TAKE ONE CREATIVE GENIUS with ideas, engineers with mechanical know-how, a 160-acre orange rove in Anaheim, Calif., and mix thoroughly with €19,000,000. The result? Disneyland, U.S.A.
Walt Disney, the genius behind this playground, has a mind that is constantly busy with new ideas. In fact, he used to bemoan the fact that there was little to do on week ends.
But that was two years ago. Now, Walt has a new hobby to play,with on week ends. Each Saturday he tours Disneyland, checking the operation of the rides and imagining new adventures for his visitors, The park is a veritable multimillion dollar toy for him.
The idea of Disneyland started about 20 years ago— almost as long ago as Mickey Mouse. Walt envisioned a "magic kingdom" based on his own film characters.
This original idea mushroomed inte a giant dream with its separate realms of Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland and Main Street.
In Fantasyland, for example, Walt wanted visitors to relive the experiences of his cartoons. If they were going to be Peter Pan, they would fly through the air over London and be pursued by the Crocodile and Mr. Smee,
The ideas sounded wonderful but to convert them into actual Tides required the services of some very clever engineers and art directors. Among several, Walt went to Robert Mattey, the man who worked on "man-eating plants" for Tarzan movies and a giant make-believe squid for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
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