(2 of 2)
Free Diapers, Bottles. As much a product of shrewd management as cartoon whimsy, Disneyland was originally conceived as a $5,000,000 venture. But when dozens of big U.S. companies clamored for space to peddle or promote their wares, Walt Disney and his businessman brother Roy O. Disney quickly upped their sights, raised millions by leasing plots to 55 companies. Pepsi-Cola came in to operate Frontierland's Golden Horseshoe soft-drink saloon; American Motors Corp. shows Circarama movies; Pablum recently opened a brightly decorated "baby-changing and feeding station" complete with a trained nurse who hands out free disposable diapers, safety pins, bottles.
By opening day, Disneyland's assets amounted to $16 million, and Disney took careful aim at the vast U.S. family market. Instead of carnival-type barkers, he hired some 200 teachers as part-time workers, a ns-man crew to keep his park clean. When visitors complained of a 45-minute wait for a few top attractions, Disney spent more than $2,000,000 on new rides to spread out the crowds. Since then, he has conducted 55 public-opinion polls, each sampling 500 to 700 visitors to find out what people do or do not like. Biggest gripe: high prices, though 80% say they are coming back.
Ah, Liberty. Within its first year Disneyland broke into the black, now pays Walt Disney some of his most handsome dividends since Mickey Mouse. The Disney family owns 48% interest in Walt Disney Productions, which in turn owns 66% of Disneyland's 14,500 shares; the remaining shares are held by American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc.
Last week Disney was busy planning a $5,000,000 addition to his California land of fantasy. Next year there will be a Liberty Street, a row of Revolutionary-era shops leading off Independence Hall, and Thomas Edison Square, showing the world as it was before and after the light dawned. Then comes Scienceland, New Orleans Square and a 300-ft. "tunnel" along Disneyland's railroad route that will show three-dimensional views of the Grand Canyon. As a Disney associate says: "By the time Walt gets through, this will not only be the seventh wonder of the world, but the eighth, ninth and tenth as well."