By Fred Klein //
Many people do not know that some of the rides at Disneyland in Orange County, CA came from the 1964 – 1965 New York World’s Fair. Disney Company had been contracted to provide automation, mobility, and Audio-Animatronics for several of the Corporations (Ford, Pepsi, and General Electric) and one State (Illinois) at the Fair. Walt Disney used the Fair to experiment with new technology essential paid for by industry. The technology learned at the Fair resulted in many of the new rides at Disneyland.
I had visited the World’s Fair several times as a youth when I lived in New Jersey and had viewed most of the Pavilions and Rides. Generally, I was so impressed with the World’s Fair as an eleven-year-old that I later went to college, studied the sciences, and sold scientific instruments. I loved the pavilions, rides, and Disney’s robots. So when I first visited Disneyland several years later in the 1970s, I had a Deja Vu experience. It felt like I had been there before, like they transported the New York World’s Fair to Anaheim, CA. These were definitely “E-ticket rides.”
The Illinois Pavilion’s Audio-Animatronics (human-like robot) version of Abraham Lincoln became Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland. The Lincoln robot moved around and gave his Gettysburg Address. That technology played a role in almost every Ride at Disneyland afterward. The General Electric Pavilion Progress Land became Disneyland’s Hall of Progress (Life in the 1890s to the 1960s) from 1967 to 1973. Ford’s Magic Skyway ride became the caveman and dinosaur scenes in the tunnel of the Train ride at Disneyland 1967 to 1995. The cars on a track technology from that Ride in New York became the People Mover and other rides in Anaheim. The UNICEF and Pepsi’s Pavilion became It’s a Small World at Disneyland. The boat ride technology from that Ride was later used on the Pirates of the Caribbean. Monsanto’s Pavilion ride became the Inner Space ride at Disneyland. Bell Telephone ride’s moving seats with the built-in speakers’ technology became the seats for the Haunted House. The Swiss Skyway ride at the Fair became the Skyway ride at Disneyland near the Matterhorn. The Log Flume ride technology at the Lake Amusement area of the Fair became the Splash Mountain ride in Critter Country at Disneyland. Finally, the Ride Tram technology at the Fair became the parking lot trams at Disneyland. Walt Disney had made an arrangement with the corporations that had contracted him for Disney to own the rides after the Fair and other rides he bought from other corporations. New ideas from the Fair helped improve the Monorail and were the impetus for Epcot Center in Disney World in Florida.
Many of the rides are no longer running at Disneyland, but they were major attractions for many years there. Some of them found their way to Disney World in Florida. I was happy to see all those rides again like old friends. About the only thing they missed was the delicious Belgium Waffles from the 1964 World’s Fair.
FRED KLEIN is a member of the Southern California Writer’s Association, OC Writers, Historical Novel Society, and Hometown Reads. He has had some short stories published and a self-published humorous book, Memoirs of a Road Warrior, for sale on Amazon.com. Fred writes from his experiences as a salesman, laboratory technician, food service worker, writer, drummer, and pilot. He lives in California with his wife.
Thanks for sharing, Fred. It’s nice to know that Disney was into re-cycling, before it became a ‘thing’ – or perhaps he was being frugal, which is a good thing, too!
Sorry, but there are a few errors here. The GE Pavilion became the “Carousel of Progress” at Disneyland, not the “Hall of Progress”. There are no cavemen along the Disneyland railroad but the dinosaurs are still there. There was no Monsanto Pavilion at the Fair. Disneyland had a Skyway years before the Fair opened. Disneyland had parking lot trams years before the Fair opened.
Incidentally, I had the same Deja Vu moment when I went to Walt DIsney World. That led to my working for Disney at the Studio, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and WED (now Imagineering.) Happily retired but still working with them on projects today.
Thanks for the interesting history of Disneyland.
Any errors in this essay are more than compensated for by the overarching narrative about the origins of many Disneyland attractions. I best remember the Lincoln robot and “Small World” (I’m showing my age), and I shall view them in a different light than before. My thanks.