Casa Loca

[joz]

Ok guys, this get a tiny bit involved and the story's not that impressive, but stay with me here anyway: C. V. Wood was a guy who did lots in the theme park world. He most famously worked on Disneyland, but also had a part to play with Six Flags over Texas, and on topic, Movieworld. He also designed his own park, Freedomland (now closed). Now, tonight, I've been doing a bit of reading up on this bloke, and have found quite a similarity between an attraction at Freedomland, and one at Movieworld. On this page, you can see on the 4th picture down, an attraction that appears to bear a striking similarity to Young Einstein's Gravity house. One could go a step further, putting Movieworld's western area down to this guy, who did copy cat Frointerland's on most projects he worked on it seems. In other words, it seems the western area of Movieworld, is based loosely off Disney's very own Fronteirland, and came to us direct from the guy who worked on the original. Thoughts anyone?

[scott]

I don't think MW's Western area really bears any resemblance.Good to think that we've got a park of Disneyland material.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Disneyland opened in 1955... how old would this guy be now? I would assume he'd have been at least in his late 20's, which would put him at least 75 this year. If you're saying what I think you're saying, can he really have that much of an impact on WBMW at his age?

[Richard]

CV Wood passed away in 1992, age 71. He (more or less single-handedly) designed Warner Bros. Movie World as it appeared when it opened in 1991. He's got actually a quite interesting story with regards to his involvement in Disneyland. He and his team were originally hired by Walt Disney to find a suitable location for the theme park. "Woody" was the one responsible for the precise location of the park in Anaheim, and Walt was so impressed with the job he did in finding the site that he was kept on to oversea the construction of the park. It's also said that he managed the park for the first six months of its operation. The only other thing really known is that he and Walt had some sort of falling out in around 1956 and to this date you will find virtually no record of his involement in Disneyland. I think one point of added interest is that the original Western area at Movie World was really nothing terribly noteable. Most of the original stuff is there, but I think it pales in comparison to the new Western area that came with (Wild) Wild West (Falls), which I'd bet is largely a John Menzies creation.

[joz]

One story says Walt was pissed that he 'borrowed' so many of Disneyland's ideas for Freedomland, and another says that he claimed to be the master builder of Disneyland. Who knows, but one thing for sure, when he came up with an idea at one park he liked, he took it with him to where ever he went. You can see a direct link between Movieworld and Freedomland. It just makes you wonder if what he was doing in Freedomland was inspired by Disney, if Movieworld's western area is the evolotion of that idea. Remember its was the only themed area in the whole park when it opened. Now I'm looking, there's a few bits of Disneyland floating around the old Movieworld. For instance, check out the fire station at Movieworld, and consider the fire station at Disneyland.