The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream

disneyland-story.jpgEDITOR’S NOTE: Over the next few weeks, AllEars.Net will be highlighting exclusive excerpts from Sam Gennawey’s new book, The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream. The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream is the story of how Walt Disney’s greatest creation was conceived, nurtured, and how it grew into a source of joy and inspiration for generations of visitors. Despite his successors’ battles with the whims of history and their own doubts and egos, Walt’s vision maintained momentum, thrived, and taught future generations how to do it Walt Disney’s way. The Disneyland Story is available for preorder (click on the image at left to link to Amazon) and will hit the bookshelves mid-November.

Fantasyland: Not Needed But Necessary
by Sam Gennawey

The guest’s fancy now fully engaged, he or she might next want to visit Fantasyland, the land that Walt intended to be “the world of imagination, hopes, and dreams.” In a bold move, Walt put at the center of his park a tribute to a film that would not be released for another four years. Sleeping Beauty Castle was the gateway to Fantasyland, and it would become the most recognizable and photographed element in all of Disneyland. Walt knew that a “castle is fantasy in any language.” To support the fanciful illusion, Bill Evans surrounded the castle with plantings that were fun, unrestrained, and had a bit of whimsy. He used lacy elm trees that sparkled when lit by twinkle lights tied to the branches.

Walt had put artist Herb Ryman on the project in 1953. The design was inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria in southern Germany. Harriet Burns made several small models (6 to 8 inches tall) of the castle and had Herb Ryman and Eyvind Earle paint them. Earle’s version was trimmed in black, red and gold. The turrets were different colors, orange, black, pink, red, purple, and yellow. In Ryman’s version, the turrets were all blue like slate. It was felt that Ryman’s castle would look better against the blue sky.

At some point during the design process, Walt had told Ryman that his interpretation was a little too realistic. Still Ryman continued on his own course. When the team gathered for the final design sign-off meeting with Walt, the model was as realistic as it had been when Walt had expressed his concern. At the very last minute, just before Walt joined the meeting, Ryman removed the top of the model and turned it around. Everybody complained that Walt would be mad, but Ryman knew better. Walt took one look and gave his approval.

During construction, Herb Ryman added the Disney family crest above the entrance and placed the castle in a park-like setting. Ryman added also another special touch: 22-karat gold-leafed spires. Walt had authorized the expense while Roy Disney was away on vacation. On a visit to Disneyland many years later, Author Ray Bradbury saw a spire on the side of the castle that he described as “a duplicate of the convoluted and beauteous spire Viollet-le-Duc raised atop Notre-Dame 100 years ago.” Bradbury called John Hench and asked, “John, how long has Viollet-le-Duc’s spire been on the side of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle?” Hench replied, “Thirty years.” Bradbury remarked that he had never noticed it before and asked who put it there? Hench said, “Walt.” When asked why, Hench said, “Because he loved it.” Bradbury said it was “something not needed but needed, not necessary but necessary.”

Just beyond the drawbridge was the Fantasyland courtyard. Bill Martin placed the carousel in the center with the Teacups and Pirate Ship to the back. The rides were placed in two 60- by 100-foot prefabricated show buildings to each side. Since they were working with limited money, Martin had the Masonite facades painted like tournament tents, creating a festive carnival flavor. Below the pastel-colored awnings were signs made of shields, ticket booths inside of striped tents, and flags and banners hung from lance-point flagpoles. The overall tone was heavily influenced by Eyvind Earle’s drawings for the film Sleeping Beauty.

The castle seemed to have a power of its own. John Hench suggested, “If you walked up and asked a guest WHY he likes the castle, WHY it is worth photographing? He could never tell you. He’d probably stammer out something like, ‘Because it’s just beautiful.’ And yet, when he gets back home and shows his pictures, the feeling will never be the same that he experiences simply standing there.” Hench explained, “The fact is, as we stand here right now, there are literally hundreds of stimuli etching an impression and an experience in our minds through every one of our senses.”
He noted that the most obvious was the sense of sight, but the experience runs even deeper. “There is a static nature about the castle structure itself that makes you think it’s been standing there for centuries,” said Hench. “And yet there is motion. The motion of those flags, and the trees around us made by the wind. The movement of people, vehicles and boats, water, balloons, horses, and the white clouds passing by overhead.” He also suggested standing in front of the castle was “the best stereo or quad system in the world” with “an ever-changing background.” The rock work, the horses, appeal to the guest’s sense of touch, and the flowers are real and one can smell them. Finally, “That popcorn, you can go over and taste it.” The result was that “every one of our senses are coming into play,” said Hench. “This is total involvement. You can never capture this moment and take it home with you in a camera or tape recorder. You can only take this experience home in your mind.”
Ray Bradbury said, “In Disneyland, Walt has proven again that the first function of architecture is to make men over, make them wish to go on living, feed them fresh oxygen, grow them tall, delight their eyes, make them kind.” He proclaimed, “Disneyland liberates men to their better selves. Here the wild brute is gently corralled, not used and squashed, not put upon and harassed, not tramped on by real-estate operators, nor exhausted by smog and traffic.”

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Debra Martin Koma wrote about food, travel and lifestyle issues for a number of local and national publications before she fell in love with Walt Disney World on her first visit — when she was 34! She's returned to her Laughing Place more times than she can count in the ensuing years, and enthusiastically shares her passion with readers of AllEars.Net and AllEars®. Deb also co-authored (along with Deb Wills) PassPorter's Open Mouse for Walt Disney World and the Disney Cruise Line, a travel guide designed for all travelers to Walt Disney World who may require special attention, from special diets to mobility issues.

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