"It all started with a daddy with two daughters wondering where he could take them where he could have a little fun with them too." - Walt Disney
Disney theme parks, including Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom are more wonder-filled than any other vacation destination on the planet. This magical place is full of buried treasures, secret adventures, and subtle pleasures that you may never discover unless you have a knowledgeable guide showing you the way. TheMousePlace will be your guide. Whether you're visiting the Kingdom for the first or fiftieth time, this tour will help you experience the Disney magic to its fullest.
Back when Walt was sill around, he enjoyed taking special visitors through the park and telling them stories, pointing out things thet may have may never noticed, and making the park's magic come alive. We're recreated that type of tour here, as if Uncle Walt is taking you on a tour of his magical place. You'll learn the stories behind every land and every ride and you'll find treasures that most visitors rarely notice -- like where to find a talking trashcan, how to find Hidden Mickeys, what sounds to listen for, and what smells to sniff out.
"Here's Walt now... Oh, Hi, Uncle Walt: I was just telling our visitors about the tour."
"Well, we're glad you came to this happy place, and if you'll just follow me, I'll introduce you to a place where magic still lives. Come this way..."
Disneyland Entrance
You know, when I imagined the DisneyLand and the Magic Kingdom we had in mind something greater than just an amusement park. The dream began in the 1940s when I took my two young daughters, Diane and Sharon, to several local amusement parks. What I found in these parks was not to my liking. Parents turned their children over to ride operators who smoked cigars and wore torn tee shirts. The park grounds were littered with popcorn and trash and the employees were rude and unprofessional. One Saturday afternoon as I sat on a bench watching my daughters ride a carousel, I started to imagine a cleaner park where parents could join their children on rides, where employees were friendly, and where the grounds were beautiful and landscaped. In 1948, when the Disney Studios became so popular that fans begged us to provide tours, I put my idea to build a park into action.
In 1948 I drew up plans to create my own amusement park across the street from Disney Studios - a Mickey Mouse Park. It wouldn't be like the other parks. Instead, it would be clean and inviting to both children and adults. Eleven acres of land was purchased on Riverside Drive across from the studios, but the Burbank city fathers couldn't understand what we were trying to do, and they didn't want another filthy amusement park within their city limits. So, I dropped the plans for the Mickey Mouse Park but I didn't give up on the idea. In the next few years, I visited attractions all over the world and took notes on features I liked the best. I sent artists to my favorite locations and had them sketch buildings, train stations, and street scenes. Other artists were sent to parks to study crowd management. What we were donig was building expertise that would enable our dream for a new and unique type of park to come true.
The break came in 1953, when the Disney Company struck a deal with ABC to produce a television show. This arrangement provided us with the backing we needed to build DisneyLand. After researching numerous possible locations, we decided to buy property and build DisneyLand on the site of an old orange grove in Anaheim, California. Most of the world just couldn't understand our concept. I remember that, "Almost everyone warned us that Disneyland would be a Hollywood spectacular -- a spectacular failure. But they were thinking about an amusement park, and we believed in our idea -- a family park where parents and children could have fun -- together."
Disneyland Band at Morning Opening
We did get the financing, and built DisneyLand. Using the imagination of every person on the Disney payroll, we spread pixie dust into very nook and cranny of the park. Now if you'll hop into my Magic Moble, we'll go into the park and take a look around. Buckle up. Keep your feet and hands in your vehicle at all times. Think of a magical thing, it's the same as having wings. Any little thought will do. It's easy if you try.
"I don't want people to see the world they live in while they're in the Park. I want them to feel they're in another world."
As an animator, I'd worked for years learning how to tell stories on film. So naturally, when we began to envision the park, we saw it as an extension of the movie-telling art-form. However, this would be no "B" grade movie. This park would be a blockbuster three-dimensional movie, complete with compelling stories, exotic locations, heroes, villains, surprises, and happy endings. We envisioned his park as having an opening scene followed by a series of adventures, like in the flow of a movie. However, unlike a conventional movie where the story is told from the beginning to the end, at this park, visitors choose to participate in any or all of the stories, and in any order. Although they are connected, each story contains its own particular music, set design, storyline, and characters. Just as each scene in a movie is carefully scripted and directed, our team of creators (called Imagineers) designed the locations and surroundings in this park to bring his adventures alive.
Every brick, every color, every sound and smell is designed to put you into the middle of a story that is full of fun, comedy, drama, wonder, and excitement. But the small details are not the only concerns for the park's designers. The canvas for these artists stretches over several hundred acres. Magically, the scenes from every adventure are neatly placed into an all-encompassing theme that draws visitors into the realm of believable fantasy. Are your ready to see if for yourself. As Mickey Mouse woudl say, "Eveyone neat and pretty? Then on with the show..."
The movie is about to roll . . . The anticipation begins even before the opening credits appear. You experience a taste of the magic as you approach from the parking lot, bus terminal, boat dock, or monorail station. The landscaping is luscious, the streets are clean, and the atmosphere is alive with music and expectation. And you're still outside the park! What you're seeing is a preview of coming attractions. We intentionally secluded the park from the outside world. In DisneyLand we used a berm - a circle of hills protecting the visitor inside the park from the freeway traffic and other urban sights and sounds. In the Florida park, we acquired thousands of acres of land so we could build our park far away from urban influences, and so we could more carefully control the approach. At either park, the transition from the outside world into the world of magic helps you leave the worries of the real world behind. Our hope is that for a few hours you can enjoy a physical as well as intellectual vacation from everyday life.
Posters of coming attractions
Go ahead. Buy into our idea. Put reality aside for a while. Leave your emails, deadlines, traffic, and worries behind and pass through the ticket gate. For those who are visiting for the first time, you might expect to see a typical amusement park's busy conglomeration of roller coasters and flashing neon signs waiting for you. Instead we present you with a landscaped and flower lined walkway leading to a tunnel. (Notice the large floral Mickey on the hillside.) As you walk through the tunnel, look at the walls. Along this walkway are large colorful posters announcing the lands and rides that await inside. We planned for this to be like a movie house with its posters enticing you to come in to see the current line-up of movies. Can you see yet what we're trying to do -- to put you into a movie. To make you a part. Your senses are being prepared for the show that is about to come. Take a close look at the walkway. It's red -- reminiscent of the red carpets placed in front of Hollywood theaters for grand openings. Wow, you think, I'm entering something special.
Fun Fact: Kodak helped select the shade of red used on the streets to create a pleasant background for family photography.
Click here to continue to part 2...
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Create a better world: Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
©Alan C. Elliott, 2007
