Early
Design Notes of Disneyland Created
August
31, 1948
On August 31, 1948, Walt Disney shared a memo with Disney
Studio artist Dick Kelsey describing ideas for an amusement park, which he
called "Mickey Mouse Park." It
is one of the earliest detailed descriptions of an amusement park concept that
would ultimately become Disneyland. Early on, Walt Disney came up with the
concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters
in the 1930s and 1940s. Walt Disney was
visiting Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters Diane and Sharon.
While watching them ride the merry-go-round, he came up with the idea of a
place where adults and their children could go and have fun together, though his
dream lay dormant for many years. He may have also been influenced by his
father's memories of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, as his
father worked at the Exposition. The Midway Plaisance there included a set of
attractions representing various countries from around the world and others
representing various periods of man; it also included many rides including the
first Ferris wheel, a "sky" ride, a passenger train that circled the
perimeter, and a Wild West Show. Another likely influence was Benton Harbor,
Michigan's nationally famous House of David's Eden Springs Park.
Disney visited
the park and ultimately bought one of the older miniature trains originally
used there; the colony had the largest miniature railway setup in the world at
the time. The earliest documented draft
of Disney's plans was sent as a memo to studio production designer Dick Kelsey
on August 31, 1948, where "Mickey Mouse Park" began to take formation
and become a reality, all based on notes Walt made during his and Ward
Kimball's trip to Chicago Railroad Fair the same month, with a two day stop in
Henry Ford's Museum and Greenfield Village, a place with attractions like a
Main Street and steamboat rides, which he had visited eight years earlier. Walt’s
earliest ideas would also include a Main Street around a railway station, all
built around a village green. It was
one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the amusement park that would one
day become The Happiest Place on Earth, the Disneyland Resort. And that’s what happened today in Disneyland
history.
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