DisneyLand
The History Of DisneyLand
The founder of DisneyLand is Walt
Disney. He was inspired when he was visiting an amusement park named Griffith
Park in Los Angeles with his daughters, Diane and Sharon. He wanted to make a
place where adults and children could have fun together. He was influenced by
some another amusement park such as World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in
Chicago (his father worked at the Exposition, Midway Plaisance, Benton
Harbor, Eden Springs park. The draft of
Disneyland was sent to Dick Kelsey (studio production designer) on
August 31, 1948 known as “Mickey Mouse Park”.
The initial concept, the Mickey Mouse Park,
started with an 8-acre (3.2 ha) plot across Riverside Drive. He started to
visit other parks for inspiration and ideas, including Tivoli Gardens
in Denmark, Eftelinga in the Netherlands and Greenfield Village,
Playland,
and Children's Fairyland in the United States.
Difficulties
in gaining funding prompted Disney to investigate new methods of fundraising,
deciding to create a show named Disneyland.
It was broadcast on then-fledgling ABC.
In return, the network agreed to help finance the park. For its first five
years of operation, Disneyland was owned by Disneyland, Inc.,
which was jointly owned by Walt Disney
Productions, Walt Disney,
Western Publishing
and ABC. By 1960, Walt Disney Productions bought out all other shares, a
partnership which would eventually lead to the Walt Disney Corporation's
acquisition of ABC in the mid-1990s. In 1952, the proposed project had been
called Disneylandia, but Disney followed ABC's advice and changed it to
Disneyland two years later, when excavation of the site began. Construction
began on July 16, 1954 and cost $17 million to complete. The park was opened
one year and one day later.
Disneyland
was dedicated at an "International Press Preview" event held on
Sunday, July 17, 1955, which was only open to invited guests and the media. The
following day, it opened to the public, featuring twenty attractions. The
Special Sunday events, including the dedication, were televised nationwide and
anchored by three of Walt Disney's friends from Hollywood: Art Linkletter,
Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan.
ABC broadcast the event live, during which many guests tripped over the
television camera cables.
When
Disney started to read the plaque for Tomorrowland, he read partway then
stopped when a technician off-camera said something to him, and after realizing
he was on-air, said, "I thought I got a signal",
and began the dedication from the start.
The
first person to buy a ticket and enter the park was David MacPherson with
ticket number 2, as Roy O. Disney
arranged to pre-purchase ticket number 1 from Curtis Lineberry, the manager of
admissions. However, an official picture of Walt Disney and two children,
Christine Vess Watkins (age 5) and Michael Schwartner (7), inaccurately
identifies them as the first two guests of Disneyland. Both received lifetime
passes to Disneyland that day, and MacPherson was awarded one shortly
thereafter, which was later expanded to every single Disney-owned park in the
world. Approximately 50,000 guests attended the Monday opening day.
In
1990s, iniciated to expand the one-park and one hotel property. The Disneyland
Park, known as part of the Disneyland Resort.
At this time, the property saw the addition of the Disney California
Adventure theme park, a shopping, dining and
entertainment complex named Downtown Disney,
a remodeled Disneyland
Hotel, the construction of Disney's
Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and the
acquisition and re-branding of the Pan Pacific Hotel as Disney's Paradise
Pier Hotel. At this time, the park was renamed
as Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the larger complex under
construction. Because the existing parking lot (south of Disneyland) was built
upon by these projects, the six-level, 10,250-space Mickey and Friends parking
structure was constructed in the northwest corner. At the time of its
completion in 2000, it was the largest parking structure in the United States.
The park's management team during the mid-1990s was a source of controversy among fans and employees. In an effort to boost profits, various changes were begun by then-executives Cynthia Harriss and Paul Pressler. With the retail background of Harriss and Pressler, Disneyland's focus gradually shifted from attractions to merchandising. Outside consultants McKinsey & Company were brought in to help streamline operations, resulting in many changes and cutbacks. After nearly a decade of deferred maintenance, the original park was showing signs of neglect. Fans of the park decried the perceived decline in customer value and park quality and rallied for the dismissal of the management team.
Matt Ouimet, the
former president of the Disney Cruise Line,
was promoted to assume leadership of the Disneyland Resort in late 2003.
Shortly afterward, he selected Greg Emmer as Senior
Vice President of Operations. Emmer is a long-time Disney cast member who had
worked at Disneyland in his youth prior to moving to Florida and held multiple
executive leadership positions at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Much like Walt Disney, Ouimet and Emmer could often be seen walking the park
during business hours with members of their respective staff, wearing cast
member name badges, standing in line for attractions, and welcoming guests'
comments. In July 2006, Matt Ouimet left The Walt Disney Company to become
president of Starwood
Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
The
"Happiest Homecoming
on Earth" was an eighteen-month-long celebration
(held through 2005 and 2006) of the fiftieth anniversary of the Disneyland
Park, also celebrating Disneyland's milestone throughout Disney parks
worldwide. In 2004, the park underwent major renovations in preparation,
restoring many classic attractions, notably Space
Mountain, Jungle Cruise,
the Haunted Mansion,
Pirates
of the Caribbean, and Walt
Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. Attractions that had been in the
park on opening day had one ride vehicle painted gold, and the park was decorated
with fifty Golden Mickey Ears.
The celebration started on May 5, 2005 and ended on September 30, 2006, and was
followed by the "Year of a Million Dreams" celebration, lasting
twenty-seven months and ending on December 31, 2008.
Beginning
on January 1, 2010, Disney Parks hosted the Give a Day, Get a
Disney Day volunteer program, in which Disney
encouraged people to volunteer with a participating charity and receive a free
Disney Day at either a Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World park. On March 9,
2010, Disney announced that it had reached its goal of one million volunteers
and ended the promotion to anyone who had not yet registered and signed up for
a specific volunteer situation.
Reference:
www.justdisney.com/disneyland/history.html
Reference:
www.justdisney.com/disneyland/history.html
