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A Magic Plan by Walt Disney Company DISNEYLAND and DISNEY WORLD

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A Magic Plan by Walt Disney Company DISNEYLAND and DISNEY WORLD Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty - A Magic Plan by Walt Disney Company DISNEYLAND AND DISNEY WORLD. Up until the 1940s, the American amusment park was limited to merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels and carnival games. All that changed when Walt Disney envisioned a new amusement park called a Theme Park. Disney's innovations re-entergized amusement parks in this county and creating an entirely new approach to the real estate development and commercial construction of theme parks and the areas surrounding those attractions. Disneyland - A New Kind of Amusement Park. Later in life, Walt Disney told inquirers that he first had the idea for a new kind of amusement park when he took his young daughters out for the weekend and found that, "…existing kids' parks and fairs were often dirty, sleazy, money-grubbing places." In spite of the fact he had never developed real estate or managed a large-scale construction project, Disney nourished his notions of a new kind of amusement park throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. His idea for displaying Disney characters in a fantasy setting was a bold departure from present-day amusement parks and carnivals that offered rides, games, and inexpensive food. Instead Disneyland was conceived as an extension of the Disney brand, and would be the first "theme park" built in the United States. The people at Disney Studios, even his brother Roy, were less than enthusiastic about Walt's plan. Walt, confident of his own vision, sidestepped the studio and began to gather funds by borrowing on his life insurance and selling vacation property in southern California. He assembled a staff of designers, planners and artists and formed WED Enterprises - the letters were his initials - as a personal corporation to house them. The WED group began a long process of creative brainstorming. Its members conceptualized, designed and reworked Walt's broad ideas. They visited other amusement attractions around the country to gather data and impressions and flesh out development plans, and with the help of commercial contractors created a rough construction timetable. By 1953 major large hurdles - obtaining financing and securing a location - still blocked the launching of the park's construction. In July of that year, Walt recognized his need to obtain guidance from commercial real estate development experts and solicited a pair of marketing studies from the Stanford Research Institute: one would examine the economic prospects of developing Disneyland, and the other would seek the ideal location for construction companies to build the park. After determining the facility could be profitable, the Stanford group closely examined a host of factors - demographic statistics, urban growth trends, population concentrations, traffic patterns, freeway construction, availability of experienced commercial contractors, weather conditions - before recommending a site in Anaheim, a rapidly growing town just southeast of Los Angeles. Disney had struggled to find additional financing; as he later recalled, he was told by bankers that "the outdoor amusement business was a cultural anachronism that had already declined into senility." A few months later, the financial breakthrough came with a long-term agreement with ABC which brought the television network in as a major investor. (ABC agreed to carry Disney television programming, marking Mickey Mouse's first network appearance and the start of a tremendously profitable partnership for both companies. ABC also agreed to help publicize Disneyland in return for an ownership stake in the property.) Construction of Disneyland Begins. With financing in place and a location secured, the construction companies began in the summer of 1953. Commercial contractors and construction companies fell under the overall leadership of Joe Fowler, an engineer and retired navy admiral who became construction supervisor, and later park manager for ten years. Disneyland was designed in a wheel-shaped configuration. The idea was to provide a fun entrance area with a long walkway where visitors would wander through, led by a grand visual attraction, to the park's center. From there, visitors could branch off to the rest of the park on paths that radiated outward like spokes on a wheel. This became the design for Disneyland. Visitors entered the park through Mainstreet U.S.A. and made their way to the center hub of the wheel, where they found the park's majestic centerpiece, Sleeping Beauty's Castle and Fantasyland. Winding "spokes" led from the castle through the rest of the park, guiding visitors to other different themed "lands", including Adventureland, Frontierland and Tomorrowland. This wheel design layout with an iconic centerpiece has become the standard approach for designing theme parks and has been adopted by the majority of theme parks constructed since that time. Construction for Disneyland began on July 21, 1954, just 12 months before the park was scheduled to open. Construction companies worked frantically to meet the tight schedule and completed the project on time. Disneyland was formally opened a year later, on July 18, 1955, to glowing reviews. Unlike other amusement parks of the day, Disneyland was developed and constructed to be instantly recognizable as an extension of the Disney brand and the Disney philosophy. The rides used an array of Disney motifs, costumed Disney characters roamed the park, and Sleeping Beauty Castle, the looming attraction at the heart of the park, was instantly recognizable to millions of people since it was seen every Sunday night on ABC television. Disneyland became, in a sense, the capstone of Walt Disney's career. The capstone of his career also quickly became the cornerstone of an empire. In its first six months, one million people visited the Disneyland; in its first full year, three million people passed through its gates. The park quickly generated capital to finance a vast expansion, and in subsequent years, each time the park expanded its capacity, revenues increased more than proportionately to the added capital. In spite of his lack of real estate development experience, Disney had created park plans that allowed for expansion and resulting construction that would not interfere with ongoing park operations. Lessons Learned and Incorporated into the Planning and Construction of Disney World. One thing that Walt Disney learned from the development of Disneyland was the need for space - lots of it. He saw that his parks would become a destination for vacationers, and he wanted the control over the surrounding area for restaurants and hotels that would further the Disney brand. Unfortunately, Disney did not own the the land around Disneyland, and his park soon became surrounded by low-end motels and other business that detracted from the fantasy-like image he wanted to present. Disney also had more visions for his theme park to appeal to visitors of all ages and to incorporate a wider variety of subjects than just his cartoon characters. He quickly recognized that the 160 acres for Disneyland would not be nearly enough to meet his vision. In 1963, Disney set out to find a site for a new Disney theme park that would give him the room he needed to create multiple theme parks, hotels, restaurants and more. His team (called Imagineers) scoured the country to find the right place to host a theme park on a much grander scale than Disneyland. His Imagineers chose the undeveloped lands around Orlando as the location for his new park. Disney knew the importance of getting as much land as possible and was well aware of how prices would escalate if people found out what he was doing. He formed fictitious corporations with names like Tomahawk Properties, Latin American Development and Retlaw Enterprises (Retlaw is Walter spelled backwards) to acquire the land discreetly. By the time Disney announced the project on November 15, 1965, the company had acquired 27,443 acres (43 square miles) for $5 million. (This has expanded over the years to more than 30,000 acres, or almost 47 square miles). As Disney predicted, within days of this announcement land values for property surrounding the Disney site sky-rocketed from $180 per acre to as much as $80,000 per acre. Construction Companies Break Ground on a New Kingdom. Tragically, Walt Disney passed away on December 15, 1966, before construction companies could begin building his Disney World. Roy Disney stepped into Walt's place and led the construction of the first theme park in Disney World, the Magic Kingdom, as well as on two hotels and a campground. Construction began in April, 1969. Given that central Florida is primarily a wetlands region, construction companies faced a variety of challenges with relocating water while not affecting the local environment. Construction crews built more than 50 miles of levees and canals around the property to maintain levels and quality of the local fresh water while draining areas where construction would take place. This control system, which functions automatically based on water levels and without electricity, helps to minimize flooding without removing water from the area. Even bodies of water that would remain on the site needed to be cleaned and made safer for recreational use. Bay Lake was drained of its water and cleaned of muck. Construction workers removed more than seven million cubic yards of dirt from an adjacent area to create a man-made lagoon, named Seven Seas Lagoon. Sand from beneath the removed muck was used to create beaches around the lagoon. Once Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon had been filled with water, the surrounding areas served as the setting for one of the hotels, the Polynesian Village Resort. The dirt removed for the creation of the lagoon became the earthen foundation for the Magic Kingdom theme park. Visitors to the Magic Kingdom rarely realize that they are actually on the second floor of the park.
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