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People forget that Disney made up the whole idea of a theme park (as opposed to something more like a carnival) and built it in basically a year. Anytime you ar

People forget that Disney made up the whole idea of a theme park (as opposed to something more like a carnival) and built it in basically a year. Anytime you are the first to do something, it's really hard to know how to do it right the first time. Having been a programmer in the 1980's, a lot of what we did was making it up as we went along since there were no precedents (and no easy communications like the internet today to know if someone else did it before). In 1955 Disney had no computers or cell phones or CAD or anything we take for granted. Despite the opening day disasters, today it's a huge business. DisneyWorld in Orlando by itself as a separate company would be in the middle of the Fortune 500.

proverbialbunny 7y ago
That's a valid point, but it's not entirely true. Walt Disney was not the first to make a theme park. He was inspired by Fairy Land in Oakland, CA. He even graffitied Mickey Mouse around the park in his early days. Walt has explicitly cited Fairy Land as his inspiration for Disney Land. Fairyland is magical in a specific sort of way Walt tried to capture. Many parts of the park are designed for young kids to go that are too small for parents to easily follow. Imagine being a kid and going through a tunnel coming out to a secret world with just other kids your age who are playing and inviting you to join, similar to Peter Pan. That's what it is like. Walt tried to capture this magic with Disneyland and has captured some of it, but it falls short in some ways. In other ways Disneyland is better, as it is enjoyable for all ages. Fairyland is designed for kids under the age of 13.
sandworm101 7y ago
It wasn't the first theme park. What it was was the first theme part based on a particular set of core values. Disney did not like what he saw in other parks and so decided to build a more perfect world. His park would not serve alcohol. His park would be immaculate. The people at his park would be young and attractive, the embodiment of what was portrayed in the Disney cannon. He succeeded. Disney then stood at the gates of Disneyland and looked at the string of shoddy hotels that sprung up beside his creation. Disney should be an all-day experience. A Disney World was necessary.
- cynicalkane 7y ago
  > What it was was the first theme part based on a particular set of core values. That's what makes it a 'theme park'. Previous large-scale amusement parks didn't have central defining themes, though there were older examples of small-scale theme parks. By modern standards, 'old timey carnival' might be a theme, but obviously it wasn't at the time.
  - sandworm101 7y ago
    Ya, 'core values' isn't a theme. I'm talking about family/american/christian values. Disney had Regan and a Protestant minister open the park. This was a park backed by the american political and religious establishment. It wasn't a religious theme park, nor a political one, but an idealized image of how the two could/should/would get along.
- proverbialbunny 7y ago
  Fairyland is a theme park that did and does have all those core values. Walt Disney cited it as his inspiration for creating Disneyland.
astura 7y ago
>People forget that Disney made up the whole idea of a theme park (as opposed to something more like a carnival) Ummm...not sure if this is really true or a myth propagated by Disney; Storytown USA (now Six Flags Great Escape) predates Disneyland by a year. As the name suggests Storytown was similar to Disney in that is was story-themed: Mother Goose, Humpty Dumpty, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, etc. Definitely not like a carnival at all. EDIT: Also nearby was a Western themed amusement park called Frontier Town, which according to this source [of questionable reliability] http://vermonter.com/frontier-town/ http://vermonter.com/frontier-town/ was conceived 3 years before Disneyland opened. DOUBLE EDIT: I just thought of an even older one, Santa's Workshop in Wilmington, New York (near Lake Placid) which is Christmas themed and opened in 1949. It already had its own post office by the time Disneyland opened.
- dzmien 7y ago
  Knoebels Amusement Resort [0] in Elysburg, Pennsylvania has been there since 1926. I'm sure there are many other examples of pre-1950s amusement parks. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoebels_Amusement_Resort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoebels_Amusement_Resort

proverbialbunny 7y ago

That's a valid point, but it's not entirely true. Walt Disney was not the first to make a theme park. He was inspired by Fairy Land in Oakland, CA. He even graffitied Mickey Mouse around the park in his early days. Walt has explicitly cited Fairy Land as his inspiration for Disney Land. Fairyland is magical in a specific sort of way Walt tried to capture. Many parts of the park are designed for young kids to go that are too small for parents to easily follow. Imagine being a kid and going through a tunnel coming out to a secret world with just other kids your age who are playing and inviting you to join, similar to Peter Pan. That's what it is like. Walt tried to capture this magic with Disneyland and has captured some of it, but it falls short in some ways. In other ways Disneyland is better, as it is enjoyable for all ages. Fairyland is designed for kids under the age of 13.

sandworm101 7y ago

It wasn't the first theme park. What it was was the first theme part based on a particular set of core values. Disney did not like what he saw in other parks and so decided to build a more perfect world. His park would not serve alcohol. His park would be immaculate. The people at his park would be young and attractive, the embodiment of what was portrayed in the Disney cannon. He succeeded. Disney then stood at the gates of Disneyland and looked at the string of shoddy hotels that sprung up beside his creation. Disney should be an all-day experience. A Disney World was necessary.

cynicalkane 7y ago
> What it was was the first theme part based on a particular set of core values. That's what makes it a 'theme park'. Previous large-scale amusement parks didn't have central defining themes, though there were older examples of small-scale theme parks. By modern standards, 'old timey carnival' might be a theme, but obviously it wasn't at the time.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  Ya, 'core values' isn't a theme. I'm talking about family/american/christian values. Disney had Regan and a Protestant minister open the park. This was a park backed by the american political and religious establishment. It wasn't a religious theme park, nor a political one, but an idealized image of how the two could/should/would get along.
proverbialbunny 7y ago
Fairyland is a theme park that did and does have all those core values. Walt Disney cited it as his inspiration for creating Disneyland.

astura 7y ago

>People forget that Disney made up the whole idea of a theme park (as opposed to something more like a carnival) Ummm...not sure if this is really true or a myth propagated by Disney; Storytown USA (now Six Flags Great Escape) predates Disneyland by a year. As the name suggests Storytown was similar to Disney in that is was story-themed: Mother Goose, Humpty Dumpty, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, etc. Definitely not like a carnival at all. EDIT: Also nearby was a Western themed amusement park called Frontier Town, which according to this source [of questionable reliability] http://vermonter.com/frontier-town/ http://vermonter.com/frontier-town/ was conceived 3 years before Disneyland opened. DOUBLE EDIT: I just thought of an even older one, Santa's Workshop in Wilmington, New York (near Lake Placid) which is Christmas themed and opened in 1949. It already had its own post office by the time Disneyland opened.

dzmien 7y ago
Knoebels Amusement Resort [0] in Elysburg, Pennsylvania has been there since 1926. I'm sure there are many other examples of pre-1950s amusement parks. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoebels_Amusement_Resort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoebels_Amusement_Resort