Defunctland: The History of Mickey Mouse Park

in the 1940s Walt Disney would take his daughters Diane and Sharon to Griffith Park on the weekend so that they could play on the parks merry-go-round they would spend hours on the carousel while Walt would sit on a bench eating peanuts it was during one of these occasions that an idea would find its way into Walt's head I felt that there should be something build some kind of a amusement enterprise built where that the parents and the children could have fun together this is when Walt came up with the idea of Disneyland or at least that's what he and his company would tell people for the next seven decades what wasn't necessarily lying about his epiphany on the bench in Griffith Park but Disneyland was not born out of a singular event Walt's being a storyteller at heart simplified the Disneyland story just as he had come up with multiple versions of the tale of his creation of Mickey Mouse the quaint story of a father wanting a place to play alongside his children was heartwarming and succinct but the truer bigger story of Walt's Park involves more time people and ideas unlike the short merry-go-round version of the Disneyland story the longer version is less known and far less merry and here it begins in the 1940s as Walt Disney sat on that bench he was broken and depressed and he had no idea what to do about it [Music] [Applause] in the mid-1940s walt disney the once passionate storyteller that had changed the landscape of animation was as lost as he had ever been it was worse than the days of the paper route in Kansas City possibly worse than when he had lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Walt had arrived at the slow point for multiple reasons one the strike of the studio in 1941 had destroyed any semblance of what was once his creative family while Walt was an attentive father to his daughters his focus was always the studio he craved the creative working environment but his bitterness after the strike was noticeable to his staff both old and new his skepticism of communist infiltration in his company and his general disdain for the studio after the strike had removed all of the excitement from his work which itself had gotten worse the box office failures of Pinocchio Fantasia and Bambi had nearly sunk the studio and many animators were being drafted to fight in World War two as a solution and as a showcase of his trademark patriotism Disney transformed a studio into a propaganda machine for the US government Walt's enthusiasm for these films quickly waned as the time restrictions and lack of profit weighed on him while Walt had no trouble tapping into the minds and hearts of his audience during the Great Depression he struggled to provide entertainment during and immediately after World War 2 Walt had no feature-length animated films in the works choosing instead to release live action animation hybrid films or compilation films of animated shorts most of the financial issues fell on his brother Roy Walt's himself was unbothered it seemed he just didn't care which was not like Walt Disney at all finally wal had also given up on his passion outside of the studio the sport of polo Walter become obsessed with the sport but gave it up in the late 30s partly due to an injury he incurred and partly due to the fact that on two separate occasions one of the people he was playing polo with died during the game in less than five years Walt had more or less lost his friends lost a studio and lost his hobby fortunately he would soon find a means of escape from this rut or at the very least the lack of a pastime Ward Kimball the talented animator and trombonist remained one of Walt's closest acquaintances even while Walt distanced himself from his employees this is for two reasons first Ward had not gone on strike against Walton 41 and seconds and more importantly loves trains which was fantastic because Walt loves trains better yet Ward had a train in 1938 warded purchased a passenger couch and a locomotive not long after he restored the engine and built a track in his backyard it was operational by 1942 and Ward would host steam up parties where he would invite friends and family to his house and operate the train for them after learning of their mutual love of locomotives Ward invited Walt to one of these steam up parties in October of 1945 and even let Walt engineer the train through the back yard Walt reached up and pulled the trains whistle just as he had as a young boy in Kansas City riding the train that surrounded electric Park Walt was transported away from his troubles at the studio and into a world of wonder his passion was coming back albeit in a new form Walt's lifelong fascination for trains soon turned into an obsession he was equally interested in both operating large locomotives and owning miniatures in 1948 Walton Ward traveled together to go to the Chicago railroad fair a convention for train enthusiasts taking place in Burnham Park the same ground that had held the 1933 Century of Progress Fair that Walt had visited fifteen years prior Ward observed a happy child like Walt running around the convention space overwhelmed with excitement Walt was having the time of his life but he was also ingesting major sources of artistic inspiration many of the miniature railroads at the fair were presented alongside elaborate models that the trains could navigate these themed miniatures were detailed displays of everything from the Old West to Native American villages to the streets of New Orleans as obsessed as Walt was with the trains he seemed to be equally interested in the models the attention to detail that the artist had for their miniatures was similar to the perfectionist nature he had once had for his animation the cover the architecture at the placement it was both reminiscent of and better than real-life on the way home from the fair Ward and Walt stopped to Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Detroit said to be the first outdoor living museum in the country Walt who had visited the village once before took in the scale of the exhibit which was focused on showcasing America's history and ingenuity It was as if the models he had viewed in Chicago had been constructed in full scale in the villages emotional story of Walt country and its people was equally inspiring when Walt finally returned home with ward he was more involved in his love for trains than ever before the next year he would build a new house for his family as well as construct a miniature rideable railroad around the property much to the dismay of his wife Lillian who had plans for a garden he was named the Carrollwood Pacific Railroad and it was Walt's pride and joy a guest to the Disney residency could not avoid a trip on the line engineered by Walt himself and even with the Carrollwood Pacific and his miniatures his obsession could not be contained he needed something bigger and he knew just where to put it at Walt Disney Productions in Burbank there was an empty pot of land on the other side of Riverside Drive the wall had been dying from his early is 1940 many fans of Disney wish to tour the studio and Walt believed that a studio tour paired with some sort of attraction on the Riverside plot could be a lucrative side venture for Walt Disney Productions it wasn't until the late 1940s after Walt had become properly obsessed with trains that the Riverside attraction concept was given serious thought Walt's immediate vision was a small village with a locomotive track surrounding it but this simple concept would soon grow in size and scale Walt continue to take his daughters to Griffith Park viewing the area from a new way observing what worked and what didn't from a logistics and entertainment perspective he would also spend significant time at Beverly Park kittyland gathering similar information and asking the amusement centers owner David Bradley specific questions about operation at the same time that he formulated his ideas for the Riverside Park he furthered his interests in miniatures with a new project he called Disneyland iya which would be a line of visual jukeboxes that children could insert coins into and watch a small scene of miniatures play out in front of them the project wouldn't make it past its first exhibit but it was just another example of Walt's newfound passion for alternative entertainment experiences too much of his staff at Walt Disney Productions it was further proof of a distracted Walt there was a growing sentiment in the studio that Walt was too busy with his toys to care about animation which by many accounts was true Walt even lacked interest in the studio's 1950 feature Cinderella which critics and audiences praised as a return to form for the studio worse than the ambivalence toward the animations Walt was stealing some of his best artists to help him with his trains and village concepts on top of Ward Kimball Walt had recruited a mechanical engineer at the studio Roger Brogue II to help him with the Carrollwood Pacific Railroad and the train for the Riverside Drive park also animator Ken Anderson was directed to draw concept art for Walt's Disneyland via models Walt had a new passion a new hobby and he was putting together his new creative family in 1951 Walt went on a European vacation on which he had the opportunity to visit Tivoli Gardens the amusement park and pleasure garden hybrid over a century old at the time of Walt's visit was immaculate the park had elaborate theming throughout its areas and integrated into its rides and it was rid of any sense of the carnival atmosphere that plagued amusement parks in the u.s. Tivoli Gardens was designed to evoke emotions and it did so impressively Tivoli communicated serenity in one area and excitement and another more than anything it was beautiful while Walt's childhood Park Electric Park and Bradley's Kitty land were kept clean especially in comparison to the other parks of the day Tivoli was a destination its structure and layouts were attractions in their own right the parks founder George Carstensen once said quote Tivoli will never so-to-speak be finished a sentiment that Walt admired and took to heart while believed he could build upon electric Park the railroad fare Greenfield Village in Beverly Park kittyland but Tivoli Gardens was a standard of quality he would strive to achieve also on his European Tour's Walt would enter a model train shop in London he found a miniature line that he was interested in purchasing and found another man that was hoping to buy the same set the other potential buyer also turned out to be an American a man named Harper Gough Walt introduced himself and after learning the goth was an artist Walt told him quote when you get back to America come and talk to me Walt then bought the train before Gough could and left Gough did as Walt demanded and when he returned to the US Walt assigned Gough to the Riverside Drive Park which had grown past a mere village into a full themed amusement park the he was calling Mickey Mouse Park sometimes referring to it as Mickey Mouse village he wanted Gogh to design the parks layout and create its concept art gotthe listened to Walt's ambitious ideas and then went to work fitting as many of them as possible onto the small plot of land next to the studio [Music] Mickey Mouse Park would have had its entrance on the corner of Buena Vista Street and Riverside Drive with a parking area across the street the guests would enter through the parks carnival section this would have likely been very similar to Beverly Park kittyland with classic kiddie rides in a carousel the path then split into two if guests continue past the fairgrounds they would enter Newtown a town square with a train depot for the parks railroad this would have consisted of more shops and restaurants new town closer resembled the turn-of-the-century small towns of the US like Disney Zone Marceline Walt described the area as a village green he explained quote in the park will be benches a Bandstand drinking fountains trees and shrubs it will be a place for people to sit and rest mothers and grandmothers can watch over small children at play I wanted to be very relaxing cool and inviting there was also to be a town hall that function as the parks administrative office as well as a functioning fire station and a police station which Walt said would quote be put to practical use here the visitors will report all violations lost articles lost kids etc in it we could have a little jail where the kids could look in we might even have some characters in it also in Newtown was a church graveyard with a haunted house attraction at the top of the hill past Newtown was Old Town which would have resembled the towns of the Old West Old Town had three signature attractions the Old Mill a ferris wheel that resembled a water mill the mill pond a water ride where children could ride in ducks around the old mill in the gravity flow canal boat a boat ride that took up a significant portion of the park space at one point the canal boat would zoom into the mouth of monstro from Pinocchio the plans for the park state that a castle was meant to be in the boat rides vicinity possibly a site that guests would travel to on their voyage after old town was granny's farm a petting zoo and livestock area based on the 1948 film so dear to my heart in this section of the park that was supposed to be the dwarfs house from snow light which Walt had already recreated for the film's premiere in 1937 one of the first reported times he mentioned wanting to build an amusement park after granny's farm was the Indian village a recreation of a Native American settlement looping around all of these sections was a horse and cart track that would transport guests throughout the park the rest of Mickey Mouse Park would hold the parks River a Mississippi steamboat would circle the waters giving views of a lighthouse and school rock from Disney's then upcoming film Peter Pan the boat would presumably take guests to the island in the middle of the lagoon which would act as a bird sanctuary and walking trail there was also rumor to be a donkey ride is submarine ride and a spaceship replica Walt even consider bringing in Bradley's Little Dipper coaster to entertain guests another rendering showed a river that wrapped around the main park with a bridge to allow guests onto the island where old town granny's farm and the majority of the rides were located Walt's obsession with the park grew consuming family dinners and animation meetings not only were the plans for Mickey Mouse Park a major step toward Walt's eventual amusement park but it was also a furthering of Walt's growing personal nostalgia at the time Walt's yearning for his childhood and Marceline had grown from reminiscence to obsession on top of the obvious nods to the setting of his childhood a Mickey Mouse park in his rekindled fascination for trains Disney's 1948 film so dear to my heart was sufficient proof that Walt's fixation on the better parts of his childhood had turned from nostalgic to mawkish Mickey Mouse Park with its western town turn-of-the-century Main Street and native village was to be a physical manifestation of Walt's personal nostalgia and like Greenfield Village a showcase of national pride however critics of Walt's Americana would label it not as patriotism but as revisionism through some of his films and his Park critics would accuse Walt of presenting a false narrative of history a stripped-down sanitized glorified and romanticized American story old town drew from the aesthetic promoted by Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show the same themes and images that were then integrated into films and TV these representations in media and Mickey Mouse parks Old Town praised the ruggedness of the frontiersman while ignoring the atrocities of the us's westward expansion Newtown showcased American life and community again praising the positive ideals of the small town while ignoring any of the negative ones because of these simplified and inaccurate representations of the past what would be labeled as a revisionist and a negation estate he was purposefully trying to alter the historical narrative might be giving him too much credit by his and his collaborators accounts Walt's love of cowboys horses trains farm animals and small towns was not complex it was merely the sites and images of his own childhood with Mickey Mouse Park he was creating a space for him to relive his fond memories of the past he was creating what he knew in its simplest best with the park that simplicity would at the same time be both the core of his critics arguments and one of the main reasons for its eventual success most of Walt's ambition with his films was constrained by two things money and time but a third factor was introduced with his visions for Mickey Mouse park space the Riverside plot of land would only provide around 10 acres and Walt went back and forth with two consulting architects he had hired about fitting all of his ideas into the small piece of real estate Roy was concerned with the idea for all of its constraints according to historian Jim Korkis Roy wrote quote Walt does a lot of talking about an amusement park but I think he's more interested in ideas that would be good in an amusement park than in actually running one himself Walt was adding more people onto the project including John Cowles the son of doctor Cal's that had funded Walt's cartoons in Kansas City the park was in a constant state of flux reflected in an apparent name change in 1952 at some point everyone working on the project had stopped calling the park Mickey Mouse Park and it switched to using the name Disneyland inspired by Disneyland eeeh Walt's now-defunct model project on March 27th 1952 the Burbank amusement park proposal was announced the park would cost 1.5 million dollars and Walt believed he could use the park as a filming location for television events to offset the cost Walt was now fully invested in making his project a reality Walt's distance from the studio was so absolute that in December he would create a new company which would be given the name wet enterprises after his initials this company would be tasked with creating Disneyland and its attractions Walt hired one of his animation writers Phil contrl as the new company's first employee who got to work creating the storylines for the dark rides art director dick Irvine would soon join the team as would Harper goth layout artist John hench an animator Mark Davis won't reportedly exclaimed to the latter quote dammit I love it here what is just like the Hyperion studio used to be in the years when we were always working on something new Walt was back [Music] in September of 1952 six months after the Burbank proposal was announced Walt Gough and cows went to present their concept to the Burbank City Council board hoping to acquire an additional 20 acres to build the park the board refused on the grounds that they wanted to avoid a carnival atmosphere in the city Walt pleaded that quote although various sections will have the fun and flavor of a carnival or amusement park there will be none of the pitches games wheels sharp practices and devices designed to milk the visitors pocketbook out of every one Walt wanted the park to resemble a carnival the least but he could not convince the board who stood by their rejection of the proposal Walt Gough and cowls were sent away Walt's lingering paranoia toward members of his Animation staff led him to believe that the Burbank City Council had been swayed by animators upset at Walt's newest distraction from the studio however the rejection was not the crushing blow that it might appear as in the few months between the project's announcement and the City Council's rejection Walt had already considered moving his plans away from the tiny studio plot he knew that Disneyland was bigger than a studio attraction Roy seeing that his little brother was serious about the project and feeling the constant need to protect him from the consequences of his own ambition was now actively assisting in the park's creation Roy supported the idea of purchasing a larger pot of land for the park outside of Burbank with the help of his brother and the small team he had acquired Walt remove the borders of the Riverside Park and allowed his plans for Disneyland to grow a year later in September of 1953 Walt recruited her Ryman an art director who had left Disney Studios for 20th century-fox years prior to help draw concept art for Disneyland working under a tight deadline Ryman produced the first full layout for Walt's new version of the park he envisioned a park with a singular entrance and exit a Main Street theme to a turn-of-the-century town based on Marceline and the new town concept from Mickey Mouse Park to enter yes would have to pass under a railroad station they would have a view down Main Street to the parks central hub and icon the Fantasyland Castle the park was separated into various lands such as true life adventure land based on Walt's nature documentaries lilliputian land a world of miniatures recreation land a small park and picnic area with a dance pavilion and Bandstand another concept taken from Mickey Mouse Park frontier country a large Old West town that expanded on the old town concept with stagecoaches granny's farm a riverboat in Express ride and the Mickey Mouse Club on Treasure Island this would serve as the filming location of the Mickey Mouse Club television show a program taking inspiration from the local fan clubs across the country the clubs meeting place was to be housed inside a large hollow tree there was also holiday land a multi-purpose space for events and festivals the new Disneyland was over four times the size of Mickey Mouse Park the Burbank park would have required about 25 acres while Ryman and Walt's new park would need about 100 to find the land for Disneyland what was introduced to Harrison buzz price a surveyor at the Stanford Research Institute Walt asked price to search for a location for his park also from Stanford Disney would recruit CV wood an engineering community planner that would assist in designing the parks layout would became Disneyland's first employee at the same time what was continuing his research if not increasing it a few months prior he'd embarked on another European trip this time stopping at the Netherlands madura Dom which had an extensive showcase of miniatures Walt would reportedly also visit San Francisco's Playland at the beach where he would recruit the owner's son George K Whitney jr. to consult in the park and direct ride operations Beverly Park kiddie land owner David Bradley was now helping Walt more and more leading the effort to prepare a 1922 carousel for operation at the park Bradley would also suggest that Walt lower the buildings on Main Street so that visitors would not feel overwhelmed Harper Gough would join Walt on trips to the nearby Knott's Berry Farm where Walt had a casual acquaintance with Walter Knott Walton Goff studied the park inside and out measuring walkways and studying crowd flow he also studied bud hurl boots park in El Montay and on a trip to New York that summer had a discouraging revisit to Coney Island in which after seeing the rundown park exclaimed quote I'm almost ready to give up on the idea of an amusement park after seeing Coney Island this whole place is so rundown and ugly the people that run it are so unpleasant the whole thing is almost enough to destroy your faith in human nature his frustration was short-lived a trip to Oakland would find Walt at Children's fairyland where he would recruit the parks director Dorothy Mane's to serve as the youth director at Disneyland throughout the early 50s most of Walt's team was traveling to parks throughout the country taking notes some believed that there was no Park in the US that a member of the Disneyland team had not studied buz price searching for a new location for Disneyland after the Burbank rejection narrowed the options to Orange County south of LA where the city was naturally expanded he then narrowed the search further to a 160 acre parcel in Anaheim mostly populated by orange groves the land only had 17 owners and the price was affordable Walt jumped on the opportunity buying the land for just under $900,000 and this is where the common narrative resumes the Disney 5 version of the Disney Land story often amidst the many parks that inspired the first true theme park as well as the many iterations that Disneyland itself went through the Disney version of the Disney story has a simple beginning of a father on a bench wanting to play with his girls is a simple conflict of an idea that no one thought would work in an opening day with too many people and a simple conclusion of a park that changed the landscape of entertainment it is not technically false but it is not holistically true similar elements can be found at Disneyland version of American history Walt simple vision of the past would be seen by some as innocent others ignorant but no one could deny its power Walt's greatest strength was his ability to tap into his audience and for a brief period of time he had lost that skill and had lost himself in the Great Depression the country needed escapism and Walt provided it but during the chaos and pain of World War two and while Walt's grappled with his own personal issues he no longer had the answer his audience wanted but now with a booming economy and a new standing in the world the US needed more than escapism they needed identity and while Walt might have only been searching for his own he had found the answer for many more the Walt Disney view of America was of hard-working individuals small-town values and optimism Walt Park would be a reflection of this image a land dedicated to the ideals dreams and hard facts give or take the created America however Disneyland had expanded past Mickey Mouse Park it was no longer just about the past where America had come from is just a part of Disneyland's narrative for Walt was also going to give the country a vision of where they were going with the same principles used for his version of the past a foundation of simplicity and optimism Walt was shaping his own world of tomorrow [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 1,109,526

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, mickey mouse park, original disneyland, before disneyland, alt disney, walt disney history, cancelled projects, burbank theme park, disney studios park, frontierland, main street usa, fontierland history, early disneyland concepts, trains, train history, walt disney and trains, mickey mouse park history

Id: Reao_AA3Bb0

Length: 23min 33sec (1413 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 22 2020