Inside Disney’s Controversial Plan to Open a Theme Park Inspired by American History

From his early days as an animator, Walt Disney presented a sanitized and nostalgic view of America.

Mickey Mouse represented the “everyman,” while the animators at Disney’s namesake company drew a largely optimistic portrait of the United States, first in the studio’s animated films and later at its theme parks.

Anyone who has walked down Disneyland’s Main Street, USA; witnessed the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents; or visited Epcot’s American Adventure can see how Disney strives to present an uncomplicated, uncritical view of the nation and its leaders.

In 1984, Michael Eisner became the company’s CEO. He was credited with revitalizing Disney’s brand by putting out hit animated features like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, and spearheading theme parks such as Disney-MGM Studios (now known as Hollywood Studios) and Disneyland Paris.

A visit to Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg in the early 1990s inspired Eisner’s next venture: a theme park based on U.S. history that would be built outside of Washington, D.C.

Disney quietly started purchasing real estate in Northern Virginia. The land acquisitions became public knowledge only a few days before the announcement of the theme park, which was aptly named Disney’s America, in November 1993.

The news was largely welcomed by politicians. Eisner had already gained the support of the state’s outgoing and incoming governors, along with the Virginia Commission on Population Growth and Development. The plan was to build the park in Haymarket, Virginia, a small, wealthy area southwest of Washington, less than five miles from Manassas National Battlefield Park, the site of two major Civil War battles.

History isn’t so simple

Although Disney had diligently worked to consolidate support ahead of the announcement, signs of conflict emerged during the first press conference, which featured Bob Weis, a Disney vice president who had helped oversee the planning of several theme parks.

“This is not a Pollyanna view of America,” Weis told the group of assembled reporters. “We want to make you a Civil War soldier. We want to make you feel what it was like to be a slave or what it was like to escape through the Underground Railroad.”

Questions over how Disney would tell the complex—often discriminatory—history of the nation spurred a group of historians led by David McCullough to lodge their concerns: How would Disney construct its narrative of the U.S.? And how would the park affect Manassas, one of the most important Civil War battle sites?

Abandoned - Disney's America

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According to the original plans and brochures, Disney’s America was supposed to contain nine sections: a Colonial-era Presidents’ Square, an Indigenous village, a replica of the Ellis Island building, a factory town from the Industrial Revolution, a Civil War fort, a state fair, a mid-19th-century commerce hub, a World War II-era battlefield and a Great Depression-era family farm.

On the surface, these themed areas seemed fitting. You could easily see them as exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution. But issues emerged when people took into account that this was still a Disney theme park where entertaining guests and making money would likely take precedence over historical accuracy and contemporary sensitivities and sensibilities.

The story of immigration, for example, would have been told through the musical-comedy stylings of Kermit the Frog and the other Muppets.

Observers also raised concerns over how Disney would handle exploitative and violent chapters in American history, including the enslavement of Africans and the genocide of Indigenous populations, the latter of which was connected to the company’s forthcoming 1995 release of Pocahontas. Historians later highlighted the film’s distorted version of events, and it isn’t far-fetched to imagine rides or attractions based on those same misrepresentations at Disney’s America.

Mickey Mouse goes to Washington

Even as plans came together for Disney, criticism began to mount.

Disney issued an ultimatum to the Virginia legislature to improve infrastructure surrounding the site, threatening to abandon the project if the General Assembly failed to approve a $150 million improvement package on the last day of its legislative session in March 1994.

1993 - Disney’s America theme park is announced for Haymarket, Virginia pic.twitter.com/nRYiY0mc9n

— Today at Disney (@Disney_Timeline) November 12, 2022

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution opposing the park, and a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing regarding the proposed project’s environmental impact.

The now-infamous hearing featured discussions regarding sewage, traffic and lodging, and it even saw Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell place a Mickey Mouse hat on the lectern in a show of support.

As criticism mounted, Disney decided to shift its approach. In the summer of 1994, it renamed the project Disney’s American Celebration.

Instead of highlighting periods or events in American history, the new concept would focus more on specific themes like Democracy, Work, Family and Generations, Streets of America, and the Land.

Many of the attractions featured in these areas would have resembled offerings already in Disney parks. For example, Generations would have been similar to the Magic Kingdom’s Carousel of Progress, while the Land would share its name with a pavilion at Epcot.

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The revamp also would have opened up more opportunities for sponsorship. The Work section of the park would have included virtual factory tours of popular brands such as Apple or Crayola, while Streets of America would have featured cuisine from around the country, similar to Downtown Disney, which later appeared at both Disney World and Disneyland.

It all falls apart

On September 28, 1994, Disney abruptly announced that the company was going to abandon its plans for a history-themed park.

Although criticism from historians was a factor, executives also had concerns about the park’s profitability in colder months. The company faced mounting debt from its Paris theme park and uncertain leadership after the death of senior executive Frank Wells in a helicopter crash in April 1994. Eisner, meanwhile, had undergone bypass surgery in July 1994.

Many of the attractions that were planned for the Virginia site eventually found their way into other Disney parks, particularly Disney California Adventure in Anaheim.

Disney, both under Walt Disney’s leadership and after his death in 1966, has long leveraged patriotism for the sake of its media content and park experiences. From Mickey Mouse to the Hall of Presidents, a nostalgic, linear and uncomplicated view of American progress has been foundational to the Disney experience.

But an entire park dedicated to this approach—just down the road from a real battlefield integral to the bloodiest war in U.S. history—proved to be too much for historians and other critics to ignore.

This article is republished from the Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Jared Bahir Browsh is a media and popular culture scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder.