By Austin Carroll
4.6
6767 ratings
The podcast currently has 18 episodes available.
In this exclusive excerpt from our new book, discover Walt Disney's early life in Kansas City. We'll explore Walt's earliest inspiration for Disneyland, his childhood amusement park. Walk the flower-lined avenues of the lost Electric City park that continued to inspire Walt throughout his career, long after the 100,000 gleaming lights went out.
*Fastpass to the Past: The Jr. Historian's Guide to Disneyland * -Out Now!
Explore the fascinating history behind Disneyland – a theme park history book for kids 9 to 12.
Inspire an interest in history with this fun and immersive journey across 20th century US history through the lens of the happiest place on earth. From awful ideas left on the drawing board to actual flying (and sinking!) ships, Fastpass to the Past: A Jr. Historian's Guide to Disneyland is a thrilling grand circle tour of Disneyland's past and present.
In this California history book, kids will walk in the footsteps of Walt Disney before discovering the inspiring stories and hidden Disneyland secrets behind ALL of their favorite theme attractions, including The Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, and even Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
Purchase the Book
Behind the Scenes Content
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Since Disneyland's opening in 1955, every designer who has been tasked with creating a new Main Street for a new Disney park has had to live up to that first nostalgic thoroughfare, the only one Walt actually had a hand in designing, while also setting the scene for the rest of the park. For Disneyland Paris, this task fell to a young brand-new Imagineer and self-proclaimed Disneytologist, Eddie Sotto, who envisioned a very different Main Street USA.
Eddie spent over a year working on a Main Street inspired by the stories of the Roaring '20s, and the jazz, cinema, art deco, and gangsters that populated the decade. His design included a hidden restaurant in a locomotive, a speakeasy jazz club, and police raids. Unfortunately, due to creative and financial reasons, his plans never saw the light of day in Paris. In this new part of the 'Lost Lands of Disneyland' series, we go back to the drawing board, deep in the Walt Disney Company archive, to see what this Roaring 20's entrance sequence would have looked like.
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn about how "Laemmle's Folly," a dream of an immigrant and rebel movie mogul named Carl Laemmle for a city dedicated to the movies, became a reality with Universal Studios Hollywood. The studio tour of his creation, once merely a method of attracting audiences and publicity to Universal Films, transformed over time into a worldwide theme park empire with revenues in the billions. While most early film studios are now mainly fading celluloid and memories, Universal continues to grow in popularity, offering new generations of film lovers the chance to go behind the scenes of their favorite films.
[Shownotes ](www.themeparkhistorypodcast.com)
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Unlike the ill-fairing Hong Kong Disneyland transplant, Shanghai Disneyland is perhaps Disney’s most original theme park, leaning very little on real world locations and history, or even meticulously recreated towns or alleys we’ve seen in films: Shanghai Disneyland is full of almost completely original and fictional worlds. In this episode, Austin and a special guest discuss their tips and tricks for planning your next vacation to Disneyland Shanghai.
[Shownotes ](www.themeparkhistorypodcast.com)
[TeePublic Store](teepublic.com/stores/fastpass-to-the-past-the-theme-park-history-podcast)
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn about the first ever discussions for a Disneyland in China, which took place 17 years before the opening of Shanghai Disneyland back in 1998 in a political move linked forever with Disney titans, Michael Eisner and Bob Iger. In this episode, we'll also talk about why Disney choose to construct a massive theme park on the outskirts of Shanghai and what went into developing a Disney theme park that was 'distinctly chinese.'
[Shownotes ](www.themeparkhistorypodcast.com)
[TeePublic Store](teepublic.com/stores/fastpass-to-the-past-the-theme-park-history-podcast)
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The history of the Walt Disney World Resort is littered with great what-might-have-beens stories. These 5 resorts were all planned & ready to go, only to suddenly fall out of favor & never be constructed. Today, we'll be talking about the 5 'lost resorts' of Walt Disney World's Seven Seas Lagoon inspired by the canals of Venice, the mosques of Iran, and the beauty of the national parks.
[Shownotes ](www.themeparkhistorypodcast.com)
[TeePublic Store](teepublic.com/stores/fastpass-to-the-past-the-theme-park-history-podcast)
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Now that it is December, it is officially skiing season! So today, Austin will be describing the disastrous 1960s 'lost resort' called Disney’s Mineral King Ski Village. Disney’s rarely-remembered and disatorious foray into creating a skiing destination within California's Sequoia National Park. Originally envisioned as a five-story resort with over a thousand rooms, surrounded by a movie theater, general store, pools, ice rinks, tennis courts, a golf course, and 22 lifts to the slopes, we’ll take a gander at what would have been a Disney vacation like no other - if it ever came to fruition.
[Shownotes](www.themeparkhistorypodcast.com)
TeePublic Store
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to The Jungle! In this first episode of Season 2, join Austin for five exciting days and six romantic nights in the heart of the original Disneyland Adventureland. Often regarded as the first theme park safari, we'll discuss the origins of the beloved Jungle Cruise and the 8th Wonder of the World - the backside of water. In the 60 years since its inception, the jokes and to an extent the animatronics haven’t gotten any better - yet it goes down in history as one of the most beloved Disney attractions. TeePublic store. [Shownotes](www.themeparkhistorypodcast.com).
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to the third part of the 'Lost Lands' - a series of closed attractions, forgotten announcements, and especially those plans that never made it off the drawing board. Today, Austin will discuss the never-realized fantastical Beastly Kingdom - an intended part of Disney's Animal Kingdom's Part II Expansion at it's opening. The dragon from this land is even in Animal Kingdom's logo some 20 years later! Austin will also explore the tumultuous fate of the fantasy-inspired land, where dragons and unicorns would have come together to round out the west side of the park where a temporary Camp Minnie Mickey stood. So… hold on tight as we uncover the forgotten lands of Disney's Animal Kingdom and Universal's Island of Adventure.
Special thanks to Austin Vaughn for his help in writing this episode. Follow him on Twitter @AVaughnTS.
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to the second part of the 'Lost Lands of Disneyland' - a series of closed attractions, forgotten announcements, and especially those plans that never made it off the drawing board. Today, Austin will discuss the event space of Disney's bygone years, Holidayland - 9 acres of baseball diamonds, a circus, and bottomless mugs of beer perfectly suited for corporate events in the 1950's. Austin will also explore the tumultuous fate of the WestCot-inspired Holiday World, where holidays and a land inspired by Epcot's World Showcase would have come together to round out the forgotten West side of the park just beyond the Disneyland Railroad. So… hold on tight as we uncover the forgotten Holiday-themed lands of Disneyland that characterized the first twenty years.
Links:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The podcast currently has 18 episodes available.