Disneyland in the context of "Disneyland Resort"

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⭐ Core Definition: Disneyland

Disneyland is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, United States. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, opening on July 17, 1955.

Disney initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent to his studios in Burbank to entertain fans who wished to visit; however, he soon realized that the proposed site was too small for the ideas that he had. After hiring the Stanford Research Institute to perform a feasibility study determining an appropriate site for his project, Disney bought a 160-acre (65 ha) site near Anaheim in 1953. The park was designed by a creative team hand-picked by Walt from internal and outside talent. They founded WED Enterprises, the precursor to today's Walt Disney Imagineering. Construction began in 1954 and the park was unveiled during a special televised press event on the ABC Television Network on July 17, 1955. Since its opening, Disneyland has undergone many expansions and major renovations, including the addition of New Orleans Square in 1966, Bear Country in 1972 (known today as Bayou Country), Mickey's Toontown in 1993, and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in 2019. Additionally, the theme park Disney California Adventure opened in 2001 on the site of Disneyland's original parking lot.

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In this Dossier

Disneyland in the context of Mickey Mouse universe

The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto as the primary members (colloquially known as the "Sensational Six"), and many other characters related to them, most of them being anthropomorphic animals. The universe originated from the Mickey Mouse animated short films produced by Disney starting in 1928, although its first consistent version was created by Floyd Gottfredson in the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip. Real-world versions also exist in Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, called Mickey's Toontown. The term "Mickey Mouse universe" is not officially used by The Walt Disney Company, but it has been used by Disney comics author and animation historian David Gerstein. The Walt Disney Company typically uses terms such as Mickey & Friends or Mickey & the Gang to refer to the character franchise.

Since 1990, the city in which Mickey lives is typically called Mouseton in American comics. In modern continuity, Mouseton is often depicted as being located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, analogous to Northern California. This fictional state was invented by comics writer Carl Barks in 1952 as the location for Donald Duck's home city, Duckburg.

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Disneyland in the context of Barbershop music

Barbershop vocal harmony is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a primarily homorhythmic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. The melody is not usually sung by the tenor or baritone, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishment can be created. One characteristic feature of barbershop harmony is the use of what is known as "snakes" and "swipes". This is when a chord is altered by a change in one or more non-melodic voices. Occasional passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.

Barbershop music is generally performed by either a barbershop quartet, a group of four typically male singers with one on each vocal part, or a barbershop chorus, which closely resembles a choir with the notable exception of the genre of music.

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Disneyland in the context of Walt Disney Imagineering

Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc.—commonly referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineering, or WDI—is the research and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions worldwide. The company also operates Disney Live Entertainment and the Muppets Studio and manages Disney's properties, from Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to New Amsterdam Theatre and Times Square Studios Ltd. in New York City.

Founded on December 16, 1952 by Walt Disney to oversee the production of Disneyland Park, it was originally known as Walt Disney, Inc., then WED Enterprises, from the initials of "Walter Elias Disney", Disney's full name. Headquartered in Glendale, California, Imagineering is composed of "Imagineers", who are illustrators, architects, engineers, lighting designers, show writers and graphic designers.

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Disneyland in the context of Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland (Japanese: 東京ディズニーランド, Hepburn: Tōkyō Dizunīrando; local nickname TDL) is a 115-acre (47 ha) theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside the United States and it opened on April 15, 1983. The park was constructed by WED Enterprises in the same style as Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. It is owned by the Oriental Land Company, which licenses intellectual property from the Walt Disney Company. Tokyo Disneyland and its companion park, Tokyo DisneySea, are the only Disney parks in the world not owned or operated by the Walt Disney Company in any capacity.

The park has seven themed areas: the World Bazaar, Adventureland, Westernland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Critter Country and Toontown. Many of these areas mirror those in the original Disneyland as they are based on American Disney films and fantasies. Fantasyland includes Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant, based on Disney films and characters. The park is noted for its extensive open spaces to accommodate the large crowds that visit the park. In 2024, Tokyo Disneyland hosted 15.1 million visitors, making it the fourth-most visited theme park in the world and the second-most visited theme park in Asia.

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Disneyland in the context of Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom Park, or simply the Magic Kingdom, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. The park was initiated by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises. Modeled after Disneyland in Anaheim, California, Magic Kingdom’s layout and attractions share many of the same themed features inspired by fairy tales and Disney intellectual properties.

The park icon is Cinderella Castle, inspired by the fairy-tale castle featured in the 1950 animated film. In 2024, the park hosted 17.83 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the world for the eighteenth consecutive year and the most visited theme park in North America for at least the past 24 years. The park has become a cultural touchstone and symbol of modern American pop culture.

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Disneyland in the context of Disney California Adventure

Disney California Adventure is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. The 72-acre (29 ha) park is themed after Disney's interpretation of California, by the use of Disney Animation, Pixar and Marvel properties. The park opened on February 8, 2001, and is the second of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort complex, after Disneyland.

The concept of a theme park dedicated to California arose from a meeting of Disney executives in 1995, following the cancellation of WestCOT, a planned West Coast version of Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center. Construction of the park began in June 1998 and was completed by early 2001. Disney initially projected high attendance rates at the new park; a series of preview openings held in January 2001 led to negative reviews, however, and after the park officially opened to the public, the company's attendance projections were never met. Disney spent the next several years incrementally adding new rides, shows, and attractions, and implementing other promotions aimed at boosting attendance. In 2007, Disney announced a major overhaul of the park consisting of new expansion as well as re-construction of existing areas of the park. Construction lasted for five years and was completed in stages, culminating with the opening of Buena Vista Street and Cars Land along with the re-dedication of the park in June 2012.

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Disneyland in the context of James Falk

James Falk (born May 1, 1954) is a research scientist, conceptual engineer, technological artist, inventor and U.S Patent consultant. His invention of the Groundstar style of Plasma globe was commercialized and marketed to collectors and science museums in the 1970s and 1980s. His techno-art was marketed through major retail catalog chains & stores such as The Sharper Image. In 2001 he became chief executive officer of EFX, an art and technology corporation specializing in technology commercialization, scientific research and development and performing arts center design.

Centerpiece experiential art and technology at Disneyland, Walt Disney World Resort (SpectroMagic), EPCOT, The Franklin Institute, Tsukuba Science City and New York City's Times Square (Toys "R" Us) (Roseland Ballroom) are widely recognized contributions from his EFX Invention Laboratory in New Jersey.

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Disneyland in the context of Mickey's Toontown

Mickey's Toontown is a themed land at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, two theme parks operated by Disney Experiences and The Oriental Land Company respectively. At Tokyo Disneyland, this land is named Toontown. A similar land existed at the Magic Kingdom until 2011 and was named Mickey's Toontown Fair. Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris has a related land called Toon Studio.

The attraction is a small-scale recreation of the Mickey Mouse universe where visitors can meet the characters and visit their homes which are constructed in a cartoonish style. It was inspired by "Toontown" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit in which the cartoon characters live alongside humans.

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