Get Disney Vibes Around the World In Unexpected Places

Griffith Park is a massive park in L.A., home to the famous Griffith Observatory, a zoo and the Hollywood sign. Walt Disney would come here with his young daughters on Saturdays or “Daddy Days” and as they rode the park's Merry Go Round all day, he would wish there was a ride they could all enjoy together. This was the beginning of his Disneyland dream, a dream that would eventually pull inspiration from all over the world. Built in 1926 and brought to park in 1937, the Merry Go Round eventually inspired King Arthur’s Carousel in Disneyland. The Merry Go Round was shut down a few years ago, but still stands in Griffith Park and there’s a campaign to restore and reopen it soon.

When you enter Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, you walk along the magnificent Main Street U.S.A., filled with shops, food stands and old-timey charm. This isn’t just a generic American street though—it was based on the Main Street of Marceline, Missouri, where Walt spent his childhood. From the brick facades to the train station, everything on the street has little touches of Marceline. If you visit Marceline today, you’ll still find the charm, but also lots of dedications to Disney including the Walt Disney Hometown Museum.

A notable thing about Disney parks is their unparalleled cleanliness and impeccable landscaping. Disney was inspired by Denmark’s Tivoli Gardens on a trip to Denmark in 1951. He was struck by the park’s aesthetics, which he felt were more spotless and family-friendly than the usual seedy California amusement park. Walt jotted notes on lighting, music, culture and even the warmth of Tivoli’s employees. Tivoli had landscaped, immersive areas, not just concrete which sparked the idea of themed lands in Disney. Another thing Walt liked is that Tivoli would never truly be finished, something the Disney parks still maintain today with constant updates and redesigns within the parks.

On the very small corner of Beverly and La Cienga in Los Angeles, stood a tiny amusement park with just a carousel, a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster. Opened in 1943, Beverly Park’s “Kiddieland” served as a research lab for Disney as he studied how kids interacted with rides. Walt went so far to consult with owner David Bradley, hiring him from 1950 to 1955. Bradley went to Europe, photographing interesting rides and suggested Disneyland should open with a main street. He also suggested Disney have various photo spots around the park for souvenirs. Beverly Park closed in 1974 and the Beverly Center stands there now.

Often seen as competition for Disneyland, Walt actually borrowed some ideas from the local theme park and even consulted with friend and owner Walter Knott. Opened in 1947, Knott’s Berry Farm was an actual farmstand that morphed over the years into the massive park it is today. When Disney was working on the logistics of Disney, he went to Knott’s to study foot traffic patterns, walkway widths and guest capacity. Their hidden queue system was particularly smart, thought Walt. He also loved Knott’s Calico Ghost Town, which inspired Disneyland’s Frontierland, with its western appeal. The Denver Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Steam Engine looped around the park, which Walt, who always loved trains, realized would be great thing to add in his park as well. Lastly, Walt Disney was taken by the Swiss birdcages at Knott’s Music Hall, which featured whistling automaton birds. The audio-animatronic of Disneyland was born.

At Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Michigan, you can see Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park lab, the Wright brother’s house and Ford’s birthplace. The area has become a bit of a patchwork quilt of historic American buildings, but tells the story of American innovation. Walt Disney visited in 1940 and 1948 and wrote a memo to his employees about how he loved the historic-style shops, opera house and movie theater, something he would later infuse into his main street idea. There were also the transportation features in the park like a horse-drawn carriage, a steam locomotive and a steamboat ride around a lagoon, which are prominent activities in any Disney park. Something surprising is that Disney toured Ford’s River Rouge plant, with massive conveyor belts and factory flow, which lead to the hidden mechanics of Disneyland’s famous dark rides.

In 1950, Walt studied all the West Coast theme parks to see what sparked his imagination. A little storybook park in Oakland, California was an important find. It was an immersive, child-sized walk through the land of nursery rhymes and fairy tales with miniature villages, puppet shows and open-ended play areas. Not only did Walt hire Dorothy Manes, the park’s director, to be Disneyland’s youth director, but he recruited chief puppeteer Bob Mills to be Disneyland’s puppeteer. One of the park’s rides was “Alice in Wonderland”-themed. We can definitely see how Fantasyland took shape, including the Mad Tea Party ride and the Storybook Land Canal ride, with its landscape of fairytale miniatures, as well as Disney’s incorporation of live performances into its theme parks.

Another direct inspiration for the Storybook Land Canal Boat ride was a little park in the Netherlands called Madurodam. Disney visited it shortly after it opened in 1952 and he loved the miniature buildings, wanting his own "Lilliputian Land" in Disneyland. Originally, his was supposed to have tiny animatronic people, but since the technology didn’t exist, it turned into a boat ride through a mini world showcase. Disney would eventually retheme it into the fairytale village it is today.

One look at this German castle and you can tell instantly that it was the inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. Built by King Ludwig I in 19th century Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle has those familiar towers and rooflines that look amazing from every angle. Walt probably saw it when touring Bavaria in 1935.

Yo ho, this fort’s stone architecture is the direct visual inspiration for the beloved Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Pirates was not an opening day attraction, so it’s inspiration happened later than most attractions. Walt flew to San Juan in 1964 and realized guests needed to feel the dark, dank tunnels and dungeons of the real fort so he directed the Imagineers to apply that immersivness to the ride. The ride’s exterior borrows more from New Orleans—it wouldn’t be until the ride was in Florida’s Magic Kingdom that the interior and exterior of the rides would match. But the final battle is pure El Morro as that was taken from the fort’s history.

In 1958, while the Disney company was filming “Third Man on the Mountain,” Walt tagged along to Zermatt, Switzerland and fell in love with the iconic Matterhorn. He bought a postcard of it, brought it home to Imagineer Vic Greene and wrote on the back "Vic. Build This. Walt." A rollercoaster (known to give chiropractic adjustments) was born, called the Matterhorn Bobsleds.