Having already hit Knott's Berry Farm, I continued on with my short notice vacation by spending the final day and half at the Disneyland Resort parks before the car ride back up to the Bay Area. The plan was for a full day at Disneyland and the half day at California Adventure and after a successful find of mac n' cheese at Knott's, my eyes were peeled for what I could only hope to be mickey mouse shaped mac.
Disneyland opened to the public on July 18th, 1955 but like any good story, there was plenty of drama and intrigue related to it's opening.
Walt Disney had already made a name for himself and his studio had cranked out a huge number of animated shorts, films and other works by the time Disneyland was being thought up. It's inception came about while Walt took his own family to different amusement parks in the 30's and 40's and hoped to (like Knott's Berry Farm), have it act as a sort of tourist attraction for those who came to visit the Burbank studios where his artists worked to put together classic cartoon shorts and feature films (both live action and animated) that were being made there.
What initially started out as an idea for a small park on a few acres with a boat ride and other themed areas and attractions ran into a rather large problem. Those on Walt's design team had created too much stuff for the small 8 acre parcel of land purchased. With some help from the Stanford Research Institute a new larger space was searched out, with the purchase of 160 acres of orange and walnut groves hoping to fit the designs created and support the projected growth of Orange County, where the land was bought.
Funding was difficult to come by and some shrewd business relationships were made, principally with the new television network ABC to net the money needed to turn the dream into reality. Disneyland (the series) was born and Walt introduced cartoons both new and old and live action properties like Davy Crockett to America. This partnership created a new corporation, made up of Disney himself, ABC, Western Publishing (best known for their little golden books) and Walt Disney Productions who then managed the development and operations of the park. The park eventually bought out the shares from Disney, Western and ABC by 1960 to take control back "in house" as it were.
The construction started on Disneyland (originally planned to be named Disneylandia, bleck!) on July 16th, 1954 and opened to the media and special guests just one year (and a day) later on July 17th, 1955. Anything that could go wrong at the 'International Press Preview' opening seemingly did.
First off, there were somewhere in the range of 28,000 people at the opening, with almost half of those people there having purchased counterfeit tickets. Traffic around the park was horrible, and celebrities who were supposed to arrive through out the day, all arrived at the same time. It was a balmy 101 °F that Sunday and because of a local plumbers strike during construction, Disney had to chose between having operational toilets or drinking fountains for the opening day guests. While he smartly chose to have the toilets work, backlash was experienced because many felt that it was just a cheap tactic to sell more Pepsi (then a park sponsor) to thirsty guests who had no other options.
Vendors ran our of food (at the time, many of the restaurants and shops were not controlled by Disney, but were sponsored by companies like Carnation and Dole). Construction continued almost up to the opening of the park, with asphalt laid just before the opening of the park, still not set before visitors were walking over it, leaving impressions with their shoes on it. A gas leak sprung up in Fantasyland that afternoon that was serious enough that it forced the closure of Adventureland, Frontierland and Fantasyland for the remainder of the day.
Disneyland's opening was aired as a special on ABC and while things didn't go as planned on the opening and with much negative press to show for the many problems, 50,000 guests still arrived the next day for it's public opening.
The park has had numerous ups and downs over the years and while many parts of the park have been changed (for both good and bad reasons depending on who you may talk to) it's more popular than ever, with admission totals of almost 16 million guests in 2012.
Disney knows it's clientele and with as many children at the park, if I didn't find a mac being served at one of the many restaurants I'd have been sorely disappointed. I can gladly say that Disney didn't disappoint my desire for mac n' cheese.
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| One of the most photographed locations in the world and the first thing that every guest sees when entering the park. |
The Review
Brand:
Tomorrowland Terrace's Toddler Meal Yummy Cheesy Macaroni
*Mac and cheese isn't available at all restaurants in Disneyland, but the following do serve it/have it on their kids menu.
Cafe Orleans - New Orleans Square
Carnation Cafe - Main Street
French Market (Toddler meal) - New Orleans Square
*In addition some California Adventure restaurants also serve mac on their kids menus.
Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta - Paradise Pier
Taste Pilot's Grill - Condor Flats
Pacific Wharf Cafe - Pacific Wharf
