People may be familiar with the rumors that there was going to be an Oz land at Disneyland before Star Wars came along. Few, though, know just how rich a history Disney has had with Oz, which includes Walt Disney’s early interest in the property, the recent Oz: The Great and Powerful movie and several theme park developments. Here are 9 pieces of Disney’s history with Oz.
1. Walt Disney’s interest in Oz
Since the beginning of Disney’s history with feature films, The Wizard of Oz and its subsequent sequels have been on executives’ minds. After the success of his first full-length animated film in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney was looking for something similar to follow up with. The successful broadcast of the famous live-action 1939 Wizard of Oz movie starring Judy Garland served as inspiration for him. Walt believed he found a suitable follow-up in the original version of Oz, Frank L. Baum’s series of books that began in 1900. He thought this because, like Snow White, it contained childlike fantasy but still held appeal for people of all ages. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves actually owes a huge debt to the Oz books, while the evil fairy Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty is awfully similar to the original Wicked Witch of the West.
2. Walt’s initial efforts
Walt Disney wanted to buy the rights to the Oz series of books to make animated films, but the early volumes had already been sold off. In 1954, though, eleven Oz novels were up for sale and Disney grabbed the rights. His original plan was to adapt the novels for his ABC TV series Disneyland (not to be confused with the theme park of the same name). Those plans changed to a live-action film for The Rainbow Road to Oz, but neither ever materialized. It was surprising that the live-action movie never happened, since Disney had already announced it and a lot of time and effort had been put into it. A fifteen-minute segment of the Disneyland television show even promoted it. Why it never happened isn’t entirely clear. Theories that have been circulated over the years include problems with the budget, cast, script and score. It certainly had a lot to live up to, after the great success of The Wizard of Oz. For whatever reason, Walt Disney shelved the project. A lot of its elements later showed up in the comic operetta Babes in Toyland from Disney.
3. The first attempt at an Oz Attraction
Not nearly done with his fascination of Oz, Walt Disney considered adding elements of it to Disneyland. One was to be an add-on to the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride at Fantasyland. The Casey Jr. Circus Train would have travelled through a place called Big Rock Candy Mountain. Deep inside would have been the land of Oz, under the theme that everyone was heading to the Emerald City for a surprise party for Dorothy. Walt thought that would have made for a good finale for the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride and even commissioned designs for it. Still, the addition never happened, and the explanation for its incompletion is also unknown.
4. Return to Oz
Little happened in regards to Oz at Disney for an extended period, save for a series of storyteller albums. In 1980, though, then-head of production Tom Wilhite decided to finally do something with the rights. He landed on a film that was originally known as simply Oz but would later be named Return to Oz. It had a number of production problems, from debate over the use of Dorothy to concern over the darkness of the film, until it was finally shut down by Disney. However, a compromise was reached and Return to Oz would make it to the screen after all, but the quality had suffered a lot due to budget cuts.
5. The Great Movie Ride
When putting together the Great Movie Ride at Disney-MGM Studios, Disney chairman Michael D. Eisner could have easily featured footage from Return to Oz to show Walt’s appreciation for the property. Instead, though, he paid a significant sum of money to include scenes from The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. He clearly respected what had come before, even if wasn’t from The Walt Disney Company itself.
6. Oz at Disneyland Paris
Image: David Jafra, Flickr (license)
Finally Oz came to Disney parks (in a small way) with a miniature recreation of the Emerald City on the “Les Pays des Contes de Fées” attraction at Fantasyland.
7. Oz: The Great and Powerful
Finally, Disney created a firm connection with Oz with the creation of big-budget film Oz: The Great and Powerful, which tells the story of the Wizard of Oz before he was, well, the Wizard of Oz. It’s partly inspired by the Frank L. Baum Oz book The Emerald City of Oz. The Walt Disney Company had to be very careful that the movie didn’t resemble the Wizard of Oz movie too closely, because it didn’t own the rights to it. Even the shade of the Wicked Witch’s green skin had to be altered to skirt those lines. However, there were a number of clear allusions to the historic film. Most noticeable is that Oz: The Great and Powerful starts out in black and white when the Wizard is in the “real” world, but it turns to full color when he enters the land of Oz. The movie didn’t receive stellar reviews, but many people did like it and a sequel is on the way.
8. Land of Oz garden
Image: Jared, Flickr (license)
To market the film, a Land of Oz garden was added to Epcot at Walt Disney World. There are no rides, but it did look spectacular, as pictures attest.
9. An expanded Oz presence
Rumors circulated that Disney was planning something bigger than the garden for Oz. Disney by Mark reported that Imagineers had finished drawing up concept art and designs for an Oz area at Disneyland. It was apparently to be located where the “Big Thunder Ranch” stands. Other purported plans included a restaurant reminiscent of the Magic Kingdom’s “Be Our Guest” but placed in the Emerald City and a Munchkinland retail store. Elements mentioned were a hot air balloon, tornado effects and Dark Queen Evanora’s army of Winkies and flying monkeys from Oz: The Great and Powerful. Disney by Mark expected the announcement of the Oz area to be made at the Disney expo D23, but that never happened. The belief stands that the area was shelved in favor of a spot for Disney’s recent major acquisition: Star Wars. Kind of sad for Oz fans, but Star Wars will probably bring Disneyland more attention than a hundred year-old property. That’s the way the theme park industry goes sometimes, I suppose. Still interesting to take a look at what Disney has done with Oz, both in and out of its theme parks.
NOTE: To find out more about Disney and Oz, read this immensely helpful piece by Jim Hill from 2006.
