Disney's Land

Author: Richard Snow
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Scribner, 2020
Pages: 432
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California, and imagined building a park where people "could live among Mickey Mouse and Snow White in a world still powered by steam and fire for a day or a week or (if the visitor is slightly mad) forever." Despite his wealth and fame, exactly no one wanted Disney to build such a park. Not his brother Roy, who ran the company's finances, not the bankers, and not his wife, Lillian. Amusement parks at that time, such as Coney Island, were generally despised businesses, sagging and sordid remnants of bygone days. Disney was told that he would only be heading toward financial ruin.

But Walt persevered, initially financing the park against his own life insurance policy and later with sponsorship from ABC and the sale of thousands and thousands of Davey Crockett coonskin caps. Disney assembled a talented team of engineers, architects, artists, animators, landscapers, and even a retired admiral to transform his ideas into a soaring yet soothing wonderland of a park. The catch was that they had only a year and a day in which to build it.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened its gates. . .and the first day was a disaster. Disney was nearly suicidal with grief that he had failed on a grand scale. But the curious masses kept coming, and the rest is entertainment history. Eight hundred million visitors have flocked to the park since then.

 
Review: I have been to both Disneyland (once) and Disney World (several times), and learning the history made the experiences all the richer. I'd love to return to Disneyland now that I know more about it. 

I have been taking leadership classes through work, and my supervisor started a book club for several of us who were promoted into leadership positions. As a result, Walt Disney's style of leadership and vision were also interesting to me and were a major theme in this book.

It's impossible for me to imagine a world without Disney so to learn how it developed into a cultural force gave me a lot to think about. What would the entertainment be without Disney, not to mention Orlando and Anaheim.