Welcome to another edition of The History Geek. This one teams History Geeks and Disney Geeks up together into one mega-geek. Any fan of Disney theme parks knows that the Disney company has an affection for the history of the United States. From the original ““>Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” at Disneyland to the entirety of Liberty Square at Disney World, including “The Hall of Presidents,” Disney loves American history.
Despite this love, it would come to a surprise to many that Disney was going to create an entire theme park based on the American experience in the early 1990s.
Deep in the heart of Civil War territory, just a few miles from the site of the Battle of Manassas, was to be the site of the 1200 acre park that would take visitors through the American experience. Concepts were drawn, rides and ideas were developed, and the park would lead visitors through many eras of American history. Imagineers felt it would be a perfect complement to the American History experience in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area. And since it took place in the heart of all that history, I can’t blame them for thinking so.
Disney enthusiasts would have arrived in a Civil War era town, much the same way Main Street greets visitors at more traditional Disney parks. After that, you’d be able to move about through the different eras of American history. Rides based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Native American experience would whisk guests around.
You’d be able to tour a Civil War Fort (much like the Fort on Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland) and then move into the future through the park. There was an Ellis Island attraction planned, the age of industry was there, and even the life of soldiers through the World War would be represented.
There would also be a section devoted to old time state fairs and beyond.
You might even recognize some of the proposed layout and feel in the sketches like this:
As they were cannibalized eventually into Disney’s California Adventure.
Michael Eisner remarked about the park:
“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. 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. Our goal, when you finish an eight-hour day there, is that you’ll have experienced an intelligent, entertaining, challenging view of America.”
Why did this park devoted to America’s history never happen? A lot of reasons, but principally: wealthy landowners (like the Mariotts and the Duponts, etc.) who lived near the site found the idea of a Disney park in their backyard abhorrent. It would cause too much traffic and sprawl in their area and it was unwelcome. They’d have rather left the land unspoiled than allow a company like Disney building such a monstrosity. Soon, preservation societies were getting involved, working hard to keep the project from happening.
Add to that the fact that the park would only be able to be open 8 months of the year due to weather, and Disney would have to foot the bill for major road and infrastructure improvements, the cost of the lobbying and political fight was too much.
On September 28, 1994, after more than a year of fighting to create Disney’s America, Michael Eisner pulled the plug on the entire project.
To the residents concerned about the blight and sprawl Disney would cause, this actually turned out to be a bad thing. Where Disney would have created a single park with respect to the area and managed traffic and development in a way that only they can, the resulting development became a mess. Dot-com millionaires bought up the land and built giant McMansions over the area in no discernible patterns. It’s probable that more people live there now than Disney would have attracted on a typical day.
For Disney, the project was revived briefly in the late 1990s when the Knott family was planning on selling the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park, but they opted to not sell to Disney for fear they might alter the feeling of the park.
As stated before, Disney ended up taking quite a few of the ideas and implementing them in their California Adventure expansion of the Disneyland property in Anaheim.
It’s interesting to think on what could have been with the Disney’s America. It seems like a place I would have liked to visit, just once at least.
And be sure to check out more installments of The History Geek here!
[Picture Sources: Disneyland And More Blog]