[Overview of Disneyland with description of areas and lands; p.125-131]
THE gaiety and sparkle of Disneyland lie before the Visitor as he stands on the elevated railway platform just inside the entrance to the park. Here, below him is the little Town Square with its trees and benches and its neat green lawns. The red paving, blue and white flowers, old cannon, and American flag waving overhead reflect the patriotic spirit so dear to Walt Disney's heart.
All of the 1890 architecture of the scene, accurate in every way, was detailed at 5/8 scale, as were the railway station and the little trains themselves. […]
[Planning, building and planting period ; pp.132-134]
[…]
W.E.D. Enterprises, a separate organization under the Disney banner, was put in charge of all the design phases of the work. A Project Art Director was appointed, and a separate Art Director put in charge of each of the five sections of the park. Over all was the guiding hand of Walt Disney himself, whose intense interest in each detail was continually in evidence. As early as Mai, 1953, even before the site was selected, work was started on sketches and ideas. As work progressed, experts in many fields were called in to advise and work with the Art Directors arid their staffs of architects and designers in the development of the park. As ideas became sketches, scouts were scouring the country for authentic equipment and embellishments for the project.
The engineering firm of J. S. Hamel was engaged by W.E.D. to work with the designers in solving the many engineering problems of the site. In July 1954, Evans and Reeves Nurseries Inc. were commissioned to handle the landscape development. Jack Evans, landscape architect, was in charge of this phase of the work. This included the making of planting plans, and the development of the planting from designs, sketches, and models made by W.E.D. It also included the design and supervision of the installation of the sprinkler system for the park. Assisting him in this work were his brother Morgan, and Ray Miller, landscape architects. […]
Ground was actually broken in August of 1954, approximately one year before the opening of the park to the public; and as soon as the perimeter areas, the outlying sections of Frontierland, and the Adventureland jungle area were graded, planting was started.
The general site plan went through many stages before emerging in its present form, and was not actually finalized until January of 1955, just six months before the opening of the park. When one considers the fact that no steel framing was started until December 1954, no facade work until January 1955, it is unbelievable that this 160-acre project could have been developed in this time. Even at the time of my introduction to the project in March, there were no buildings started in Tomorrowland, just one in Frontierland, and only parts of the Main Street section and the Castle were in evidence.
After the master plan was finally set, the tempo of the project was increased. The pressure of work at the site and the selection of plant material left little time for Jack Evans to spend in conferences with the Art Directors at the Studio. W.E.D. designers were tackling the problems of developing site plans for the various areas involving circulation, organization, tree placement, and planting. The Plaza especially was presenting many problems, as from it radiated all five sections of the park. Many schemes had been advanced, but none had been selected, and time was growing short.
It was at this stage of progress that I was engaged by W.E.D. to work with the Art Directors as Consulting Landscape Architect until the opening of the park, and to act as liaison officer between the Studio and the Evans organization at the site. It was thought, at first, that this consultation work would take only a portion of my time, but this was not the case. The Art Directors and their staffs had so much work to do in the designing of their buildings and other features of the park that, after the first week on the project, it became evident that more than consultation work was required and I was asked to restudy and design the Plaza area. From this, the site planning of one section led to another until every part of the five "Lands" involving pedestrian traffic was studied – as to circulation, paved and planted areas, tree placement, and, in some cases as in the Plaza, the outline of the water courses.
Basic site plans for these areas were drawn from which working drawings were developed, sometimes with help from the W.E.D. draftsmen. Grading plans were made by the engineers, some in our office. In some instances, as pressure increased, grades were even "eyeballed" in, on the ground.
When one considers the fact that the first of these plans was not started until nearly the first of April, and that the park was opened to the public July 18, there was an amazing amount of plan work to be done, not to mention the actual installation. This required the utmost cooperation among all concerned. Add to this the continual changes that were being made, even up until opening day, as new ideas were formed or new equipment for the park acquired. The ideas of Walt Disney himself continually bubbled as he spent more and more time at the site, and one had to be ready at a moment's notice to adjust, change, add, or subtract some element. As the Project Art Director expressed it, "He built the park as we went along," I doubt if this procedure could have been followed successfully on any other project on earth; but this was Disneyland, a sort of Fairyland, and Walt's belief that the impossible was a simple order of the day so instilled this spirit in everyone that they never stopped to think that it couldn't be done – they just did it, and with amazing speed. This was no project where there were complete working drawings to follow from the beginning; and, strange as it seems, this may have been a factor contributing to the building of the park in record time.
[…]
Planting Problems [pp.134-136]
One of the first problems which presented itself to me was the fact that a number of trees had already been planted in many of the areas to be restudied or designed, their location based on earlier conferences or plans. This was particularly true of the Plaza, and to a certain extent of Frontierland. It was necessary to determine the exact location of these planted trees, and to determine the variety, size, and number of unplanted specimen trees purchased for the project, before proceeding with the planning of the areas. It was necessary to move a few trees to new locations.
Walt Disney wanted a "green" park, everything evergreen, for he recalled the cold winters of his childhood when he used to look up at the bare branches of the trees and shiver. Disneyland must be Eternal Spring. He also wanted size in trees, the larger the better, so that the park would look cool and inviting. This was no small order, for there are relatively few evergreen trees of size which can be boxed successfully. After talks with him about the necessity for some deciduous or partially deciduous materials for color and contrasts in foliage texture, we were permitted to introduce a few such trees as flowering peaches, crapemyrtles, jacarandas, and coral trees into the areas where they were most needed, providing they were "backed up" properly.
[…]
Watering became an increasing problem as the planting progressed. As the construction hampered the planting operations, it also hampered the installation of the sprinkler system. Even in the areas in which it was installed, there was not a full head of water available until practically the end of the project; consequently much had to be done by means of water wagon. […]
There are many plans for the future in process. Immediate plans include the Root Beer Garden in the Plaza, a cave and an old mill on the Island where kids can fish just like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, a mountain, and a tunnel ride in the Painted Desert. A part of the berm back of the Western Railway Station will be moved back to make room for an Indian Village. There will be a Sky Ride and Rotojets in Tomorrowland, and a patchwork quilt in groundcovers and flowers on the hills of Casey Jr. Thus, Disneyland will never be finished as long as there is a Walt Disney to dream up new ideas. Even though the park will undergo many changes as the years go on and new ideas are developed, Disneyland will always be a place where the whole family will find a wealth of enjoyment.
