All Disneylands around the world

Walt Disney is a genius. His ideas could well be put on a par with those of Henry Ford or Nikola Tesla. These guys have changed the world. A successful entrepreneur, creator of a mega-corporation, whose projects live and develop to this day, a man who gave toys to all the children of the world - it's fantastic! But first of all, he is the creator of a fairy tale in real life. Walt Disney was not just able to invent and implement amazing creative projects; he laid the foundation of the whole industry. History knows not so many people who did something like that. Like the Grimm Brothers. Walt Disney came up with the idea that the cartoon is the same movie as the other gaming movies, but everything is possible in it. His full-length pictures made a fantastic box office, very often leaving a full meter behind the flank of the game. And his characters - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Lion King, Snow White or Bambi - are more popular than the brightest stars of world cinema. Maybe every baby has a toy friend from the Disney Star family. The official biography of Walt Disney - the definitive history of the American dream: poverty, tenacity, penny orders, first losses, first victories, and, finally, the triumphant path to success. Of course, everything in life is always different than in the official biographies, but it does not matter. After all, we can be 100% sure in the fact that he was fantastically talented, enterprising, and very much loved his daughters, drawing from this love of new and new ideas for creativity. The idea of the park was born in the same place - from a happy family life. The family lived in California, where the dad worked. And what's the best entertainment for young children? Well, of course, rides, merry-go-rounds, and other fairground attractions! It was Walt Disney who came up with the concept of an amusement theme park where both kids and adults can have fun and where you can spend the whole day. It happened in a few steps and took over 20 years. The company itself, which we know as a multinational corporation Walt Disney Company, Walt Brother opened in 1923 as a small animation studio. Today it has several TV and radio companies, including central TV USA, several film studios, 11 amusement parks, and 223,000 employees. After several short films, the company released its first feature film, Snow White. As the country was in full swing great depression, the success was more deafening: the rentals collected almost 1.5 million dollars. In 1937, when people worked for food, and the average salary (for those who had work) was about $40 a month, so 1.5 million was a fantastic income. It was then, at the premiere of Snow White, that Walt told his brother that he would someday create a park for children. In 1940, a small park was opened next to the company's office for fans with full-length dolls to play with or take pictures of them. The kids were excited, but it wasn't yet Disneyland. Walt and his wife Lillian travelled a lot around the world. Gradually, the concept of a resort park, embodied by the company, was born. Today, Disneyland is the world's most popular network of resorts, through which more than 50 million tourists pass per year.

Where are Disneylands?

Officially, there are 6 Disneylands in the world. US Disneylands: California, Florida. All Disneylands in Europe: Only one so far, in Paris. The rest of the Disneylands in the world are in Asia: Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. So, the concept: It has to be a clean and beautiful park where you can spend the whole day, there's entertainment for both children and adults and the friendly caring staff. There's a concept of a park with a cinema, shops, cafes, and a central town hall. I have to say, Walt's brother didn't think it was a promising idea. But it wasn't his dream. So, in 1952 the idea finally took shape, specialists from Stanford made a business plan, and several TV companies that were invited to partner instead of Roy began an active advertising campaign on TV. And in 1955, the first park was opened.

Disneyland USA: California, Anaheim

Location: USA, California, Anaheim. "This is a magical place. Sleeping Beauty Castle is essential. It must be high enough to be seen from anywhere in the park. It'll make it easier for people to navigate. And all the main streets must converge in the centre so that it looks like spokes in a wheel." - Walt Disney.

A few facts:

It's the only park its creator visited, and it was in this park that all the famous Disneyland chips appeared, were tested, and debugged. When the organizers noticed that on King Arthur's merry-go-round, all the children wanted to ride a white horse, they repainted the white colour of all the horses. On the main street next to the fire station, there's a "Walt's apartment" from the windows of which he is said to have admired the opening of the park and in the windows of which he sometimes stared at happy and joyful children. In the park, there is a closed club "33" for VIP guests. To get to the privileged members of the club, you need to pay a membership fee of $25,000, but that's not all, as the queue is huge and the wait lasts about five years. There is a rigorous corporate style for park employees: no moustache and beard, no coloured hair, no piercing, and so on. There are 51 rides in the park today. Walt Disney himself launched 14. Originally tickets were bought for each attraction, but then they made a single entry ticket. On an opening day, there were 1.5 times as many fake tickets as there were real tickets. A total of 28,000 people came instead of the expected 11,000, and it almost destroyed the infrastructure of the park. The press criticized Walter, but the children were delighted, and 1 million people visited the park in the first 2.5 months. Eighteen million people - that's how many visitors this park receives every year!

Disneyland USA: Florida, Orlando

Location: USA, Florida, Ontario. This is the second Disneyland in the US, and the largest park resort in the world is 32 km from Orlando, Florida. It has four separate theme parks (each traditionally divided into "land"), two water parks, a sports complex, five golf courses, more than 20 hotels, 100 restaurants, and two areas with shops and clubs. This is a huge park. It's better to spend the night there, or even better, a few days. Here you won't be surprised by gastronomic wonders or individual comfort - everything is average, and prices are high. But you come here for attractions, and here they will stay in your memory for life. The Magic Kingdom is an exact copy of Disneyland in California, but it's improved and modernized. Epcot, a theme park dedicated to the future. It is divided into two parts: Future World and World Showcase. Pavilions of the Future World showcase the latest technology, and in the development of attractions was not involved in anyone but the famous fiction writer Ray Bradbury. The World Showcase is a large area with an artificial lake in the centre and pavilions representing the countries of the world. Each building is dedicated to the culture, architecture, and attractions of a particular country. There are pavilions: USA, Japan, Morocco, France, UK, Canada, Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, and Italy. Disney's Hollywood Studios is an area dedicated to the film industry, studios, sets, filming process, and film characters. The Disney Kingdom of Animals - a fantastic zoo with an area of 163 hectares. It is home to more than 2000 animals, and of course, the Disney movie characters themselves. In addition to these central locations in the Disney Kingdom, there are 2 more water parks and many related tourist services: restaurants, shops, hotels, and clubs.

Disneyland in Europe: Paris

Location: France, a suburb of Paris, Marne-la-Vallee. This Disneyland is one of the Disneylands around the world. It is the only Disneyland in Europe and is the second most visited Disneyland in Paris after the Eiffel Tower. One day is not enough for you, so it is better to stay overnight at the Disneyland Hotel. It will not ruin you. But you don't have to go back to your hotel, and you can become full citizens of the magic country. Residents have a special privilege: they can be in the park before opening and after closing, when there are almost no people in the park. You and your children for life will remember this pleasure of being part of the miracle. The park consists of 5 "lands". The Adventureland is consist of Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. It's an area for teenagers and adults. Fairy Land - many (but not all) attractions of this location are suitable for the youngest visitors. There live cartoon characters familiar to everyone since childhood: Dwarf, Snow White, The Mad Hatter, Alice, Cheshire Cat, Sleeping Beauty and many others. A border country. The most famous attraction here is a fantastic roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain. There is a height limit - not less than 102 cm. The kids will be scared. Discoveryland is dedicated to the heroes of Jules Verne, space, and fiction in general. The main street is where the park begins. This place is a copy of the town where Walt Disney grew up, so he immortalized his childhood memories. Most of the park's shops and cafes are on this street, and one of Disneyland's premier events, the daily Heroes' Parade, takes place on this street.

Disneyland in Tokyo

Location: Japan, Tokyo (Urayasu) It opened in 1983. In 2001, the DisneySea theme Park was added to the complex, which is the only one in the world dedicated to the marine theme. DisneySea is divided not into "lands" but into "ports": Mysterious Island, Lost River Delta, American Waterfront, Mermaid Lagoon and etc. And in the "earth" and "sea", all Disneylands are the same -  crazy rides and entertainment with a raid of Japanese love for futurism and exceptional purity. Fans of the theme, travelling around Disneyland (yes, there are also such) in one voice argue that Tokyo Disneyland is ideal in terms of the concept of "immersion in a fairy tale". The thoughtfulness of the smallest details and Japanese approach to the ergonomics of the space draws visitors and plunges them into the fabulous world. A monorail train runs around the complex from two theme parks and two central hotels. It connects all four main locations and fits perfectly into the landscape.

Disneyland in Hong Kong

Location: Hong Kong, Lantau Island, near the airport. Hong Kong Disneyland is one of the best Disneylands around the world. This Disneyland was opened in 2005 and is famous for being built using feng shui principles, and it is the most compact Disneyland in the world. Maybe thanks to feng shui, despite its relative compactness, it can accommodate 34,000 visitors at a time. It has 7 "lands", a classic set:  Main Street, USA - the street of the city where Walt Disney grew up. Adventureland is a jungle where the Lion King, Tarzan, and their friends live. Fantasyland - a country of heroes from the cartoons about Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh - futuristic model of the future and space. Toy Story Land - the country dedicated to the heroes of the cartoon "Toy Story". Grizzly Gulch - the village of gold prospectors in the wild West. Mystic Point is a mystical house, and Tomorrowland is the house of fun.

Disneyland in Shanghai

Location: China, Shanghai, Pudong district. Shanghai is the largest city in China. Logically, when you chose a location for an amusement park in this country, you chose Shanghai. Shanghai Disneyland is one of the best Disneylands around the world. But tickets to the park is better to be bought in advance, and don't forget that the queues are enormous. But children under 1-meter height enter the park for free. This is quite a new park, it was opened in 2016, and it is the sixth iteration of the legendary park. Classic attractions - Peter Pan's Flight, the battle for the sunken treasure, the roller coaster in Tomorrowland - it's modernized and implemented with a truly Chinese scale. The futuristic version of the roller coaster in the Magic Kingdom is considered as the most spectacular one in the world. Disneytown has its theatre, with the musical The Lion King, for example, featuring stunning costumes and acrobatic numbers in the best traditions of the Chinese circus. This park (unlike, for example, American prototypes) has delicious food. Well, the Chinese can cook, everyone knows that. But it's still very nice. As you can see, the empire is expanding all the time. I'm sure Disney himself would want all the countries in the world on the list to answer the question, "Where are Disneylands?" There is a story that in Kansas City, near the house where Walter lived as a child, there was a giant mansion with a vast garden and a high fence. All the local kids dreamed of getting into this garden, but it was a closed private property. Maybe Disneyland embodies a bit of the one-person dream...