In the middle of the last century, Walt Disney fulfilled his dream of creating a magical place dedicated to family entertainment.
On July 17, 1955, the Disneyland amusement park opened its doors to the public for the first time in an old orange grove in Arheim, California.
Walt Disney thus fulfilled the dream of sharing with the rest of the world the idea he had been fantasizing about for years: a very special place where adults and children could enjoy leisure time safely and live the experience of participating in different fantasy worlds in an immersive and realistic way.
And boy did he share it! From that 'Black Sunday at Disneyland' – named after mishaps such as the fountains not working during a heat wave that melted even the asphalt of the streets (where the heels of the shoes got stuck) – until today, they are already 800 million people who have visited the 'Happiest Place in the World'.
Six decades of history that the Taschen publishing house wanted to remember and document visually, with unpublished photographs from the Disney collections, private archives and images from the newspapers of the time, in the book entitled Walt Disney's Disneyland. The texts have been commissioned by the writer and historian Chris Nichols, who, in addition to being a member of the board of directors of the Hollywood Heritage Museum and giving talks and conferences, writes an opinion column for Los Angeles magazine.
Cover of the book Walt Disney's Disneyland, with texts by Chris Nichols (Taschen).
WALT DISNEY'S DISNEYLAND
An explosion of color and creativity, this is the book Walt Disney's Disneyland, whose title, under the English formula of the Saxon genitive, reveals with the force of the possessive the importance that this park had in the life of the great North American producer, director and screenwriter. And that initially Walt Disney's original idea was to call it Mickey Mouse Park.
Divided into three general chapters – Walt's Dream, The Park Comes to Life and The Show Goes On – spending the Illustrated pages with color-saturated drawings and photographs (as was the style in the 50s, 60s and even 70s) is like making a thorough review of the visual history of the United States, from the postwar period in which the fantasy of Disney movies returned the illusion to the American people until today , where technological advances complete imaginary universes like that of Star Wars.
Fold-out of the book Walt Disney's Disneyland, edited by Taschen publishing house.
Another fundamental part of the book is the text by Chris Nichols, who as an expert in the architecture and culture of Southern California and, therefore, also of the Disney world, unravels the ins and outs of the park's design and engineering feats and notes statements from the 'actors' who accompanied Walt Disney in the process of building Disneyland (not those behind the costumes of the Disney characters, but those who helped him make this macro project a reality) .
"After lunch [Walt came] to the sound studio [and said]. Guys, are you going to write me a song to explain all this", we can read 'from the mouth' of the Oscar-winning composer Richard M. Sherman, author of the famous Disneyland park theme, It's a Small World (after all), as well as other songs from Disney movies such as The Jungle Book or The Aristocats.
Inside of the book, with illustrations from one of the books that inspired Walt Disney.
We also find illustrations from the books that inspired the creator of Mickey Mouse to devise the different worlds of Disneyland. An example is V_oices on the wind: Polynesian Myths and Chants_ by Katherine Luomala, whose palm trees and totems were cloned in The Enchanted Tiki Room, a musical that debuted in 1963 and was the first Audio-Animatronics show.
the plastic artist Mary Blair was another guest to design concepts at the amusement park, specifically the It's a Small World cruise, since before being a renowned graphic designer and illustrator of children's books, Blair had worked at the Disney studios devising the feature film The Three Caballeros, in which Donal Duck traveled to Mexico, and had left fascinated Walt Disney with his games of contrasts and colors.
They say that a good leader is one who knows how to surround himself with a trained team. And, in view of the results, this has been a determining factor in the success of Disneyland, since t's a Small World is considered a classic that has been transferred to all the Disney Resorts in the world.
Artwork by artist Mary Blair, who designed Disneyland's It's a Small World.
CASTLES BY ORANGE TREES
There is a very illuminating sentence from the author at the beginning of the book: "Sometimes, we feel as if Disneyland has always been here, as if it has just grown out of the Earth completely finished. The park created by Walt Disney has become such an integral part of our lives, like a piece of America, that we forget that the original 400 acres in Anaheim was once just another orange grove.
And the truth is, that according to the illusion faces of all the children portrayed in the images that illustrate its 328 pages, we can only agree with him and affirm that, since that hot Monday in 1955, Disneyland has been part of the contemporary collective imagination, in which orange trees have become fairy-tale castles by the grace of Walt Disney magic.
"We open the castle of Fantasyland in the name of all the children of the world," proclaimed a gentleman on the day of the park's opening.
Original design and result of the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction, based on the story of Pinocchio.