Disney's Land Book Summary - Disney's Land Book explained in key points

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Disney's Land summary

Name: Disney's Land
Rating: 4.5 (26 reviews)
Author: Richard Snow

Richard Snow

Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World

4.5 (26 ratings)

23 mins

Table of Contents

Disney's Land
summarized in 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Discover what shaped and influenced Disney’s plans for Disneyland.

It’s August 31, 1948, and Walt Disney has just returned from the Chicago Railroad Fair. He’s sitting in his office and drafting a memo. Its title? Mickey Mouse Park.

He describes a village with a railway station built around a park. He has benches in the park, along with a bandstand, drinking fountains, and vegetation. He describes it as “relaxing, cool, and inviting.”

He plans for a town hall, fire and police stations, an opera house, a movie theater, and stores for toys, hobbies, magic, and candy. And he includes rides, too: A horse car to take those who don’t want to walk from the main entrance to the railroad station. A ring where kids can ride ponies. A stage coach that’ll pass by a farm, a Native American village, and an old mill. And, to top it all off, a donkey pack train that can carry ten kids at a time.

Some of these ideas would come to pass, but one thing was for sure – his visit to the Railroad Fair had strengthened his determination to build his own railroad. And he did just that. It operated for a few years, on the grounds of his house in Holmby Hills. But after a derailment and an injury to a five-year-old girl, he had it removed.

Although Disney had loved having his own personal railroad, its time was over. He’d learned all he could about creating an experience for his guests, complete with a narrative and scenes that changed and blended into each other. He had bigger plans on the horizon.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

how Disney’s dream almost didn’t happen;
how a problem in Fantasyland nearly closed the park; and
how two words written on a postcard created a mountain.

From humble beginnings to a convivial mouse.

It’s July 17, 1955. The time is 4:00 a.m. and Walt Disney is looking for something to do. The sounds of sawing, hammering, and forklift trucks surround him as workmen put the finishing touches to Disneyland. Just two years earlier, this site was 160 acres of orange trees. Now there’s a plethora of “lands” surrounding a fairy-tale castle – including the American West, a jungle river, and Peter Pan’s Never Land, all encircled by a railroad with a fully functioning steam train.

Thousands, or even tens of thousands, of decisions have led to this point. Soon, crowds of people, including governors and movie stars, will be pouring in as Disneyland opens its gates for the first time. There are still a couple details to smooth out. But in the morning, Disney will be opening the park to the press – and hosting the largest live TV show ever. He calls it a night, climbs the stairs to his second-floor apartment over the firehouse, and retires to bed.

At 6:00 a.m. he’s already up and dressed again – there’s a TV rehearsal to do. But there’s one more hurdle to overcome before he can attend that. Overnight, the firehouse has been painted, and that paint has dried. He has to call a workman to unjam the door to get him out . . .

Walter Elias Disney was born in 1901, and his early years were spent on his parents’ farm. After a series of family moves – first to Kansas City and then to Chicago – Disney forged his birth certificate so he could join the Red Cross. But the war was already over when the 16-year-old arrived in France after the armistice of November 11, 1918.

Returning to America in 1919, he had a couple of short-term jobs – and then joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company, which produced promotional films for local businesses. There, he started producing cartoon ads that were shown in local movie theaters. These evolved into longer and longer cartoons derived from fairy tales, culminating in the ambitious Alice’s Wonderland, which bankrupted him in 1923.

Disney moved to Los Angeles after receiving a contract from a distributor to produce episodes of Alice. It was there that his brother Roy became his business manager – a position he’d hold for the rest of Disney’s life. Los Angeles was also where he met Lillian Bounds, who became the team’s secretary. A few months later, she and Disney got married.

Alice lasted until 1927. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit came next – and was a great success. But after a falling-out with Universal Pictures, who now owned the rights to his new creation, Disney conceived a new character: Mortimer. He eventually settled on a more friendly name, and Mickey Mouse was born.

As the not-so-lucky rabbit fell into obscurity, Mickey shot to fame – and Disney with him. The American screenwriter and movie columnist Louella Parsons even commented that “Mickey Mouse has a bigger following than nine-tenths of the stars in Hollywood.”

Precursors to Disneyland and a nearly shattered dream.

In 1933, Disney created Three Little Pigs – considered the most successful short animation ever. And then, in 1934, he embarked on the production of the world’s first feature-length cartoon. Nearly four years later, and a million dollars over its initial $500,000 budget, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had its premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles, on December 21, 1937.

The premiere provided Disney with an opportunity for one of his first forays into showcasing the type of entertainment he’d later have at Disneyland. On display was the dwarfs’ ten-foot-tall cottage surrounded by giant yellow, blue, and pink mushrooms; trees with eyes and arms that tried to grab visitors; a diamond mine; and a garden with a stream running through it that powered a mill wheel. And, to top it all off, seven dwarfs were working the mines and putting on a show for children and adults alike. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs went on to become the biggest hit of 1938 – and the most successful sound film of its era.

Finding a site and securing finances were both fraught with difficulties.

In Disney’s book, “for real” meant bigger. He’d begun to imagine plans for Disneyland’s Main Street with “lands” around it representing the Old West, a jungle river trip, the future, a fantasyland based on his cartoons, and others. But one thing remained elusive – where could such a park be situated?

Disney’s first idea was the lot behind the studio, but at two and a half acres, it was way too small for his vision. A 16-acre riverside plot opposite the Burbank studio came under scrutiny, but a dispute with the city council shelved that idea.

An omnipresent Disney faced union problems and last-minute glitches.

Bicycles were the usual way of getting around on the Disneyland site – but they had a habit of breaking down frequently. Asking the mechanic to fix “Walt’s bike” would get it done then and there. But, in reality, Disney never rode a bike. In fact, nobody knew how he managed to get from one place on site to another so quickly just by walking. It seemed he was everywhere at once.

Disney was a perfectionist too. There could be no cutting corners when it came to details. An attempt to use plastic railings 40 feet up on the roofs of Main Street’s buildings, for example, just wouldn’t do. Even though no one would be able to tell the difference, wrought iron was a must. Disney insisted that details were what would make Disneyland unique – even down to having the rocks that supported the five-eighths scale trains reworked to the proportionate size.

A TV extravaganza and a handful of teeth.

And we’re back to July 17, 1955. On that day, the population of the United States was around 169 million. An incredible 55.2 percent of the population – some 90 million people – watched the climax of Disney’s television show, Dateline: Disneyland. That’s even more than would go on to watch the moon landing.

Although Disney was the star of the show, his friend Art Linkletter – a popular TV and radio presenter of the day – agreed to cohost the program. Linkletter chose two more of his own friends to cohost as well. Robert Cummings, who’d just appeared in Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder alongside Grace Kelly, was one. The other was a “charming actor” who went on to achieve the highest governmental position in the US – none other than Ronald Reagan.

Paying customers, a mountain, and a persistent cough.

It was Monday morning, July 18, 1955. Despite the problems and setbacks of the previous day, the first paying guests were arriving at Disneyland. Unfortunately, the day’s disasters followed the same pattern as the press preview day – even down to the gas leak in Fantasyland.

From that moment on, Disney worked tirelessly to ensure the money kept coming in. First and foremost, he made sure all the equipment worked properly. Second on the agenda was finishing the attractions that hadn’t been ready on the park’s inaugural day. To make those things happen, Disney announced that 16 percent of revenue would go back into the park.

Epilogue

Disneyland has hosted many famous visitors over the years – from US presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy to the kings of Belgium and Morocco to the Shah of Iran, to the Indonesian president Sukarno and prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. But some weren’t so fortunate. Famously, in 1959, on an eleven-day tour of the USA, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was denied that opportunity as the American authorities argued they simply couldn’t guarantee his safety.

Today, there are 12 Disney parks located around the world. But Disney himself only saw the original Disneyland in Anaheim. His presence can still be felt clearly in the design. It’s more intimate. Its Main Street isn’t just a “cheerful thoroughfare” leading to the lands around it, but an “autobiographical statement” about both his, and America’s, youth.

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What is Disney's Land about?

Disney’s Land (2019) tells the story of Walt Disney’s dream of an amusement park for the whole family. It nearly didn’t happen, and came close to putting Disney out of business. But thanks to Walt’s vision and perseverance, and a dedicated and talented team, his ideas were magically transformed into a wonderland of delights.

Who should read Disney's Land?

Disney aficionados
Adventure-park lovers
History buffs

About the Author

Richard Snow worked at American Heritage magazine for nearly four decades; he was its editor in chief for 17 years. The author of nine other books, including two historical novels and a collection of poetry, he’s also worked as a consultant on historical movies and documentaries.

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