Disney by the Decade: The 1960s Part I
“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
You’ve heard this phrase repeated many times, but its origins occurred during the 1950s.
Photo: Disney
That’s when Disneyland performed its first full expansion, something WaltDisney.org describes as the Second Opening of Disneyland.
Once that expansion succeeded, Disney embarked on an even more ambitious theme park plan. It added an entire themed land.
Photo: Disney
Yes, when we discuss the 1960s at Disneyland, the conversation begins and ends with one place: New Orleans Square.
So, let’s learn about pirates and ghosts and even a few ghost pirates!
The Big Not So Easy
CNN
After more than five years in operation, Disneyland had evolved into a steady tourist destination.
For his part, Walt Disney studied the implementation of his vision and felt, well, frustration.
CNN
The entrepreneur still lacked the requisite funds and real estate to expand The Happiest Place on Earth the way he wanted.
Eventually, Uncle Walt would explore options beyond California to bring his vision to life.
Disney
Still, the brilliant businessperson learned a hard truth during the 1950s. He understood the necessity of park expansion to sustain tourist interest.
Given this knowledge, Disney refused to sit idly by and rest on his laurels. Instead, he planned a new themed land.
Photographer Renie Bardeau.
We know this place as New Orleans Square, and its two attractions hold a claim as some of Disney’s most iconic experiences.
While that’s what we say today, neither ride’s existence was ever assured.
Image: Disney Theme Park Audio
The development cycle for each attraction proved challenging to the point of nigh impossible.
One of them, Haunted Mansion, appeared on Disneyland Park maps more than a decade before it opened…and it was nearly a walkthrough museum experience rather than a ride.
Photo: boweryboyshistory.com
The other attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, could have become an experience at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, the seminal Disney achievement of the decade.
Notably, Walt Disney would have none of that, though. So, Imagineers spent the body of the 1960s working on three projects.
Photo: Disney
The World’s Fair came first, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and, later, Haunted Mansion.
In a wildly unlikely turn of events, the World’s Fair event, one almost entirely beyond Disney’s control, proved the smoothest project.
Conversely, everything at New Orleans Square disproved the nickname, The Big Easy.
A Pirate’s Life for Walt
Image: The Coaster Kings
Perhaps no Disney attraction is more closely connected with its theme park brand than Pirates of the Caribbean.
What few people realize is that the Pirates attraction wouldn’t open during the first decade of Disneyland. It would debut in March 1967.
Photo: Disney
In fact, in a bittersweet turn of events, this beloved dark ride signifies Walt Disney’s final project before his death.
His doctor diagnosed Uncle Walt with cancer in November 1966, and he died the following month, only 93 days before the attraction’s debut.
Uncle Walt felt so strongly about his vision for Pirates of the Caribbean that he asked Imagineers to create a series of pulleys and harnesses for him.
These contraptions allowed Disney to examine the individual set pieces the same way the rider would.
(Renie Bardeau / Associated Press)
Think of his dedication as one final commendable footnote to a perfectionist’s inimitable career.
Of course, long before this happened, Imagineers needed to design the attraction, a brutally challenging process.
For starters, indecision plagued Disney officials as they plotted New Orleans Square.
The statistic that gets thrown around frequently is that Disney spent as much on New Orleans Square, $15 million, as the cost of the actual Louisiana Purchase.
D23
That factoid is at least somewhat misleading. Disney suffered previous expenses as it strategized about content.
A popular idea at the time called for a villain experience at the park…but not the one that likely popped into your head.
Photos: OC Register
I’m referring to a series of historical villains, although Disney eventually settled on one specific group: pirates.
Had this idea advanced, guests would have walked through a pirate museum at New Orleans Square, one that told the sordid history of pirate life.
Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate’s Life for Me
LA Times
Thankfully, the introduction of Audio-Animatronics (AAs) in the early 1960s caused Disney to pause that idea.
Uncle Walt pivoted to this new, life-like robot capable of mimicry. Through this tech, Disney could recreate pirate stories.
D23
The team at WED Enterprises relished this opportunity and imbued Pirates of the Caribbean with a whimsical soul.
Various set pieces recreated violent sea battles, but guests typically remember sillier scenes involving prisoners, dogs, wenches, and a pooped pirate.
Photo: Disney Archives
None of this is coincidental. The clever Imagineers recognized that the boats would sail past each set quickly.
Ergo, each story and character must appear larger than life and memorable.
Disney/HA.com
Ultimately, Imagineers shared such a grand vision for Pirates of the Caribbean that they realized it couldn’t all fit in the park.
For the first time ever, Disneyland expanded its size by positioning part of the ride building outside the theoretical real estate boundaries.
Disney
This was possible because the ride experience occurred on water in a place where guests couldn’t tell where they were in Disneyland.
The idea has dramatically impacted other Disneyland attractions, starting with…
The Other Museum That Wasn’t
Photo: Also D23
A recurring theme in Disneyland’s early history is that Walt Disney liked the thought of museums. It’s an understandable philosophy.
As a park operator, Uncle Walt valued attractions with massive throughput, ones that could satisfy thousands of daily visitors.
Photo: Disneyland
What we call an attraction today varies wildly from the earliest days of Disneyland.
Sure, Autopia, Mad Tea Party, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride paint a rosy picture of Disneyland in 1955, but the truth is a bit more nuanced.
Photo: D23
Opening day pamphlets describe the Disneyland Band (!) and Merlin’s Magic Shop as attractions.
If Disney could describe its various stores as attractions today, every park would claim triple digits.
Disney
But the real change is that walkthrough attractions have lost their popularity in the modern era.
During the early days of Disneyland, Walt Disney could simply show various curiosities organized in a small area and describe it as an attraction.
‘Inside Out 2’ Sneak Preview at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
While the idea persists to this day, its most famous representation resides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where it is called…Walt Disney Presents.
That’s the location at Walt Disney World where historians have lovingly assembled a mini-museum of Walt Disney’s life as a theme park creator.
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When Uncle Walt planned The Happiest Place on Earth, he viewed the world much differently.
At the time, Disney and his team hoped guests would arrive at the park and stay throughout the day. So, he encouraged attractions with longer duration.
Photo: Disney
The Mark Twain Riverboat demonstrated this tendency, as did Main Street Vehicles during its early days.
The park’s early design encouraged exploration and lingering, which made museum-style exhibits ideal.
Disney
Not coincidentally, Disney plotted a spooky Museum of the Weird akin to the pirate museum.
The Curiosities We Never Witnessed
Photo: Disney wiki
Disney fans often express curiosity about this attraction that never was. It symbolizes the Disney path not taken.
In the case of Haunted Mansion, that’s a bit misleading, as the Museum of the Weird would have been a post-attraction area rather than a replacement.
Disney
The genesis of the idea was augmenting the already under-construction Haunted Mansion building with an attraction within an attraction.
Uncle Walt assigned two of his top lieutenants, Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey, to curate a collection of eccentricities.
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Robert Ripley of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not fame had already started his touring gallery by this point.
The so-called Odditorium concept was quite popular, as was the haunted house. So, Disney considered both.
Photo: Los Angeles Times via Christopher Crump
At first, the Odditorium forged ahead, with Crump and Gracey selecting unique pieces to anchor the experience.
We know of several items the duo had shortlisted for the Museum of the Weird. They include:
- Grandfather Coffin Clock – exactly what it sounds like…and super-creepy
- Madame Z in a Crystal Ball – a seeress bound within a crystal ball
- The Melting Candle Man – a character who would (repeatedly) melt while people watched
- Mistress of All Evil – a flying witch who was literally on fire
- Phantom of the Organ – an ethereal pianist who would fade in and out while providing musical accompaniment
- Speaking Chairs with Faces – a visual and audio horror of the highest order
The Master of the House
Photo: Disney
One of those ideas likely grabbed your attention above the rest. Yes, there was a precursor to Madame Leota.
To a larger point, these pieces would have fit the running theme of the area, the “Walkthrough Ghost House,” just as they would have worked as a museum.
Photo: Disneyland
Alas, one of the premises appealed to everyone. It was the concept of a Ghost Pirate named Captain Gore.
He would become the anchor character for Haunted Mansion. You know him as the Ghost Host. We’ll discuss him next time. Until then, look alive.
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Feature Photo: CNN
