The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream, Part 2

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 hits the bookshelves mid-November.

All Jumpers
by Sam Gennawey

At the center of the courtyard and the heart of Fantasyland was the King Arthur Carrousel. As far back as 1939, a merry-go-round was included in the plans for the park. Walt greatly admired the one in Griffith Park and asked the then owner, Ross Davis, if he could find one just like his for Disneyland. Davis told Walt that his was a one-of-a-kind machine built in 1926 from Spillman Engineering and it was the last one in existence with four-abreast “Jumpers.” The carousel was brought to Griffith Park in 1937.

Most carousels featured different types of horses, classified by their body positions. A “Listener” is posed with one ear forward and one ear back. A “Star Gazer” holds his head back, eyes upward. The “Top Knot Pony” has a heavy forelock, which seems blown straight up by the wind. Most prized of all were “Jumpers,” with all four feet off the ground. Walt Disney wanted only “Jumpers” for his carousel.

Ross Davis found a carousel at Sunnyside Park in Toronto, Canada, that had been built in 1922 by William Dentzel of Philadelphia. The original was a menagerie-style carousel with horses, cats, deer, and giraffes. The ride was so finely balanced that one person could make it spin. Walt wanted to heavily modify the carousel for Disneyland. He wanted it to be four abreast, all horses, and all ‘jumpers’ like the one at Griffith Park so he hired Davis to repaint and repair the horses. In exchange, Walt gave Davis the unused figures.

Arrow Development did the engineering, including new crankshafts to operate the four rows of horses. Things were moving along until they hit a road bump. They ran out of ‘jumpers.’ Luckily, Davis found some in storage beneath the Coney Island pier designed by Charles I. D. Loofa and some others from George Whitney’s Playland in San Mateo, California.

King Arthur’s Carrousel featured 72 horses, all considered “outside” horses. That meant they had a highly detailed right side, considered the “romance side” since it faces out to the public. They were the very best and they were interchangeable. The horses were painted a variety of colors. Guests had a choice of black, tan, brownish red, and gray.

When they first started the carousel, they discovered that the electric brake would stop the ride too quickly and one day they broke the gear teeth out. They could not find any replacement gears, so they asked Bud Hurlbut if he could help. He had a similar Dentzel machine at Knott’s Berry Farm that was delivered without the bull gears, so he fabricated a set himself. He found an old machinery handbook and figured out the tooth pattern. As it turned out, these were exactly the same gears that were needed for the Disneyland carousel.

Imagineer Bruce Bushman designed the high-peaked canopy, which hid the outer rim and showed off the horses at a distance. Although the 70-foot canopy appeared to be made of fabric, it was actually made of aluminum. The band organ came from a collection of 50 such machines that Walt purchased through Hurlbut in 1954. The collection of horses grew to 85 so that a “four on, four off” maintenance schedule could be maintained.

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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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