Movie Musings: Disney and More

Disneyland’s 65th

“To all who come to this happy place: Welcome! Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” These were Walt Disney’s words when he dedicated Disneyland on its opening day, July 17th, 1955. In honor of Disneyland’s 65th anniversary on July 17th, 2020, I felt this blog ought to explore the legacy of Disneyland and what makes it so special. 

Walt had originally conceived the idea for Disneyland as early as the late 1930s. Not long after he successfully got his movie studio off the ground, he began to receive letters from people that acknowledged how badly they wanted to visit his studio and meet their favorite Disney character. When Walt took occasionally took days off from work to spend time with his family, he would take his two daughters, Diane Disney Miller and Sharon Mae Disney, to a carousel in Griffith Park in L.A. As he watched his daughters ride the carousel, he felt discouraged by the fact that the carousel was something that was only kid-oriented and there were no amusement parks that could be fun for both kids and adults. In one of the last interviews of his life, he said, “As I’d sit there while they rode the merry-go-round and did all these things, I’d sit on the bench eating peanuts, I felt that there should be something built, some kind of amusement enterprise built where the parents and the children could have fun together,” he said in one of the last interviews of his life.

When Disney shared this idea with his older brother, Roy, Roy Disney believed it was impossible, which was his typical reaction to most of his younger brother’s ideas. In the documentary Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) it is acknowledged that Roy “thought the studios stockholders wouldn’t think it made sense for a film company to go into the amusement park business,” because he oversaw all of the studios financial details. Prior to the 1950s, the studio had been on the verge of having to shut down permanently, but got back up on its feet thanks to the success of Cinderella (1950), followed by Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Sleeping Beauty (1959) were in production at the studio at this time, and the studio had successfully transitioned into producing live-action films such as Treasure Island (1950), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and the True-Life Adventure Series (1948-1960).  

Walt Disney never, ever gave up on what he believed to be a great idea. On December 16th, 1952, he founded WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises, which today is known as Walt Disney Imagineering. The new entity would be the primary developers/constructers of Disneyland. The people at WED took inspiration for Disneyland from Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark built in 1843, along with the Children’s Fairyland Park which was built in Oakland, California in 1950. It took a very long time for them to decide where the park would be built. One of the sites they considered by the Santa Ana Freeway in Southern California, but Walt himself chose the first site they had considered: in Anaheim, which south of Los Angeles. 

He knew right from the get-go that building this park was going to cost a great deal of money, and while he did have enough money in his pocket to purchase land for the park, he didn’t have enough to build it. In December of 1950, Walt starred in his very first television special entitled “One Hour in Wonderland,” which aired on the NBC network, and he later felt that he could use television to spark people’s interest in Disneyland. That being the case, he made an arrangement with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network to be the host of a documentary show called Disneyland (1955) in order to share the idea of the theme park in people’s homes and if the show was a hit, the network would finance his park. Needless to say, “Disneyland,” the television show was a huge hit, and it also became one of the very first television shows ever to be filmed in color! Around the time that “Disneyland” the show aired on television, the original Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959) and the Davy Crockett series (1954-1956) aired on television as well.

When the opening date finally came, there was yet another television special on ABC, emceed by Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan, each of whom were friends with Walt. The park was only open to members of the press and VIPs on the 17th, but it was to open to the public on the 18th. The opening date unfortunately was grueling and hectic for the press because the weather was over 110 degrees, drinking fountains were left dry due to a plumbers strike, roads nearby were jammed and 28,000 guests showed up despite the fact that only 11,000 had been invited. So, Disneyland was poorly reviewed by the press, but to make it up to them, Walt invited them back for the public opening date the next day to experience the “true Disneyland,” and Walt also gave a party for each of them at the Disneyland Hotel.

Despite several problems on opening day, Disneyland was an extraordinary success! From Adventureland to Fantasyland to Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square, people were blown away by everything. Although they weren’t available opening day, Walt himself, favored the Carousel of Progress which was an attraction about a family that experiences the changing of time and technology which fascinated Walt all throughout his life. He also held high regard for the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction because it originally was the largest audio-animatronic attraction at the time. In the six-and-a-half decades since Disneyland opened, millions and millions of guests have made magical memories that have lasted all their lives. It is a wonderful place because it inspires all who attend to look around and relish in the many wonders and beauties of life itself. It also inspires all who visit to hold onto their childish imagination because Walt once said “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there as imagination left in the world.” 

Do you have any favorite Disneyland memories? My all-time favorite memory of Disneyland is when I first walked-through the Sleeping Beauty Castle because “Sleeping Beauty,” is one of my favorite Disney movies.