A propulsive background chronicling the conception and creation of Disneyland, the masterpiece California theme recreation area, as told like nothing you’ve seen prior by well-known historian Richard Snow.

One day in the first 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California, and imagined building a recreation area where people “could live among Mickey Mouse and Snow Light in a global still powered by steam and open fire for a day or weekly or (if the visitor is certainly slightly mad) forever.” Despite his wealth about Disney’s Property and fame, exactly no-one wanted Disney to develop such a recreation area. Not his sibling Roy, who went the company’s finances; not the bankers; and not his wife, Lillian. Amusement parks at that time, such as Coney Island, had been a generally despised business, sagging and sordid remnants of bygone days. Disney was told that he would only be heading toward financial damage.

But Walt persevered, initially financing the recreation area against his own life insurance policy and later with sponsorship from ABC and the sale of thousands and thousands of Davy Crockett coonskin caps. Disney set up a talented team of technicians, architects, performers, animators, landscapers, and even a retired admiral to transform his ideas into a soaring however soothing wonderland of the park. The catch was that they had just a year and each day in which to create it.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened up its gates…and the first day was a tragedy. Disney was nearly suicidal with grief that he had failed on a grand scale. However the inquisitive masses kept arriving, and the others is entertainment background. Eight hundred million site visitors have flocked to the park since then. In Disney’s Land, Richard Snow brilliantly presents the entire spectacular tale, a wild ride from vision to realization, and an epic of development and mistake that displays the uniqueness of the man determined to develop “the happiest place on earth” having a watchmaker’s accuracy, an artist’s conviction, as well as the eager, high-hearted recklessness of a riverboat gambler.