These Photos Of Disneyland In The 1950s Will Take You Back To Its First Golden Age

It’s believed that Walt Disney first conceived his plan for Disneyland during the early 1950s. By that point, he’d established himself as a pioneering figure in the cartoon film industry, having built on the success of his breakout short Steamboat Willy in 1928. As well as introducing the world to Mickey Mouse, the movie was the earliest animated film with sound. Steamboat Willy captured the public’s imagination and made viewers hungry for more animated films. The Disney studio catered for this new demand, delivering such classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938, Pinocchio in 1940 and Dumbo a year later. But while Disney had defined the cartoon film genre, he wasn’t one to rest on his laurels.

In 1940 the Disney movie Fantasia set animation to classical music, in the first work of its kind. The studio also ventured into live-action films during the 1950s as well as movies about the natural world. And whereas many in the movie business were apprehensive about the rise of television, Disney decided to embrace the new medium. But while Disney certainly didn’t lack vision, his company wasn’t exactly flourishing financially when he dreamed up Disneyland. At the start of World War Two, in fact, Disney staff had gone on strike, which compounded the firm’s spiraling money problems. The business took time to recover, but Disney’s decision to take a chance on TV would eventually reap dividends.

It was actually thanks to the success of TV series such as Davy Crockett and The Mickey Mouse Club that Walt amassed the funds to get Disneyland off the ground. As the popularity of Disney had increased throughout the years, the company’s founder started to receive letters from fans asking for studio visits. The big man had a surprising initial reaction to this flood of requests.

Disney himself thought that, in reality, his company’s workmanlike film studios were unlikely to be of much interest to visitors. As a result, he started to think of what would appeal to visitors. These included a tour of his studio’s backlot, which involved a train journey amid an artificial “village.” Meanwhile, he also planned an amusement park that his staff and their families could enjoy. These plans gained further traction in 1952 when Disney established WED Enterprises. It was intended to construct a park next to Disney’s Burbank Studios on an eight-acre plot. However, Disney’s grand ambitions for the attraction soon outgrew this relatively small space.