Walt Wednesdays!

Walt Wednesdays

Walt Wednesdays: The Sisters Of Providence

Although Walt Disney himself was said to not be too religious, both of his daughters attended Catholic schools and he donated a lot of money to the Catholic Church. When the Sisters Of Providence sought to build a hospital in Burbank, Walt Disney donated money and land to build St. Joseph’s Hospital and sat on the hospital’s board of directors. Through this relationship, he befriended the order of nuns and provided them with donations and artwork.

After DISNEYLAND opened, the park’s resources were also made available to the Sisters Of Providence. Walt Disney provided free tickets for the nuns and the sick children and orphans that they cared for that gave them free reign of the park.

Walt Wednesdays: A Few Of Walt’s Favorite Things

One of Walt Disney’s favorite foods was popcorn. Whenever he took guests on a tour of DISNEYLAND, he always gave each of them a box of popcorn at the beginning of the day.

Mr. Disney’s favorite song was Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins. Coincidentally, he would typically buy an extra box of popcorn when he was at DISNEYLAND so that he could feed the birds who called the park home.

Walt Wednesdays

Walt Wednesdays: A Spire Of Hope

Ray Bradbury was famous for being a futurist and author. What he is less famous for was being a huge fan of Walt Disney.

Ray often told the story of how he was a wide-eyed young author when he bumped into Walt Disney while Christmas shopping. Ray took the initiative to introduce himself, unsure of how his hero would react. Not only had Walt Disney heard of him, Mr. Disney invited him over to the studio to look at some ideas Walt was considering for Tomorrowland and the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow- EPCOT. Ray was overjoyed.

While Walt Disney’s original ideas for Florida were scrapped, Ray stayed around as a consultant, hoping to inject as much Walt into the project as possible. Not long after the project’s completion, Mr. Bradbury took a trip to Paris. He took in all of the sights, including the famed Notre Dame Cathedral. Upon returning to the states, he visited DISNEYLAND and noticed for the first time a familiar spire.

Ray thought that it had to have been added recently, as he never remembered seeing it before. He contacted a Disney Imagineer who confirmed that the spire had been there from day one in 1955.

The Imagineer also verified that the spire was indeed inspired by the one at Notre Dame Cathedral and had been inserted into the castle design by Walt Disney himself. What was the reason given for why Walt put it there? Because he had seen the spire in Paris while touring Notre Dame and had liked it. While the DISNEYLAND spire will doubtless get added attention in light of recent events, it has spent most of its existence sitting atop the most recognizable castle in the world mostly going unrecognized.

This small detail is what makes DISNEYLAND so unique as the only Disney Theme Park fully designed and overseen by Walt Disney. The park is full of these little touches, added because Walt Disney loved what they represented. It is these things, whether we notice them or not, that have made DISNEYLAND more than just a theme park.

Walt Wednesdays

Walt Wednesdays

Walt Wednesdays

Walt Wednesdays: Mickey By The Years- 1934

In 1934, Walt Disney saw his biggest creation become gigantic- Mickey Mouse made his very first appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a gigantic balloon.

Walt Wednesdays: Mickey By The Years: 1931

In 1931, Walt Disney and his staff were inundated with letters from children writing to Mickey Mouse. How could the studio cultivate and encourage its fan base? Walt Disney decided that setting up a club for Mickey’s biggest fans would keep Mickey Mouse in the public eye and provide special opportunities for local theaters to host marathon showings of Mickey’s shorts. Therefore he established the very first Mickey Mouse Club.

This Mickey Mouse Club would encourage theaters to plan special matinees that would only show Mickey Mouse cartoons, which would have the added advantage of earning more money for Walt Disney Productions.

Walt Wednesdays: WED Imagineering

Walt Wednesdays: The World Comes To DISNEYLAND

After DISNEYLAND opened, practically everyone dreamed of venturing out to Anaheim, California to see it. Foreign dignitaries were no exception. The U.S. State Department encouraged most dignitaries to visit Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom during their visits to the United States and they often asked Walt Disney to personally escort the foreign leaders as a way to improve relations with the countries. Walt relished the opportunity to host them.

Walt and Lillian Disney host the Nepalese King and his wife on a ride through Wonderland.

There was no better DISNEYLAND tour guide than Mr. Disney. He loved showing off his showplace and was more than happy to assist when it came to possibly improving the United States of America’s standing in the world.

Walt hosts the Thai Royal Family.

Walt Wednesdays: A Brotherly Business

When Walt Disney signed his first contract to produce his Alice Comedies in 1923, the first person he ran to was his brother Roy. Roy had been convalescing in an army hospital after World War I because he had contracted tuberculosis. After hearing that his kid brother needed him, he checked himself out of the hospital and the two brothers setup the Disney Brothers Studio.

As time went on, and the studio’s fortunes grew ever brighter, a studio publicist advised the two that they should either rename their company after just one of the brothers or give it a more generic name. It was felt that using just one of their names would make it easier to promote the studio’s films. As the creative mind behind the company’s productions, it was decided to rename the company “Walt Disney Productions,” though Roy would still hold an equal number of shares in the company.

Despite the implications behind this decision, Roy was not upset or jealous of his brother’s ascension as the public face of the company. Roy wasn’t really interested in the Hollywood scene; he probably would have teamed up with his brother even if he had planned to open a box factory. Roy enjoyed the business side of things and spent his time keeping Walt under budget and finding money to continue making and building his brother’s dreams.

While the partnership often went through rough patches- Roy was never fully onboard with the idea of DISNEYLAND and Walt had to get his brother out of the country in order to get the Matterhorn built- their fondness and love for one another seemingly conquered all. Whether it was protecting his brother from bullies or financing a Magic Kingdom, Roy was always there when his brother needed him. A successful partnership indeed.

Walt Wednesdays: The Queen Mary

It was the grandest ship on the seven seas- the RMS Queen Mary was truly an amazing jewel, regularly traveling back and forth between London and New York City from 1934 until 1967. The grand ship hosted a number of famous celebrities on its many journeys, including Walt Disney himself.

During a time when transatlantic airplane flights were expensive and uncomfortable, cruise ships like the RMS Queen Mary were a luxurious and regal way to hop across the pond. Mr. Disney enjoyed multiple trips on the ship, taking trips with his wife and sometimes his entire family.

In 1967, the ship was decommissioned and purchased by the city of Long Beach as a possible attraction. Jack Wrather, who owned and operated the DISNEYLAND Hotel, leased the ship, which was docked on the California Coast, and restored it. The ship was opened to the public as the ultimate themed hotel and an attraction that could be toured during the day. When the Wrather Corporation was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 1988, the ship was temporarily controlled by Disney. Today, it still operates as a hotel and tourist attraction, still welcoming guests almost 100 years after its construction.

Unrealized Dreams Week: Walt Wednesdays

The big project that excited Walt Disney the most in the mid-1960’s was his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow- EPCOT. EPCOT was not a theme park or a normal subdivision- it was supposed to be a real, living city. “Disneyland East”, as he called it, would be a copy of his original DISNEYLAND, used as a “weenie” to attract East Coast residents to Florida so that he could show them EPCOT.

Sadly, Mr. Disney’s EPCOT would never get built. His brother Roy was never a fan of the project and it was the first thing Roy canceled after Walt’s death. “Walt Disney World” would be built to Roy’s specifications, not Walt’s.

EPCOT would be forgotten by the company, but not the guests. Guests were constantly barraging guest services at Florida’s Magic Kingdom Park with complaints about the absence of EPCOT. Luckily for the company, people never really understood that EPCOT was supposed to be a real city, not a theme park. Company management told Imagineering to drop whatever it was doing and come up with something that could be passed off as “Epcot”. Eventually two separate theme park ideas- Future World and World Showcase were combined to create Epcot Center. Sadly, Walt Disney’s dream of EPCOT would never come to pass.

Walt Wednesdays: A Day at the Beach

When DISNEYLAND first opened, its most popular attraction was also its least safe and most unreliable- Tomorrowland’s Autopia. Originally, guests were allowed to drive down the Autopia freeway as they wished. They were told not to bump into one another, but the warnings often went unheeded. On opening day, the fleet of 24 cars had been smashed down to just four, though the lines remained extremely long. Even though massive bumpers were added to the cars, problems still arose and Walt went looking for a more permanent solution to the problem.

One of the park’s contractors thought it had a solution. It had installed a car driving attraction at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and it invited Walt Disney to take a tour. Its attraction featured a track down the middle of the road. Despite the existence of the track, the attraction still featured a high boarding capacity, which is what Mr. Disney was looking for.

The tour was a huge success. DISNEYLAND’s Autopia would get a track and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk would become a part of Disney history. 

Walt Wednesdays: The Midget Autopia in Marceline

One of the most successful attractions in DISNEYLAND was the Autopia, which allowed most riders to drive a car around Tomorrowland. Riders had to be a certain height, however, so smaller kids were often left out. Thus the park introduced the “Midget Autopia”, which permitted shorter kids the option to drive themselves around the park.

The goal was to take stress off the regular Autopia, shortening the lines by giving younger guests their own location. The opposite height restriction, however, meant that most of the regular Autopia riders couldn’t ride the Midget Autopia. It soon became apparent that the Midget Autopia wasn’t accomplishing its main goal, so the decision was made to upgrade the attraction to a regular Autopia. Walt Disney, remembering his beloved hometown of Marceline, gave the attraction to the town in 1966.

The grateful city built a park around the attraction, operating it for many years. While other DISNEYLAND attractions have been relocated to other Disney Theme Parks, this would be the only time an attraction would get located outside one of the company’s parks.

Walt Wednesdays

Walt Wednesdays