Disneyland vs. Magic Kingdom in 1971

[Walt Disney1955]

Okay, when WDW opened up there was just the Magic Kingdom of course, but with a lot more land and more resorts. What was the idea back then about which park was better? I know MK would have been fresh and everything would have been new and the paint would be fresh and etc. but was MK considered to be the better park just individually? Or was Disneyland always considered the better theme park, then and now?

I know WDW wasn't just the MK and many people used it as a springboard for vacations. In fact, on "All in the Family" in the 1970s Archie says to Meathead that he ought to take Gloria to Disney World and when he does all of the necessary stuff in the bedroom you can have the real fun in the park on the rides. Funny stuff of course. But interesting that he never says Disneyland. I guess the show was supposed to be based on New York though, so it makes sense.

Either way, what was the thought in 1971 and throughout the 1970s?

 

[RScottyL]

Okay, when WDW opened up there was just the Magic Kingdom of course, but with a lot more land and more resorts. What was the idea back then about which park was better? I know MK would have been fresh and everything would have been new and the paint would be fresh and etc. but was MK considered to be the better park just individually? Or was Disneyland always considered the better theme park, then and now?

I know WDW wasn't just the MK and many people used it as a springboard for vacations. In fact, on "All in the Family" in the 1970s Archie says to Meathead that he ought to take Gloria to Disney World and when he does all of the necessary stuff in the bedroom you can have the real fun in the park on the rides. Funny stuff of course. But interesting that he never says Disneyland. I guess the show was supposed to be based on New York though, so it makes sense.

Either way, what was the thought in 1971 and throughout the 1970s?

WDW would have been closer to NY than Disneyland, so that is probably why he suggested that! I also assume WDW was trying to get more advertisement out to get people to go there!

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Bigger, better, bolder!

DL has Lincoln, the MK has all the presidents. The Jungle Cruise has an added temple scene, indoors. You have one Toad? We have two! You have cute kiddie cars, we have a formula 1 race track. Our submarines could swallow yours for breakfast. Our Treehouse is now an entire island, the centerpiece of the land, with boats circling around it. (A trick later repeated when DLP copied Thunder)

The castle reaches for the sky. Your castle has a pond in front? Ours a moat running around the entire hub. Main Street is bigger and better. TL has gigantic waterfalls.

The entire kingdom is it's own world. One does not approach it from an ugly LA parking lot, but is transported to another world around or over a Seven Seas Lagoon with hotels themed to exotic places.

 

[jloucks]

I went to both around 1985.... or whenever was right before Epcot opened. So, both DL and MK within a year of each other.

I don't recall either one of them being better or more remarkable than the other. Don't get me wrong, they were both awesome, but none of my family claimed one was better than the other.

 

[Disneysea05]

I really found imagineer Rolly Crump’s reaction to MK extremely interesting. He not only thinks Disneyland is better but disliked what he saw in the then-new Magic Kingdom.

“It had no feeling of Disney,” Crump says of Florida’s Magic Kingdom, noting it lacked the personal touch of animators trained in a hand-drawn craft.
“It was a lot of good architectural pieces, but I looked at that and thought to myself, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Disneyland has charm. Disneyland freaking hugs you and kisses you.”
He points to the height difference between California’s Sleeping Beauty Castle (77 feet) and Florida’s Cinderella Castle as (189 feet) as an example of the change. “When you go to Disney World and you see the castle, you want to genuflect ... and that disturbed me.”
Even so, he took part in the initial look of the Florida park.
“I helped design the rides at Disney World, but we lost the charm,” he says. “You can’t have someone in charge that doesn’t understand the look that Walt had — the art was done by people in animation, and animation background painters. The whole thing fell apart. I quit.”

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I really found imagineer Rolly Crump’s reaction to MK extremely interesting. He not only thinks Disneyland is better but disliked what he saw in the then-new Magic Kingdom.

“It had no feeling of Disney,” Crump says of Florida’s Magic Kingdom, noting it lacked the personal touch of animators trained in a hand-drawn craft.
“It was a lot of good architectural pieces, but I looked at that and thought to myself, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Disneyland has charm. Disneyland freaking hugs you and kisses you.”
He points to the height difference between California’s Sleeping Beauty Castle (77 feet) and Florida’s Cinderella Castle as (189 feet) as an example of the change. “When you go to Disney World and you see the castle, you want to genuflect ... and that disturbed me.”
Even so, he took part in the initial look of the Florida park.
“I helped design the rides at Disney World, but we lost the charm,” he says. “You can’t have someone in charge that doesn’t understand the look that Walt had — the art was done by people in animation, and animation background painters. The whole thing fell apart. I quit.”

Well, we still say it to this day that Disneyland has the charm that WDW doesn't. I will say though, WDW definitely has a "Disney" feel to it. Nothing beats Disneyland's "feel" though, so it is a pretty high standard to start with.

 

[Disneysea05]

I will always be left wondering what the second Magic Kingdom would have been like had Walt lived to plan and build it. I wonder if there would have been less duplicates of rides?

 

[PiratesMansion]

I will always be left wondering what the second Magic Kingdom would have been like had Walt lived to plan and build it. I wonder if there would have been less duplicates of rides?

I feel like Magic Kingdom might not have been that different. Reportedly he got impatient when he was asked questions about the park and told the Imagineers something to the effect of "well, you guys have done this already, so you guys do it!" He didn't like repeating himself and he especially would have viewed the building of Magic Kingdom as a concession to do what he really wanted to do (i.e. Epcot).

The rest of the project, however, would have turned out very differently if he had lived even a bit longer.

I