In November 1918, a young Walt Disney stepped onto a ship named the Vauban, which was set to take him and his Red Cross Ambulance Corps unit from the United States all the way to France. For a 16-year-old boy who had never traveled farther east than Illinois or farther west than Colorado, this was a sizable adventure; Walt’s journey to France marked his first-ever encounter with the ocean.
It would not be his last. In the years to come, Walt spent time on freighters, steamships, cruise ships, and ocean liners—for work and for play, on the high seas and inland.
Steering the Past Into the Present
When he and his new wife Lillian (Lilly) vacationed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1931, Walt envisioned them jumping aboard a steamboat together and traveling down the Mississippi in style—it was “…every Midwest boy’s dream trip,” wrote Jeff Kurtti, in Travels with Walt Disney (Disney Editions, 2018). But Walt was disheartened to discover that this meandering, romantic passenger service no longer existed in modern-day America.
Walt did not forget his dream—instead, he simply took matters into his own hands. As he stood in Frontierland on Disneyland’s Opening Day, more than two decades later, he spoke proudly of the historical links and references this part of the park would offer, including its very own version of the classic Mississippi steamboat. “It is here that we experience the story of our country's past… The color, romance and drama of Frontier America as it developed from wilderness-trails to roads, riverboats, railroads and civilization,” he explained.
Docked in the Rivers of America, ready to greet excited guests, was the Mark Twain. Weighing in at 150 tons with a length of 105 feet and the ability to carry as many as 350 parkgoers, it was the first paddlewheeler built in America in 50 years
—and it looked every bit as impressive as its retired ancestors. “No steamship that ever plied the Mississippi River was as elegant as that little jewel that Walt built for Disneyland,” Disney Legend Herb Ryman later remarked.
Making a Mark
The work that went into imagining and designing the boat was meticulous—as was its construction, which was a joint project created between the Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California, and The Walt Disney Studios, Burbank. Specific equipment and accessories for the boat were painstakingly sourced, to ensure that the Mark Twain felt as true-to-life as possible for its passengers. “An extensive search was conducted for gimbal lights, smoke bells, and running lights authentic to the period, “ wrote Marcy Carriker Smothers, in Walt’s Disneyland: A Walk Through the Park with Walt Disney.
As important as the small details were, some of Walt’s team members were left juggling the ship’s larger problems—like Disney Legend Admiral Joe Fowler, who oversaw the construction of Disneyland. Fowler shared a memory from July 13, 1955—just four days before Disneyland opened to the public—when Walt and Lilly had invited their friends and family to help mark their 30th wedding anniversary in Walt’s new park. Knowing that the Mark Twain would play a significant part in these celebrations, Fowler arrived early to inspect the ship before its maiden voyage and was taken aback to bump into a woman on deck, who was frantically sweeping up sawdust and dirt. “That was Lilly. That’s the first time I met Lilly,” as he allegedly recalled. He jumped in to lend her a hand and prepare the boat for its first-ever passengers.
Later that night, as Walt and Lilly’s guests arrived to a much neater-looking Mark Twain, they were served mint juleps to the lively sounds of a Dixieland band. “I never saw my dad happier, ever, ever, ever,” Diane Disney Miller fondly recalled decades later.
Walt’s World
Not only did the Mark Twain transport guests back to a time gone by and introduce them to the calm Rivers of America—it was a living, breathing, moving piece of Frontierland. “When [Walt] designed Disneyland from the hub outward, each land had something moving in it, to be that kinetic energy to draw your attention from it,” explained Walt Disney World Resort’s Mike Sparks, in the Behind the Attraction series on Disney+. “Tomorrowland had the rocket jets, Fantasyland had the carousel spinning, and then in Frontierland we had the Mark Twain paddleboat—and that paddle spinning was that kinetic draw.”
Walt likely felt the draw of the paddleboat as much as any guest. Years later, Disney Legend and Imagineering icon Rolly Crump remembered a time they had cruised Frontierland’s waters together: “We boarded and Walt was standing there, hands on his hips. He was like a little kid, breathing in the air and looking all around. He was taking it all in, from the banks of Frontierland to the action on Tom Sawyer Island.” He could even recall one specific sentence of Walt’s that stuck with him: “You know, Rolly, if you really take a little time and let your imagination take care of you, what you’re really looking at is the past!”
Decades after his early trip to St. Louis, Walt had successfully brought the steamboat to him—and what a steamboat it was. “To Walt Disney, the Mark Twain and the Disneyland trains were like the seventh and eighth wonders of the world,” said Disney Legend Ward Kimball, one of Walt’s famed “Nine Old Men”. It’s poignant that exactly 70 years later—in a modern-day America that even Walt might not have been able to visualize—guests can still hop aboard the Mark Twain for a nostalgic trip around the Frontier—just like the creator of Disneyland did, too.
—Sophie Jo
Sophie Jo is an author and long-time Disney fan from England, who's never happier than when she's in a Doom Buggy. Her main focus for The Walt Disney Family Museum blog is Walt's 1950s/60s Disneyland.
Image Sources*:
- Attraction Ticket – Mark Twain Riverboat, Disneyland, 1955.07.17; collection of the Walt Disney Family Foundation, collection of Ward Kimball; © Disney
- Photograph – Walt Disney inside the Mark Twain Riverboat at his 30th wedding anniversary party, 1955; collections of the Walt Disney Archives and the Walt Disney Family Foundation; © Disney
- Photograph – Walt with Mark Twain Riverboat model, 1954; collections of the Walt Disney Archives and the Walt Disney Family Foundation; © Disney
- Photograph – Walt Disney on the Mark Twain Riverboat in Disneyland, c. 1955; collections of the Walt Disney Family Foundation and the Saturday Evening Post