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Any guests who frequent Walt Disney World Resort in Florida have heard the rumor behind the streak of brown pavement that runs along the stretch of Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square.
Credit: Disney
Guests who have visited only a few times may have heard about the “brown river,” as well, as it has become a bit of a Disney World tour fun fact. But is this brown pavement really meant to simulate colonial sewage? Or is there a much less gross explanation?
Co-host of the Retro WDW Podcast, How Bowers, took a chance to explain the whole truth on a Twitter thread discussing this feature of Walt Disney World.
Apparently, in the extensive concept art for Liberty Square, one thing was persistent: cobblestone roads. “By the time of the American Revolution, cobblestone and other kinds of paved roads were very common in American Cities.”
Credit: Disney Concept Art, How Bowers/ Twitter
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The gossip behind the “poop river” of Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square is based on the idea that, in American history, colonists would fill streets with excrement. I mean, Disney is all about authenticity and accuracy, right? But the story doesn’t quite stop there.
According to Bowers, the ‘brown river’ actually didn’t appear in the theme park until the 2000s, after the designer’s commitment to cobblestone proved overall impractical for crowds of guests. He shares a 1992 image where the cobblestone is replaced by brick.
Bowers notes that “cobblestone would have been a nightmare for people in wheelchairs and kids in strollers.” It would be a feat for daily parade floats as well!
The remaining path of cobblestone was eventually replaced with brown cement, though Bowers admits he’s not privy to the reasoning behind this. Was the Magic Kingdom’s ‘river of poop’ just a feature of “budget maintenance?”
Certainly, Disney World wouldn’t sacrifice the authenticity of cobblestone, right? Guests’ experiences come first.
Credit: Retro WDW, How Bowers/ Twitter
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This is what retired Imagineer and Liberty Square’s design developer, Donald Holmquist, had to say:
Oddly enough, I was the design developer for Liberty Square and can give [you] the straight poop! The cobblestone insert in the walking pathway gives lip service to what was common in the day. It would have been much more expensive to completely cover the entire pathway [in] cobblestone, and as you said, it would have been a nightmare for wheelchairs, strollers, etc. It was never considered to be thought of as part of a sewer system (not with Disney’s “good show-bad show” design criteria.) Interesting observation, however.
Credit: Disney
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THEN Bower was contacted by an “anonymous present-day Imagineer” who confirmed the Magic Kingdom brown trail in Liberty Square in fact “WAS intended to be a subtle nod to colonial sewage.”
It was supposedly a small design inside joke of sorts and was never expected to become widely known. But nonetheless, the Walt Disney World poop river was supposedly intentional!
That’s the story straight from Disney Imagineers! And now, my friends, you KNOW. Go forth and enjoy the sanitized version of colonial America at Walt Disney World’s Liberty Square in its Magic Kingdom theme park.
