Disney Nearly Had a Ski Resort—Here is What It Would Have Been Like

• Within the Sixties, Disney had plans to construct a ski resort in Mineral King Valley.
• Animatronic figures created for one of many resort’s leisure venues ultimately grew to become a part of the Nation Bear Jamboree in Disneyland.
• Walt Disney invested within the growth of Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, which named the primary chairlift constructed within the state of California after him. 

There are a whole bunch of ski resorts at present working within the U.S., every with its personal charms. However, as soon as upon a time, America virtually had essentially the most magical ski space on Earth. 

Tucked in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains sits Mineral King Valley, a pristine subalpine basin accessible solely by foot or a single, small winding street—a spot so lovely it might simply be the backdrop of a Disney film. And that makes all of the extra sense if you study that it was poised to grow to be a premier ski vacation spot underneath the management of Walt Disney. 

It was an bold venture which, at first, was supported by the Forest Service, however later discovered opposition so robust it by no means had its completely happy ending. However this is what might have been—and extra about how Walt Disney impacted the ski business.

Walt Disney and Snowboarding

Disney was a slightly avid sports activities fan. His love for baseball is effectively documented, and he was even a semi-pro equestrian, taking part in polo all through his life. Nevertheless it seems Disney was fairly the winter sports activities fanatic, too. In response to the Disney Household Museum, all of it started when a physician prompt Disney take up snowboarding within the Nineteen Thirties after he sustained a neck harm taking part in polo as a brand new method to relieve stress. So, he and his spouse, Lillian, took classes at Yosemite’s Badger Cross, the place they met Austrian snowboarding champion Hannes Schroll, head of the Yosemite Ski College, beginning a friendship that additionally lasted his lifetime and led to the profitable growth of 1 ski resort (extra on that in a bit) and the dream of Disney Mineral King. Disney even produced the opening and shutting ceremonies of the 1960 Winter Olympics held in California.

Disney’s Mineral King Ski Resort Plans 

Mineral King Valley is a year-round paradise, however its base elevation, glacial-sculpted panorama, and peaks reaching upward of 12,343 toes make it a chief vacation spot for snowboarding. And that is why in 1965, when the U.S. Forest Service despatched out a request for proposals for a ski resort, Disney answered the decision—and finally gained. 

“After I first noticed Mineral King 5 years in the past, I assumed it was one of the crucial lovely spots I had ever seen, and we wish to maintain it that means,” Disney shared in an announcement on the time. The information of Disney’s potential ski resort was introduced only one month after the firm shared that they bought the land in Orlando that might at some point grow to be Disney World.

Disney’s bold plan for an “American alpine wonderland” included every thing you’d want for a self-contained ski getaway. That included:

• Lodging: The plan included a five-story resort with 1,030 rooms. 
• Leisure amenities: The ski space’s plan had 22 lifts and gondolas unfold throughout eight peaks, which might have given friends entry to runs as much as 4 miles lengthy with vertical drops of three,700 toes.
• Facilities: 10 eating places and cafes (together with on-mountain eating choices), an ice-skating rink, swimming swimming pools, tennis courts, a golf course, a movie show, and leisure venues had been all included within the plan. 
• Transportation: This was a crucial element for Disney, who aimed to protect as a lot of the Mineral King surroundings as doable. The plan included an as much as 10-story parking construction outdoors of the principle resort, together with a cog railway to move friends to and from the power to make sure the village remained car-free. 

There was additionally slightly Disney magic initially deliberate for the park that made its means into Disneyland. In response to PBS, the Disney Imagineers designed just a few robotic characters to sing and placed on a present at one of many eating places—and people robots ultimately grew to become the bears on the Nation Bear Jamboree.

Regardless of all of the meticulous planning by the Disney workforce, the Mineral King venture finally confronted important opposition from environmental teams, together with the Sierra Membership.  An ensuing authorized battle stalled the venture’s momentum, and the realm ultimately grew to become a part of the Sequoia Nationwide Park, and downhill ski resorts had been banned within the space, in response to the L.A. Occasions.

Walt Disney’s Ski Legacy 

Though the Mineral King venture by no means got here to fruition, Disney’s legacy within the snowboarding world lives on on the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, a couple of seven-hour drive north of Mineral King. Do not forget that friendship with Hannes Schroll? It led Disney to help within the growth of Sugar Bowl after Schroll bought the land in 1938 for $6,750. Disney, the mountain defined, invested $2,500, and in return, “Schroll renamed Hemlock Peak ‘Mt. Disney,'” which additionally grew to become the placement of the resort’s first chairlift—The Disney Carry—and the primary chairlift in California. On the time, a carry ticket price $0.25 for a trip up or “$2.00 for those who needed to ski down,” concerning the equal of $44 at present. As Sugar Bowl shared with Journey + Leisure, “We’re not telling the place, however to this present day, we sometimes conceal a pair of Mickey Mouse ears in work or printed supplies for the resort.

Disney’s love for winter sports activities prolonged into his animated movies like “The Artwork of Snowboarding” (1941), which follows Goofy’s adventures (and misadventures) on the slopes. And for those who look carefully, you possibly can spot the unique Sugar Bowl Village Lodge in animated type.