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"This is Frontierland...

"Where the rivers still run free and anyone's dream can turn to gold!"

Frontierland, Frontierland Depot! Alight here for Cottonwood Creek Ranch, Big Thunder Mountain Mining co., Thunder Mesa and the natural beauties of the Rivers of the Far West!

If you're joining a railroad train here, be sure to check the departures board for the right engine. The gold rush of nearby Thunder Mesa may have slowed in recent times, but there's still plenty of express trains steaming through these parts! From the Golden State Coastliner to the Disneyland Hotel Express, the railroads have unlocked new destinations and trade routes across the vast expanses of land.

Frontierland Depot also serves as a watering and refueling location for the four, hard-worked Disneyland Railroad engines, having just steamed right through the Grand Canyon and about to enter the perilous jungles of Adventureland. The depot features a trademark water tower along with a siding track, the only one on the entire route.

Fun Facts

Did you know... Frontierland Depot was actually built with a plan to move it again later?  One of the options for the future of the Cottonwood Creek Ranch area at the opening of the park in 1992 was a Splash Mountain-style attraction, with one blueprint in particular placing the water-based attraction's drop at the exact site of the current station. The station would be saved, however, simply moved further North up the line, onto the current Critter Corral area.

Though not featured at Frontierland Depot in Paris, the original station building in Disneyland California features a tapping telegraph, constantly spelling out the words of Walt Disney's July 17th 1955 opening day speech - "To all who come to this happy place, welcome."

The railroads of the United States of America were a key factor in shaping its growth and development, bringing in new citizens and trade to quiet areas such as Main Street USA and providing a real "rush" for the gold rush, bringing folks in and transporting their valuable gold away. The first transcontinental railroad in North America, the Union Pacific, joined together from East Coast to West Coast in 1869 at Promontory Summet, Utah.  The departures board at Frontierland Depot reflects this historic acheivement, proudly listing departures to both coasts from the humble frontier landscape.

History

Frontierland Depot is an almost exact replica of the famous Frontierland Railroad Station building at the original Disneyland in California. Though the building still remains in California, it was superseded in 1966 by a new railroad station for New Orleans Square, which had then taken over the area formerly a part of Frontierland. The station building was unique in that it was situated across the tracks from the park, and remains there as an ornamental feature with New Orleans Square Station built on the inner side.

Incidentally, the original Frontierland Depot was based on Ward Kimball's historic Grizzly Flats depot. Ward Kimball (1914-2002) was an Academy Award-winning animator for the Walt Disney Studios, sharing Walt's passion for railways with his own 184mm-guage 'Carolwood Pacific' "backyard" railway set in three acres, one of the key inspirations for Walt's own railroad at Disneyland.

Frontierland Depot at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened with the park in 1972, loosely based on the Disneyland original, only to later close in 1990 as construction for Splash Mountain (including a new, integrated railroad station) took over the area.

From 1999 to April 2007, Disneyland Railroad was "presented by" McDonalds, with signage at stations and special announcements on-board highlighting the partnership.  When the contract ended, Frontierland Depot received both a new entrance sign (with enlarged text to fill the space left) and new signage on the platform side, here with the elevation and population (crossed out once and re-written) of Thunder Mesa filling the partner's previous space.