Walt Plusses Disneyland While Roy Buys It Back (Ep. 75)

Walt Disney keeps finding ways to improve Disneyland, while Roy works on a different kind of park project: buying out its other owners. Jim Hill and Len Testa revisit the early 1960s, from Nature’s Wonderland and the Jungle Cruise’s growing sense of humor to the deals that brought Disneyland under Walt Disney Productions. They also explore how those business negotiations strained the brothers’ relationship and why Walt held on to his beloved trains.

Original Air Date: March 15, 2015 (estimated)
Original Title: Disneyland 1960-ish to 1964-ish

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sleeping Beauty’s financial disappointment and Mary Poppins’ later success bookend a changing era for Disney and Disneyland.
• Nature’s Wonderland expands the Mine Train experience with animal figures and new scenery in 1960.
• Walt’s insistence on giving returning guests something new helps explain Disneyland’s tradition of “plussing.”
• Marc Davis’s humorous Jungle Cruise scenes and the skippers’ evolving narration change the attraction’s personality.
• Roy negotiates to buy out Western Publishing and ABC as television commitments complicate Disney’s business relationships.
• Walt’s personal interests in Disneyland and WED become a source of tension as Roy seeks company ownership.
• The settlement leaves Walt with the railroad and monorail interests associated with Retlaw.
• Skull Rock, Snow White Grotto, and the monorail extension to the Disneyland Hotel illustrate the park’s continuing reinvestment.

For this episode’s full show notes, click here.
View transcript here.

HOSTS

• Jim Hill: X and Instagram @JimHillMedia | jimhillmedia.com
• Len Testa: Bluesky @lentesta.bsky.social | Instagram @len.testa | touringplans.com

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Jim Hill and Len Testa explore Disneyland’s early 1960s improvements and Roy Disney’s campaign to bring the park fully under company ownership.

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