Original Site for Mickey Mouse Park

On the outskirts of Walt Disney Studios is the original location for Disneyland, home of the Mickey Mouse park. There's a neighborhood that's been built around it, industry and highway 5 but somehow this land has stayed open. It's amazing because everything else has grown up here but this idea represents the beginning of Disneyland. 

Up and over there is Griffith Park where Disney fans know the story of Walt watching his daughters on the carousel thinking there's got to be a better way. A way where we can do this for everyone in the family to have a good time. This land was that idea. An original, smaller, more charming intimate park meets amusement park setting. Some of the early principles of this park would carry over to our beloved Disneyland because it wasn't the idea that was bad, it was a problem with this land.

Walt like every other creative understands that sometimes the fun and creativity is the challenge. After mastering animation and making full length featured films, Walt kind of got bored. Walt was an entertainer and in his entertainer's mind he was envisioning a new form of family entertainment.

When the Disney Company started to take off they purchased over 50 acres in Burbank which is now the home to the animation studio, Walt Disney Studios, ABC, and Hollywood Records. But it was this land where Walt loved his customers. His two greatest skill sets was storytelling and connection to his audience. Often people asked about a movie studio tour on the studio lot, where people could come to the studio, see where the magic is made and meet Mickey Mouse.

Just outside this cafeteria door is the view of the plot of land we're discussing today. My tour guide Louis took me through this part of the Animation building and told me about the dream Walt had for building Mickey Mouse park. But the city of Burbank did not want this to happen.

My TOUR of WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

You would come into the park from this direction and go through a carnival area, it had a hub, an attraction that looked like Rivers of America with a steam ship from Missouri going around it, a native American village and a lot of the things that we got at Disneyland. (Please refer to the maps above)

What they could have done here would have been pretty impressive, there was going to be a train on the outskirts, a boat ride, a Main Street USA, and a doll hospital. Walt had so many ideas on how he was going to make a park different than everyone else's. So he researched and brought talent in to do the parts he couldn't.

The L.A. River was one of the excuses why the city of Burbank said no. They were worried that people at the park would want to jump into the L.A. River. Would the park have been the same if it was in Burbank on the back side of the Hollywood Hills? Imagine the traffic congestion trying to get in and out of the area! Especially in the middle of Burbank's July weather!

Walt would comb every amusement park that he could find both around the country and in parts of Europe to see what other people were doing. To see how he could improve the experience. He wanted his park to be clean and not a carnival carny type atmosphere. He was so focused on a clean family-friendly environment. Something that felt like reality and could play into his nostalgia for his childhood and for America,  which it was built upon. A place where everyone could feel young at heart regardless of their age. A perfect place where everybody is a bit more on their best behavior.

The efficiency of Disneyland, the charm of how it really feels like a living breathing city, is possibly the most magical of all of the parks. It was the one that Walt built. It was the only one that Walt would ever live out his vision and dream. I'd like to think he would be happy to know that Disneyland did evolve not only into an amusement park but into a real perfect little town.