Episode Details

Jim Hill and Len Testa explore the many transformations of Disneyland’s Fantasyland, beginning with ideas Walt Disney developed years before the park opened. They trace the land’s evolution from its modest tournament-tent facades and opening-day dark rides through the elaborate 1983 redesign that created the European village guests know today. Along the way, Jim shares the histories of Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Dumbo, Storybook Land, the Matterhorn, and “it’s a small world.” Recorded live at Disneyland, this episode reveals how changing technology, limited budgets, new Disney characters, and generations of Imagineers repeatedly reshaped Fantasyland.

Original Air Date: December 22, 2012
Original Title: Disneyland's Fantasyland's Many Facelifts, Live Walk Through (Dec. 2012)

HIGHLIGHTS

• How Walt Disney began developing Fantasyland-style attractions as early as 1938 and 1939 for a proposed visitor experience beside the Disney studio.

• The early Geppetto’s workshop walkthrough and Seven Dwarfs mine train concepts that predated Disneyland by more than a decade.

• Why the earliest Mickey Mouse Park plans focused more heavily on American history and the Old West than Disney animated characters.

• How the move to Anaheim allowed Fantasyland to become a central part of Disneyland’s design.

• The enormous unbuilt Monstro attraction that would have carried boats through scenes from Pinocchio before sending them down the whale’s tongue.

• Other abandoned Fantasyland concepts, including an Old Mill Ferris wheel and Donald Duck bumper boats.

• How Disneyland’s limited construction budget forced Imagineers to replace the planned Bavarian village with less expensive tournament-tent facades.

• Why Disney used dimensional flats and simplified scenery when full sculpted environments were beyond the opening-day budget.

• The opening-day Fantasyland attractions Snow White and Her Adventures, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and the Mad Tea Party.

• Why early plans called for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride to operate as an indoor roller coaster.

• The original Dumbo ride vehicles whose mechanical ears worked for only a brief period after opening.

• How guests were supposed to assume the role of Snow White inside the original attraction, causing confusion when the character did not appear.

• Why Peter Pan’s Flight and its aerial view of London immediately connected with Disneyland guests.

• The movie theater that occupied the future site of Pinocchio’s Daring Journey when Disney lacked enough money to build another dark ride.

• How the Alice in Wonderland dark ride opened several years after Disneyland’s 1955 debut.

• Why Disneyland initially lacked the sophisticated walk-around Disney characters now associated with Fantasyland.

• Bill Justice’s work designing wearable character costumes and the continuing challenge of making them lighter and safer for performers.

• How King Arthur Carrousel was repositioned during the 1983 Fantasyland redesign to create a stronger visual focal point behind Sleeping Beauty Castle.

• The European village architecture added during Disneyland’s first major Fantasyland transformation.

• Why Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride remains distinctive for sending Disneyland guests on a chaotic journey that concludes in Hell.

• Storybook Land Canal Boats’ beginnings as a mostly empty attraction nicknamed the Mud Bank Ride.

• How Disney added elaborate miniature villages and landscapes after Disneyland’s first operating season.

• The unusual method used to age copper rooftops for Storybook Land’s miniature Italian village.

• How Fantasyland has continually changed to accommodate new Disney characters, including Tinker Bell and Disney Fairies.

• The shortage of permanent Disneylan