To help raise money for the creation of Disneyland, Walt Disney decided to develop the Disneyland television series, approaching CBS, NBC, and ABC, the three television networks at the time. While he tried to sell each network the show, he also insisted that investing in his park would be part of the deal. Since most couldn’t foresee the tremendous promise of his “amusement park,” two of the nets wanted his television show but had no desire to invest in the park. According to Walt, struggling ABC needed the show so badly, “that they bought the amusement park.” Five years later, Roy O. Disney had the sense to buy out ABC’s one-third interest in Disneyland for seven and a half million dollars on their $500,000 investment. Today, The Walt Disney Company owns ABC, the network that played a vital role in the birth of Disneyland.
