Disneyland on a Deadline
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
March 1, 1951. Two Texas horse trainers sit down to lunch with Walt Disney. They assume he wants to use their animals in a movie. Instead, Walt leans in and tells them about something that doesn’t exist yet. Not a carnival. Not an amusement park. Something movie-like in the real world. And if he’s going to build it, he’ll need horses.
At that moment, Disneyland is just an idea in Walt’s head. But within a few years, he’ll clear 160 acres of orange groves in Anaheim and attempt to build that dream in barely twelve months. The budget will balloon. The rivers will drain into the soil. The rides will be welded together overnight. And Walt will stake his company — and his personal fortune — on opening the gates on time.
Why was Disneyland such a gamble? And how did Walt essentially invent a whole new form of live entertainment?
Special thanks to our guests: Leslie Iwerks, director of Disneyland Handcrafted; Mark Catalina, producer of Disneyland Handcrafted; Becky Cline, director of the Walt Disney Archives; and Tom Fitzgerald, chief storytelling executive and senior creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering.
Get in touch: historythisweek@history.com
Follow on Instagram: @historythisweekpodcast
Follow on Facebook: HISTORY This Week Podcast
To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:23.2 | Hey, History This Week, listeners, we have something very exciting to share. This podcast has been going since 2020. But for the first time ever, we are taking it live. If you are in the New York City area, please join us for a live episode at the Tenement Museum in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, March 4th at 6.30 p.m. I will be in conversation with historian Tyler Anbinder exploring the history of Irish immigration to the United States, |
| 0:29.3 | cutting through some of the most common myths, and looking closely at how Irish immigrants actually |
| 0:34.3 | navigated life, work, and assimilation in America. |
| 0:42.3 | This is history where it happened in one of the most meaningful spaces in the city, |
| 0:44.6 | and we would love to see you there. |
| 0:47.7 | We will drop a link with all the details in the episode description, |
| 0:52.0 | and you can also find the event at History Thisweekpodcast.com. |
| 0:53.3 | Hope to see you there. |
| 1:01.4 | What happened? |
| 1:03.5 | From director Maggie Jelenhall. |
| 1:04.6 | We dug you up. |
| 1:06.2 | We brought you back to life. |
| 1:08.9 | Starring award winners, Jesse Buckley. |
| 1:10.8 | What did you want when the dead girl? |
| 1:12.1 | And Christian Bale. |
| 1:13.0 | I'm the same. |
| 1:14.2 | Born from the dead. |
| 1:14.8 | A master. |
| 1:17.8 | With Peter Sarthgard, Annette Benning, and Penelope Cruz. |
| 1:21.6 | The dead have got something to say, and I'm saying it. Every funny screen. |
| 1:23.5 | The ride in cinemas, March 6. |
| 1:26.5 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.