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It’s the 65th anniversary of the opening of Disneyland. The invitation-only “International Press Preview” event was July 17, 1955. Millions watched the 90-minute live broadcast on ABC. Disneyland opened to paying guests the next day. Walt Disney’s dream had become a reality. But Walt wasn’t done. For the rest of his life, Walt envisioned wondrous enhancements. Many became realities during his lifetime; others were added after his death in 1966. The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco has a spectacular model called “The Disneyland of Walt’s Imagination.” It’s one of the highlights of the museum. Disneyland and the museum are both temporarily closed due to COVID-19, but that’s sure to change. Today, to recognize Disneyland’s 65th anniversary, Yesterland looks at “The Disneyland of Walt’s Imagination.”
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2014 “The Disneyland of Walt’s Imagination” model |
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By the time visitors to The Walt Disney Family Museum arrive at “The Disneyland of Walt’s Imagination,” they’ve already passed through a series of engrossing galleries representing Walt Disney’s life during the first half of the twentieth century, beginning with his birth in 1901 and continuing with his many achievements up to 1950. Then, visitors arrive in the largest gallery, where they find the amazing model. Those who take the time to study and enjoy its details are amply rewarded—but they may also be puzzled. The model isn’t meant to be an accurate representation. It’s actually better than that. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2014 Museum label explaining what the model represents |
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The official website of The Walt Disney Family Museum has a terrific recap of a 2011 museum event about the creation of “The Disneyland of Walt’s Imagination,” including what Diane Disney Miller and her family had in mind. Here’s a paragraph from it: “In 2007, the Miller family decided that they wanted to include a model of Walt’s park in our museum. They wanted their model to be different from the more realistic architectural models of the park, such as the model on display in the Opera House in Disneyland. Veteran Imagineer, Bruce Gordon, came up with the first concept, a mechanical model with sections that would flip over to show the continued evolution of the park throughout the years. Ultimately, the concept was discarded due to mechanical maintenance concerns and the untimely death of Bruce Gordon. Imagineer Tony Baxter came up with the idea of creating a Fun Map-style model. Fun maps depicted the park as a colorful, cartoony collection of exciting destinations, highlighting each without regard to size or scale.” Great concept. Great execution. Let’s take a closer look from various angles. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Main Street, U.S.A. and beyond |
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On the model, Main Street gets considerably narrower as it approaches the Plaza. It’s long been said that the real Main Street at Disneyland uses this forced perspective trick to appear longer when looking toward Sleeping Beauty Castle and shorter when looking toward Main Street Station. Satellite photographs do not show appreciable narrowing—certainly not like on the model—but it’s a “fun map” model, so exaggeration is fine. Continuing the “fun map” idea, the Main Street Opera House is missing its roof, to reveal an oversized Abraham Lincoln. You’ll see missing roofs with oversized show scenes throughout the model. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2014 Adventureland |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Frontierland |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Teeter-totter Rock on Tom Sawyer Island |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Rainbow Ridge |
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Rainbow Ridge was the starting point for the Mine Train and Pack Mules through Nature’s Wonderland. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Nature’s Wonderland |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Cascade Peak at Nature’s Wonderland |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Living Desert and Conestoga Wagons |
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On the model, the path for the Conestoga Wagons goes over a small mountain range that straddles the railroad track. The path continues outside the berm. There has never been such a ride path at Disneyland. This might be the most puzzling part of the model. The explanation is that the model includes attractions that did not co-exist. The Conestoga Wagons and Rainbow Mountain Stage Coaches went away in 1959. The Rainbow Caverns Mine Ride was expanded with Cascade Peak and other enhancements in 1961 to become the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland. The model creatively makes room for all these attractions by straddling the railroad track. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Rainbow Caverns without its roof |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2014 Fantasyland |
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The model’s Fantasyland looks much like Disneyland’s Fantasyland did during Walt Disney’s life. There’s no direct connection to Frontierland. If you look closely, you’ll see that Storybook Land has miniature versions of the ride’s miniatures. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 “it’s a small world” |
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Walt Disney presided over the opening ceremony for “it’s a small world” on May 28, 1966. The intricate model even includes the plentiful topiaries that graced the grounds. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 East side of the Plaza |
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As already noted, the model does not represent a particular year. This Tomorrowland is filled with features that never actually co-existed. Most of Disneyand’s Tomorrowland was shut down September 5, 1966, to begin its transformation to the New Tomorrowland of 1967. So, at the end of Walt’s life, Tomorrowland was a construction site. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Skyway buckets through Matterhorn Mountain |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Rocket to the Moon and Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland |
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The model has the old twin-domed Rocket to the Moon structure and Moonliner (in its original TWA livery), with the Flying Saucers ride adjacent to them. But it also has the PeopleMover, the General Electric Carousel of Progress, Adventure Thru Inner Space, and other New Tomorrowland features which would not open until summer 1967. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Space Mountain, as envisioned in the mid-1960s |
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Space Mountain opened at Disneyland in 1977, more than ten years after Walt Disney died—but he already had concept art for Space Mountain toward the end of his life. Space Mountain in the model resembles that art, not what was actually built. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Jets on the outside of Space Mountain |
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The track of the actual attraction is entirely indoors, but the model includes track on the outside. It’s fun to think how different the ride might have been. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Flying Saucers |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 On the move |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Orange grove just outside Disneyland |
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There’s an orange grove outside the park berm, with plenty of ripe oranges. It’s a reminder that Disneyland was built on land that had been orange groves, and that plenty of groves continued to surround the park in the 1960s. |
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© 2020 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated July 17, 2020. |
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, Curator of Yesterland, July 17, 2020
