diff --git a/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md b/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
index 2d4864f6facc91bd3408734aad4c3d6728eb9470..73d4837e46528300de9066206c514a3058dce117 100644
--- a/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ## Rails 4.0.0 (unreleased) ##
 
+*   Deprecate `Date#to_time_in_current_zone` and add `Date#in_time_zone`. *Andrew White*
+
 *   Add `String#in_time_zone` method to convert a string to an ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone. *Andrew White*
 
 *   Deprecate `ActiveSupport::BasicObject` in favor of `ActiveSupport::ProxyObject`.
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/calculations.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/calculations.rb
index d76eba4de77b89fc358e124be688b06b9e2663df..421aa12100f184d2e81312c81092330eb17440a6 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/calculations.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/calculations.rb
@@ -53,19 +53,19 @@ def current
   # Converts Date to a Time (or DateTime if necessary) with the time portion set to the beginning of the day (0:00)
   # and then subtracts the specified number of seconds.
   def ago(seconds)
-    to_time_in_current_zone.since(-seconds)
+    in_time_zone.since(-seconds)
   end
 
   # Converts Date to a Time (or DateTime if necessary) with the time portion set to the beginning of the day (0:00)
   # and then adds the specified number of seconds
   def since(seconds)
-    to_time_in_current_zone.since(seconds)
+    in_time_zone.since(seconds)
   end
   alias :in :since
 
   # Converts Date to a Time (or DateTime if necessary) with the time portion set to the beginning of the day (0:00)
   def beginning_of_day
-    to_time_in_current_zone
+    in_time_zone
   end
   alias :midnight :beginning_of_day
   alias :at_midnight :beginning_of_day
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def beginning_of_day
 
   # Converts Date to a Time (or DateTime if necessary) with the time portion set to the end of the day (23:59:59)
   def end_of_day
-    to_time_in_current_zone.end_of_day
+    in_time_zone.end_of_day
   end
   alias :at_end_of_day :end_of_day
 
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/conversions.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/conversions.rb
index 9120b0ba4937952234bf9aa0f49b45e890d9ded4..d49d427d8028f7221796a3ab210c0440ab34e0bb 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/conversions.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/conversions.rb
@@ -79,6 +79,6 @@ def to_time(form = :local)
   end
 
   def xmlschema
-    to_time_in_current_zone.xmlschema
+    in_time_zone.xmlschema
   end
 end
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/zones.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/zones.rb
index c1b3934722bd458437e9de07cd954077652f080c..b4548671bf12567f6397e43004696d2e50efe1ed 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/zones.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date/zones.rb
@@ -2,14 +2,36 @@
 require 'active_support/core_ext/time/zones'
 
 class Date
+  # *DEPRECATED*: Use +Date#in_time_zone+ instead.
+  #
   # Converts Date to a TimeWithZone in the current zone if <tt>Time.zone</tt> or
   # <tt>Time.zone_default</tt> is set, otherwise converts Date to a Time via
   # Date#to_time.
   def to_time_in_current_zone
+    ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn 'Date#to_time_in_current_zone is deprecated. Use Date#in_time_zone instead', caller
+
     if ::Time.zone
       ::Time.zone.local(year, month, day)
     else
       to_time
     end
   end
+
+  # Converts Date to a TimeWithZone in the current zone if Time.zone or Time.zone_default
+  # is set, otherwise converts Date to a Time via Date#to_time
+  #
+  #   Time.zone = 'Hawaii'         # => 'Hawaii'
+  #   Date.new(2000).in_time_zone  # => Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 HST -10:00
+  #
+  # You can also pass in a TimeZone instance or string that identifies a TimeZone as an argument,
+  # and the conversion will be based on that zone instead of <tt>Time.zone</tt>.
+  #
+  #   Date.new(2000).in_time_zone('Alaska')  # => Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 AKST -09:00
+  def in_time_zone(zone = ::Time.zone)
+    if zone
+      ::Time.find_zone!(zone).local(year, month, day)
+    else
+      to_time
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/activesupport/test/core_ext/date_ext_test.rb b/activesupport/test/core_ext/date_ext_test.rb
index 7ae1f67785be7b9e8ba668151002c056c611d42c..278ee96796ce31a7fd70de84618f65ffdfb1a982 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/core_ext/date_ext_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/core_ext/date_ext_test.rb
@@ -354,3 +354,11 @@ def test_can_freeze_twice
     end
   end
 end
+
+class DateExtConversionsTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  def test_to_time_in_current_zone_is_deprecated
+    assert_deprecated(/to_time_in_current_zone/) do
+      Date.new(2012,6,7).to_time_in_current_zone
+    end
+  end
+end