Disneyland 70th: Celebrating Fantasyland–The Happiest Kingdom of Them All
If Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth, then Fantasyland is in Marty Sklar’s words, “The Happiest Kingdom of Them All”. He goes on to say that “Here in the ‘happiest kingdom of them all,’ you can journey with Snow White through the dark forest to the diamond mine of the Seven Dwarfs; flee the clutches of Mr. Smee and Captain Hook with Peter Pan; and race with Mr. Toad on his wild auto ride through the streets of old London Town.
Dumbo, the elephant with aerodynamic ears, will take you on a flight high above Fantasyland, while the haughty Caterpillar of Alice in Wonderland carries you down the Rabbit Hole into the …Tulgey Wood. In colorful Dutch canal boats or the Casey Jr. Circus train, you’ll journey through Storybook Land to see the homes of the Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio’s Village, and Cinderella’s Castle.”
Join us as we see those inspirational nuggets that are found throughout the sprawling grounds of Fantasyland, From Sleeping Beauty Castle to the majestic and might Matterhorn Mountain. We’ll check out some fantastic details few see, and we’ll hear some stories you may not have heard before–many of which truly are the inspiration for the joy found at Disneyland. Join us during Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary for Fantasyland–The Happiest Kingdom of Them All. And stay tuned at the end, I will give you a peak at a new offering available to those who Wish Upon a Star!
This podcast is produced by myself and Performance Journeys, which offers training, development and consultant support to organizations big and small and entrepreneurs new and established. With a wide variety of resources and long-time in-the-trench experience, we offer workshops, online learning, coaching and more to organizations that want to build their teams, raise organizational excellence, improve leadership and create customer loyalty. Check us out at PerformanceJourneys.com.
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Fantasyland Insights
1. Sleeping Beauty Castle
The starting point of Fantasyland is of course Sleeping Beauty Castle, which has been the symbol of the park for over 70 years. You can see Disney’s Family Crest as you approach Sleeping Beauty Castle. But imagining Sleeping Beauty Castle is truly the work of Herb Ryman who drew the original layout that sold ABC on investing in the Disneyland project. Now that castle is infamous…
2. One Park–Two Characters
There are two Disney characters that from the beginning defined Disneyland, and especially Fantasyland. Those two characters were Tinker Bell and Jimmy Cricket. Both opened the Disneyland TV show. In time, one became the voice whose song, When You Wish Upon a Star welcomed you into Sleeping Beauty Castle. The other became famous for flying during nightly fireworks from the top of the Matterhorn, past the castle and into the night.
But why these two Disney characters.
Marty Sklar wrote in Walt Disney’s Disneyland Pictorial Souvenir, “When we were planning Fantasyland, we recalled the lyrics of the song, ‘When You Wish Upon a Star.’ The words of that melody from our picture ‘Pinocchio,’ inspired us to create a land where dreams come true.”
This is inspirational, but the real truth was born more out of fear…
3. Never Smile at a Crocodile
We pass through the castle to a beloved opening day dark ride at Disneyland. It’s Peter Pan’s Flight. Other than Hong Kong Disneyland, you can find it in every park around the world. In each of these attractions you find a certain amphibian known as the Crocodile. In the film, he even had his own song…
4. VIP Magic at Merlins Magic Shop
Adjacent to Peter Pan’s Flight for many years was Merlin’s Magic Shop. A place where wanna be magicians worked, to include Steve Martin. But this is not a story about that celebrity, but another…
5. Storybook Land Canal Boats
In the old days, 50 years ago, there was a ticket-book system that included tickets from A-E, with E being the most popular attractions. Fantasyland is the only place where every one of your ticket coupons could be used on some attraction.
Most purchased a ticket book with a set of 11 or 15 tickets in each. But if you didn’t have the ticket book or you wanted additional tickets, you visited ticket booths in the park. Each land had a ticket booth. Tomorrowland had two ticket booths. But Fantasyland had three.
Let’s review those 16 attractions available 50 years ago, and what ticket they held.
When you had a ticket, what did you do with it? Well, you had to present it to a Cast Member in order to ride the attraction. Casey Jr. Train Station, The oversized Mushroom at Alice in Wonderland, and the Lighthouse at Storybook Land Canal Boats are all former locations where your ticket was taken before queuing. And they still remain today…
6. “it’s a small world“
Speaking of Storybook Canal Boats, let’s talk about someone who worked on both this attraction and “it’s a small world”…
7. Fantasyland Autopia
By the way, the Fantasyland Autopia became part of a larger Tomorrowland Autopia track system. The Motor Boat Cruise went away over time, and the Midget Autopia is now in Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri…
8. Matterhorn Mountain & Bobsleds
The mighty Matterhorn mountain, premiered on June 14th, 1959 along with the Disneyland Submarines and the Disneyland Alweg Monorail. Originally the Matterhorn Bobsleds were part of Tomorrowland, and thus part of that big “second opening” the park had at that time. But in the 1970s it was moved on the map to Fantasyland.
It is based on the film, Third Man on the Mountain, which starred James MacArthur and Janet Munro, who both went on to star in Swiss Family Robinson. Like Sleeping Beauty Castle, built several years before the film ever came out, Third Man on the Mountain as a film was released later on November 10th of that same year the Matterhorn opened. Ken Annakin who directed both Third Man and Swiss, said that Third Man on the Mountain was Walt Disney’s favorite live-action film. Walt Disney went to Europe to supervise production on the film. At one point Walt grabbed a postcard of the mountain from a souvenir stand and sent it back to Imagineer an architect Vic Greene with the message, “Vic. Build This. Walt.”
The coaster is built of tubular steel, the first roller coaster to do so. Bob Gurr Imagineer spoke of steel as a faster solution than building a wooden coaster. And steel they used–about 500 tons of structural steel, none exactly the same size. The mountain towers at 145. feet high, but it appears much taller–even than Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, which is 189 feet high.
At the base of the mountain you see a Yeti Footprint. Long before there was a Yeti at Expedition Everest, there was an abominable snowman on Matterhorn Mountain. But there are somethings that take more courage than facing a Yeti. Let’s take a look at an event that happened 60 years ago this year…
Next Stop: Disney California Adventure
This concludes are reviews of each of the lands of Disneyland. But it doesn’t conclude our 70th anniversary series of the resort. Next we cover the lands of Disney California Adventure, where we’ll find some truly amazing details and experiences.
Stories to Wish Upon a Star
For over a year I’ve been capturing stories like the kind of you have heard today and creating a new online tool for you to explore all of them in one place. I’m excited to share them with you, and hoped to have released them with this podcast. But like Walt told Claude Coats when Pirates of the Caribbean was being built, don’t open it until it’s ready. The good news is we’re almost ready. But what is it? It’s not a new book, though I truly invite you to visit the show notes for links to our books:
My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available!
Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You.
Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence.
This is something very different. It’s more a multimedia presentation of the park, a sort of central media repository for photos, audio, videos, stories, maps, links and more. Unlike my previous books which couldn’t contain many of those elements, and which I had to update at some time, this is evergreen. Also, unlike a book which has to wait for the next version to come out, it can be updated in minutes, and better yet, be in the hands of users at the same time. Like Walt Disney talked about, a park that would keep growing, this resource does the same thing, and allows the user to benefit from that. Whether you’re on a comfy sofa at home or on Main Street, U.S.A. this experience allows you to navigate through all nine lands to explore some 100 locations where you can find Disney insights that will be inspire and guide you and your organization.
I’ll share more shortly, but get ready–You will not be able to find a multimedia experience as rich and in depth as this one. This is something very new, very unique and very Disney.
Thanks for joining us for this podcast. Know that as in the title of my organization, Performance Journeys, it’s as much about the journey as it is about performance. Find the second star to the right, and keep going straight on till you reach it. Follow the compass of your heart, and know that with a smile and a song, a little faith, effort and pixie dust, your dreams can come true. After all, if we can dream it, we can do it. Until next time, bright suns, we’ll see you real soon!
