A Brief History of
Disneyland opened and was dedicated on July 17, 1955 by Walt Disney, himself! It is the only Disney theme park that can boast this fact. Walt’s dedication speech was inscribed on a plaque which can still be found at the base of the flag pole in the center of Town Square.
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 dreams ,ideals 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.
When Disneyland opened it had 5 lands (Main Street,U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland) and 20 attractions (King Arthur Carrousel, Peter Pan Flight, Mad Tea Party, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Canal Boats of the World, Snow White’s Adventures, Autopia, Space Station X-1, Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad, Circarama, Horse-drawn Streetcars, Fire Wagon, Main Street Cinema, Surreys, Jungle Cruise, Stage Coach, Mule Pack, Mark Twain Steamboat, Penny Arcade, and Golden Horseshoe Review).
In the weeks and months that followed the opening, Walt continued to add attraction after attraction ( The Casey Jr. Circus Train, Davey Crockett Museum, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mike Fink Keel Boats, and Astro Jets to name a few). He more than doubled the number of adventures in the first year of operation and still the park continued to grow.
In 1957 Disneyland created a new area called Holidayland. It was located outside the berm where today you will find the show buildings for Pirates of the Caribbean, The Indiana Jones Adventure and the Haunted Mansion. The area was designed so that local companies could hold their annual picnics there. Alcohol was allowed, and the area had an entrance directly into Frontierland. Holidayland was never very successful, caused more problems then it was worth, and was closed forever in 1961.
Tomorrowland has always been
a problem for Disneyland. When predicting the future, technology tends to catch up with
you very quickly. The original Tomorrowland was designed to be the year 1986.
Unfortunately, the area began to feel dated almost as soon as it was opened. The land of
the future got its first boost in 1959 with the addition of three major attractions: Matterhorn
Bobsleds, The Submarine Voyage and the Monorail.
At the same time Fantasyland got its own Autopia and the Motor Boat Cruise. This was the Park's first major expansion. The second major expansion would soon be underway at the other end of the Park.
1963 was a banner year. In Adventureland, the first attraction designed around the new technology of Audio Animatronics opened. Singing birds and flowers serenaded guests in Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.
In Frontierland, the Indian Village was expanded, and an elegant New Orleans style house replaced the old Chicken Plantation restaurant. A sign on the gate informed guests that Disneyland was taking applications for ghosts who might be interested in haunting the mansion.
Soon the train track was moved and construction walls went up, sealing off a large section of Frontierland. Foundations were dug for New Orleans Square and the pirate attraction that would go there.
But then suddenly everything stopped.
For two solid years there was absolutely no movement in the construction area. The New Orleans Mansion also remained sealed off from the public. Walt Disney had become distracted by a new and exciting project, the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in New York.
The Worlds Fair offered Walt many opportunities. He was able to further advance his new technology of Audio Animatronics, develop four new attractions ( It’s a Small World, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Magic Skyways, and General Electric’s Progressland) and he got someone else to pay for it.
When the fair was over,
Disneyland was celebrating its 10th birthday. The next few years were
some of the most exciting and ominous in Disney theme park history. Great Moments with
Mr. Lincoln and It’s a Small World were moved to Disneyland. Construction
began anew on New Orleans Square. At the same time Tomorrowland’s vision of 1986 had
become terminally dated and the area was closed and completely renovated.
The new Tomorrowland, completed in 1967, included the World’s fair show, Progressland, renamed The Carousel of Progress. Magic Skyways did not make it intact to the Park. The Dinosaurs used in the show were added to the Disneyland Railroad and the technology created for the attraction became the basis for the People Mover and the Omni mover vehicles later used in Adventures thru Inner Space and the Haunted Mansion.
The World’s Fair also taught Walt
that Disneyland-style entertainment would work on the East Coast. He began purchasing the
land and laying the groundwork for what would become Walt Disney World.
On July 26, 1966 Walt Disney dedicated Disneyland’s 6th themed area, New Orleans Square. It was one of the last openings he would attend. Walt Disney passed on in December 1966.
It is a tribute to the man that the organization he created was able to forge on with the monumental tasks that lay ahead of them, even without his guiding light. Pirates of the Caribbean and the New Tomorrowland opened on schedule in 1967 while at the same time construction was beginning on Walt Disney World. Since most of the company’s attention was on Florida, things became relatively quite at Disneyland.
In 1969, The New Orleans house finally got its ghosts and the Haunted Mansion opened to the public a full 6 years after it first appeared on the shores of the Rivers of America.
In 1971, The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World opened. From this point on it becomes impossible to discuss the history of Disneyland with out bringing its younger sibling into the picture. From that fateful day in October, a symbiotic relationship was formed between the two kingdoms. Events in one park would vastly effect the other.
In 1971, Disneyland’s labor problems with the American Indians forced them to close the Indian Village. They were faced with a large empty spot in Frontierland. To solve this problem, they turned to the Magic Kingdom.
The Imagineers tried from the beginning to make the two parks a little different. Each Kingdom would have attractions unique to itself. One such attraction that the Magic Kingdom opened with was The Country Bear Jamboree. It was so successful that the decision was made to open a version at Disneyland.
In 1972, Bear Country, Disneyland’s 7th themed area opened. It hosted The Country bear Jamboree, Teddi Bara’s Swingin’ Arcade and the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes (the recently renamed Indian War Canoes).
Walt Disney World also opened with a unique Electrical Water Pageant. The Imagineers took this concept, developed it further and in 1972, the Main Street Electrical Parade marched through Disneyland for the first time.
Of course this relationship could work the other way as well. Florida’s Tomorrowland was scheduled to open in two phases. Disney very much wanted phase two to include the Carousel of Progress. But General Electric was not interested in sponsoring twin attractions. So the decision was made to move the attraction from Disneyland to The Magic Kingdom. The Carousel of Progress closed at Disneyland in 1973. In 1974, Disneyland’s carousel theater reopened with a new attraction, America Sings.
By this time it had been 7 years since Tomorrowland had been renovated and once again it was starting to look dated. America Sings gave it a little lift, but much more was needed.
In 1975 Disneyland turned 20 and Flight to the Moon became Mission to Mars. At this time in Florida, Tomorrowland’s phase two opened. It included a revolutionary attraction which once again was originally intended only for the Florida park. But this attraction was so successful,
and Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was in
such need of new blood that the decision was made to open a Space Mountain at the
Anaheim park.
In 1977, the new Space Mountain complex opened. It included the attraction, a new stage for live shows, the Space Stage, a new restaurant, The Space Place, and a new arcade, Starcade. These additions gave Tomorrowland new life and saved Disney from having to completely renovate the area once again.
For the next Chapter once again we must
hop across the country to Florida. A plot of land next to the Rivers of America had been
set aside for an attraction called the Western River Expedition. This attraction
was intended to be a Pirates of the Caribbean-type attraction with a western theme.
In fact, they were going to build this attraction at the Magic Kingdom instead of
Pirates of the Caribbean. But many guests came to the Park expecting to see Pirates
of the Caribbean and were disappointed when it wasn’t there. So, Disney decided
to scrap the the Western River Expedition and build a second Pirates attraction
in Adventureland. So, now they had this plot of land next to the river and no attraction
to put there. This is how the concept for Big Thunder Mountain was born.
Back at Disneyland, they were looking for a replacement for the aging Mine Train Ride. The Big Thunder Mountain Project seemed perfect for the job. And since Disneyland’s need was judged more urgent, it was built there first. 1979 saw the opening of Disneyland’s third mountain. But then, once again, the Company’s attention was drawn far away from Disneyland.
In 1979 Walt Disney Productions signed a contract with the Oriental Land Company to build the first Magic Kingdom in a foreign country. Tokyo Disneyland was officially under way. And in October of 1979 construction began on Epcot Center, Walt Disney World’s second theme park. Until Epcot neared completion in 1982, things were pretty quiet at Disneyland.
When Disneyland was first built in 1955,
money was tight. They were not always able to use the highest quality materials. Now that
Fantasyland was 27 years old, it was starting to fall apart. Something had to be done. It
was. Fantasyland was taken apart and reconstructed almost from the ground up. Favorite
elements were updated or moved, some were removed and some new items were added.
Pnnochio’s Daring Journey, an attraction being developed for Tokyo Disneyland’s Fantasyland, was also added to Disneyland’s New Fantasyland. Even before it opened, the newest Magic Kingdom was beginning to have its effect on Disneyland.
On April 15, 1983 Tokyo Disneyland opened its gates for the first time and on May 25th, 1983 Disneyland dedicated the New Fantasyland.
Once again Tomorrowland needed a little pick-me-up so the open-air Space Stage was sealed off and in 1984 became the new home for Magic Journeys, a motion picture developed for Epcot using a new state-of-the-art 3-D process. Also that year, Circle-vision got a new film, American Journeys.
It is important to note that in 1984 there was an attempted hostile take-over of Walt Disney Productions. They successfully resisted and when they emerged, they had a new CEO, a young hot shot executive from Paramount, Michael Eisner. Mr. Eisner was the Paramount executive who gave the green light to Raider’s of the Lost Ark, and as such had a good relationship with George Lucas. This relationship would profoundly effect Disneyland’s future.
The Park needed a replacement for the Space Stage and in 1985 Videopolis opened at the back of Fantasyland. Disneyland turns 30 years old.
In 1986, the old Space Stage was completely torn out and replaced by the new Magic Eye Theatre. The new theatre was designed to be the home of the first collaboration between Disney and George Lucas, Captain Eo, a 3-D, science fiction music video using smoke and laser effects, and staring Michael Jackson.
1986 also saw the addition of Big
Thunder Ranch, a petting barn yard, in Frontierland. And down in Bear Country, The
Country Bears had a new show, the Vacation Hoedown.
In 1987 the second Disney/Lucas collaboration opened in Tomorrowland, Star Tours. It is a simulated space flight to the moon of Endor, complete with dodging comets and attacking the Death Star. The two new Lucas inspired Tomorrowland attractions gave the area a boost enabling Disney to further postpone the 2nd major Tomorrowland renovation.
Ground was broken on Disneyland Paris, the 4th Magic Kingdom in 1988 while at Disneyland America Sings, The Carousel Theatre show created for America’s Bicentennial, closed with no solid plans to replace it with anything.
In 1989 Splash Mountain opened
featuring the Animatronic cast of the old America Sings in a log flume ride through
Disney’s Song of the South. The attraction was added to Bear Country, but
since Splash Mountain contained a wide variety of animals —not just
bears— Bear Country was renamed Critter Country.
1989 was also a very busy year at Walt Disney World. It saw the opening of Disney/MGM Studios, Typhoon Lagoon and Pleasure Island. And since a lot of attention was being given to the construction of Disneyland Paris, again things were pretty quiet at Disneyland.
Disneyland’s next major addition did
not come until 1992. The Rivers of America were drained and the front of Tom Sawyer
Island was reshaped for the construction of Fantasmic!, a spectacular night
time river show.
1992 also saw the opening of the 4th Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris. Legacies from this park to Disneyland would include a new sound track for It’s a Small World and a new sound system for Space Mountain.
Disneyland’s next addition got its start some six years earlier in Florida. A temporary area was set up in 1988 to celebrate Mickey Mouse’s 60th birthday. It was called Mickey’s Birthdayland, and featured a chance to tour the famous mouse’s house, see him in a show, and then get his autograph afterwards. This area was so successful that it stayed around long after its projected closing date and was the inspiration for Disneyland’s eighth themed area.
In 1993, Mickey’s Toontown opened its gates. Here you’ll find the homes of Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. You can also explore the wacky downtown area and ride Gadget's Go Coaster and the Jolly Trolley. Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin opened there a year later in 1994.
Disneyland turned 40 in 1995, and the celebration began with the opening of the Indiana Jones Adventure, Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The new enhanced motion vehicles, created especially for this attraction, take riders on an out-of-control chase through an ancient temple.
In early 1996 construction began on the Carousel Theater in Tomorrowland. The attraction had been empty since America Sings closed in 1988. It was the first sign of the 2nd major renovation of Tomorrowland. Renovation began in earnest in 1997 and in May of 1998 Disneyland's New Tomrowland opened.
Using the ideas of visionaries from
across the ages, the new Tomorrowland features images from da Vinci to George Lucas. It
borrows heavily from the other Disney Parks as well as it's own past. The Astro
Orbitor (pictured below) is a copy of the Disneyland Paris Orbitorn. Honey,
I Shrunk the Audience, A 3D motion picture experience, first opened at Epcot in
1995. Innoventions, a showcase of cutting edge technology, also originated at
Epcot. The Moonliner rocket ship , the icon of the original 1955 Tomorrowland, has
returned although a little smaller.
An entirely new attraction, Rocket Rods, now speeds guests along the old People Mover track.
In early 1999, it became obvious that the Swiss Family Tree House needed extensive renovations. It was decided to take advantage of the up-coming release of Disney's 37th animated feature, Tarzan. The aging attraction was closed and quickly converted into Tarzan's Treehouse. Here guests can follow the story of Tarzan as they walk through his interactive tree top home.
What can we look forward to at Disneyland in the future? There are plans for a new Autopia and extensive Frontierland renovations. And further down the line, a new underwater adventure to take the place of the Submarine Voyage.
...to be continued.
