Walt & His Inspiration for Disneyland Opening Day Attractions

On July 17^th, 1955 Walt Disney’s dream of a family centred theme park became a reality when Disneyland opened with many exciting and innovative attractions. Each of these attractions had Walt’s special touch and were uniquely inspired by his many passions. Below are some examples of where his inspiration came from to create such a unique Park.

1. King Arthur Carrousel – Walt dreamt up the idea of Disneyland while watching his daughters play on the carousel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles and so he wanted to included one of his own in his theme park. Named after the, then-future, film The Sword in the Stone (1963), King Arthur Carrousel was originally a working carousel at Sunnyside Amusement Park in Toronto and Walt bought it for Disneyland. The carousel had been in operation since 1922 but parts of this Dentzel-made ride dated as far back as 1875. Walt wanted his guests to ride only horses so the other animals on the original carousel had to be replaced. He also wanted the horses to all be leaping so their legs were reconfigured but the horses were all painted differently to allow for some personality. King Arthur Carrousel is still in operation today and adds a very magical impression to Fantasyland.

2. Canal Boats of the World – Originally Walt want this attraction to be a ride through of a miniature city with small audio-animatronics but this idea’s use of technology was ahead of its time. He got the idea from a miniature land attraction in The Netherlands called Madurodam and was going to call his version Lilliputian Land after his wife. Another idea was to include miniature famous landmarks from around the world. There were many issues with the boats overheating and with mudslides into the canals that the attraction closed after only two months of operation. Plants were added to the canal banks to prevent the mudslides and this was the start of the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction that is well known and loved today.

3. Mark Twain Riverboat – Walt wanted a steamboat in his theme park from the very early planning stages. His team built the Mark Twain Riverboat (originally named the Mark Twain Steamboat) as the first functional paddle wheeler in America in 50 years. The riverboat was named after one of Walt’s personal heroes, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who was actually once a riverboat pilot himself. The phrase mark twain is also a nautical term that means a vessel is at a safe depth.

4. Autopia – The name Autopia comes from Automobile Utopia and this was the exact vision Walt had for this attraction. Walt had a passion for the transportation of the future and this was reflected in many aspects of Tomorrowland. Autopia was built based on the future multilane freeways with limited access. These highways have been in use for decades now but when Disneyland opened with a smaller version, it once again proved that Walt Disney had a way of thinking that was ahead of the times. He also wanted to give children the chance to experience what it was like to get behind the wheel and drive a car.

5. Jungle Cruise – This Adventureland boat ride attraction was inspired by Disney’s True-Life Adventures documentary, The African Lion (1955) and by Horizon Pictures’ The African Queen (1951). The boats were designed after the steamer ship in The African Queen and exotic vegetation was planted so that the Jungle Cruise appeared to be in the tropics. However, local plants, such as orange trees, were also used but were planted upside down to look more exotic. Walt had wanted to use real animals but when he found out that they would be sleeping during the hours of park opening, he decided to go with audio-animatronics. The original script had no jokes and was delivered like a live nature documentary. Since this attraction was the furthest along during Disneyland’s construction, the Jungle Cruise was given a lot of publicity by Walt before opening day.

6. Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad – Please visit a previous Walt Disney post for some of the inspirations for the Disneyland Railroad.

7. Many attractions were simply based on Walt’s own films such as Peter Pan’s Flight, Mad Tea Party, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and Snow White’s Adventures.

8. Other attractions were built to bring more authenticity to the various themed lands around Disneyland and were inspired by actual historical transportation and entertainment.
Main Street had the Horse-drawn Streetcars, Fire Wagon, Surreys, Main Street Cinema, and the Penny Arcade
Frontierland had the Stage Coach, Mule Pack, and The Golden Horseshoe Saloon.