Chelsea M.
Mini-Research Paper
22 April 2014
The Happiest Place on Earth “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” (Walt Disney) Walt Disney stated Disneyland’s growth and progress, as well as plans for his theme park that has been dearly beloved by many. This quote has been related to discussions about what the future of the park may be. Walt wanted to constantly be giving his audience more and more to explore. Walt Disney and his brother Roy co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world. (Walt Disney Biography). On July 17, 1955, 6,000 by-invitation-only guests were invited for a special preview of Disneyland; On July 18, 1955 Disneyland opened to the public, with an entrance fee of $1. (Disneyland Opens) Walt Disney always had a vision of creating an activity park in which there were things for both children and parents to do That park soon became known as Disneyland- Walt's dream park come to life. Once construction on the park began, It was a momentous undertaking to build Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland in only one year. The total cost of building Disneyland would be $17 million. (Disneyland Opens) How and why did this magical world of dreams come to be?

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. (Walt Disney Biography) He dropped out of high school at the age of seventeen to serve in World War I. Walt then returned to Kansas City in 1919 to work as a commercial illustrator, later making crude animated cartoons. Disney partnered and created a company together with Ub Iwerks, called Iwerks Disney Commercial Artists, but failure with that sent him to Hollywood, California in 1923. Once in Hollywood, he began producing Oswald the Rabbit cartoons for Universal Studios with his brother Roy. Disney and his brother soon created their own character called “Mortimer Mouse” whom was voiced by Disney himself. His wife Lillian suggested that he use the name Mickey instead in which he agreed to do so (Ub Iwerks: The Disney Years).Walt then began to envision an idea of creating a park for everyone and gathered funds to start his project. He assembled a team that developed broad ideas and helped create a rough construction schedule. In July 1953, Walt hired the Stanford Research Institute to look for possibilities of developing Disneyland & looking for a location in Southern California. A detailed rendering of Disneyland was created and the location was set to be in Anaheim; the construction began July 16, 1954. Disneyland then opened the following year with new and creative attractions.Disneyland quickly became one of the most innovative theme parks in the world. Thought up of by Walt Disney, he carefully put in much time creating and designing the park, and not to mention other features such as the cartoons Disneyland is divided into sections called “lands”, each having their own individual theme. The park opened with 5 themed lands that include: Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. There are currently 8 today with the edition of New Orleans Square, Critter County, and Mickey’s Toontown. (Disneyland in 1955). When the park opened, the original rides were either in place, or still in construction and opened a few months later.

Certain attractions of specific areas have aged better throughout the years, and some have been maintained better than others. Out of 11 of the original rides in Tomorrowland, Autopia is the only one still running and that remains today.(Disneyland History). While on the other hand, Fantasyland has been more taken care of, having eight out of nine original Fantasyland attractions that still operate. Adventureland started out with just one ride, The Jungle Cruise, an opening day attraction that is still popular and well