Sleeping Beauty Castle, the enterance to Fantasyland. © Disneyland.

In the late 1990s, with a proliferation of theme parks all over the Western world, as well as in Africa and the Far East, it is difficult to recall that just over 40 years ago there were none--until Walt Disney opened Disneyland in 1955. There were national exhibitions and world fairs on one hand, and pleasure parks on the other. And that was that. Disney combined the two forms and added a new ingredient--fantasy, adapted from his animated films. Disneyland extended animation, using the heritage of Europe and a nostalgia for an American past, wrapped up as a three-dimensional package and consumed by visitors, very much in the way Disney had seen patrons making use of his films as products. It was a creative dream by the man who had seen the story of Snow White (1937) grow in his mind until it could be realized dramatically through the animation skills of his staff. The financial risk taken by Disney in his new venture had its parallels in the one he took nearly 20 years previously when he was pouring his energy and resources into the making of Snow White.

Rest, Recreation & Nostalgia
At first, Disney searched unsuccessfully for a park that possessed the ingredients that he was looking for; the American parks depressed him with their squalor, their lack of organization, haphazard and tiring acres of concrete, their surly personnel. In Denmark, he was impressed by Tivoli Garden. "It was spotless and brightly colored and priced within the reach of everyone," he said. "The gaiety of the music, the excellence of the food and drink, the warm courtesy of the employees--everything combined for a pleasurable experience."

He had begun thinking about a park for employees and friends as early as 1948 on vacant land near the studio, and in an internal memo he wrote:

The Main Village, which includes the Railroad Station, is built around a village green or informal park. In the park will be benches, a bandstand, drinking fountain, trees and shrubs. It will be a place for people to sit and rest; mothers and grandmothers can watch over small children at play. I want it to be very relaxing, cool and inviting.