Fun Fact Friday: The “Buzz” Around Disneyland’s Location

July 20, 2012 in All Posts, disneyland, fun facts, Randy, walt disney by Babes in Disneyland

The future site of Disneyland

Photo Copyright The Walt Disney Company.
Used by permission.

With Disneyland’s 57th birthday being just three days ago, I thought it might be fun to go back before the beginning today. Most of us take it for granted that Disneyland is in Anaheim. Of course it is. Where else would it be?

In 1953, when Walt Disney was looking for someone to determine the economic feasibility and the best location for a new project unlike anything attempted before—Disneyland, he contracted with Stanford Research Institute, or SRI, and the project was assigned to Harrison “Buzz” Price.

Buzz says in his book Walt’s Revolution! By the Numbers (which I highly recommend) that Walt gave him very broad guidelines. 160 acres in Southern California. Buzz tried to get Walt to narrow it down, since the greater Los Angeles 5-county area was at least 4,000 square miles, and the 8-county area was even larger, but Walt insisted, “You tell me where it should go.”

So, without the benefit of computers, Buzz combed through demographics, census surveys, land records, climate studies (there are significant climate differences in Southern California), and more, to find the best location. They even tracked the smog! Among other considerations, they were looking for where the center of population would be in ten years. Thousands upon thousands of calculations were done, all by hand.

Ten sites were proposed and ranked. The second site was in Buena Park (where Knott’s Berry Farm is), #3 was in Los Alamitos, and the fourth the Willowick Country Club in Sana Ana. But the #1 choice was 160 acres of orange groves at the intersection of the Santa Ana Freeway and Harbor Boulevard.Walt chose this site, though he moved it ¼ mile south, away from the freeway.

12 years later, Buzz and his team at SRI measured the center of gravity (population, tourism, economics, etc.) for the Southern California area, and it was found to be 4 miles from Sleeping Beauty Castle. Not too shabby!

Buzz went on to work with the Walt Disney company until Walt’s death in 1966, and then continued on for a several years after that. Even today, his son, David Price, continues to work as a themed entertainment architect with The Walt Disney Company, Sea World, Herschend Entterprises (the owners of Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO), various museums, and more. I had the opportunity to have lunch with David recently, and he is incredibly proud of his dad’s legacy (Buzz passed away in 2010), and of being able to carry it on himself.

(L to R) Walt Disney, C.V. Wood,
and Buzz Price.
Photo courtesy of and copyright
ThemeParkInsider.com

When Buzz was named a Disney Legend in 2001, Michael Eisner said, “Buzz Price was as much responsible for the success of the Walt Disney Company as anybody except Walt Disney himself, in that he worked with Walt not only on finding the sites of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, but on many other new initiatives, like the 1964 New York World’s Fair and the 1960 Winter Olympics in the Lake Tahoe area.”

Buzz also became the first recipient of the Themed Entertainment Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. After he passed in 2010, it was renamed in his honor, and is now called The Buzz Price Award.

There you have it. Why Disneyland is where it is today, and who we have to thank for it…Walt Disney, and a man you may never have heard of before today but who is integral to the Disney we know and love, Buzz Price.

Watch this video of some interviews he did over the last several years of his life.

For you to discover: There is an honor that Disney awards to those who have made a significant impact on the Walt Disney Company, and especially its parks, but which Buzz has not received (possibly because he was never actually employed by the company, but worked as a contractor). What is it?

You can read more from Randy on his blog, Faith and the Magic Kingdom. Find him on Twitter (@Belgarion42) and on Facebook. Randy is also an independent Travel Consultant affiliated with CruisingCo.com and MouseEarVacations.com and would love to help you with any of your travel needs, for Disney destinations and beyond!

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