While I’d expect actors who worked with Walt Disney like Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews, Kurt Russell and Dean Jones to have great stories with the iconic businessman and film producer, I just learned that Kevin Costner had the chance to meet him, too. It’s a wild story that’s crazier because it happened before the Oscar winner had any Hollywood experience or credits to his name.
Back when Kevin Costner was 5 years old, it was the early days of big theme parks. The actor was born just a few months before the opening day of Disneyland, which was on July 17, 1955. According to the actor, he and his mother got to go to Disneyland around 1960 thanks to a man who knocked on their door and gave them tickets because he couldn’t go anymore with his wife. Here’s what happened once they were at the Happiest Place on Earth:
I went on the [Grand Canyon Ride] five times, and the last time I said ‘We have to go again.’ And my mom loved me so much… and there was this yellow tape. We couldn’t go anymore because famous people were coming, and I thought ‘No.’ So, I ran. I got under the tape and I turned and I hit this man. He bent at the knees and every man behind him gasped. Then I looked at my mom and I knew something was wrong because [she had her hands over her mouth].
Kevin Costner is talking about riding the Disneyland Railroad, which was one of the opening day attractions that are still there. At the time, it was called the Grand Canyon Diorama and was much smaller than the attraction is now. As he recalled during an interview with JT Foxx, he loved the ride so much that he kept asking to go on it over and over. Along the way, he jetted past some yellow tape and ran right into someone. As he continued:
And I’m thinking, ‘Come on mom, they stopped.’ This man looked at me and said, ‘Do you like this ride?’ And I said ‘I love this ride.’ And he turned around, looked back at these men, ‘You hear this? He doesn’t like this ride, he loves this ride.’ And he said, ‘You better go back over to your mom.’ They went by, I was with my mom. She said, ‘Do you know who that was?’ I said ‘No.’ ‘That was Walt Disney.’
Can you even imagine? Nowadays, the closest you can get to meeting Walt Disney is through an animatronic attraction called Walt Disney: A Magical Life, but back in 1960 when Costner went, the man himself was strolling around the park, and it seemed quite normal to catch a glimpse of him. While we’d certainly believe Kevin Costner could have met Walt Disney in general because he’s such a famous actor now, this story is all the more awesome because it happened to him long before he made a name for himself.
Kevin Costner was telling the incredible story to point out how Disneyland wasn’t always a surefire success, despite Walt Disney being thought of as a visionary today. When he reflects on his brief literal run-in with Walt Disney, he realizes that it was at a time when Disney was “unbelievably doubted”. He thinks that Walt was perhaps using Costner’s genuine enthusiasm for the ride to underline, perhaps to the lawyers and accountants he was with, that Disneyland had a bright future. And obviously, he was on to something.
These days it feels like you can’t go anywhere without seeing Walt Disney’s name. There are always more upcoming Disney movies on the way, and more attractions coming to Walt Disney World and the other Disney Parks around the globe. I love that this legends meeting legends moment happened, because Costner’s own Hollywood fame happened 20 years after the death of Walt Disney.