It’s a proposition sure to widen to eyes of any little tyke with nautical aspirations, an opportunity to navigate their very own motorboat, and skillfully navigate through treacherous boulders and hairpin turns with the skill of a seasoned sailor.

Disneyland’s Motorboat Cruise opened in 1957, sandwiched between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and provided countless exciting voyages to young skippers anxious to take control of their own aquatic vessel. Guests would travel through the murky green water, along a course that provided a number of obstacles that were to be avoided, lest you risk sinking your boat. The murkiness of the water also helped to hide a little secret, one that, if revealed would shatter the fantasies of young aquatic voyagers everywhere: the boats were on a track and (gasp!), you didn’t actually steer them. Of course, any parent that chose to reveal this information risked alienation certainly as severe as if they had questioned the authenticity of Santa Claus. Luckily, parents managed to skillfully conceal this bit of heartbreaking knowledge. Most young riders were oblivious until later in life, when many of their childhood illusions were similarly shattered and the world became a far less magical place.

An attempt was made in 1991 to spruce up the Motorboat Cruise, which had begun to show its age, and the lagoon was transformed with little imagination into the short-lived “Gummi Glen”, home of the semi-popular Gummi Bears, based on a Disney children’s show at the time. Cruisers could now watch in awe as Bears stood on the shoreline and made “gummi juice". (Oh, can't you just feel the excitement?) Regrettably, a few years later, when “Mickey’s ToonTown” opened nearby in 1993, even the Gummi Bears couldn’t save the attraction that had delighted millions of children for over thirty years. The operating budget was reportedly transferred to the newly built land and the Motorboat Cruise unfortunately closed, leaving an abandoned lagoon that has yet to be given new life.

If you listen carefully, you might still be able to hear the rumbling engines and the squeals of delight that once echoed through the surrounding trees and made the dream of driving a motorboat a reality to countless future sailors, eager to conquer the high seas and prove their nautical skills to anyone who happened to be watching.