Last week, I asked if Disneyland was the happiest place on Earth.

Well, this week, we’re looking at the Disney theme park that never was. The concept for a historical theme park was initially earmarked for Virginia, but less than a year after being announced, it was scrapped. But why?

What was so different about this park compared to others? What was the public reaction? And when Disney was able to launch other parks, even cruise ships, and anything else it wanted, what went so spectacularly wrong with this?

So this week, I want to know… what was Disney’s America… and why didn’t it happen?

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Special guest for this episode:

• Jared Bahir Browsh, an Assistant Teaching Professor, cultural historian, and author at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with an interest in the relationship between culture, money, power, and identity in the United States and globally. His piece on The Conversation about the collapse of Disney’s America.
• Sabrina Mittermeier, a research associate at the University of Kassel with a focus on theme parks. Her books include A Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks: Middle Class Kingdoms, and she also wrote a paper specifically on Disney’s America.

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Highlights from this episode:

• Disney's America was an ambitious project aimed at creating an immersive historical theme park, but ultimately it faced significant backlash and was cancelled due to various cultural and financial factors.
• The early 90s were a transformative time for Disney, with a strong emphasis on capitalism and expansion, and Disney's America was seen as a reflection of that cultural landscape.
• Critics pointed out that Disney's America struggled to balance entertainment with the complexities of American history, leading to concerns about how history would be portrayed in a theme park setting.
• The failure of Disney's America highlighted the challenges of creating a theme park that deals with serious historical themes, especially in a location close to significant Civil War battlefields and historical sites.

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Additional Resources:

Inside the collapse of Disney’s America, the US history-themed park that almost was by Jared Bahir Browsh

“Windows to the Past”: Disney’s America, the Culture Wars, and the Question of Edutainment by Sabrina Mittermeier

Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood, and the Disney Renaissance by Peter Kunze

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And if you like this episode, you might also love:

What Makes Country Music so American?

Are the Oscars Still Relevant?

Why Does Everyone Love Disney?

Could Friends BE Any Bigger?

How Accurate is Forrest Gump?

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This episode is sponsored by What's Your Map

What's Your Map is the British Podcast Award-winning show from map expert Professor Jerry Brotton. In each episode, he invites a special guest to share a map that means something to them. It's a fascinating show, and you can listen to the new season right now: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/whats-your-map/id1766500219