…Almost from the moment Walt first hatched the idea of a theme park, he and his cohorts fanned out into the field for ideas. As early as March 1951 Harper Goff went
to Europe to take photographs of parks, and by the fall even Roy was investigating purchasing amusement rides in Europe. The following March, Goff was visiting New Orleans during Mardi Gras, then went on to Atlanta to examine available train stock for the park. He would make another extended reconnaissance trip a year later to New York museums, Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, the old Erie Canal, Greenfield Village in Michigan, the
Lincoln Museum in Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, Colonial Williamsburg, Marineland in Florida, the Tallulah Falls Railroad in Georgia, and the Steamboat Museum in St. Louis, and he was part of a delegation that visited parks around Los Angeles to gather information on how to run a facility. There was so much activity at WED that at the same time Goff was making his tours, he was also working on the Dancing Man miniature, assembling a coach for the park, and drawing elevations for the submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (oh sorry…Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) is one of my most fond memories of my youth. We always gathered as a family when it came on every year. I was always fascinated by the possibilities.
Dream on!!!