SIGHTSEERS
Disneyland Exhibit Coming to Michigan

by Randy Karr

For the first time ever, we can celebrate the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney's original theme park, right here in Michigan.

Those visiting the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, Michigan, can now be among the first in the world to see the premier of "Behind the Magic-50 Years of Disneyland." This special exhibit will run until January 1, 2006, after which it will go on a national tour to other major museums.

Behind the Magic is a behind-the-scene exhibit that features 240 examples of Walt Disney's Imagineering and innovation. Visitors will have a rare opportunity to see an assortment of Disney artifacts, including figures from "It's a Small World", original vehicles used in Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Toontown Jolly Trolley, plus original arcade games from the Pirates of the Caribbean and the first Audio-Animatronic "human" to appear in a Walt Disney production.

There's more to delight the young and young at heart - a sculpture of Dumbo the Flying Elephant, a model of Mickey Mouse's Toontown house and the big brass drum used by Mickey Mouse in the Electric Light Parade. Tinkerbelle's pixie dust will enchant visitors while viewing film footage from ABC's original Disneyland television show. Other film footage will enthrall them as they view Disneyland's opening day events in Anaheim, California, as reported by Ronald Reagan and Art Linkletter.

Upon entering "Behind the Magic", there are several sketches depicting Walt Disney's vision for a radical new kind of amusement park, one that would be a reflection of American values, hopes and ideals. Having taken his own daughters to local parks in search of wholesome fun, he found them lacking the clean, safe, entertaining and educational environment he wanted.

Disney's concept for what would eventually become Disneyland was influenced by his visits, in the 1940s, to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, and to the Chicago Railroad Fair. Inspired by what he saw, he detailed his ideas for a "Mickey Mouse Park".

His initial sketches depicted an idealized American town with lakes and surrounded by a railroad track. Other sketches expanded on the concept by adding Disney characters and a central hub, from which paths led to Fantasyland, Frontierland, Land of Tomorrow and a railroad station at the park's entrance.

The original artist's rendition of Disneyland, which visitors see, was used by Walt Disney to showcase Disneyland to television networks. Disney's pitch to the television executives was simple. They provide the seed money to build Disneyland, and he would produce a weekly television series in exchange.

ABC liked the idea, and later that year the Disneyland television series debuted. It featured live action films with characters like Davey Crockett, King Of The Wild Frontier - my favorite as a child - and animated films that combined elements of the past (Frontierland), the exotic (Adventureland), fairy tale (Fantasyland) and the future (Tomorrowland).

Construction crews took only 12 months, plus a day, to bring to life Disney's dream for a family amusement park "where you leave today and visit the world of yesterday and tomorrow." When the "Happiest Place on Earth" opened in 1955, it included a Main Street attraction, plus four central realms - Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Frontierland.

Walt Disney's vision for a Main Street was inspired both by his childhood memories of growing up in Marceline, Missouri, and by his visits to the idealized small town that Henry Ford was creating - Greenfield Village. Disney's conceptual sketches show a Main Street that is scaled down to give a child's eye view of a small town American main street.

Perhaps the rarest opportunity in Behind the Magic is the close-up view of Abraham Lincoln, Disney's first Audio-Animatronic "human". Developed for and not seen publicly since its 1964 World's Fair unveiling, this "bionic" Abraham Lincoln figure amazed audiences when it stood up and performed 48 separate body actions and spoke, using 15 different facial movements.

Disney's last majestic plan was to build an "experimental prototype community of tomorrow"-EPCOT. It would be a real town with real businesses. Living here would be "real" people, not Audio-Animatronic "humans". Unfortunately, Disney died before he could see its completion. His vision, however, later inspired the planned community of Celebration, Florida, located near Disneyworld.

Walt Disney once said, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." And fun it was. Since then, the Disney Imagineers have rained fun around the world, first on Orlando, then on Paris and Tokyo, and most recently on Hong Kong, where the newest Disneyland attraction opened in September, 2005.

Ticket information for Behind the Magic is available at www.thehenryford.com.