The creation of Disneyland... in color

[Marcel Birgelen]

Disney released a new, full documentary by Leslie Iwerks about the construction and early days of Disneyland in Anaheim. I think for all people with some Disney affinity, it's certainly worth a watch, actually one of the better documentaries regarding the subject I've seen. What strikes me is the large amount of color footage available and I'm wondering if this was all originally in color or if they applied some "Disney magic" to it to turn it into color footage.

[Ryan Gallagher]

saved to my watch later cue. Thanks!

[Frank Angel]

...What strikes me is the large amount of color footage available and I'm wondering if this was all originally in color or if they applied some "Disney magic" to it to turn it into color footage.

Better watch out Marcel, Disney had copyrighted and patented the word "magic"-- not a trailer or promo or one sheet for decades hasn't had tie word "magic" somewhere on it. They probably think they own the word.?

I would say, given this is a documentary, there would be little incentive to mess around with original existing content. More than likely Disney filmed EVERYTHING having to do with this massive project since they had an on-going TV program that needed content and everything about the TV program was after all, promotion for the studio. I am also totally in awe of how masterful Disney was at using media to promote every project they had in the pot -- when you come down to it, The Wonderful World Of Disney TV program was nothing more than an hour ad for every film they were about to release and working the theme park into the show, building anticipation for the grand opening was genius. I remember as a kid, watching the programs all about 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA which were unabashedly promos for the film, same with LADY AND THE TRAMP. I remember distinctly being fascinated when the multiplane camera was shown which allowed a number of plates to be shot at the same time, creating perspective movement between them. It also made me incredibly anxious to be the first one on my block to see LATT. Mission accomplished.

What struck me the most what it seemed like while this was an incredibly monumental undertaking with layers and layers of detailed artistic work that needed to be done, I got the impression that it was like set construction. The painters and carpenters and all the other crafts people seemed like they were working on a set fascade rather than real construction. A lot of the accents were painted on rather than being true construction elements. I wondered, how will this hold up in weather and the elements. A lot of the materials like the filigree around windows and on the edges of the showboat banisters looked like they would water-logged and warp in the first couple of rains. In other words, nothing looked like it was built to last -- other than long enough for a film shoot. Obviously, they had to be more substantial than that given the place remains open for years. I sure would have liked to see more about how the boats wer4 pulled thru the water as well as how mechanical animals operated.

And who knows what strange symbiotic relationship Disney had with ABC back then; I can't help wondering if ABC realized at the time that eventually they would be gobbled up by the Rodent Body Snatcher.

[Mike Blakesley]

I do think Disney doesn't get their due when it comes to craftsmanship on their buildings. The attention to detail they have is astonishing sometimes. I was at the "Tower of Terror" in Florida in 1999, which was a couple years after it opened. There's a big plaque on the outside of the building that says "1917," and if you didn't know better you'd probably swear the they repurposed an old building for the ride. The queue goes through the "boiler room" of the hotel which looks exactly like the boiler room of my 1930 movie theater, only with much bigger boilers, right down to the cobwebs, rusty pipes, and dirt.

[Marcel Birgelen]

When it comes down to detail for theming, Disney is still the top dog. There is little that comes close, even not Universal, that's especially true if the imagineers are given proper budgets to work with and this only improved over time.

What I really do miss though, is the OLD Disney experience. The one before paid Fast Passes and all that payola crap... mobile phones everywhere, the parks have become like a modern video game: In-game purchases around every corner... The Disney experience that truly managed to transport you into another world, where you actually could forget the world at the other side of the berm for a few hours, that one is gone.

Better watch out Marcel, Disney had copyrighted and patented the word "magic"-- not a trailer or promo or one sheet for decades hasn't had tie word "magic" somewhere on it. They probably think they own the word.?

I've got two cats, I'm not worried about a mouse.

What struck me the most what it seemed like while this was an incredibly monumental undertaking with layers and layers of detailed artistic work that needed to be done, I got the impression that it was like set construction. The painters and carpenters and all the other crafts people seemed like they were working on a set fascade rather than real construction. A lot of the accents were painted on rather than being true construction elements. I wondered, how will this hold up in weather and the elements. A lot of the materials like the filigree around windows and on the edges of the showboat banisters looked like they would water-logged and warp in the first couple of rains. In other words, nothing looked like it was built to last -- other than long enough for a film shoot. Obviously, they had to be more substantial than that given the place remains open for years. I sure would have liked to see more about how the boats wer4 pulled thru the water as well as how mechanical animals operated.

Full disclosure: I've done some contracting work for the mouse over the years. And yeah, everything in a theme park is obviously a facade. Still, Disney figured out, over the years, what works and what not. The way they built the park back then in the 1950s, wouldn't fly anymore nowadays. Jungle Cruise, for example, was essentially designed by a guy drawing two lines in the sand.

Some things, they also learned the hard way. When they built the park over here in Europe, they used many of the same construction methods as back over in California and Florida. But winters can be pretty rough in Paris. It took just a few years, for example, before all those poured concrete floors started to crumble away. Many of those were eventually replaced with real cobblestones. The same for the highly decorated bridge in front of the castle: Many of those painted concrete components were eventually replaced with real granite. Still, the Parisian castle remains a maintenance nightmare, despite all kinds of attempts to replace paints and plasters with more durable alternatives.

[Mike Blakesley]

What I really do miss though, is the OLD Disney experience. The one before paid Fast Passes and all that payola crap... mobile phones everywhere, the parks have become like a modern video game: In-game purchases around every corner... The Disney experience that truly managed to transport you into another world, where you actually could forget the world at the other side of the berm for a few hours, that one is gone.

You have a good point. I miss the times when you could go on a slow day in September and just cherry-pick what you wanted to do. These days they've somehow managed to eliminate the slow days, with the parks always being packed (even though supposedly nobody can afford to go there). The only difference is how packed they are. They range from fairly packed to completely packed.

They've pulled off the ultimate marketing trick: They've convinced everyone that going to Disney is a rite of passage that must be experienced by everyone, and once experienced, it must be experienced again. Whether or not Mom and Dad can afford it or not is secondary....you've gotta take the kids to Disney or you're just not cutting the parental mustard.