Doug's Disneyland Collection
Page 3 of 6

The next Disneyland title was published in 1955. “Little Man of Disneyland�? is the engaging story of Patrick Begorra, a leprechaun who is displaced by the construction of Disneyland.

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Patrick is astonished when several “big people�? bearing shovels arrive in his orange grove. (Apparently, even Donald, Mickey and Goofy were put to work on Disneyland!)

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In an effort to impress Patrick with their project, Goofy pilots him in a helicopter to the Disney Studio in Burbank. The trip takes them over a rather unflattering landscape of orange trees, oil wells, and barren hills.

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At the Studio, Patrick is beguiled with a room full of drawings showing the splendors of Disneyland. Mickey’s enthusiastic pitch apparently includes the promise of a massive roller coaster and giant, spoked Ferris wheel. Interestingly, these details would be added to the resort 45 years later in Disney’s California Adventure.

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Patrick gives his blessing to the project, with the promise that he will be allowed to build a “wee snug little house�? of his own there. Mickey agrees, and even generously offers the leprechaun a fine big place.

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But Patrick prefers to find a secret place of his own. And according to the book, no one knows just where that was-but kids were encouraged to look for it.

Something of a legend has grown up around this book. According to the story, a child wrote to Walt Disney, asking where Patrick Begorra’s house was, saying that he had looked and looked and couldn’t find it. When Walt found out what the child was referring to, he had a special little door built into the base of a tree in the Jungle Cruise. True or not, it makes a charming story.