Volume 46 - No. 18
May 05, 2016
by Friedrich Gomez
Author’s Note: Due to the unexpected level of popularity of the first front cover story titled “Disneyland’s Legacy and Hidden Secrets!” published on February 11, 2016, herewith is a part-two continuation. The popularity of the first story resulted in back copy requests from our readership which resulted in all back copies being ‘sold out.’ This is a continuation of newly-added Disneyland secrets by popular demand. THE FIRST SECRET. When Walt Elias Disney sat on a park bench watching his daughters on an amusement park ride, along with other parents, he felt sad that kids were enjoying adventures in which their parents seemed excluded. A secret plan was crystallizing in his mind to someday create a truly magical kingdom, a realm where both parents and their children could enjoy enchanted adventures together. Where they could explore wondrous lands and experience dreams – not apart, but as a happy family. According to Tony Baxter, Sr. VP, Walt Disney Imagineering, “When Walt Disney first dreamed the idea of Disneyland in California he wanted to create a place where families could come and play together in hopes of making life-long memories.” Walt had many personal secrets sprinkled like stardust in his dreams. These secret thoughts occupied both his nocturnal dreams as well as his daydreams. Walt envisioned building his own amusement park most of his adult life. As early as 1932 he wanted to create his brainchild on a 16-acre lot directly across from his studio offices in Burbank, California. But his dreams of a special kind of amusement park even preceded these episodes. His daughter, Diane Disney Miller (1933 – 2013) reflected back on those early years, “When I was growing up, he was always talking about doing an amusement park someday. It probably went back farther than that, to a big amusement park in Kansas City. He and his sister would stand outside the gates and look in. I think he always had it in his mind.”
But it was on this park bench at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, when Walt was watching his two little girls, Diane and younger sister, Sharon, laughing and having fun on the carousel when he suddenly had a vivid epiphany. A revelation overshadowed him and a flood of details and colorful ideas – once partially hidden – suddenly coalesced in fluid symmetry and a stunning picture emerged like a beautiful mosaic. Walt had just glimpsed the future and he saw not just his lifelong amusement park idea – he saw his Disney Land concept as never before! The very same Merry-Go-Round in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, where Walt’s two daughters, Diane and Sharon, enjoyed and played upon is still there today, located at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive. It was there where a most magical vision materialized for Walt Disney that would forever change the world and
The Paper - 760.747.7119
website:www.thecommunitypaper.com
email: thepaper@cox.net
transform the crude carnival into a vast dreamland of sweeping beauty, creative wonderlands, and breathtaking imagination in which both children and parents could experience lifelong dreams together and not separated as in most amusement parks of the day.
SECRET BENCH. This very bench upon which Walt Disney envisioned his dreamland for the future has been relocated to Disneyland where it can be seen and appreciated today. The modest green bench has found a quiet, remote home at the Opera House lobby just off Main Street, USA. But very few know of its existence, let alone, its location. By the way, the Main Street Opera House in Town Square is the oldest building in all of Disneyland. The structure used to serve as Disneyland’s lumber mill
between 1955 and 1961. The Town Square, itself, is truly historical on many levels. The antique cannons positioned in the center of the square were actually used by the French army during the 1800s (although they were never fired in battle).
Aside from these magnificent cannons in historical Town Square, it is there at the Opera House lobby where you can find a great secret -- the actual, celebrated bench upon which one of history’s most beloved human beings sat and first conceived of Disneyland (in great detail). But, you may be a trifle disappointed. Like a priceless piece of art from the Louvre Museum in France, this irreplaceable piece of history is roped off with a warning sign that forbids anyone to sit on Walt’s famed park bench.
‘Disneyland - Part II’ Continued on Page 2
If you can, somehow, ask permission to just gently run your fingers over its green, aged-wood frame, well, it is rumored to bring lifelong good luck! The location, and even existence, of this historical bench is still a general secret not widely known to the public. It is a treasure-hunt gem just waiting to be discovered by you on your next Disneyland visit!
(Special Notation: the famous MerryGo-Round, in Griffith Park where Walt Disney first realized his ideas for Disneyland, was built in 1926 and was featured at San Diego’s 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition! After the Balboa Park World Exposition ended, the legendary carousel was purchased in 1937 by Mr.