1780s. A narration describes the original Columbia Rediviva and its historic voyage as the scenery of the Rivers of America (Disneyland) — settlements, wildlife and the island — passes by. The ship does not sail under canvas; it follows the river's submerged guide system, its sails serving as dressing, and shares the water with the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes and island rafts.
After dark the vessel is transformed for Fantasmic!, the nighttime spectacular staged on the river. The Columbia appears in the show as a pirate ship, crewed by performers in a staged battle sequence, before the Mark Twain closes the performance carrying a large cast of characters.
See also
- Rivers of America (Disneyland)
- Mark Twain Riverboat
- Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes
- Frontierland (Disneyland)