So today on our podcast, we're continuing to discuss a series of very small parks that Disney

explored, partially developed, but then never built. In this, we're looking at interesting

pieces of mostly forgotten design, as they once appealed to Walt. In our last episode, we discussed Walt's first two small-scale amusement parks that were

tied to film.

The first was imagined for the Burbank Studio in 1939, with Bob Jones drawing up some

loose concepts.

And the second was for a series of regional parks to be built across North America

and even international locations. That would incorporate rides similar to those in the most

iconic section of Disneyland, that being fantasy land for a regional audience. Under this plan, there could be a partial day

regional park in Washington State or Illinois or New York or even Mississippi, with Disney rides

similar to those that viewers saw each Sunday as part of the introduction to the weekly Disney TV show.

The major problem was that in the late 1950s and early 1960s,

the cost of domestic airline travel due to industry regulations

was significantly higher than it is today,

which put long-distance vacations out of the reach of most

families. That along with twin recessions in the late 1950s and early 1960s was one reason that

Disney was exploring economical ways to bring some of the Disneyland experience to families far from Anaheim,

creating small-scale amusement parks with Disney characters and theming.

These micro-parks and planning materials were initially called Mickey Mouse Club parks,

and then later Mickey Mouse villages likely to distance them from the Mickey Mouse Club parks and then later Mickey Mouse villages likely to distance them from the

Mickey Mouse Club TV show, which had recently ended production. Last time, we looked at how

these regional mini parks were proposed and how Disney eventually pulled back from creating

...