Authors: Leslie Le Mon
Even in later life,
Walt
never outgrew a childlike delight in the world. Without a doubt he wanted adults to discover in
Disneyland
a place to throw off their grown-up cares and woes for at least a few hours, to reconnect with the optimism and imagination of youth, with a childlike sense of adventure, play, and exploration.
Disneyland
is a place where everyone can be a kid.
On an even deeper level,
Walt
and his team of
Imagineers
(the term is
Disney Legend
Marty Sklar
’s welding of “Imagination” and “Engineers”) created a psychologically compelling design, those archetypal themed lands connected by a
Central Plaza
or
Hub
. Guests can stand at the
Hub
and select among many themed lands that strike chords deeply rooted in the American psyche, and to some degree, in a universal, collective unconsciousness.
Walt
said it best himself: “
Disneyland
will be the essence of America as we know it, the nostalgia of the past, with exciting glimpses into the future … a place … to be at home … a place for the people to find happiness and knowledge.”
From the beginning
Walt
wanted to immerse park Guests in a three-dimensional experience of certain defining moments and values. The immersion was to be complete. It was to be like stepping through “the fourth wall” into a motion picture, and becoming a participant in it.
As always,
Walt
was ahead of his time. In the 21
st
century, artists and scientists develop ever more immersive virtual reality worlds via 3D film and television, videogame technology, and wearable technology like Google Glass specs. In the 1950’s,
Walt
created a virtual realm by building it in the real, three-dimensional world. It doesn’t get much more immersive than that.
Guests not only see replicas of bygone times
, or projections of things-to-come, but experience the associated sights, sounds, feelings, tastes, scents, and motions in the moment.
Walt
’s artists and engineers applied film and theater methodologies to the park. The result was uncannily immersive, not just photo-realistic but hyperrealistic. The park still has that sense of heightened reality, the super-saturated colors of movies, memories, and dreams.
That’s powerful, heady stuff, and over the decades
Disney
spread it to other
Disney theme parks
around the globe. There were initial stumbles with
Disneyland Paris
, the first major
Disney
theme park
established on foreign soil, but when additional
Disney parks
were built around the globe,
Imagineers
leveraged the lessons of
Disneyland Paris
to ensure that all new parks tapped the culture and dreams of the host country. With
DCA Park
, too,
Imagineers
went back to the drawing board to remember the
magically
immersive qualities that always made the original
Disneyland
so affecting.
Could anyone but
Walt Disney
have created a virtual reality land that would be at once specific
and
universal, comfortably small-town
and
mythically sacred? Apparently not—since he’s the only that did.
He was one in a million.
Walt
was a unique amalgam of the best qualities of Santa Claus and Willie Wonka, Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison, P.T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill Cody, David O. Selznick and Louis B. Mayer.
That’s why his
theme park blends the enchantment of Santa’s Castle and Wonka’s candy factory, the innovative spirit of both Tesla and Edison, the spectacles of Barnum’s living cabinets of curiosities, the pageantry of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows, and the cinematic virtuosity of the film moguls of Hollywood’s golden days.
Disneyland
most definitely
is
a small-town and it
is
mythically sacred. That’s the paradox. That’s
Walt
’s best hat trick.
Disneyland
is a shared space where almost anything can happen, but within the channels of a scrupulously mapped fantasy landscape.
Main Street
is the gateway to the rest of the park.
Main Street
always welcomes us home, to that intangible, ever-now moment that fascinated
Walt
, that “wonder moment” of becoming. It’s no accident that we find
Main Street
in a state of transition from horse-drawn streetcars to horseless carriages, from gas light to electric light, from “Our Town” to urbanization.
Near the end of his life,
Walt
was developing plans for a utopian community, based on a blend of warm neighborliness and cutting-edge technology. This
Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
(
EPCOT
) was built after his death, but took a far different form than the futuristic
Marceline
he’d envisioned.
Walt
had had in mind a pragmatic paradise, an ever-evolving world where real people lived and worked in an ideal combination of cityscape and green belt. Folks would be as friendly and civilized as Rockwell characters; nature and leisure activities would be readily accessible; and constantly upgraded transportation and largely invisible, ecologically sound public utilities would make the community greener and more efficient than anything known before. It was to be
Main Street
meets
Tomorrowland
.
Main Street
at
Disneyland
is the germ of that concept. It’s the place we always feel both safe, and rooted, and at the same time inspired to move forward to even better things, and a better self.
Fantasyland
has famously been called the heart of the park and the heart of our dreams. It’s the land
Walt
built to house our fairy tale fears and wishes and archetypes. It speaks to a part of ourselves that’s older and deeper, and darker and brighter, than the part
Main Street
connects with.
Fantasyland
communicates with the part of us that believes we can fly, and knows that there are monsters lurking in the woods.
Adventureland
, although the most mysterious district within the park, is perhaps easiest to comprehend; it embodies our primal yearnings for exploration, discovery, and danger.
Frontierland
speaks to our contradictory cravings to explore, but then to settle and “civilize” whatever wilderness lies over the next horizon.
Critter Country
celebrates our instinctive ingenuity, grit, and sense of community, through metaphors of the backwoods.
New Orleans Square
presents our nightmares of mortality and greed in a darkly comic, vastly entertaining rendering of the elegant and decadent Deep South.
Tomorrowland
remains the home of our aspirations for the future, though its focus has largely evolved from one of
Walt
’s favorite disciplines, transportation, to our modern fascination with and longing for ever more advanced entertainment and human communication.
Mickey’s Toontown
, the park’s newest land, is home to our deepest sense of play, an oasis for our toddler selves that are comfortable in a world brimming with color and humor and guileless literality, gags, and more gags, and the opportunity to touch
everything
we see, and not a single straight line in sight.
Disneyland
is all of these things, and more than the sum of its parts. It’s completely unreal, in a deeply truthful manner, and thoroughly true in a fantastic way that touches our hearts and spirits.
It’s
a sparkling, whirling, bounteous feast of the imagination.
It’s
whatever you make of it, whatever you want to take away. Because like all of the best virtual realities,
Disneyland
interacts with its visitors. It becomes what we seek, and what we contribute.
Disneyland
can be as simple as a fun place to spend a couple of hours. Ride a roller coaster. Wave to
Mickey
. Eat an ice cream cone. Watch a parade.
And
Disneyland
can be as deeply important, as sacred, as the irreplaceable home of our deepest values and dreams, everything that’s best, bright, and beautiful in the human spirit.
As always,
Walt
said it best: “
Disneyland
is a work of love.”
Welcome to the
Disneyland Resort
! An Overview
What is
Disneyland
? As of this writing, the
Disneyland Resort
occupies more than 500 acres and includes two theme parks (
Disneyland
and
Disney California
Adventure
), three hotels (
Disneyland Hotel
,
Grand Californian Hotel and Spa
, and
Paradise Pier Hotel
), one of the largest parking structures on the planet (
Mickey & Friends
), and a dining, shopping and entertainment district open to the public as well as resort Guests (
Downtown Disney
). There are enough activities and attractions to entertain your whole family, whether for an afternoon or a week.
Disneyland (DL) Park
The original
Disney Theme Park
, the one that started the
magic
, was lovingly and imaginatively hand-crafted by
Walt
and his
Imagineers
. It opened on July 17, 1955 and has continued to dynamically reinvent itself ever since. The park covers about 100 acres;
backstage
areas for maintenance and administration are cleverly concealed from Guests to keep the
magical
illusion unbroken. The eight themed lands, all tied to
Disney
characters or sensibilities, offer days of magic, fireworks, food, and fun with more intimate charm and on a more intimate scale than the massive
Magic Kingdom
at
Walt Disney World
in
Florida
.
Disneyland
regions are
Adventureland
,
Critter Country
,
Fantasyland
,
Frontierland
,
Main Street, U.S.A.
,
Mickey’s Toontown
,
New Orleans Square
, and
Tomorrowland
. Among the
E-ticket
attractions:
Indiana Jones Adventure
,
Haunted Mansion
,
Pirates of the Caribbean
,
Space Mountain
,
Splash Mountain
, and
Star Tours
. Shows include the jaw-dropping
Fantasmic!
and moving
Magical Fireworks
(presented nightly during summer and holiday season, on weekends only during the off-season). Food and merchandise are sold at all price points. Activities and amenities are designed for Guests of all ages, international Guests, and Guests with disabilities. A variety of
Guided Tours
are available. Guest amenities include ATMs, Baby Care Station, First Aid, Kennel, Lockers, Pay Phones, and Stroller & Wheel Chair rentals (with fees as applicable). As of this writing, rental fees are: $15 for Strollers (or 2 Strollers for $25), $12 for Wheel Chairs (plus a $20 refundable deposit) and $50 for ECVs (Electric Convenience Vehicles) (plus a $20 refundable deposit). Typical Park Operating Hours are 8am – Midnight during summer and holiday season, 10am – 8pm off-season. Website:
www.disneyland.disney.go.com
Disney California Adventure
(DCA) Park
Disneyland
’s sister park, located just across the entrance plaza, opened in February of 2001. At about 67 acres in size,
DCA
is substantially smaller than
Disneyland
, and in its early days frequently and unfairly suffered by comparison to its
magical
sibling. Guests often expect it to be an annex or continuation of
Disneyland
, but
DCA
is its own unique creature. The best way to enjoy
DCA
is to appreciate it for what it is: an imaginative celebration of the excitement and majesty of California, with many magical
Disney
touches. Famously responsive to its Guests’ wishes,
Disney
has added
Disney
and
Disney-Pixar
characters and attractions to the park, including an elaborate
Little Mermaid
dark ride that launched in 2011, and a stunning water and lights extravaganza called
World of Color
which was unveiled in June 2010, and then enhanced in summer 2012 with an interactive
Glow with the Show
light show. Twelve acres of parking lot were transformed into a new district,
Cars Land
, which opened in June 2012 with multiple attractions and the entire little community of
Radiator Springs
, based on the popular
Disney
-
Pixar
film
Cars
.
DCA
’s entrance area underwent a massive refurb, completed in June 2012, transforming it into a beautiful Art Deco land evocative of the 1920’s Los Angeles
Walt
experienced when he moved from California to the Midwest with nothing but dreams and a can-do spirit. The re-imagined district includes idealized and authentic period touches like working half-scale replicas of L.A.s famous
Big Red Cars
, and a recreation of the
Carthay Circle Theatre
where
Disney
’s ground-breaking animated feature
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
premiered in 1937. Overall, the changes and additions have deeply enhanced the
Imagineer
’s original vision of celebrating aspects of California directly relevant
Walt
’s life and his animated creations. Presently,
Disney California Adventure
Park
has eight themed areas that offer several days of fun for the entire family:
“a bug’s land,”
Buena Vista Street
,
Cars Land
,
Condor Flats
,
Grizzly Peak
,
Hollywood Land
,
Pacific Wharf
, and
Paradise Pier
. Present
E-ticket
attractions in
DCA
include the not-to-be-missed
Soarin’ Over California
, which is awe-inspiring yet gentle enough for the whole family to enjoy; the more dynamic
Grizzly River Run
, a flume attraction with two drops, the highest being 21 feet;
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
, which features multiple plunges at faster-than-gravity speeds in a 183-feet tall replica of a haunted Hollywood hotel; and the brand new
Radiator Springs Racers
, which
vroom
through acres of painstakingly crafted rockwork.
World of Color
, the water spectacular, is a must. Food and merchandise are offered at all price points. Originally conceived of and perceived as a park for grownups more than for children (unlike
Disneyland
for example,
DCA
serves wine, beer, and cocktails),
DCA
in its new incarnation offers plenty of activities for all ages.
DCA
abuts the beautiful
Grand Californian Hotel and Spa
(resort hotel Guests enjoy the use of the
Grand Californian
’s private
DCA
entrance). The park and its amenities are accessible to Guests of all ages and abilities. Park amenities include ATMs, Baby Care Station, First Aid, Kennel, Lockers, Pay Phones, and Stroller & Wheel Chair rentals are available (with fees as applicable). Typical Operating Hours are 8 am – 11 pm during summer and holiday season, 10 am – 8 pm off-season. Website:
www.disneyland.disney.go.com