In this installment of my Wednesday with Walt series, I showcase the relationship Walt had with his Disneyland in his own words.
"To all that come to this happy place : welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America... with hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."
"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either."
"I don't want the public to see the world they live in while they're in the Park. I want them to feel they're in another world."
"... They didn't realize that behind Disneyland was this great organization that I built here at the Studio and they all got into it and we were doing it because we loved to do it."
"We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children could have fun - together."
"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money."
"Disneyland is the star, every thing else is in the supporting role."
"Disneyland is a show."
"It has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid."
"I first saw the site for Disneyland back in 1953, In those days it was all flat land - no rivers, no mountains, no castles or rocket ships - just orange groves, and a few acres of walnut trees."
"We did it (Disneyland), in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within the first year."
"Biggest problem? Well, I'd say it's been my biggest problem all my life. MONEY. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true. From the very start it was a problem. Getting the money to open Disneyland. About seventeen million it took. And we had everything mortgaged including my personal insurance."
"It's no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment."
"It's something that will never be finished. Something that I can keep developing... and adding to."
"Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved."
"I've always said that there will never be another Disneyland, and I think it's going to work out that way. But it will be the equivalent of Disneyland. We know the basic things that have family appeal. There are many ways that you can use those certain basic things and give them a new decor, a new treatment. This concept here will have to be something that is unique, so there is a distinction between Disneyland in California and whatever Disney does in Florida."
"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."
