That Time Walt Disney Tried to Build a Ski Resort
For all the many Disney theme parks and resorts in the world, there are nearly as many stories of ones that never happened.
Walt Disney and his trusted advisors always aimed high and never settled for less than the best, a tradition that has been passed down at Disney to this day.
Photo: Disney
However, some of the failed projects make for such fascinating stories that it’s a shame we don’t know more about them.
Today, let’s talk about that time Walt Disney almost built a ski lodge!
Photo: Yesterland
A Failed Project: Disney’s Mineral King Ski Resort
One of Walt Disney’s lingering regrets about Disneyland was that he lacked the requisite land to expand it significantly.
Photo: Disney/CNN
Once other entrepreneurs recognized the groundbreaking nature of the Happiest Place on Earth, they scooped up all the surrounding land in the region.
During the final years of his life, Disney frequently lamented what had transpired, and he tried to fix it…twice!
Photo: Disney
You’re familiar with the Florida Project when Disney and his cronies worked secretly to acquire land for what would become Walt Disney World.
The story you haven’t heard much if at all, involves Disney’s Mineral King Ski Resort, a proposed ski lodge at Sequoia National Forest in California. (Technically, it was the National Forest at the time.)
Photo: Yesterland
At the time of his death, Disney was working to construct a year-round family-friendly hangout destination north of Disneyland.
You can think of this ski lodge as augmenting the Disneyland brand rather than replacing the existing theme park.
Photo: Yesterland
At the time, the ski resorts were flourishing in popularity, and the Disney family famously loved its vacations.
Walt visited Mineral King in 1960 and resolved to develop a Disney entity right then and there.
Photo: Disney.wikipedia
The problem stemmed from the location. Sequoia National Forest resides on protected public lands. So, Disney had to negotiate with the government.
This process took nearly five years, but the victory lap didn’t play out the way Uncle Walt had anticipated.
Photo: SF Gate
Once the story broke that Disney would develop land in Sequoia Forest, many people bristled against the premise.
At the time, environmentalists were strongly against the idea of such beautiful natural scenery turning into a Disney park.
Photo: skillastics.com
Meanwhile, Disney committed $35 million to the project. That’s the equivalent of $335 million today!
The Mineral King Plan
Imagine Disney Springs as a ski resort. That’s approximately what Disney planned for the High Sierra development.
Photo: Instrgram@paddlefishorl
Plans hadn’t firmed up by the time the protests began. In fact, the government gave Disney three years to come up with something viable.
Presuming that the government signed off on the project, Disney would have gained a renewable 30-year license for this section of the national park.
Photo: Protect NEPA
When you hear the idea now, you can understand the cause of the public outcry.
A Disney development at Sequoia Forest would have led to a tourism surge and additional construction.
Would-be entrepreneurs would have razed other parts of the woods to build accompanying hotels, restaurants, and stores.
Photo: Calisphere.com
Walt Disney loved the location of Mineral King for this reason. Others would have had to fight the government to build around Disney’s venture.
After what happened at Disneyland, you can understand why that thought appealed to him.
Photo: Earth Justice
Still, once the government took money from Disney, it likely would have done the same with other entities, thereby ruining part of a national park.
To wit, Disney’s projections estimated that 2.5 million guests would visit Mineral King annually within the first few years of operation.
Photo: Disney Fanatic
Disney believed that 1.7 million of these travelers would come from California while the rest would visit from out-of-state.
At the time, projections called for an opening date in the mid-1970s, a full decade later.
Photo: Disney Fanatic
Uncle Walt understood that he was stretching his troops thin by embarking on new projects at Walt Disney World and Mineral King. So, he gave lots of leeway on the ski resort’s timeline.
Why Mineral King Failed
Disney also needed time to identify a new path for guests to reach Mineral King. Unfortunately, only a small state road existed at the time.
Photo: OC Register
The downside of building on protected land is that few roads go through the area.
Also, forestry surrounded three of the four sides of the ski lodge. And a previous attempt at a ski lodge from a different entity had failed due to the logistics.
Photo: Earth Justice
For Disney, all requests to do something in terms of transportation would require the consent of the United States Department of the Interior. That’s a big ask.
So, Walt Disney both called for a new project and built-in delays to account for bureaucracy. What he didn’t anticipate was public resistance. And there was a lot!
Photo: Walt Disney Family Museum
Disney’s sales pitch called for countless new jobs in the High Sierra for California locals.
Tourists would have enjoyed 22 ski lifts plus a Disney village full of shopping and dining…thus, the Disney Springs comparisons!
Imagineers thought they had solved the transportation problem by disallowing vehicles.
Photo: Disney
People would park in a different area and then reach the ski resort via “high-capacity public conveyance.” Yup, that’s a 1960s-era Disney Skyliner, folks!
Alas, two distinctly different entities killed Mineral King’s development. The Sierra Club, who had previously signed off on the other ski lift project, haaaated his one.
Photo: sierraclub.com
The environmental group worked diligently to get the word out against Disney’s would-be ski lodge.
Meanwhile, Walt Disney died in 1966, nearly a decade before the target opening of Mineral King.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Disney officials faced new challenges that forced a reallocation of resources, most of which went to Walt Disney World.
What We Lost and Gained from Mineral King’s Failure
When was the last time you visited a Disney ski resort? Oh, right, you haven’t because those don’t exist.
Photo: Walt Disney.org
The entire company gave up on the dream after Walt Disney’s death. First, Disney scaled back its ambitions in 1972 before dropping them altogether in 1976.
By this point, The Sierra Club had proven formidable in court, while an environmental assessment made Disney seem villainous.
Photo: National Geographic
One more attempt occurred the following year, but Congress intervened in 1978.
Representatives decided that what had previously been National Forest land at Mineral King would now be part of Sequoia instead. That’s the way it has remained ever since.
Photo: Disney
Disney repurposed the money for other projects like Space Mountain. So, everything worked out okay in the end.
In fact, one of Uncle Walt’s favorite parts of the proposed Mineral King village ultimately became an integral part of Magic Kingdom.
Photo: Disney
Disney had developed Audio-animatronic bears as the singing entertainment at a ski lodge restaurant in Mineral King Village.
Instead, Disney transitioned that attraction to Orlando, where you know it as Country Bear Jamboree!
Photo: WDW Magazine
In some alternate reality, Walt Disney never caught cancer, and we’ve all watched robotic bears sing country music while sipping hot cocoa at a ski lodge!
Ah, what might have been…
Photo: MickeyBlog
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Feature Photo: Photo: Walt Disney.org
