“I’m Going to Disneyland!”
Announcer:
“You have just finished your last final? What are you going to do next?”
The fall semester is coming to an end soon, which means it is time to think about your holiday plans. Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is a popular theme park created by Walt Disney that many children and adults enjoy going to. Did you know that landscape architects help design theme parks like Disneyland?
Morgan “Bill” Evans was a horticulturalist that guided the landscape design to Disneyland. He is known as the imagineer who landscaped 80 acres of orange groves into a iconic theme park of attractions. One of his popular attractions was the Jungle Cruise. He was in charge of creating an entire jungle with a built-in river on a limited budget. With his knowledge of exotic plants, he was able to import and create “exotic” plants. He was famous for noticing how orange tree roots were like “exotic jungle branches” and decided to plant them upside down.
So the next time you visit the land where dreams come true, keep in mind a very notable Disney imagineer had an important influence on that Jungle Cruise ride you are sitting on. Without landscape designers and landscape architects, would we have a Tomorrowland? If you have some time to spare as you wait in line for Space Mountain and Indiana Jones Adventure, perhaps you can enjoy these books about the landscape design secrets of the park.
Walt Disney Disneyland World of Flowers, by Morgan “Bill” Evans