Would much have changed at Disneyland if Walt has lived another Five Years?

[MAC1986]

If Walt had lived up to 1972, I think things would have been a little different, I believe Indian Village would still be where it once stood with the Mineral Project going through and Country Bear Jamboree going there. Space Mountain would have probably debuted by 1970 or 1971. Walt was always updating his lands, examples being Adventureland and Tomorrowland, undoubtedly a new Fantasyland would have been approved within this time. He had expressed building a new one by 1966, who knows of there would have been a new ride to replace the Fantasyland theater. The Haunted Mansion would still be an omnimover attraction as his designers would have definitely convinced him that it needed to have a higher capacity intake but the ride would probably be significantly different.

Do you think things would be different or mostly be the same with most resources being used for the creation of Disneyworld?

[Mike_M]

I agree that HM would have been different since what we have now, while awesome, is the way it is because they couldn’t decide on an overall theme; scary or funny. I think Walt would have been able to end the stalemate between Claude Coats and Marc Davis and we’d have something with a different story for sure.

I’d love to hear from the Long Forgotten HM thread guys on this one. I bet they’d have some interesting insight on this.

I think that WDW would have actually been where the drastic difference was. EPCOT would have been what Walt originally wanted (or abandoned all together if he couldn’t make it the way he wanted). I don’t think MK would have been a copy of DL. it would have been very different. A new direction all together since Walt didn’t like to repeat himself.

[Mr Wiggins]

^ Spot on about the HM, and especially about EPCOT. I wonder, though, how much focus Walt would have had on WDW's MK. The old saw at the Studio was that animation lost Walt when he got immersed in live action; live action lost him when he got immersed in Disneyland; and Disneyland was starting to lose him as he got immersed in EPCOT. Influenced by Ray Bradbury and others, he had gotten heavily into urban planning and future tech. It's said that he was visualizing the layout of EPCOT in the ceiling tiles of his hospital room in his last days.

[Eagleman]

^ Spot on about the HM, and especially about EPCOT. I wonder, though, how much focus Walt would have had on WDW's MK. The old saw at the Studio was that animation lost Walt when he got immersed in live action; live action lost him when he got immersed in Disneyland; and Disneyland was starting to lose him as he got immersed in EPCOT. Influenced by Ray Bradbury and others, he had gotten heavily into urban planning and future tech. It's said that he was visualizing the layout of EPCOT in the ceiling tiles of his hospital room in his last days.

IMO-
When I was at Walt Disney World..........back in 1983.......
I was not express with there Magic Kingdom.....except it was cool to see all the Presidents ,on one stage together
at the Hall of Presidents in Liberty Square.
I was more Express withEPCOT CENTER as parks goes......
Sure there lot more land and ever thing was bigger but......
To me Disneyland have a lot more spirit of Walt Disney ,than WDW Magic Kingdom does.

[bayouguy]

most definitely...Walt Disney World would have had his creative say so and perhaps would have started exploring ways to enhance the story telling he wanted to convey with the parks...he may have structured hiring policy for top exec hires, perhaps demanding that the board of directors always had maybe 40% of the execs have direct park experience...it may or may not have affected eisner's hire but the influence of Walt would have been better preserved...

[pattimarie]

I think he would have had to live a lot longer to affect today's Disneyland--and have had some control over what happened after he died. His death had a profound impact on me--he died before my grandparents or anyone else I knew. He's a good lesson on making the most of your life--look at the legacy he did amass in a relatively short time. Don't wait to have an impact on the world, or even just your own life.

[merlinjones]

At Disneyland, there likely would have been an accelerated timeline for the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain and perhaps other additions we can not imagine.

But Walt Disney World would have looked very different at opening (and EPCOT obviously) with fewer duplicates from DL. I recall seeing a schematic for Fantasyland in Florida dating to Walt's Time that had an entirely different set of dark rides paralleling those at Disneyland -- Sleeping Beauty for Snow White, Sleepy Hollow for Mr. Toad, Mary Poppins for Peter Pan and Babes in Toyland for Alice.

[Mom kissed Walt]

I agree with Mike M. I also think ANY more years he lived beyond when he did would have been very beneficial to the overall ingenuity of Disneyland.