When Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt Disney said the park was in honor of “the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America.” Disney and his team based the park on certain values. They thought all Americans shared these values. When the park opened, it showed these values by telling stories—mostly about straight, white, middle-class people.
Main Street, U.S.A.: Progress and Enterprise
Walt Disney described Main Street, U.S.A., as "the typical small town in the early 1900s.” He meant that most small towns across America were just like it.
Main Street, U.S.A., has busy shops with pretty historic details. It is safe and fun. But life wasn’t always like that in the early 1900s. People struggled over race, money, and politics.
Today, many people see Disney’s Main Street, U.S.A., and think that American towns after the Civil War looked like this. But this perfect town was never real.
On Main Street, U.S.A., horses pull carriages and early-style cars drive past a train station. These are all different kinds of transportation. Mixing them together shows how American technology was changing in the early 1900s. New technology brought money to small towns and made life easier for some of the people who lived there.
Disneyland Railroad ticket, 1955
A ticket for an adult to ride the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad train ride.
Check plate, around 1955-1965
Waiters brought the final bill on these trays at the Red Wagon Inn on Disneyland’s Main Street.
Walnut Street, Fort Collins, Colorado, 1891
Designers built Main Street to look like Fort Collins. This was a very successful town in northern Colorado. Harper Goff, who designed Main Street, grew up there.
Fort Collins was successful because the people there sold sugar beets. But most of the people who did the hard work of growing the sugar beets were not Americans. They came from other countries to find work.
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is an attraction, or show, on Main Street, U.S.A. In this show, a robot that looks like Abraham Lincoln gives speeches about freedom.
This show first opened in 1965. Back then, you had to pay separately for every ride or show. But Walt Disney thought Mr. Lincoln’s speeches were so important, he let children listen for free.
Recording, 1964
The Walt Disney Company invented robots that looked like real people, called Audio-Animatronics. They showed one that looked like Abraham Lincoln at the 1964 World’s Fair. It looked so real that visitors thought they were watching an actor.
Tomorrowland: Conquering New Frontiers
Tomorrowland shows what Disney thought America’s future would look like. Disney wanted Tomorrowland to show visitors new technologies that would help Americans in their daily lives—if they had enough money.
Tomorrowland showed people that American money and technology could solve any problem. This made people feel better instead of worrying about the things happening in the world.
American astronauts landed on the moon in 1965. Ten years before that, a ride called Rocket to the Moon opened at Disneyland. Disney also made a TV show called Disneyland that had episodes about outer space. Together, the TV show and the ride helped show people that traveling in outer space was possible.
Companies like Monsanto Chemicals, American Motors, and Trans World Airlines paid to show their products in Tomorrowland. Their displays made it seem like American products would make the future better and easier.
Rocket to the Moon Card, 1955
Vice President Richard Nixon visited Disneyland in 1955. This made it seem like the United States government agreed with Disneyland’s ideas about America.
Liberty Square: The Spirit of Independence
Walt Disney World's Liberty Square is about a war—the American Revolution. But the square does not show any fighting. The buildings in Liberty Square look like they come from the 1700s. It is a pretend place of revolution, but it feels like a real historical place. This can make it hard for visitors to know what is real and what is pretend.
In Liberty Square, Disney uses historic symbols to make visitors feel like they are in the past. This lamppost sign shows a picture of a girl in a red hat. This hat was called a liberty cap. In the 1800s, it meant freedom and American patriotism.
The year 1976 was America’s bicentennial. That means 200 years since America was founded. Disneyland and Walt Disney World held huge parades to celebrate. The U.S. government said that these were official bicentennial celebrations.
The biggest show in Liberty Square is the Hall of Presidents. It includes Audio-Animatronic robots that look like U.S. presidents.
In 1976, 25 million people visited Disney parks. They watched parades to celebrate America’s 200th anniversary.
The same year, only 3 million people visited Independence National Park. This was where the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence.
Disney Parks show real people from history—like the U.S. presidents—and fantasy characters. Could this be confusing?
Frontierland: Visions of the American West
The Walt Disney Company shaped how people think about the historic American frontier. Disney’s Frontierland shows America as a place built by bold and fearless pioneers. It shows them fighting against dangerous American Indians in the “Wild West.” This was a harmful stereotype in a lot of TV shows and movies in the 1950s. Stereotypes like this have stayed in people’s minds for a long time.
Davy Crockett was a real person who lived in the 1800s. In the 1950s, Disney made a TV show about him. It mostly showed the good things about Davy Crockett and the time he lived in. Some people complained that the show left a lot of things out. But people who liked the show said it was better that way because it taught kids that Americans were good people.
The Indian Village was a part of Frontierland. Here, Native Americans put on shows about the Plains Indians. Some people thought this was good because visitors would learn new things about Native Americans. But other people thought these shows made it seem like Native American life was only important when it made a good show for visitors.
Disney changed the Indian Village into Bear Country in 1971 and then Critter Country in 1988.