Originally Posted By ktulutu Hi, Would like to ask the knowledgeable folks here a question that's been driving me nuts. Walt use to have a name for landmarks or structures within the park-generally one major element per area or land (i.e. Matterhorn) that would draw people from area to area. It was something he purposefully integrated into the design so that people would circulate throughout the park. I wanna say "whoopees" or something like that but I cannot find any results for this or similar attempts on Google. Can anyone tell me what the word I am thinking of? Thanks!
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Weenies..and the term has largely been stolen by the rest of the theme park industry as well.
Originally Posted By crapshoot Not the most mainstream of sources, but the first part regarding the history of Walt's architectural wienie is how I had heard it in the past. <a href="http://truenorthfellowship.org/the-psalms-project/2011/1/13/architectural-wienies.html" target="_blank">http://truenorthfellowship.org...ies.html</a> Architectural Wienies Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 02:19PM "Walt Disney used to talk about “architectural wienies” when he was planning/building Disneyland. The term came from film studio work with animals where a trainer might take a sausage treat and move it about the set in order to get a dog to look in a certain direction or stay focused on a certain spot. The wienie allowed the trainer to move the animal where the camera could get the best shot. When Disney constructed Disneyland, he wanted every theme area to have an “architectural wienie.” The most obvious, of course, was the castle at Disneyland. Set at the end of Main Street, the very size and grandeur of the castle caught the eyes of visitors coming through the gate and kept them moving to the center of the park. Main Street, the 5/8 scale model of a turn of the century U.S. town, was designed as both a vestibule for welcoming guests, but primarily as a last chance for souvenirs as they were on their way out. But once guests headed for the castle, they ended up at the crossroads park area that could lead them to Frontierland with its fort entrance as the wienie, Fantasyland with its castle, or Tomorrowland with its rocket. The “wienies” drew people to where the action was and helped them to recognize right away what kind of theme they would get in each “land.”"
