Disney's dead ski dream still intrigues
What is the biggest missed opportunity in Disney's theme park history?
Disney fans could probably name a few candidates. Many Disneyland visitors might wonder what the resort would look like today if management had chosen to go with the proposed Westcot theme instead of Disney California Adventure for the resort's second gate. Or what if Disney instead had developed the land around the Queen Mary in Long Beach and created a version of what became Tokyo DisneySea in Japan?
On the East Coast, many Disney fans in the mid-Atlantic region might feel wistful for the proposed Disney's America park, which would have brought a history-themed Disney park to Virginia.
But for me, the biggest “what if?” at Disney was the company's failed attempt to get into the ski resort business, in California's Mineral King valley. That missed opportunity is the subject of a new book, “Disneyland on the Mountain,” by Colorado authors Greg Glasgow and Kathryn Mayer.
Glasgow and Mayer have reported one of the best Disney history books I have read in a long time. It provides a well-balanced recap of what was a contentious battle over Disney's proposal to turn Mineral King into an innovative resort destination — one that would have set a new standard for what a ski resort could be.
Mineral King's story begins with Walt Disney's involvement in the 1960 Winter Olympics at what is now known as Palisades Tahoe. While the Games may have sparked Walt's interest in creating a European-style ski resort in California, his interest in nature and the environment preceded that by decades, as illustrated by his company's “TrueLife Adventures” documentaries.
Walt's death in 1966 robbed the Mineral King project of its greatest advocate, but it wasn't until the 1970s that Congress finally killed the project. Glasgow and Mayer detail how the Mineral King case inspired the Sierra Club to find new legal methods to protect natural areas. But was Mineral King's demise really a win for the environment?
I have no doubt that Disney would have developed a commercially successful resort at Mineral King, one that would have helped the company financially in the years following Walt's death.
I also suspect that Disney's Mineral King would have helped expand the ski industry, spawning a boom in popularity for winter and mountain sports, much like Disneyland did for theme parks.
But the people need to see the nature that they are protecting now and then, to remind them why it needs protection. Otherwise, public support for that protection may collapse. The title “Disneyland on the Mountain” is a bit of a Rorschach test. To me, Disneyland means thoughtful design and innovation, not a haphazard, crowded eyesore.
Mineral King was an opportunity for Disney's talented designers to create a new way for the public to access and appreciate nature without destroying it in the process. We still need that, as anyone who has sat in Yosemite Valley traffic can attest. Reading “Disneyland on the Mountain” left me thankful for what we have in Mineral King today, while still wondering what might have been.