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LOCATION FACTORS Walt Disney examines an artist's conception of Disneyland with C. V. Wood, Jr., and Harrison A. Price of SRI's Los Angeles office. Following completion of the site study, Wood was appointed general manager of Disneyland. Location Survey WALT DISNEY USES RESEARCH STUDY TO FIND SITE FOR $9 MILLION FAIR LOS ANGELES. Walt Disney may be synonymous with fun with most Americans, but when it comes to site selection Disney is all business. The Mickey Mouse mogul has just completed plans for a $9 million "combination world's fair, play- ground, museum of living facts, and showplace of beauty and magic." To be located in the metropolitan area here, the spectacular installation will reflect a year of intensive study by engineers, economists, and other re- searchers. When completed in 1955, Disney- land will feature entertainment in four major realms: Fantasyland, Frontierland, True-Life Adventure- land, and Land of Tomorrow. From these will come subjects for Disney- land television series beginning on ABC-TV in October. Ten months ago, Disney called in Stanford Research Institute (I.D. Jan.-Feb. page 30) to make economic feasibility and location studies for the big undertaking. The site search involved dividing the Los Angeles metropolitan area into 10 geographic- ally homogeneous districts to which set standards of comparison could be applied. Areas to be investigated were sub- stantially reduced by disqualifying land in which there were intensive improvement and build-up, producing oil fields or leases, poor topographi- cal features, municipal parks, golf courses, airports, and land under gov- ernment control. The selection of specific sites for close consideration was made after studying population trends, accessi- bility, topography, environmental characteristics, zoning, tax rates, and available utilities. Using these cri- teria, some 40 sites were initially selected. The possible sites were first nar- rowed to four top choices; then, after detailed weighing of location factors, a 160-acre site near Anaheim in Or- ange County was picked. This site comprises 15 parcels in an unincor- porated area adjoining the Santa Ana Freeway about 15 minutes' driving time from the downtown area. Attendance Prediction SRI's feasibility study included a thorough survey of attendance pqt- terns for amusement areas and the projection of an annual rate of opera- tions for Disneyland. This was based on the size of the local population reservoir, tourist activity in the area, and attendance figures for related enterprises. It is estimated that 5,- 000,000 visitors annually, averaging 15,000 daily, will go through Disney- land. The study took into considera- tion the seasonal, monthly, and daily fluctuations of tourist volume. SRI's report included typical rela- tionship patterns between attendance and total dollar sales volume in out- door amusement enterprises. A con- servative annual revenue was pro- jected and revenue distribution bro- ken down between amusement, food and refreshment, and merchandise. These figures were presented as a planning guide for the Disneyland management. A similar breakdown was made for projected costs. For this, the re- searchers developed a functional or- ganization plan to establish the op- erating framework. By estimating the different jobs involved in each func- tion, a forecast of direct and indirect labor costs was prepared. These costs were based on a variable staff organi- zation capable of operating Disney- land with up to 5,000,000 visitors a year. Other costs estimated were insur- ance, materials, food, and merchan- dise. The latter two were based on as- sumed operating profits. Profit esti- mates for .customer spending levels were projected and a break-even at- tendance figure calculated. Capacity Studies The researchers also concerned themselves with the problem of plan- ning capacity in relation to expected attendance, load factors, and sched- ules. Data on these were gathered and capacity estimates made- sub- ject to a series of variables. These capacity studies covered each of the project's planned activities. Manage- ment problems and policies were also INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT September-October