For all those who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here, age relives memories of the past and youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, dreams and the harsh reality that created America, with the hope that she would be a source of joy and inspiration to the world. - Walter E. Disney, July 17, 1955
The opening day of Disneyland in 1955
And though Walt Disney already be famous for his films at the time, the opening of Disneyland has completely changed the history of the company, including the expansion to Walt Disney World a few years later. And if you are like me and like to know the history and behind the scenes of Disney, still here with me that the story is good!
How everything started
Walt Disney used to take her children to amusement parks when they were little. In these parks, the children went to the attractions and parents waited outside. On one of the occasions when his daughters were playing in Griffith Park Carousel in Los Angeles, Walt Disney had the idea "would be more interesting to a park where the whole family could have fun together?"
Griffith Park bench where Walt Disney got the idea of Disneyland. Today is esposto at Disneyland
And this idea did not go over the head of Walt Disney, who began to look for ways to make the project viable - at first called Mickey Mouse Park. Thus, he managed to make a partnership with the American TV station ABC, would help finance the construction of the park in exchange for a weekly program on Sundays, presented by Walt Disney called Disneyland.
This partnership strategy was brilliant, because in addition to getting funding for your project, Walt Disney could still advertise your future park every Sunday morning, reaching millions of Americans around the whole country.
The opening day of the disaster
On Sunday, July 17, 1955 took place the opening of Disneyland for journalists and guests, which was broadcast live on ABC and was a disaster. Although only 11,000 tickets have been distributed to the guests, over 30,000 people showed up at the park, getting to use fake tickets.
Walt Disney and Disneyland project. Photo: Disney Wikia
Besides the super unexpected stocking, several other factors contributed to the opening day of the disaster, which later became known among Disney executives as "Black Sunday" (Black Sunday).
For starters, Disney had to choose between having the drinking fountains or bathrooms at the park running. Obviously they chose the bathrooms and it had no water cooler water. That the height of summer, in 38 degree heat, above normal in the region. Furthermore, the asphalt which had been placed in the morning, was not dry enough. Thus, women's heels sank in the asphalt (remember we're talking about the 50s, that is, the vast majority of women walked with a little jump at the time).
Map of Disneyland 1955. Photo: Disney Wikia
After the disaster of the inauguration, Disney invited some people to return to the park on another day and take advantage of the Disneyland as appropriate, with all these problems already solved.
On July 18, when the park opened to the public in general, the lines to get started around 2 am, and about 50 thousand people visited the park. Disneyland has had more than 650 million visitors since its opening.
The Florida Project
Disneyland was a success from the start. With this, several hotels and restaurants began to appear around the park, so that there was no more room for expansion. Thus, in the early 60's, Walt Disney began looking for a place that had enough space to fit all your dreams.
Walt Disney featuring the Florida Project. Photo: Yesterland.com
And the central Florida was the ideal place for several reasons. Florida was already a tourist destination to have a good climate, which allowed tourists to visit the region during the year. The Orlando area is on the edge of Interstate 4 (the famous I-4), a road that crosses the United States from east to west, as well as other good roads that pass through the city, which will greatly facilitate access. And the land in the area were plentiful and cheap, because the vast majority was busy with planting oranges or was simply a marshland.
"There is enough space to fit all the ideas that we can imagine" - Walt Disney said, when he announced the area where it would be built at Walt Disney World.
Disney then began to buy land in Florida, using fictitious companies. If the market knew that it was he who was buying, land prices increase much. To get an idea, Walt Disney bought his first 4000 square meters (equivalent to 1 acre) for $ 80. The last 4 thousand square meters were purchased for $ 80,000, after the buyer's identity had been revealed. You can see some names of people and fictitious companies used in the purchase of land in the windows of buildings on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.
Window with the name of the fictitious company M. T. Lots
At about 110 square kilometers of land were purchased - area equivalent to the city of San Francisco or twice the size of Manhattan Island. The Florida Project was announced in November 1965, but the news leaked a few weeks earlier, in late October.
Walt Disney wanted to build a site or would be considered a community of the future, with much innovation and new technologies. The first stage of the "Florida Project" would be to build a theme park (Magic Kingdom) north of the land, to bring tourists to Florida.
Then this "community of the future" would be built, with all shipping passing under the earth, and several other innovations in technology. This "city" would be called Experimental Prototype Community of the Future (in English: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow).
Map of Magic Kingdom of Disney 1971. Photo Wikia
Unfortunately, Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966. With this, your brother and partner Roy Disney, postponed his retirement to oversee the construction of the Magic Kingdom in Florida, which opened on 1 October 1971. This new complex in Florida at first only be called Disney World. But with the death of Walt, Roy decided to honor his brother and set the name of the complex would be Walt Disney World.
Walt Disney World's opening day
Roy Disney died on December 20, 1971, less than three months after the opening of Walt Disney World.
The next park to be opened was on 1 October 1982. Engineers Disney soon realized it would not be possible to realize the dream of Walt Disney to have a community of the future due to several factors. Therefore, they decided to build a theme park that encompass this idea. The park was named in the original project: Epcot.
Construction of Epcot
Then on 1 May 1989 we had the opening of MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios) and on April 22, 1998 was inaugurated the Animal Kingdom. Today the Disney complex in Florida has 4 theme parks, 2 water, 1 shopping center, two golf courses, one center of sports and over 20 hotels.
And the whole area purchased by Disney in Florida, only 1/3 has been built. This means that there is still plenty of room for growth and expansion.
The history of the construction of Disneyland and Walt Disney World is great and full of details, but I tried to summarize here for you. Hope you enjoyed
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