{"id":148254,"date":"2026-01-24T22:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148254\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T22:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:28:10","slug":"walt-disney-made-up-disneyland-as-he-went-along-during-construction-in-the-mid-1950s-san-bernardino-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148254\/","title":{"rendered":"Walt Disney made up Disneyland as he went along during construction in the mid-1950s \u2013 San Bernardino Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walt Disney made up plans for Disneyland as he went along during the yearlong construction blitz in the mid-1950s that his critics mocked as impossible and predicted would become a spectacular failure, according to a new documentary about the making of the Anaheim theme park.<\/p>\n

Disneyland Construction Supervisor Joe Fowler said work began in July 1954 with virtually no plans for the park in the new \u201cDisneyland Handcrafted<\/a>\u201d documentary by filmmaker Leslie Iwerks that debuted Thursday, Jan. 22 on the Disney+ streaming service and YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built Disneyland with probably not 10% of the plans to start with,\u201d Fowler said in the new \u201cDisneyland Handcrafted\u201d documentary. \u201cThe plans were developed as we went along.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Walt Disney was \u2018scared\u2019 Disneyland would never be ready for opening day in 1955<\/a><\/p>\n

Walt wasn\u2019t familiar with blueprints, design plans and other technical drawings when construction began on the park, according to Disneyland Chief Art Director Dick Irvine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started out, Walt didn\u2019t know how to read a plan,\u201d Irvine said in the documentary. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t soon until he not only could read a plan, he could read it better than all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WaltWalt Disney surveys construction of the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction at Disneyland. (Courtesy of Disneyland)<\/p>\n

Building Disneyland was all about learning on the job and getting the work done, according to Disneyland Vehicle Designer Bob Gurr.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery job that you work on with Walt is different and you figure out what you\u2019re going to do and how you\u2019re going to do it just as you get started with it,\u201d Gurr said in the documentary.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: \u2018Disneyland Handcrafted\u2019 changes everything you think you know about Disneyland<\/a><\/p>\n

\"WaltWalt Disney crosses the drawbridge that serves as the entrance to the castle in what will be the heart of Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, on April 16, 1955. (AP Photo\/David F. Smith)<\/p>\n

Gurr designed the Autopia cars and Main Street U.S.A. vehicles for Disneyland without much of a plan or supervision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no project manager. Therefore we didn\u2019t need any coordinators,\u201d Gurr said in the documentary. \u201cThe Xerox machine hadn\u2019t been invented yet, so we didn\u2019t publish anything. All we did was just do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Meet the \u2018unsung hero\u2019 who helped Walt Disney build Disneyland<\/a><\/p>\n

\"WaltWalt Disney tells a visitor, Associated Press\u2019 Bob Thomas, where the two Disneyland trains will stop to take on passengers for the trip around the grounds. Railway Station in the background will be the first sight of Disneyland for visitors. The planning, design and construction of Disneyland is among the topics covered in the new docuseries \u201cThe Imagineering Story.\u201d (File photo by the Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Walt would give direction, offer feedback and ask for changes as each project progressed, according to Gurr.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalt never gave a thought that he was overloading people,\u201d Gurr said in the documentary. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Well, OK, we\u2019re just doing it.\u2019 So you do all this stuff at once. You didn\u2019t dilly-dally on decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: \u2018Disneyland Handcrafted\u2019 takes viewers on Walt Disney\u2019s wild ride<\/a><\/p>\n

\"WaltWalt Disney surveys the Anaheim property that would become Disneyland before the park opened in 1955. (Courtesy of Disney)<\/p>\n

Walt was widely criticized by other amusement park operators for spending too much money and going into too much detail with Disneyland, according to the documentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Walt was convinced that if his guests were exposed to good taste, good quality and good design they would subconsciously perceive this,\u201d Disneyland Landscaper Bill Evans said in the documentary. \u201cNot as a consequence of being educated in landscape design or in architecture or anything else, but they would subconsciously know the difference between good and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walt Disney made up plans for Disneyland as he went along during the yearlong construction blitz in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2223,163,165,164,7,2222,1341,611,420],"class_list":["post-148254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-amusement-parks","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-disney-california-adventure","tag-disneyland","tag-orange-county","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}