The Imagineering Story (Walt Disney)

The Imagineering Story is a documentary on Disney Plus directed by Leslie Iwerks. The essence of the documentary is a narration about the development of the Disneyland amusement park and Walt Disney's idea of the park and his journey as an entertainer and philanthropist with animation movies and his amusement park. He is an entertainer that has captured the hearts of his audience for generations and made his mark by shaping the world of beloved storytelling and innovation.

Walt Disney came up with the idea of Disneyland from his daughters. He would take his daughters to a carousel on his days off with his daughter in a park with citrus groves in California, Burbank outside his studios enterprise WED (Walter Elias Disney) . He proposed the idea to his wife Lillian and his brother Roy and they put down his idea to create the theme park to protect him from failure and from creating an unwanted carnival environment to the city like environment. The surroundings were composed of people there were not kind and busy. Walt persevered with his idea anyway, he believed there was good in everyone as in there is "a child in every adult" Walt simply wanted a place where adults and children can enjoy time together in harmony.

Before I get to the development of the theme park, the concept that started it all was the mouse. Walt Disney came up with the idea of "Mickey Mouse" when he was a child in grade school. He used to go to class with an actual rat attached to a rope as a joke, he was "the class clown" and wasn't a serious pupil. Although he wasn't serious about his studies he was "gifted" creatively. Walt used to sell drawings to his neighbors in his hometown from Marceline, Missouri. Walt also developed a love for trains and the scenery of his childhood of gas lamps and older buildings of the early 1900's. Walt would sell snacks and newspaper to raise money for his family, since Walt's uncle operated and was in charge of a train station of tourists that would visit his hometown. (train engineer) on a route from (Fort Madison, Iowa and Marceline) Walt pursued his career education at McKinley High School in Chicago where he took drawing and photography classes and was even a cartoonist for the school paper. At night, he took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Walt then persevered on the development of "Disneyland" with gathering a group of people with special artistic talents and personalities that complemented each other to construct Walt's vision, these people were called "Imagineers" (the binding of Imagination and Engineering) the concept of these innovators had to combine being creative with thinking "outside the box" and using technology to construct the entity of the theme park. Walt chose to build his park in Anaheim and Orange County an empty lot filled with citrus groves and rural land. It took about $17 million to invest towards the park. Walt even filed "bankruptcy" couldn't afford to finish the construction of the park, he even sold his home in Palm Springs to finish the construction of the park. It was the profit from his first full length picture film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 38' that took him out of "bankruptcy"

Walt pushed his Imagineers to reach the extent of perfection in their work to reach the possibilities they never dreamed of. They used machinery to build the autopia cars that were inspired by the "classic cars" in the 50's & 60's era of American automotive industry. The matterhorn was a roller coaster ride based off of a theme park in Sweden. The ride needed to include the mediums of physics and trigonometry in order to make the ride function. The ride is always going up but never goes down from the gravitational pull of physics. The myth that there is a basketball court inside the matterhorn is false, there is only a hoop with the signatures of people that used to run the ride such as the employees and cast members. The monorail was a futuristic mode of transportation off of steel railways. You can see the kinetics of the entire park, if you weren't on the ride you can see it moving. Lastly that Walt was in control of was the Tiki Room and It's a Small World. The tiki room composed of animatronics of birds with the songs recorded. It's a Small World was created with the dolls from all parts of the country embracing their culture, overall a message that people can live in harmony and accept their differences instead of fighting for the absence of similarities. Walt passed away in 66' of lung cancer, his legacy lives on entertaining billions of people today. "As long as their is creativity Disneyland will never be complete."

To answer my most frequently asked question why I love Disneyland so much is because there are many memories emulated of going to the park with my family for every birthday. Also it feels like Disneyland is like entering a time in the past and the future with trains and monorails that make you feel accepted to want to stay young at heart and embrace your imagination and creativity. The music and scenic view remind me of the "roaring 20's" and the "40's of young American spirit and innovation" it's nothing like the modern world because everyone can live in harmony happy and be accepted your age, gender and race is not disqualified of staying "young at heart"