Richard Snow, "Disneyland: How the World's Greatest Entertainment Was Created" Summary and Impressions - A recommended book to learn the story behind the birth of the land of dreams!
I would like to introduce "Disneyland: How the World's Greatest Entertainment Was Created," written by Richard Snow and translated by Mai Inoue, published by HarperCollins Japan Inc. in 2021.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
If you want to change the world, you have to change the conventional wisdom that is right in front of you--
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Public criticism, ridicule, and repeated setbacks have drained the bottom line.
Here is the frenzied drama of those who still did not give up!
Epic non-fiction that you need to read now more than ever.
We created a dreamland that is real and muddy,
It was a story of human challenge--
Walt Disney is a genius who combines risk-taking intuition and determination with great artistry and meticulous attention to detail. The story of the man who created the amusement park of the century, and the unknown struggles of the dozens or hundreds of talented people who were discovered by him. This is the story behind the birth of Disneyland, revealed through meticulous research and interviews.
A topical book for the innovators of today!
This book, "Disneyland: How the World's Greatest Entertainment Was Created," is a recommended reference for learning about the history of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA, which opened in 1955.
Everyone knows Disneyland as the land of dreams, but when it comes to its origins, it is surprisingly unknown! I was one of them.
It has been 28 years since Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983. (As someone born in 1990, I wasn't even sure what year Tokyo Disneyland opened.)
Disneyland has suddenly appeared amidst the orange groves and wilderness of California. This book explains how this unprecedented giant theme park came into being and why we are so drawn to Disneyland.
And as mentioned in the book introduction above, the amazing genius that is Walt Disney is indispensable to the birth of this Disneyland. by Christopher Finch, which I introduced in my previous article.The Art of Disney."and by Neil GablerThe Madness of Creation: Walt Disney.But in this book, you can learn more about the inner workings of Disneyland specifically.
The history of Disneyland has often been talked about in the past as a model of great praises, business and customer service, but this book is different.
The book is not simply a glorification of Disney, nor is it an exposé or slander to the contrary. As the book's obi proclaims, "Epic nonfiction that you need to read now," it is a documentary-style look at the birth of Disneyland and its development after its opening.
The book describes not only Walt Disney's superhuman imagination and work ethic, but also the struggles of the many people who made his reckless challenge a reality. To be honest, the construction of Disneyland as told in this book, including Walt's, is out of the ordinary. The amount of work is unbelievable. It is unbelievably overworked from a modern perspective, but it is clear that Disneyland would not have been possible without this intense workload. Moreover, the theme park was built with a slapstick and reckless plan that makes you laugh.
Construction was difficult and completion seemed hopeless, but the building was ready to receive customers on July 17, 1955, the scheduled opening day.
But here's the best part. Walt had planned an unprecedented attempt to broadcast the theme park live to the entire United States upon its opening.
The population of the United States at that time was 169 million. Of that number, 90 million people watched Disney's programs. With this much attention, failure was not an option.
While many Disney biographies and videos present this live broadcast as some degree of success, or even an impressive success (I saw it myself on Disney Plus video), there was actually a tremendous amount of chaos behind the scenes.
It is hard to believe if you look at it from today's perspective, but that steamboat Mark Twain almost sank because it was carrying too many people, there was a gas leak incident at another location as a reaction to rush construction, a cart crashed and broke a child's front teeth, and oil was sprayed from the Dumbo attraction.
The original planned number of invited guests was about 10,000. However, according to the official tally, the number of people who packed the Land that day was a whopping 28,154, an overwhelming overcrowding. Some staff members even testified that there may have been as many as 50,000 people in the park. This was a nightmarish situation for the Land, which was not accustomed to having guests on its first day of operation. The reasons why this happened are also blown out of proportion. The book stated the following.
On the day of the opening, problems became apparent early on. Walt's 10-month advertising campaign had resulted in an extraordinary turnout. It was a "press preview day," carefully planned to allow only invited guests inside; 11,000 people were invited, and the plan was to have each group spend three hours in the park, with staggered entry, with the last group entering at 5:30. But few people paid any attention to the time. And many of the tickets were for the guests themselves and their "companions" to enter. The staff member who acted as the gatekeeper said, "We had a big bus with 'companions' on the mountain. Some guests came in a big bus with a bunch of 'companions. And because the tickets were sent out early, a large number of fake tickets based on those tickets ended up on the market.
Some of them, whether fake or real, entered without the ticket itself. Wood says. Some would put up a ladder, climb over the barbed-wire fence, and jump down into the area where the stables were. It's easy to get in and out of there. He would charge five dollars apiece to let people in."
HarperCollins Japan Inc., "Disneyland: How the World's Greatest Entertainment Was Created" by Richard Snow, translated by Mai Inoue, p. 393
Some of the guests came in big buses with piles of 'friends.'"It is a masterpiece, isn't it? I too was taken aback.
If you live in modern Japan, it is a normal scene to line up in order wherever you go, but what would happen if such a crowd crowded into a place with a capacity of 10,000 people? As expected, there was a huge panic in the land. There were not enough toilets, and water and food were not available. However, despite the chaos on the ground, the live TV broadcast managed to overcome the chaos and introduce the fun-filled Disneyland. The viewers were enthralled by this dreamland, but behind the scenes was just as spectacular. The glorious day of the opening of Disneyland was also "Dark Sunday" for Disney. The episode of that day is the highlight of this book. It is extremely interesting.
After "Dark Sunday," the Land was left with a large number of broken down attractions and a mountain of operational problems. How could they open for business the next day in such a state? I wondered to myself as I read the story, but they managed to do it. The devilishly hard work before opening and the imagination and resourcefulness to solve difficulties were demonstrated here as well.
And in the meantime, by the end of September, they were able to operate a fairly stable business. Ambry-baby.
Oh no, it's interesting! I urge you to read this terrific bottom line of Disney.
And I also recommend the work "Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years in the Land of Magic," published in 2023 in conjunction with this book.
This one is about the second Disneyland built in Florida and is a book that can be read as a kind of sequel to this one. It is very exciting to read about the differences from the Disneyland discussed in this work.
I love Disneyland. But to be honest, I have dared to forbid myself to learn about Disneyland. I was afraid that if I knew the other side of this country, I would wake up from my dream and would never be able to enjoy it again.
But my fears were unfounded. The more I learned about the thought that went into Disneyland and its technology, the more I was filled with wonder. I have come to love Disney much more than I did before I learned about it.
There is no need to fear anything. The more you learn about why Disneyland is so much fun, the more you will enjoy it. I am looking forward to the next time I can go to Disneyland.
This has been an interesting read. I would highly recommend this work.
This is "R. Snow, Disneyland: How the World's Greatest Entertainment Was Created" - A recommended book to learn the story behind the birth of the land of dreams! This is a recommended book to learn the story behind the birth of the dreamland!
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