Circus Day: A King in His Kingdom

Circus Day: A Magical Dream

When Walt Disney first began planning out his greatest dream, he originally wanted to place it across the street from The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. “Mickey Mouse Park”, would be a small attraction that was more of a “visitor’s center” for the studio than a theme park.

The “Magic Courtyard” would have been located where the Disneyland logo appears above.

The more Walt thought about his “magical little Park”, the bigger it got, quickly outgrowing the small acreage available in Burbank. Mr. Disney wanted more than just a small place to entertain guests waiting for a studio tour; he wanted to build a park that would be a destination itself. He would build that magical place 35 miles south- in Anaheim.

Circus Day: Casey Junior’s Wild Ride

One of the oldest attractions at DISNEYLAND is actually much older than the park itself. King Arthur Carrousel was built 98 years ago for an amusement park in Canada. By the 1950’s, the park had closed and its carrousel was being sold off. Since Walt Disney wanted an authentic carrousel, he purchased and refurbished the attraction. There was an issue with the existing attraction however; Mr. Disney wanted a carrousel that contained only leaping horses and no stationary seats. Since the carrousel he purchased had several stationary seats, the Imagineers needed to either find an alternate use for the seats or toss them out. 

The solution was quite simple, actually. The stationary seats were turned into cars on the Casey Jr. Circus Train where they continue to be used just steps away from the carrousel.

Circus Day Thursdays!

In 1955, Disney went from being something you could see to someplace you could go! On Thursdays, we’ll be Covering the parts of Disney that you can actually visit!

Here comes the circus. Everyone loves the circus.

And that includes the Merry Mouseketeers.

Clowns in the circus. Keep the frowns from the circus.

As the old calliope rings in your ears (boop, boop, boop, boop).

There'll be lions, tigers, elephants, and lots of things inside

And there's a man who's nine feet tall and a lady five feet wide.

And so, hooray for the circus! Now, away for the circus,