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The one other sure winner at the American pavilion was not even in the main building; it was Disney's Circarama.
The development of Disney's Circarama occurred at a time when movie attendance had significantly declined in the United States due to the marked increase of television viewership and other leisure activities, including the opening of Disneyland in 1955. A considerable amount has been written about the immense popularity of Disneyland to
the postwar suburban, middle-class family. Through the use of television Disney was able to not only build his park but also to continue to market it and his stockpile of films to a new and ready audience. In addition he was able to develop a symbiotic relationship with corporate sponsors that would fund his projects in exchange for the promotion of their products. Disney's reliance on corporate backing for his theme parks was unprecedented.
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In order to understand the evolution of the Circarama phenomenon that proved so popular at the Brussels World's Fair, it is instructive to chart the history of the ride within the context of Disneyland itself Circarama was designed for a multitude of reasons beyond standard film exhibition. It was part travelogue, part patriotic anthem to the American way, and predominantly an advertisement within a corporate sponsored playground. By the time Disney's Circarama reached Brussels it had undergone significant development and refinement as a product of Disney's synergy. The Circarama technology was originally developed by Ub Iwerks, who had been with Walt since the start of their animation careers, but had by the fifties been consigned to the engineering barns because of their interpersonal conflicts. The Circarama exhibition required considerable financial investment for its initial development. A contemporaneous article in Business Film, the industrial film journal, made special mention of the complexity and ingenuity involved in this new widescreen technology. Even considering Disney's well-known perfectionism, his extensive investment in the technological development of Circarama signaled his confidence in the ability of this one-of-a-kind experience effectively to reach crowds of consumers.
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