Disneyland research paper- Help!

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Secret Service made that decision. Walt didn't. He loved kings and queens and foreign dignitaries and movie stars coming to Disneyland.

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Oh and about the mention of Walt Disney's politics- I spoke with my teacher today and he clarified that I should investigate the popular opinion that existed in 1955, not exactly Walt's personal ideology. Sorry if anyone took offense to the "conservatism" remark!

No offense at all here; I just didn't know if you were being sent on the old "wild anthro chase" of looking for modern memes in cultures past.

Also, I once heard an anecdote about how Nikita Kruschev (sp?) was once denied admittance to the park. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

It was huge news in 1959 -- Google on Krushchev and Disneyland and you'll get 876,000 hits.

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Do any of you think it would be better to tweak my research question to something about Disneyland's impact on a national-level?

Lots of ways you could skew your RQ into fascinating fields for researching and writing, as well as of interest to your international reviewers: Disneyland's role as America's "ambassador without portfolio" to the world... Disneyland, view from the Kremlin: the PR monster Krushchev wished he had... Walt Disney, American Ambassador: WWII and Cold War (South America in WWII, Anaheim in the Cold War)...

It's no coincidence that the UN asked "Walt Disney" to do their UNICEF pavilion at the '64 World's Fair. (I put the name in quotes because by then it was debatable if he was seen as a man as much as a symbol, especially internationally; see his quotes about what "Walt Disney" meant in the August, 1963 National Geographic.)

I'd suggest spending some time on Google tracking down items from contemporary domestic and international news sources c. 1956-1966, with tight focus on 58-63 (post-Cuban Missile Crisis, anyway).

[Rob F]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

I'd recommend [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Disneys-Theme-Parks-Architecture/dp/2080136399/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255133270&sr=8-2"]Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance[/ame]

It goes into how the philosophy of "reassurance" is used in the theme park. The park is designed to make you feel safe and comfortable with the goal of giving you the feeling that "everthing is going to be ok"

[Bob Weaver]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

Perhaps if Walt had lived into his 70s and 80s he would have had the time (and he would certainly have had more money) to expand his influence into the public sphere. Nobody can know for sure what he would have done, but he certainly could have used his wealth to promote whatever causes he believed in. Or he could have just enjoyed what he had done already: a library of classic films and the founding of one of the most famous and popular tourist destinations in the world.
The Disney company has not always succeeded in manipulating public policy in their favor. One of Walt's final public appearances was a press conference at the ranger station at Mineral King, a remote area of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Disney had hoped to build a ski resort there, and the governor of California at that time, Edmund G. Brown, appeared alongside Walt at the press conference. It was to be called Disney Snow Crown resort or something like that. A protracted legal battle between the Sierra Club and the Walt Disney Company over the development dragged on through most of the 1970s, until Congress finally annexed Mineral King as part of Sequoia National Park in 1978. In the 1990s, Disney CEO Michael Eisner pushed hard for development of a new Disney-owned theme park in Haymarket, Virginia, to be called Disney's America, with an American history theme, but the proposal had numerous enemies. Some of them claimed that nearby historic Civil War battlefields would be impacted and some claimed that the Disney company would be distorting and toning down specifics of American history. The Disney company gave up.
The Disney company at various times wanted to build a theme park at the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair, another one in St. Louis, Missouri, and a version of the Tokyo DisneySea, to be built in Long Beach, California. These are a few of the proposed Disney projects that never got built due to one reason or another.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

That would be cool if NYC got a Disney Park on the grounds of the fair. Where'd you hear that one?

[Bob Weaver]

Re: Disneyland research paper- Help!

On this page
List of never built Disney attractions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia