In today's midweek episode, we're going to take a look at a mini park that Walt once considered

developing on land right next to Disneyland. And let me be transparent up front. This idea had a few

incarnations, but the first and last version of this concept was panged around nine or ten acres,

which is close to the size

of those later Mickey Mouse village parks and is of course smaller than the park that was

considered for Monterey. And so some versions of this concept I would say do fall within

the larger range for what I would consider a mini park, though other

incarnations of it might not. Right now, next to Disneyland in the old parking lot, is a theme

park focused on the culture of California. And surprisingly, back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Walt considered building a park there focused on the culture of California,

though his ideas for this park are very different than what was actually built there 35 years after his passing.

So if you've got all of that down,

let's jump in to see how all of this once worked.

For the most part, during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Walt thought of mini parks or

micro parks as a way to move aspects of the Disneyland experience to other parts of the

country and even abroad. As we've already discussed, Walt imagined a string of Mickey Mouse club parks that

might go next to shopping malls and city parks. But there was one time in which Walt

explored at least what was initially a second small park next to Disneyland. But there's

a little more to set up here, as this

project very clearly demonstrates how Walt's ideas of theming changed through the 1950s

and into the 1960s. And that is probably the best place for us to start today. When Disneyland opened,

its key design strategy was to use the

tools of Hollywood set design to make themed areas that looked like the movies. To do this,

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