Walt Disney

:For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. For other uses, see Walt Disney (disambiguation).

1955-1966: Theme Parks and Beyond

Carolwood Pacific Railroad

In 1949, when Disney and his family moved to a new home on large piece of property in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles, California, with the help of his friends Ward and Betty Kimball, owners of their own backyard railroad, Disney developed the blueprints and immediately set to work creating his own miniature Live steam railroad in his backyard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood Pacific Railroad, originated from the address of his home that was located on Carolwood Drive. The railroad's half-mile long layout included a 46-foot-long trestle, loops, overpasses, gradients, an elevated dirt berm, and a 90-foot tunnel underneath Mrs. Disney's flowerbed. He named the miniature working steam locomotive built by Roger E. Broggie of the Disney Studios Lilly Belle in his wife's honor. He had his attorney draw up right-of-way papers giving the railroad a permanent, legal easement through the garden areas, which his wife dutifully signed; however, there is no evidence the documents were ever recorded as a restriction on the property's title.

Related Topics:
1949 - Los Angeles, California - Ward and Betty Kimball - Backyard railroad - Live steam - Carolwood Pacific Railroad - Tunnel - Roger E. Broggie - Disney Studios

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Planning Disneyland

On a business trip to Chicago in the late 1940s, Disney drew sketches of his ideas for an amusement park where he envisioned his employees spending time with their children. These ideas developed into a concept for a larger enterprise that was to become Disneyland. Disney spent five years of his life developing Disneyland and created a new subsidiary of his company, called WED Enterprises to carry out the planning and production of the park. A small group of Disney studio employees joined the Disneyland development project as engineers and planners, and were dubbed Imagineers.

Related Topics:
Chicago - Amusement park - Disneyland - WED Enterprises - Engineer - Imagineer

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When presenting his plan to the Imagineers, Disney said, "I want Disneyland to be the most amazing place on Earth, and I want a train circling it". Entertaining his daughters and their friends in his backyard and taking them for rides on his Carolwood Pacific Railroad had inspired Disney to include a railroad in the plans for Disneyland.

Related Topics:
Earth - Train - Railroad

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Expanding into new areas

As Walt Disney Productions began work on Disneyland, it also began expanding its other entertainment operations. 1950's Treasure Island became the studio's first all-live-action feature, and was soon followed by such successes as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (in CinemaScope, 1954), The Shaggy Dog (1959), and The Parent Trap (1960). The Walt Disney Studio was one of the first to take full advantage of the then-new medium of television, producing its first TV special, One Hour in Wonderland, in 1950. Walt Disney began hosting a weekly anthology series on ABC named Disneyland after the park, where he showed clips of past Disney productions, gave tours of his studio, and familiarized the public with Disneyland as it was being constructed in Anaheim, California. In 1955, he debuted the studio's first daily television show, the popular Mickey Mouse Club, which would continue in many various incarnations into the 1990s.

Related Topics:
1950 - Treasure Island - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - CinemaScope - 1954 - The Shaggy Dog - 1959 - The Parent Trap - 1960 - Weekly anthology series - ABC - ''Disneyland'' - Anaheim, California - 1955 - Mickey Mouse Club - 1990s

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As the studio expanded and diversified into other media, Disney devoted less of his attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators, whom he dubbed the Nine Old Men. During Disney's life time, the animation department created the successful Lady and the Tramp (in CinemaScope, 1955) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) and the financially disappointing Sleeping Beauty (in Super Technirama 70mm, 1959) and The Sword in the Stone (1963).

Related Topics:
Nine Old Men - Lady and the Tramp - 1955 - One Hundred and One Dalmatians - 1961 - Sleeping Beauty - Super Technirama - 70mm - 1959 - The Sword in the Stone - 1963

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Production on the short cartoons had kept pace until 1956, when Disney shut down the shorts division. Special shorts projects would continue to be made for the rest of the studio's duration on an irregular basis.

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These productions were all distributed by Disney's new subsidiary Buena Vista Distribution, which had assumed all distribution duties for Disney films from RKO by 1955. Disneyland, one of the world's first theme parks, finally opened on July 17, 1955, and was immediately successful. Visitors from around the world came to visit Disneyland, which contained attractions based upon a number of successful Disney properties and films. After 1955, the Disneyland TV show became known as Walt Disney Presents, went from black-and-white to color in 1961--changing its name to Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color--and eventually evolved into what is today known as The Wonderful World of Disney, which continues to air on ABC as of 2005.

Related Topics:
Buena Vista Distribution - 1955 - Disneyland - Theme park - July 17 - As of 2005

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During the mid-1950s, Disney produced a number of educational films on the space program in collaboration with NASA rocket designer Wernher von Braun: Man in Space and Man and the Moon in 1955, and Mars and Beyond in 1957. The films attracted the attention of not only the general public, but also the Soviet space program.

Related Topics:
1950s - Educational film - NASA - Wernher von Braun - 1955 - 1957 - Soviet space program

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The TV series and book Our Friend the Atom (1956, together with Heinz Haber) were produced in an effort of the Eisenhower administration to enhance the image of nuclear energy.

Related Topics:
Heinz Haber - Eisenhower - Nuclear energy

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Early 1960s successes

By the early 1960s, the Disney empire was a major success, and Walt Disney Productions had established itself as the world's leading producer of family entertainment. After decades of trying, Disney finally procured the rights to P.L. Travers' books about a magical nanny. Mary Poppins, released in 1964, was the most successful Disney film of the 1960s, and many hailed the live-action/animation combination feature as his greatest achievement. The same year, Disney debuted a number of exhibits at the 1964 New York World's Fair, including Audio-Animatronic figures, all of which later were integrated into attractions at Disneyland and a new theme park project, to be established on the east coast, which Disney had been planning since Disneyland opened.

Related Topics:
1960s - P.L. Travers - Nanny - Mary Poppins - 1964 New York World's Fair - Audio - Animatronic

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"The Florida Project"

In 1964, Walt Disney Productions began quietly purchasing land in central Florida west of Orlando in a largely rural area of marginal orange groves for Disney's "Florida Project." The company acquired over 27,000 acres (109 km²) of land, and arranged favorable state legislation which would provide unprecedented quasi-governmental control over the area to be developed in 1966, founding the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Disney and his brother Roy then announced plans for what they called "Disney World."

Related Topics:
1964 - Florida - Orlando - 1966 - Reedy Creek Improvement District

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Plans for Disney World and EPCOT

Disney World was to include a larger, more elaborate version of Disneyland to be called the Magic Kingdom, and would also feature a number of golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World, however, was to be the Experimental Prototype City (or Community) of Tomorrow, or EPCOT for short. EPCOT was designed to be an operational city where residents would live, work, and interact using advanced and experimental technology, while scientists would develop and test new technologies to improve human life and health.

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Death of Walt Disney

However, Disney's involvement in Disney World ended in late 1966, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in his left lung, after a life-long habit of chain smoking. He was checked into the St. Joseph's Hospital across the street from the Disney Studio lot and his health eventually deteriorated. He was pronounced dead at 3 AM PST on December 15, 1966, having just celebrated his 65th birthday ten days earlier.

Related Topics:
Lung cancer - Lung - Chain smoking - Hospital - December 15 - 1966

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Roy Disney carried out the Florida project, insisting that the name become Walt Disney World in honor of his brother. Roy O. Disney died three months after the Magic Kingdom opened for business in 1971.

Related Topics:
Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom

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