Disneyland Urban Design: Tomorrowland

TOMORROWLAND

The baseball great Yogi Berra once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” When it comes to Tomorrowland, this has always been the problem. By the time the Imagineers design and build an immersive environment, tomorrow has become today. That is one reason why Walt postponed the development of this land until the very last minute. In fact, the Imagineers did not even start working on the design for Tomorrowland until six months before the Disneyland opened in 1955. The first version of Tomorrowland was a projection into the far off future of 1986 when Halley’s comet would return.

It wouldn’t be until 1967 when Tomorrowland really hit its stride and became “The World on the Move.” Walt wanted to demonstrate his forward leaning transportation systems (the Monorail and the PeopleMover) that he planned to use for EPCOT, his City of Tomorrow in Florida not the theme park we see today. Even the stage at the Tomorrowland Terrace was on the move, as it would rise up from the ground when the show was about to begin. The architecture was based on a combination of roadside modernism and the US space effort and much of that remains today with a different color scheme and some different details.

Once again time marches on and Tomorrowland was updated in 1998. Originally the new theme was going to be called Tomorrowland 2055. You can still see an example of what the Imagineers were trying to accomplish if you look at the underside of the Tomorrowland Terrace seating area. However, budget cuts forced changes and that concept was scrapped.

So the Imagineers just gave up on figuring out what the future would look like and designed the area in a timeless retro-future based on Jules Verne, HG Wells, and other science fiction influences. This theme was first applied to Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris and then in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. A subtle detail is the selection of plant materials. Throughout Tomorrowland are corn, grape vines, lettuce, apple trees, and other edible plants. This is our Agrifuture.

Today, much of what you see throughout Tomorrowland is the infrastructure remnants from that glorious past. That includes the empty PeopleMover/Rocket Rods tracks running overhead the main corridor and the tower where the Astro Orbitor used to be. Today, the Astro Orbitor is right up front and placed in a hole.

Over time, Tomorrowland has slowly begun to transform once again. The gold and bronze paint scheme has started to give way to white, blue, and silver, which reminds visitors of the 1967 classic version. This started in 2005 when Space Mountain was returned to white.

There is one classic Tomorrowland oddity to look for. It is the train depot. It was opened in April 1958 and has not been significantly changed since.

The Disney's America Story - Part Four

Part Four

This series will try to tell the story of Disney’s America, a theme park resort originally planned for a site near Haymarket, Virginia. Disney’s America was going to be a new kind of theme park based on American history. It was designed with care and a sense of purpose. Nevertheless, sometimes, one person’s dream is another person’s nightmare and the best of intentions might be considered misplaced or unwelcome. Let us take a walk through history and see what lessons we can learn.

This article is also available at MiceAge.com

A very popular storyline for recent Disney theme park attractions goes something like this. You are about to embark on a fun adventure and everything is wonderful until something goes terribly wrong. As we shall see, that storyline could have been applied to the Disney’s America project as well.

When Disney decided to move forward with this the Disney’s America project, they already knew that this wasn’t going to be easy task. So they thought they were prepared as well as they could be. They knew that Prince William County had been left out from the regions rapid growth. They knew there might be a strong concern from the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) crowd but Disney felt it could put forward a good argument for the project.

In 1993, Michael Eisner put in charge of the project what he described as an “aggressive young” executive named Mark Pacala to oversee the park’s development but it was already too late. As we saw earlier, once the secret project became public the problems would begin to mount as the company shifted into a defensive mode.

Once word of the park was leaked, Disney leaped into action to gather political support. It started at the Statehouse by gaining support for the project with the outgoing Governor L. Douglas Wilder (D) and the incoming Governor George Allen (R). The all-important Virginia Commission on Population Growth and Development was also on board with the project. Disney was starting to believe it could buy its way of this mess by promising huge tax revenues, thousands of jobs, and the support of major political leaders.

Disney began conversations with the National Park Service to gain their support and to see how they might mitigate any concerns with the nearby Manassas Civil War battlefield. One compromise was a building height limit of 140 feet, which would prevent any structures to be visible from the battlefield. To reduce highway congestion, a plan was being developed for up to 20 percent of guests and 10 percent of cast members to use public transportation. In the end, many at the National Park Service felt that Disney’s focus on history would help increase awareness of historic preservation interests.

The lobbying effort was beginning to pay off. By 1994, they had already locked up the Governor’s office, the State legislature, and were making major headway with local officials. Every thing was going as planned. Or so Disney thought.

What Disney didn’t count on was that the opposition was not going to come from those who lived closest to the project but some very wealthy, very well connected people west of the Disney’s America site in Loudoun and Fauquier counties. This area is what is referred to as the Virginia Hunt Club set and is the home to some very powerful people with familiar names. They included the DuPonts, the Marriotts, the Mellons, and the before mentioned publisher of the Washington Post, Katherine Graham. Toss in such media personalities as actor Robert Duvall and the political power couple, Mary Matalin and James Carville. Disney was finding itself in a public perception mess.

In retrospect, Michael Eisner said, “For more than two decades, we would soon discover, these families has also generously funded the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), a local rural preservation group. There had been no collection of people in America better equipped to lobby a cause, whether with Congress or government agencies or through the media.” The PEC had purchased more than 77,000-acres of permanent open space easements to limit development. Eisner added, “They had the financial resources to do battle, the expertise, and the political connections. Many of them did this sort of work for a living in Washington, and with Disney’s America, they had a highly personal stake in the outcome.”

The Piedmont Environmental Council was formed in 1972 by many of these same players who started to object to the project with the goal to protect the rural nature of nine counties in Northern Virginia. The PEC became the go-to organization for those who opposed the Disney project. They swung into action and started to campaign against the project. They held news conferences, private sessions with policymakers, created anti-Disney radio ads, and generated numerous studies that would show how this project would destroy the character of the community.

The efforts of the PEC inspired other slow growth organizations including Protect Prince William County, The American Farmland Trust, Citizens Against Gridlock, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Even the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club came out against the project.

The only group Disney could muster up was the Welcome Disney Committee made up of real estate agents, lawyers, and local chamber of commerce members. Disney tried to portray their supporters as a much larger coalition but the damage was already being done.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation joined the PEC to oppose the project. With the National Trust in opposition, Disney’s America became a national issue. The president of the organization, Richard Moe, said, “Nobody in the preservation movement saw this immediately as a preservation issue. That plot of ground at Haymarket had no historic structures, nor had anything historic occurred there. So why is this a historic preservation issue?’ Moe suggested, “for parents who want to give their children history, let them – like generations before them – make the trip to Prince William County. Let them sit still at Manassas and listen for the presence of the dead.”

Historian David McCullough said, “Dick saw the real need was to save neighborhoods and communities, to save whole towns, and he transformed the preservation cause in America as much as any one person possibly could.”

David McCullough is an example of another thorn in Disney’s side - noted historians who feared that Disney would trivialize American history and the sacred historic grounds surrounding their property. They were not happy that Disney would embark on such a journey. This was completely unexpected at Disney.

Thirty prominent historians including David McCullough, Ken Burns, Shelby Foote, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. formed a group called Protect Historic America in May 1994. They took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling Eisner “The man who would destroy American history.”

Yale University Professor Emeritus C. Vann Woodward, dean of American historians and co-chair of Protect Historic America stated why the group was opposed to the location. He said, “This part of northern Virginia has soaked up more of the blood, sweat, and tears of American history than any other area of the country.” He adds, “ It has bred more of the founding fathers, inspired more soaring hopes and ideals, and witnessed more triumphs and failures, victories, and lost causes than any other place in the country.” He added that Disney’s America would be “an appalling commercialization and vulgarization of the scene of our most tragic history.” David McCullough added, “We have so little that’s authentic and real. It’s irrational, illogical, and enormously detrimental to attempt to create synthetic history by destroying real history.”

Architecture critic Benjamin Forgey said, “There was a whole lot of argument about the exploitation of American history for entertainment purposes. There were some very prominent historians who viewed it as a distortion or even a desecration.”

Because of the secrecy due to the property acquisition process, Disney was unable to engage the prominent historians early on and make them part of the development process. Eisner knew this was a lost opportunity. He thought the historians “could have helped us shape our plans, alerted us to areas of potential controversy, and given the project more legitimacy from the start.”

The project quickly moved from being just a local concern to becoming a regional and national issue. As Benjamin Forgey, the architecture critic for The Washington Post put is, “There were more than 20 or so jurisdictions that were involved in this in the metropolitan area; and because of the Disney name, it became a national issue.” He adds, “It was region wide, all the time, on television and in the press.”

Issues were beginning to mount but Eisner was confident that his American history themed park would come to reality in Haymarket, Virginia. Eisner shrugged off the critics by saying that “Entertainment doesn’t have to be pabulum, and it doesn’t have to make you feel good.” He added, “Entertainment has to create an emotional response. It can make you laugh, it can make you cry, it can make you angry, it can make you sad.”

Reacting to criticism about EPCOT Center’s American Adventure Eisner said, “Disney’s America won’t be a 25-minute experience like the American Adventure. The story we’re going to tell at the park will take eight hours to deliver. It’s going to be made up of fifteen or twenty different components.” Eisner added, “Each one will deal with a different aspect of the American experience. Disney’s America has the potential to redefine The Walt Disney Company more than anything we’ve done.” He finished with, “Our goal, when you finish an eight-hour day there, is that you’ll have experienced an intelligent, entertaining, challenging view of America.”

However, even Eisner had to admit the historians might have a point. As he said in Work in Progress, “Our first important misstep was the decision to call the park “Disney’s America.” “Disney” and “America” just seemed to slide off the tongue together easily and naturally. Frank [Wells] and I both liked associating Disney with America and America with Disney. But the name would prove to be a disaster. Eisner added, “Disney’s America” implied ownership of the country’s history, which only antagonized our critics. That was unfortunate because we were never interested in a park that merely reflected a Disneyesque view of American history.”

Magic Highway USA

Want to know how visionary Walt Disney was? One of my all-time favorite Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color shows is Magic Highways USA. Even though the penetration for color televisions in the United States was less than 1% of households, the entire show was produced in color.

Walt Disney said, “We have long held that the normal gap between what is generally regarded as ‘entertainment’ and what is defined ‘educational’ represents an old and untenable viewpoint.” When Walt wanted to produce a film that had a strong educational responsibility, he often turned to Ward Kimball.

Kimball was the animator who fired up Walt’s passion for trains, which lead to the creation of Disneyland. Kimball also directed the landmark “Men in Space” series that was so influential President Dwight Eisenhower had the film shown in the White House to drum up support for the space program.

The show was broadcast on ABC on May 14, 1958. In typical Kimball style, the show takes us step by step through a complex subject and always to make sure that the last segment provided a foundation for what was to come. By the time you get to the end, you can believe virtually anything they told you is real. Even how they might speculate on the future.

I love it.

The television show begins with Walt looking over a scale model of a modern day (1958) freeway overpass. He reminds us “distance was a challenge” and American progress has been measured by our ability to overcome this limitation. He does not just talk about this but punctuates each point with a model. For example, to demonstrate how far transportation has evolved, he speaks behind a model of a Conestoga wagon and compares that to a model of a space age, fighter jet, hyper-modern car with huge fins and a glass canopy.

Next is a montage of point of view shots mounted on vehicles traveling America. The camera begins on the back roads and works its way up to the modern highway. There are historic and somewhat familiar shots of Los Angeles in the early 1950s. The music is the delightful instrumental Nation on Wheels by George Bruns. We are reminded that our national highways are important to American progress. Movement equals freedom. Our pursuit of happiness is dependent on individual mobility. Even our self-defense depends on our highways as shown by a shot of a jet fighter on the back of a flatbed truck.

The following animated segment takes us through the history of American transportation. We learn that every time we are confronted with a problem, we find a way to fix it. That solution then leads to other problems, and the cycle continues. This is the definition of progress.

We begin with the pilgrims. Isn’t that where America started? From footpaths to trails to roads, we ultimately learn that the automobile has taken over the world and our quality of life is diminishing even thought we have overcome the distance challenge. My guess is this program really spoke to people living in suburbs having to commute to downtown every day. The point is driven home that things are going to get worse unless we do something. Walt tells us, “The automobile has created a highly industrialized America of abundance and made us the most mobile people in the world. But with all the pleasure the automobile has given us it has overloaded our highways.”

We know there is a problem. Now we need to learn about the solution. By the time they are finished you will be supporting the construction of more freeways. The program becomes a plug for the new Federal Highway and the beginning of our Interstate system. The goal is to drive border to border without a stoplight.

The film describes the planning and construction process of a modern freeway. The enjoyment comes from watching historic footage that describing a process that is still in place but has been completely transformed by new technology and sensitivity to environmental and preservation concerns. The film represents a time when you could pretty much draw a line on a map and then build it there. Some of the before and after shots of the environment would make modern audiences cringe.

By this point, Kimball knows he has had to take a lighter approach and infuse the program with a bit of comedy. An animated montage of absurd transportation solutions is quickly flashed by.

Yogi Berra once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” This is the peril of speculating.

Then the program goes in for the kill. A speculative look at what the best minds are saying is in our future. This is Walt describes as a, “realist look at the road ahead and what tomorrow’s motorists can expect in the year’s to come.” The objects are speed, safety, and comfort. Of course, there are going to be some guesses that are just wrong. Some came close but not exactly the way they projected. However, many of the ideas really did come to pass and have become part of our experience.

The misses include highways that would become illuminated at night with radiant heat to keep the pavement dry in rainstorms and melt away the snow. Instead of enclosing highways in air-conditioned tubes, we decided to just put air-conditioning in each vehicle. We did not get fog-dispelling devices or the combination flying ambulances with fire suppression and tow truck capabilities. A whole array of construction solutions was proposed, including a nuclear reactor that would melt mountains and build tunnels. Where are the highway escalators? Or the highways that go under the ocean so we can drive overseas and leave out planes and ships behind?

There are some ideas that were implemented differently than proposed. The radar screen for our windshield would evolve into a number of vision enhancement amenities now offered on some vehicles. Although we never saw cantilevered highways at the scale proposed during the program, some stretches of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado and parts of the Blue Ridge Highway in North Carolina come close. Today, you can push a few buttons and the automobile will determine your path but the computer will not drive you car for you as proposed.

Most interesting are the ideas that really have come true. For example, cars would become more powerful and signage will need to change to accommodate faster speeds. Digital displays, rear-view televisions, and geographic mapping systems with traffic information has become commonplace. The decentralization of our urban areas and the growth of the suburbs have been the trends for decades. Here, the future would resemble Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City.

Of course, we are reminded that happiness would only come when we have a network of highways. Home refueling stations was suggested and has been implemented for electric and natural gas vehicle owners. The integration of telecommunications technology has become reality. If you have enough money, your car can also become a boat. The use of technology to monitor roadway congestion and to track vehicles has also been widely implemented.

The program continues to move even farther out over the horizon. Will we become a society where we will park our sun powered electro-suspension car right in our own office or program our recreational vehicle and let it drive us to our location while we read the paper or watch television in the back? Will we begin to use rockets to transport goods?

Magic Highway USA demonstrates how to speculate and make the impossible plausible.

Disneyland Urban Design: Fantasyland

FANTASYLAND

Along with Main Street USA, Fantasyland was probably the one area that was closest to Walt Disney’s heart. This is where he could bring his cartoons to life. He wanted to immerse his guests in the range of emotions that one would feel while watching one of his films. As you ride through the attractions you experience fantasy (Peter Pan’s Flight), humor (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride), and drama (Snow White’s Scary Adventures).

It begins with Sleeping Beauty Castle. Your first view of the castle is framed by the buildings along Main Street, which makes the structure more imposing and grander than it really is. The castle is also an excellent example of forced perspective, which is a visual tool used in making movies. Within Disneyland, forced perspective is used to make the buildings feel taller than they really are while making the environment more comfortable and intimate. The buildings are not full-scale reproductions of historic structures. Instead the perspective is forced because the first floor of a building is full scale, the second floor is smaller in scale, and the third level is even smaller. As the structure continues to rise, the materials continue to get smaller in scale. This visual trick is the reason why an adult has the sensation of returning to someplace from your childhood when everything looks smaller.

The castle is one of the few four sided structures in the park. Most buildings are what are known as a ‘decorated shed’ with a themed façade hiding an ordinary industrial building. The castle is a blend of Bavarian and French influences with a bit of King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s Neuschwanstein Castle thrown in. Walt was about to review the model and at the last minute, Imagineer Herb Ryman looked at the model and felt that something wasn’t right. So to the horror of his colleagues he took off the top and flipped it around. Walt walked in and loved it.

When Disneyland was first built, budget considerations forced many compromises. Fantasyland was not what Walt originally wanted but it was all he could afford. To remind his Imagineers of what he really had in mind, he had many of the building facades reproduced in miniature and placed along the banks of the Storybook Canal Boats.

The original Fantasyland sported Eyvind Earle-inspired tournament style facades. In 1983, the area got a major overhaul. In the updated version, much of the architecture in the courtyard is based on the work of children’s illustrator Gustaf Tenggren. Each of the facades represent the countries where the stories originated. Snow White lives in a Gothic Bavarian castle, Peter Pan flies through a timbered Tudor style setting, Mr. Toad careens through an English countryside manor, and Pinocchio’s village is a chalet that was meant to compliment the former Swiss chalet style Skyway platform that is rotting away amongst the trees near the path that leads to Frontierland.

The redesign of Fantasyland also solved another major problem. Congestion. Before 1983, the carrousel was jammed up against the castle, the Mad Tea Party was directly behind, and the /Storybook Canal Boats combo defined the backside of Fantasyland. The attractions were shifted around and a new, small Alice in Wonderland mini-land was created.

Fantasyland continues to the north toward the beautiful, iconic façade of it’s a small world. This was a collaboration between the brilliant Mary Blair and Imagineer Rolly Crump. Crump said of Blair, “It was about children, the freedom of color, and that Walt had asked her to do it.”

On the way to Tomorrowland you pass through Matterhorn Way, which combines heavy timber benches, Pine and Aspen trees, and Swiss Chalet architecture to create an immersive environment reminiscent of the village of Zermatt, Switzerland.

The Disney's America Story - Part Three

Part Three

This series will try to tell the story of Disney’s America, a theme park resort originally planned for a site near Haymarket, Virginia. Disney’s America was going to be a new kind of theme park based on American history. It was designed with care and a sense of purpose. Nevertheless, sometimes, one person’s dream is another person’s nightmare and the best of intentions might be considered misplaced or unwelcome. Let us take a walk through history and see what lessons we can learn.

This article is also available at MiceAge.com with some nifty graphics.

Everything seemed to be going Disney’s way as they tried to create a theme park based on American history near Haymarket, Virginia. To help explain how this project would be different then anything that Disney had done before, a press release explained “In Disney’s America we will create a totally new concept using the different strengths of our entertainment company – our motion picture and television talent, our park Imagineers, our interactive media and publishing executives as well as our sports enterprise and education executives – to celebrate those unique American qualities that have been our country’s strengths and that have made this nation the beacon of hope to people everywhere.” Eisner added, “We bring seventy years of entertainment experience – many of them creating the world’s most original parks – to this project.”

The management team for the project would include Peter Rummell, President of Disney’s Design and Development Company. He would later go on to head Imagineering. When he left Disney in 1996, he became the Chairman and CEO of The St. Joe Company, which is a land development company with more that 1.2 million acres in its portfolio. Rummell said that “said the new park will differentiate itself from all others in both subject matter and presentation. “Disney’s America will allow guests to celebrate the diversity of the nation, the plurality and conflicts that have defined the American character.”

The creative lead for the project was Bob Weis, senior Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering. Bob made a name for himself as the creative lead for the successful Disney-MGM Studios. In 1994, he left Imagineering to start his own firm called Design Island. In 2007, he would return to Imagineering to lead the redesign of Disney California Adventure and the Disney project in Shanghai. Bob suggested that Disney’s America would be “an ideal complement to visiting Washington’s museums, monuments and national treasures.” “Beyond the rides and attractions for which Disney is famous,” said Weis, “the park will be a venue for people of all ages, especially the young, to debate and discuss the future of our nation and to learn more about its past by living it.”

A press release provided additional details such as “facilities to host and televise political debates, public forums and gatherings of writers, educators, journalists, students and historians to discuss issues of the past, present and future. The Disney-inspired American Teach Awards also will be broadcast from the site.”

Michael Eisner said, “The most difficult job won’t be to tell important stories about our history, or to deliver an enjoyable experience for our guests, but to achieve both these goals without having either one dilute the other…We need to keep working to create a daylong experience for our guests that makes our guests laugh and cry, feel proud of their country’s strengths and angry about its shortcomings.”

In order to build support for the project, Disney released a promotional brochure early in 1994 that describe the preliminary plans for Disney’s America. The full color brochure was widely distributed to politicians, the press, and other policymakers.

A marketing brochure stated that, “Every day, a diverse and unlikely society, made up of every culture and race on earth, is working together to build a great nation. We have a single vision – a new order based on the promise of democracy. Our resources for building this nation are a rich mixture of land, family, and beliefs – which we apply with our own brand of spirit, humor, and innovation. As the nation has grown and changed, we are constantly reminded of how impossibly far we’ve come – and how far we still have to go.” It promises that, “Disney’s America celebrates these qualities which have always been the source of our strength and the beacon of hope to people everywhere.”

The park would contain nine “Territories” instead of lands. Each Territory would represent a different aspect of the American experience and would be limited in theme to a particular period. Eisner’s direction was that each area was responsible to entertain, educate, and leave an emotional impression on the guest. Imagineering’s design philosophy focuses on story and the architecture and major attractions support that story.

The nine Territories would be arranged around a large body of water called Freedom Bay, which would work like the lagoon at Epcot’s World Showcase and provide beautiful vistas plus allow guests to find spots for the major nighttime closing show. By the time you circled the bay you would have experienced the entire American Adventure starting in 1600 and ending at 1945.

You enter the park at Crossroads USA. From there, a counter-clockwise journey would take you back to colonial American and President’s Square (1750–1800) before entering Native America (1600-1810). Cross a bridge and skirt the parade ground and you enter the Civil War Fort (1850-1870). Just behind the fort is the Family Farm (1930-1945) with the State Fair (1930-1945) nearby. Behind the Fair is Victory Field (1930-1945), which is powered by the city of Enterprise (1870-1930). We end our trip exploring the immigrant experience at We The People (1870-1930).

Crossroads USA was described in promotional materials as “A spirited portrait of mid-19^th century commerce, Crossroads USA is the hub of Disney’s America, launching guests on an unforgettable journey through the vivid tapestry of American history.” The architectural language has been described a village set during the Civil War.

One of Michael Eisner’s pet ideas at the time was the integration of a hotel into a theme park. The WESTCOT project proposed for the parking lot at Disneyland in the early 1990s looked at this concept. At Disney’s America you would find “lodging amid the hustle and bustle of a themed 19^th-century inn.” The hotel would be themed like a Civil War era lodge with “additional suites spread throughout town.” If this ideas seems unusual at first, remember that Colonial Williamsburg successfully offers 26 period accommodations scattered throughout the village.

Crossroads USA would contain the usual guest services, shops, and restaurants found in the other parks. A featured attraction would be the pair of 1840 steam locomotives that would connect visitors to the various Territories and to the front of the park.

President’s Square would be one territory that would seem immediately familiar to Disney theme park visitors. The promotional materials said, “From the struggle of the colonists and the War of Independence to the formation of the United States and its government, President’s Square celebrates the birth of democracy and the patriots who fought to preserve it.”

Based on Colonial period architecture (1750 to 1800), this would have been the next generation of Liberty Square found at the Magic Kingdom. The most notable structure would be a reproduction of Independence Hall with an updated version of The Hall of Presidents show.

Adjacent to President’s Square is Native America. Representing the period from 1600 to 1810, marketing materials explained that the territory “explores the life of America’s first inhabitants, their accord with the environment and the timeless works of art they created long before European colonization.”

During the park’s development phase, Disney was diving head first into production of the animated film Pocahontas and that film would influence the look for this territory. Native American cultures from the East Coast would be the basis of the design language for the architecture and landscaping. The area would include a Powhatan village featuring authentic works of art.

The main attraction in Native America would be the Lewis and Clark Raft Expedition. This attraction would feature “pounding rapids and churning whirlpools.” Early in the design process, the Imagineers were going to try to combine thrills with a lesson about Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was a concept that heavily influenced American policy in the 1800s and called for expansion to the west as a driving force with policies that lead to the Homestead Act, westward colonization, and territorial acquisition as the outcome.

This combination would turn out to be problematic. The Imagineers were concerned about burdening a serious thrill ride experience with a lesson in such a complex subject. Due to this concern, the Imagineers dropped the Manifest Destiny early on and the attraction became a more conventional raft ride through a highly themed environment. This issue would come up again in another territory.

You leave the Native America territory and make your way across a bridge and skirt a parade ground on the way to the Civil War Fort. The fort represents the important years between 1850 and 1870. The marketing materials state that this area is “Emblematic of our nation’s greatest crisis, the Civil War Fort allows guests to experience the reality of a soldier’s daily life.”

The Civil War Fort would feature a Circlevision 360 movie of scenes from a Civil War battlefield. To make the experience even more real, Civil War reenactors would do battle daily on the specially prepared field. You can even participate in the same way real Americans did at the time. While you sit in the grandstands, you can have a sandwich and watch the soldiers slaughter one another on a warm Virginia day just like they did a mere 3.5 miles away in Manassas. Okay, I stand corrected. The audience at the time didn’t have grandstands. They just stayed with their wagons. The nighttime spectacular would be a restaging of the historic battle between the ironclads Monitor and Merrimac in Freedom Bay.

Disney also proposed to tackle the difficult issue of slavery at the theme park. In an effort to make an emotional connection they planned to include “painful, disturbing and agonizing” exhibits, which would include a recreation of a piece of the underground railroad where visitors would “escape” to freedom. Rummell suggested that it would be “entertaining in the sense that it would leave you with something that you could mull over.” Imagineering Senior Vice President Bob Weis said they would show the Civil War “with all its racial conflict,” attractions would “make you a Civil War soldier…[and] make you feel what it was like to be a slave.” This would be done with virtual reality technology.

A short walk from the Civil War Fort is the Family Farm. Here you would be offered “a cornucopia of pastoral delights and insight into their production, Family Farm pay homage to the working farm – the heart of early American families” according to the marketing brochure.

The farm would be themed to the Depression era (1930 to 1945) without the poverty or dustbowl effect. It would be designed so that guests could “even participate in a nearby country wedding, a barn dance, and a buffet.” Other fun hands-on experiences would include an opportunity to make real ice cream and milk a cow!

After all of the excitement from working on the Family Farm, there could be no better treat then a visit to the State Fair. The State Fair is set in the same time frame as the Family Farm. The State Fair “celebrates small town America at play with a nostalgic recreation of such popular rides as a 60-foot Ferris Wheel and a classic wooden roller coaster, as well as a tribute to the country’s favorite pastime, baseball.”

Baseball? “Amid a backdrop of rolling cornfields, fans may have a hot dog and take a seat in an authentic, old-fashioned ball park and watch America’s legendary greats gather for an exhibition all-star competition.” It was not made clear whether these players would be real or audio-animatronics. Behind the State Fair is Victory Field.

We are off to another war and Victory Field would have allowed guests to experience what the American soldier faces as they defend this nation. Victory Field and The Civil War Fort work together to tell this story and it shows how the park’s designers were aiming for a strong emotional punch. This territory would have become a tribute to our veterans and active military.

Among the hangers would be various examples of World War II aircraft. As the promotional materials said, “The flight of the Wright brothers opened a new chapter in American history, bringing with it thrilling exploits and military advancements.” They add, “With the assistance of modern technology, guests at Victory Field may parachute from a plane or operate tanks and weapons in combat, and experience firsthand what America’s soldiers have faced in defense of freedom.” This virtual reality technology would give visitors a chance to fly in and parachute from a World-War II era plane.

The original site plan showed train tracks creating a perimeter berm just like the one at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. It is notable that Victory Field is outside that berm while the Hotel is inside. That visual statement reinforces the desire to have the hotel in the park.

Next-door to Victory Field is the town of Enterprise. The brochure says, “The factory town of Enterprise plays host to inventions and the innovations spawned by the ingenuity and can-do spirit that catapulted America to the forefront of industry.” The territory is themed to the height of the American industrial explosion between 1870 and 1930.

One of the earliest concepts for Disney’s America “E” ticket thrill attraction would have been the Industrial Revolution. This rollercoaster would have been a high-speed thrill ride running through a working turn-of-the-century steel mill. The ride would have highlighted American ingenuity and the climax would have been an escape from a glowing vat of molten steel.

However, the Industrial Revolution became a concern early on in the development process just like the Lewis and Clark Raft Expedition. By the time the attraction was presented to Eisner, he was having second thoughts. In Work In Progress, he said his team “began to understand, could trivialize and even demean the attempt to portray the steel mill realistically.” He added, “If we tried to mix theme park excitement directly with history, we weren’t going to do either one justice.” This concern was also part of the reason for the changes to the raft ride in the Native America.

Adjacent to Enterprise is We The People. This area was aimed right for your heart. Concentrating on the period between 1870 and 1930, you would witness the changes brought about during American wave of immigration. The immigrant story was one that Michael Eisner was very excited about.

Guests would enter a reproduction of Ellis Island. The major attraction would be a state-of-the-art multimedia presentation that tells the compelling story of the immigrant experience and the conflicts between different cultures. The promotional materials promised, “We The People recognizes the courage and triumph of our immigrant heritage – from the earliest native settlers to the latest political refugees.”

The original show concept started out very serious but Eisner wanted the show to be more accessible to children. His suggestion was to use the Muppets who could bring humor to such a complex subject. In addition to the Muppets, the building would contain an ethnic foods market and food court.

Eisner did feel that Disney could play a part in getting children to be interested in their own country’s history. He said, “The sad truth is that the level of knowledge about American history among young people is nothing short of appalling.” He saw how the Holocaust Memorial Museum could use technology to connect the viewer to the emotion of the experience in a deep and meaningful way. Eisner knew Disney had the tools to do the same thing.

There would be no iconic centerpiece such as the castles in Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth at Epcot, or Mickey’s Sorcerer Hat at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The park’s layout is more like the World Showcase and organized around a large body of water.

MAKING SENSE OF NEIGHBORHOOD STRUCTURE

This article first appeared on Planetizen at www.planetizen.com

“The City is organized complexity.” – Jane Jacobs

We are always asking the public to participate in our planning projects. We line the room with our charts, project notebooks, and digitally created visions of the future. We get people talking and then hand out markers and maps and ask them to draw and then we listen and write down their answers on the wall. The real pros are always asking, “Did we get it?” This article focuses on another question. “Did the people get it, and now own it?”

Andres Duany said, “Planning is simpler than they will allow.” I thought his comment was a good challenge. The real world is complex and sometimes that complexity makes people give up or do the wrong thing. They become satisfied with the acceptable or even the regrettable instead of seeking the exceptional. Is there a way to make the complex simple, measurable, and sharable? How can we describe our neighborhoods in such a way as to inform, enlighten, and inspire?

In The Nature of Order, Christopher Alexander provides a possible solution. He said, “The new should always grow out of respect for what is there now and what was there before.” He has proposed a way to illustrate and measure our neighborhoods so that it could be shared it with our neighbors. Combined with an open and transparent public engagement, I’ve found that this tool gets everyone involved on the same page and looking at their neighborhood through the same pair of eyes.

Alexander suggests there is a global structure that consists of four interlocking elements. Think of these four elements as molecules that create different outcomes when you play with the proportions. Those elements are:

• Pedestrian Space: including public outdoor space, paths, and pedestrian streets
• Gardens: private gardens
• Buildings: houses and businesses
• Space for cars: parking and roadways

We can analyze any neighborhood with an aerial photo and five markers. Color all of the pedestrian areas, including all outdoor public spaces, in yellow. Next, color all private gardens in green. Be sure to include courtyards and sideyards. All of the buildings will be marked up in gray. Commercial buildings should be dark gray and residential is light gray. Finally, use red for the areas dedicated to the car including driveways and parking.

The impact should be immediate and memorable. Now you can start to look for positive patterns and those areas that may need our attention.

For example, a healthy neighborhood will show a strong ribbon of pedestrian connections (yellow) linking public gathering nodes at frequent intervals. The buildings (gray) define the public (yellow) and private gardens (green) and create distinct outdoor rooms. The space for cars (red) plays a secondary role and is in balance with the other uses.

In a neighborhood that is out of balance we see the four elements tilted toward the automobile. The map will seem red and angry.

Now, every act of construction becomes an opportunity to repair, enhance or embellish the public realm. Harrison “Buzz” Price, a close advisor to Walt and Roy Disney, said the question we must always ask is “Yes, if”. This is the enabler of the truth. We should not get stalled by talking about “No, because”.

We must document people’s expectations and their conditions for accepting change. We must pull it from their lips - then the healing can begin. Alexander suggests we start with the pedestrian realm and he has some suggestions. He asks if there are gaps or barriers? Look for breaks in the yellow ribbons. Is there a linked system of pedestrian areas clearly defined by the buildings and the gardens? The front of each gray building should work like a “wall” whose job it is to create and help to shape the public space. Do the buildings and gardens create positive space? Positive space is when the background should reinforce rather than detract from the center.

As density increases and buildings get larger and taller, there is more demand for space for cars. Even small changes in density can make a big difference. If you start to see red bleeding all over the map then you are going in the wrong direction. Take advantage of the density to create more public space (yellow) or private gardens (green).

One benefit of this mapping technique is the ability to appeal to people who process information differently. For those who are visual, they will see vivid color patterns that represent the connections and the barriers. For those who are quantitative, they can measure the percentages given over to any one use and compare those percentages to environments that they find acceptable.

This process can empower a neighborhood and creates a common language for its transformation. The goal, as Christopher Alexander says, is to “make the whole better, make it comes closer to the ideal completed neighborhood in which pedestrian space, gardens, buildings, and small spurs of road and parking remain in harmony, and provide a continuous world of movement for pedestrians, while also allowing each building its own freedom and sway over its immediate domain.”

Disneyland Urban Design: Frontierland

FRONTIERLAND

When Disneyland first opened, Frontierland was by far the largest area within the park. It covered almost a third of the land area within the earthen berm that surrounds the park. Such was the power of the Western in the 1950s. Over time, Frontierland was carved into smaller pieces including New Orleans Square and Critter Country.

Within a limited space, the Imagineers had to give the guests a visual sense of an endless frontier beyond the gates of the log fort. Their goals was to present a deep, dimensional vista that would pull the guests into the land. So when you stand in the Plaza Hub and look through the gates of the fort, you should see the smokestack of the Mark Twain steam powered paddle wheeler as the weenie and the great frontier beyond.

Frontierland also works as a time machine and progresses through time as you walk from the gateway toward the Mark Twain and Columbia sailing ship dock. It is a mini-history of frontier architecture. Your journey begins in 1807 at the Pioneer Mercantile. The hand cut logs has a distinctive look that suggests you are at the edge of the wilderness.

As you continue west, along the covered wooden sidewalk, the materials become more refined as well as the architectural details. You end up at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, which was “built” in 1871. Just beyond the saloon is a miniature version of New Orleans Square that was built when the park first opened. Housed in this building used to be such landmarks as the Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House and Don Defore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue Restaurant. Today it is the home of the River Belle Terrace. By the time you get to the Mark Twain dock, you will find crates ready to go in 1883. Walt's original timeline ran from 1790 to 1876 "spanning America's revolution to its great southwest settlement."

Speaking of the Golden Horseshoe saloon, Walt wanted a very specific look for this very important showplace. So he asked his design team to conjure up something that looked like it came out of the 1953 movie Calamity Jane. Little did Walt know he already had the Art Director from that movie already on his staff, Harper Goff. Once again, Harper plays an essential role in the development of Disneyland.

It was Walt himself who personally laid out the dimensions and the contours for Tom Sawyer Island. He looked at a number of different options for the island including miniature reproductions of famous American buildings, Mickey Mouse Island, and Treasure Island. In the end, he invented something new, the children’s adventure playground. This was a place where adults could sit back, relax, and let their children burn off a bit of energy. After all, the kids couldn’t get lost as they we stuck on an island. The island has gone through many changes over the years and is now infested with pirates.

Remember, Disneyland is a three-dimensional cinematic experience. Throughout the park you find movie tricks ranging from forced perspective where the buildings are meant to look taller than they really are while retaining an intimate quality to the cross-dissolve, which creates a seamless transition from one space to another. Another visual effect that creates a richer texture and a more immersive environment is called an “inbetween.”

In Disneyland: Inside Story, author Randy Bright reminds us that in Walt’s time not every facility had to increase capacity or create publicity. It didn’t have to make money. Walt knew he had to create “remarkable pieces of out-of-the-way charm that doesn’t shout or call attention to itself.” Instead “the visitor sort of stumble upon it, experiencing all the surprise and delight that childhood discoveries bring.”

In the book Disney Animation and the Illusion of Life, the authors describe that in the animation process the scene is staged by a series of key drawings that highlight major points of motion. The key drawings come to life because of the large number of “inbetweens” that complete the scene.

Within Disneyland there a number of examples of “inbetweens” including the petrified tree next to the Mark Twain/Columbia dock and the Swiss Family Robinson/Tarzans Treehouse in Adventureland. They are things you pass by all the time without a thought but you would notice that something is missing if they were removed.

One other very subtle feature is the link between the petrified tree and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Take a look at the top of the tree and compare that to the top of the Big Thunder hoodoo (the mountain) and be prepared to be amazed.

The Disney's America Story - Part Two

Part Two

This series will try to tell the story of Disney’s America, a theme park resort originally planned for a site near Haymarket, Virginia. Disney’s America was going to be a new kind of theme park based on American history. It was designed with care and a sense of purpose. Nevertheless, sometimes, one person’s dream is another person’s nightmare and the best of intentions might be considered misplaced or unwelcome. Let us take a walk through history and see what lessons we can learn.

This article is also available at MiceAge.com

The timing for Nunis’s suggestion for Michael Eisner and Frank Wells to visit Williamsburg was perfect. As Eisner recalls in his book, Work in Progress, “I had American history on my mind anyway. The next executive retreat we planned was to be devoted to the subject of democracy. The idea for an animated film based on the story of Pocahontas had been suggested at one of our recent Gong Shows, and I was in the midst of reading several books about John Smith and Pocahontas.” Eisner knew that “Drawing on our natural strengths as storyteller, we could use these skills to be substantive without being dull, to bring historical events alive and to make the story of America more vivid and three-dimensional.”

Eisner was very excited about an American history themed park near the monuments of Washington D.C. He saw what they were doing at Colonial Williamsburg but thought Disney could do it better and makes lots of money. All he needed was to find the perfect location for the resort and get started building his dream.

Eisner and Wells started to look at various locations surrounding Washington D.C. Even Walt Disney explored this area as early as August 1964 for an East Coast theme park. The Virginia tidewater area where Colonial Williamsburg was located was thought to be too far away from the Washington D.C. tourism base. The Company looked at sites in nearby Maryland but determined that Virginia was more pro-business and would create fewer barriers. Other areas in Washington D.C. region were already experiencing rapid growth and the cost of land was going to be a big factor. They even looked at sites along the Route 66 corridor.

After an exhaustive search, the project team was getting frustrated that they would not be able to find an appropriate location. That is when Peter Rummell stepped in with the perfect solution. Rummell started with Disney in 1985 and rose to head Disney Design and Development. He had brought a lot of resort development experience to Disney with projects in Hilton Head, South Carolina and other parts of the Southeast. His team was in charge of infrastructure development for all Disney properties. After his efforts with Disneyland Paris, he was a rising star in Eisner’s eyes.

In 1993, Rummell found 2,300-acres in suburban Prince William County that was owned by the Exxon Corporation. During the hot real estate market of the 1980s, Exxon bought a lot of land and wanted to build a large mixed-use development with homes and office buildings. They went through a lot of trouble to obtain the necessary land use entitlements, which is a very costly and time-consuming process.

By the time Exxon was ready to start building, the 1991 recession dampened the market and the project failed to gain much traction. The energy company was looking for a way out and this allowed Peter Rummell to secretly secure a long-term option on the property. Exxon had no idea who was interested in the property. Now all Rummell needed was to keep the project secret and find an additional 700 acres and for the Disney project to move forward.

The project site was about 35 miles from the heart of Washington D.C. and was adjacent to Interstate 66 and Highway 15. Within a half hour drive from the Disney property were 64 sites listed on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. There were 22 Civil War battlefields nearby, 13 officially designated historic towns, and 17 historic districts.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon was only an hour’s drive. The entrance to the Manassas Civil War battlefield (aka as Bull Run) was only 3.5 miles from the Disney’s property. Toss in the museums and monuments within Washington D.C. and you had more than 19 million visitors coming to the region and the critical mass for a successful theme park resort.

Disney was off to a good start. The land was already zoned for development. Prince William County officials were decidedly pro-business and they were looking to expand and diversify the tax base. The resort would bring an estimated 12,000 to 19,000 new jobs. Projections suggested that the project would bring the County up to $10 million in new tax revenues annually and up to $1.18 billion of revenues for the State over the next thirty years. The resort was slated to open in 1998 and Disney expected up to 6 million visitors a year.

Prince William County had seen some tough times. During the 1980s, the population grew by 50 percent but business development did not keep pace. A development called the William Center was stopped and the land was sold to the federal government. In 1990, the County adopted a plan to lure 14,000 new jobs and $1 billion in nonresidential growth by 1997. They were very aggressive and advertised nationwide. The community even raised money through infrastructure bonds to support this initiative. Officials even courted Lego for a US theme park, which peaked Disney’s interest.

Disney has a long history of creating themed environments based on America’s past. When Walt was working on a road show project that consisted of animated miniatures set in familiar American environments, he considered calling it either Disney’s America or Disneylandia. That project would morph into Disneyland.

Disneyland has its fair share of nostalgia with Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Main Street all influenced by America’s rich heritage. By 1957, Walt had proposed adding an area just off of Main Street USA to be called Liberty Street. That project would be realized in 1971 at the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

Disney’s America was going to be set on 3,000-acres in the rural rolling Virginia countryside. The project was going to be far more than just another theme park. In addition to the park, visitors would find a water park, 1,340 hotel rooms, a twenty-seven-hole public golf course, 300 campsites, and 1.3 million square feet of retail space including a new convention center, and 630,000 square feet of office/business space.

Disney also wanted to sell part of the land to a developer to build 2,300 to 2,500 homes. The company planned to set aside land for schools and a library. The budget for the theme park alone was slated to be between $625 million to $650 million.

The resort would take up 1,200 of the 3,000-acres with the balance (40%) going toward a greenbelt surrounding the project. This greenbelt would act as a buffer. As stated in one of the early press releases, Disney claimed that, “Disney’s America will be an example of our company’s commitment to creating communities that are unique in their design and execution and harmonious with their natural setting. It will incorporate numerous innovative ideas to protect and enhance the environmentally sensitive features of this beautiful site.” The press released suggested that “forest and wildlife corridors will be protected by several hundred acres of open space. Greenbelt and conversation buffers will ensure that we not only harmonize with the environment, but with our neighbors as well.”

The initial design phase for the park started in January 1994. At a brainstorming session, Michael Eisner said, “Whatever we ultimately do, it should be built around a small number of emotionally stirring, heart-wrenching stories based on important themes in American history.” He suggested, “We ought to have elements that are fun and frivolous and carefree alongside ones that are serious and challenging and sobering.” Eisner said, “We need the same sort of dramatic highs and lows that you find in any great film. If we’re truly going to celebrate America, we need to capture the country in all its complexity.”

For Michael Eisner, Disney’s America was not just another project but something like a mission. As he stated in his book Work in Progress, “Building a Disney theme park based on American history seemed like a natural extension of the company’s lifelong focus on children and education, a perfect way of marrying our self-interest with a broader public interest.” In promotional materials released in 1994, The Company proclaimed that Disney’s America’s goal was “Celebrating America’s diversity, spirit and innovation.” Visitors will be able to “Recall the past, live the present, and dream the future.” The vision of a park based on American history was in place. Ideas were bouncing around at The Walt Disney Company and Imagineering.

As the project team did its due diligence, they learned that there had been conflicts with development near Manassas and a general slow-growth attitude from many local advocates. In order to gain the advantage, Disney hired a number of local consultants and lawyers. The team outlined the many challenges and analyzed the local competition.

Peter Rummell noted, “There was a shopping center that had caused a huge fight a few years earlier in the same general vicinity. It had been a fairly infamous fight in the DC real estate area.” He added, “We did all the research on it. We thought we understood that fight pretty well. We understood that fight pretty well.”

Rummell recognized that there were a number of differences between the Disney proposal and the shopping center project. Disney’s park boundary was approximately four miles from the Manassas battlefield. Because, it was already zoned for residential use and the entitlements were already in place, everybody’s expectation was the property Disney had optioned was going to be developed at some point. Nobody was trying to preserve the land and no land conservancy was trying to purchase the property.

Disney knew that a lot of wealthy and powerful people lived west of the project in Loudoun and Fauquier Counties but the project was located in Prince William County and that county was slow to develop and needed the tax revenues. Disney thought that they would be more than welcome by local officials once they had acquired all of the property they needed.

The location had a number of other benefits. As a regional sized park, it would not compete for visitors with either Disneyland or Walt Disney World. With more than 19 million tourists visiting the area according to the National Park Service, the location near Haymarket Virginia looked perfect.

Rummell was confident and said, “We hired some local lawyers and did what we thought was a pretty good analysis of the potential competition. We were very methodical…very careful about the product we put together.” Michael Eisner added, “I thought we were doing good. I expected to be taken around on people’s shoulders.”

Then the local paper got word of the secret project. The problem was that the local paper happened to be the internationally famous and influential The Washington Post and its publisher, Katherine Graham, just happened to live west of the project area in what is known as the Virginia hunt country. As Mark Twain observed, “Don’t pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.”

The headline in The Washington Post was SMOGGY, CLOGGY TRANSPORTATION MESS. Unfortunately, for Disney, this is how local county officials also learned about the project. Up until now, Disney did a great job of keeping the project a secret from everybody. The article featured pictures of the site with the caption “A Cinderella Story – Or a Bad Dream?” Another headline would read EEEEK! A MOUSE! STEP ON IT!

As one could imagine, this surprise did not sit well with local officials. Doug James, former director of planning for Prince William County said, “The next day when we went to work, there was all the buzz. From the beginning, we were curious as to why we were the last to know. The [Disney] response was, they had to acquire the lands very secretively in order to keep the price down.”

Once the word about the secret project was leaked in October 1993, Disney was forced to reveal more of its plans. A press release was sent out on November 11, 1993 that outlined what the company was trying to accomplish with this project. The project’s goal was “to create a unique and historically detailed environment celebrating the nation’s richness of diversity, spirit and innovation – “Disney’s America” – to be located west of Washington DC.”

Doug James described that first meeting between his staff and the Disney team. He said, “The Disney folks basically told us they wanted to have all their permits in hand, because they wanted to begin construction in six months.” In the end, the project would require as many as 11 separate related applications including changes to the zoning code, amending the comprehensive plan, and seeking variances in the building code and use permits. The project timeline called for all of the necessary entitlements to be completed by 1994, construction to begin by 1995, and the park opening in 1998.

Once the project became official, many public leaders in Prince William County voiced their support. Kathleen Seefeldt, chairman of the board of county supervisors said, “ economic development, is the number one goal” for the county. She added the Disney project should “exceed all reasonable expectations for economic development” in the near future.

Next time I will take a closer look at the Disney’s America project details.