- C.V. Wood
-
Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood (December 17, 1920 - March 14, 1992), usually written as "C.V. Wood" and called "Woody", was an American developer of amusement parks and planned communities. He is most noted as the chief developer of Disneyland.
Contents
Disney
Wood, who had earlier been Director of Industrial Engineering for an aircraft manufacturer in his native Texas, was hired away from his position at the Stanford Research Institute by Walt Disney to become Vice President and General Manager of Disney's nascent project, Disneyland. He was a key player in the design and creation of the amusement park, and the person most responsible for choosing its site.[1]
Wood and Walt Disney later had a falling out and Disney fired Wood[1] Wood's role in the creation of Disneyland has been omitted from all official histories of the park.[2] Bob Gurr when asked to describe Wood stated "He was clearly a con man and certainly behaved that way."[3]
Other parks
Wood went on to design more amusement parks; he billed himself as "The Master Planner of Disneyland" before a Disney lawsuit stopped him from using that title.[1] Wood, leading his firm known as Marco Engineering, Inc., helped create Magic Mountain (now Heritage Square at Golden, Colorado) in 1957, Pleasure Island (in Wakefield, Massachusetts) in 1959, Freedomland U.S.A. (on the current site of Co-op City in the Bronx), in 1960, and initial work on Six Flags Over Texas before work was taken over by Marco member Randall Duell. None of the first three amusement parks lasted longer than then a few years before closing. In 1991, Wood, who had become President of the Recreation Enterprises Division of Warner Bros., played an instrumental role in the design and development of Warner Bros. Movie World theme park in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, capping a noted theme park creating career
Wood was also the chief designer for Lake Havasu City;.[4] That city's CV Wood Aquatic Center is named for him.
In addition to these achievements, Wood was the winner of the International Chili Society's 1969 Annual World's Championship Chili Cookoff[5] and had a small part in the B movie Miami Supercops.[6]
Wood was initiated to Transcendental Meditation by Nancy Cooke de Herrera in the late 1960s.[7]
References
- ^ a b c http://www.mouseplanet.com/jason/006.htm
- ^ LaughingPlace.com: Jim Hill - Apr 10, 2001 (The #1 Site for Disney)
- ^ Disney Legend Bob Gurr: Filling in the Gaps
- ^ Lake Havasu City Convention&Visitors Bureau•Arizona
- ^ International Chili Society
- ^ Miami Supercops (1985)
- ^ de Herrera, Nancy Cooke (1993). Beyond Gurus: A Woman of Many Worlds. Blue Dolphin Publishing. p. 292. ISBN 093189249.
External links
Categories:- American urban planners
- American designers
- Innovators
- 1920 births
- Hardin–Simmons University alumni
- 1992 deaths
- Lake Havasu City, Arizona
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