Electric Park Shaped Disney

A story about how Walt Disney's childhood visit to Electric Park in Missouri became the inspiration for Disneyland.

"When Walt Disney was 8 years old, he went to this place called Electric Park in Missouri. Electric Park was known for two things: it was an amusement park and it was really clean. That cleanliness became one of the biggest things about Disneyland - imagine having 50,000 guests over to your house but somehow everything stays really clean. He was fanatical about this.

Years later, after establishing his animation studio and creating successful films like Snow White, he took his daughter to a local merry-go-round. He thought, 'This is so boring. Why isn't there something more grand than just this merry-go-round? My daughter loves this but it's boring for the parents. What if I made a place that was fun for both parents and kids?'

They started doing research, visiting every theme park they could find, going to the World's Fair, gathering inspiration and identifying what could be made better. One specific feature from Electric Park that influenced Disneyland was the train that went around the whole park - which is why today at Disneyland, right when you enter, there's a train that takes you around the whole circumference of the park.

He used to tell people, 'One day I'm going to build an amusement park, and it is going to be clean.' That childhood experience at Electric Park shaped his vision for what would become one of the world's most successful theme parks."