Holidayland
© disneyhistoryinstitute.com
Holidayland was on the west side of Disneyland – about where New Orleans Square is today – from June of 1957 to September of 1963. The area had its own admission gate and was fenced off from Disneyland. It was close enough that you could hear the sounds of the Mark Twain as it floated down the Rivers of America. It wasn’t a theme park: but it was a park!
Like most Disney attractions, there were several variations of the idea. It was one of the ideas dreamed up before Disneyland opened in 1955. Holidayland concepts morphed, at times being planned as a large area for group events, and at others as a small picnic area attached to Disneyland.
Since it charged a separate admission, this was somewhat of Disneyland's first sister park. So what could you do at Disneyland’s first “second gate” when it finally opened two years after the rest of the park? There was baseball, volleyball, horseshoes, picnic areas, food service (including bottomless beer…), grassy areas, and playgrounds for the kids. The playgrounds were lightly themed to mirror the attractions inside Disneyland. My grandparents tell me about the company picnics they had at Holidayland. Typically those picnics ended with a trip into the rest of Disneyland. This made it popular as the launch point for company events at Disneyland.
From Davelandweb.com
The kind of demographics that a park like this can draw (family gathering, company picnics, etc…) don’t provide a lot of business during the week. Combining this with a lack of daytime shade and nighttime lighting, a shortage of restrooms, and guests who enjoyed the bottomless beer a bit much, it wasn’t able to hold its own. But with the Happiest Place on Earth next door, it had steep competition and its land was valuable. After it closed, a lot of its land was used to make the show buildings for Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.
As you can see from the images, the theming was pretty light. This area's primary function was to provide a space for guests to entertain themselves, whereas the rest of Disneyland did the entertaining for the guests. This contributed to the separation between the two, so that the general success of Disneyland didn't necessarily translate to Holidayland.
When Disney World was built, the Contemporary Resort was built with the idea of holding company events. However, this focused more on the business meeting than the company picnic, and the recreational portion of the gathering was to encourage guests to purchase park tickets. Essentially, Holidayland didn't generate enough revenue to stand on its own, but the idea of encouraging companies to bring their employees and invite their families continued in another form.
At the 2013 D23 Convention, Tony Baxter showed a video of the area and gave some fun commentary on it. Here’s a video on YouTube from WDWThemeParks that shows a part of the presentation.
