Independence Corridor, Gettysburg and – Epcot? How Reagan helped elevate Disney to America’s roster of honored patriotic websites

A presidential or political go to is likely one of the methods during which the US marks locations as uniquely essential. An area meriting the pomp and circumstance that accompanies a president, or a spot seen as so significantly American that an aspiring president may wish to have their image taken there, takes on particular standing in American tradition.

Twelve of the final 14 presidents visited Philadelphia’s Independence Corridor throughout their political careers. American politicians typically go to websites of nice significance to the nationwide character, and Independence Corridor is the placement of each the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the drafting of the Structure.

The U.S. has many sacred civil areas, locations that the nation seems to when celebrating or reflecting on American id. A few of these locations had been established for the specific function of serving these capabilities: the Nationwide Mall and the U.S. Capitol in Washington and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, constructed to commemorate the nation’s westward enlargement.

A few of these locations earn this designation by affiliation with historical past: Lexington and Harmony in Massachusetts, websites of great occasions within the American Revolution; the Pearl Harbor Nationwide Memorial, commemorating American deaths from the Japanese assault that sparked U.S. entrance into World Battle II; and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the place native police in 1965 attacked and bloodied civil rights protesters, who finally crossed the bridge two weeks later beneath the safety of a federal court docket order.

Nonetheless different locations emerge by a kind of nationwide consensus, taking up particular standing over time as Individuals use them in ways in which mark them with that means.

And whereas twelve of the final 14 presidents could have visited Independence Corridor, the identical 12 additionally visited a number of the locations typically forgotten when accounting for holy civic websites: the Disney theme parks.

Document chilly and a second probability

In my ebook “Disney Theme Parks and America’s Nationwide Narratives: Mirror Mirror for Us All,” I discover how Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World, close to Orlando, Florida, have change into two of an important areas for the celebration and creation of American id.

One of many causes for that is the legitimization a presidential go to bestows on a web site. Forty years in the past this month, Walt Disney World obtained a really particular customer.

In January 1985, as President Ronald Reagan ready to take the oath of workplace for a second time, temperatures within the Washington space dipped to document lows. The inauguration and a few associated festivities had been as a consequence of happen outdoor, however situations had been extreme sufficient to trigger concern for the numerous 1000’s scheduled to take part. So the standard celebrations, together with the favored Inaugural Parade, had been canceled in favor of a smaller occasion indoors.

Solely a handful of the 25 highschool marching bands that had traveled from locations like Kentucky, Massachusetts and Michigan to play within the parade had been in a position to carry out for the president. That left 1000’s of scholars and their households upset.

In a presidential historical past first, nevertheless, the Inaugural Bands Parade would get a second probability to march outdoors the ceremonial area of Washington at what may very well be known as the nation’s different capital – Walt Disney World.

In April 1985, Walt Disney World introduced that it had partnered with Days Inn, Greyhound Bus Strains and Burger King to supply decreased value lodging and meals for about 4,000 college students to take pleasure in a weekend on the theme park earlier than performing in their very own parade on Memorial Day, Might 27.

Not solely would the bands get to play at Disney’s Epcot Heart, however they’d additionally have the opportunity to carry out for the president, who flew from Washington to be there for this particular parade.

New web site for American id

Memorial Day, the day of the parade itself, was heat and sunny. Disney guests thronged the 1.2-mile parade route and waved American flags as they listened to patriotic songs. The parade was watched over by the president and first woman, Nancy Reagan. The equal of the president and first woman of Disney, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, joined them.

This second was outstanding for a number of causes.

First, Reagan had been one of many hosts of the present “Dateline Disneyland,” the dwell protection of the opening of Disneyland in 1955 solely 30 years earlier than, when nobody knew he can be the nation’s fortieth president.

Second, the go to marked an essential second within the recognition of the Disney theme parks as websites of American id.

Reagan went straight from laying wreaths at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery on Memorial Day, a treasured American custom, to an look at Epcot, the place in an financial coverage speech to the gang, he launched a “new American revolution.” This second American revolution was introduced not in entrance of Independence Corridor in Philadelphia, however on the American Journey pavilion in Orlando.

The Reagans’ photograph with Mickey – with Mickey dressed as Uncle Sam and Minnie in a colonial-style gown – captures the thought, I consider, that culturally Disney areas are as official as nationwide parks or historic websites as locations for the celebration of the American story.

As longtime Disney solid member Terry Brinkoetter remembers, presidential visits like Reagan’s affirmed Disneyland and Walt Disney World as “locations the place folks might study and be impressed to proceed our shared journey towards a extra excellent union.”

Disney parks have change into stops on a secular pilgrimage made by presidents and peculiar residents alike, locations to grasp what it means to be an American.