It is a place of improbable dreams, a 65-acre world drifted over with pixie dust. It is a place where Tinker Bell and Mary Poppins soar matter-of-factly through the evening sky, where Tom Sawyer plies his raft on the muddy Mississippi and the Lost Continent of Atlantis is cheek by jowl with the moon.
It is, of course, Disneyland - Walt Disney’s incredible pearl in the neon ugliness of Anaheim, Calif. As cultural institutions go, Disneyland is very young; it celebrates the tenth anniversary of its opening next week. But as cultural institutions go, it is also very substantial. The park will clock its 50 millionth visitor this month, and the visitors have come from all over the world, including eleven kings and queens, 23 Presidents, Premiers and other heads of state and 25 royal princes and princesses. And who can forget how Nikita Khrushchev flew into a snit when the State Department told him he couldn’t go?
Top Toy: Disneyland has also become a cornerstone of Walt Disney’s financial empire, pouring more than $27 million into the corporate coffers last year-nearly a third of Disney’s total revenues. The flood of customers has risen steadily, from 3.8 million the first year to 6 million last year, and there’s no sign of a slowdown. To handle the crowds, Disney has boosted investment in the park from an original $17 million to more than $50 million and has budgeted another $40 million in the next five years. But if the park is the world’s most expensive toy, it is also the most profitable. Its earnings, after taxes, are a comfortable 7.5 per cent of the gross.
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