July 27 - Bill Sullivan

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On this day, in 1955, William Sullivan began his new job as ticket taker at the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland of Disneyland. Born in 1936, Sully, as most people called him, was studying architecture and working his first job in the aircraft industry when a television show changed his life. Like many people on July 17, 1955, Sully was glued to his television set watching the opening ceremonies of a new kind of entertainment in Anaheim, Disneyland. Unlike most people watching, he was inspired to completely change the course of his life by what he saw. The following Saturday he went down to the park to apply for a job. He was hired on the spot, quit his job at Northrop Aircraft on Monday and two days later was happily taking people’s tickets for the Jungle Cruise.

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A quick detour into the world of tickets at the beginning of Disneyland. For the first three months of operation, it cost guests $1 to get into the park, which included three attractions, and then between 10 and 35 cents more for each additional attraction. In October 1955, ticket books were introduced with A, B and C tickets in them. The best rides, like the Jungle Cruise, required a C ticket while something like the Carousel would be an A ticket ride. In 1957, as more attractions were added to Disneyland, a D ticket was introduced and the ticket tiers were expanded once more in 1959 to include E tickets. Some attractions, like the Matterhorn Bobsleds, debuted at E ticket status while older attractions, like the Jungle Cruise, were promoted to E ticket status, or whatever level was appropriate. The phrase “that’s an E ticket ride” has sort of become synonymous with exciting thrill rides but all it really meant was you were riding one of the best rides. Yes, the Bobsleds were E ticket, but so was the Disneyland Railroad. We now return to you to our regularly scheduled post.

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It didn’t take Sully long to get promoted from Jungle Cruise ticket taker to wisecracking Jungle Cruise skipper. After 2.5 years exclusively in that madcap bubble, Sully got to train on other attractions and move around the park more. He was then promoted to what he called a Yo-Yo Supervisor. Disneyland couldn’t afford to make him a full supervisor just yet, so at high attendance times he’d be wearing a suit and tie and managing things, then when attendance dropped again, he’d be back in costume running an attraction, sometimes going back and forth between the two roles on a day by day basis. In 1959, when the park enjoyed its first expansion with the addition of the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Nature’s Wonderland section of Frontierland, Sully was made a full supervisor.

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Almost as soon as Sully became full time management, he also became a specials man. When Walt was chosen to be a part of the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, Sully was on the company’s security team. He was part of the team that ran the premier of Mary Poppins at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Sully was then chosen to go to the 1964 World’s Fair as an assistant manager to help facilitate and troubleshoot the four attractions the company built for it. He moved his family to Queens, NY for a year and his daughter even started kindergarten there. When he returned to California in late 1965, he was promoted to manager of all of Fantasyland. And that’s when things got busy.

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While in New York, Sully had heard rumors of something Walt was cooking up called Project X that was going to take place on the East Coast, but no one knew what, when or exactly where. Shortly after becoming the head of Fantasyland, Sully was let in on the secret: another theme park was being planned for Central Florida. It then became Sully’s job, along with the Legendary Rolly Krump, to design the layout of Fantasyland for the new park. When they’d done all they could with that project, Sully was promoted to Senior Staff Assistant to the Vice President of the Florida Project, which basically meant he was now a high priced jack-of-all-trades.

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It might almost be easier to list the things Sully didn’t do in those years just before Walt Disney World opened. He helped design the entrance to the Magic Kingdom and Main Street USA (they made it twelve feet wider than Disneyland’s in order to accommodate bigger parades). He set up a post office to facilitate communication between Burbank and the construction companies. He helped get the Preview Center up and running. He was in charge of most of the promotional materials that were being made available to locals. He ran a legislator’s weekend so Jack Lindquist could convince the Florida state senators and representatives that creating a special economic zone for Disney was a great idea. He helped set up and staff the Preview Center. He was part of the Security and Fire Prevention team and was in charge of hiring the first 75 Security Cast Members for the Florida property. In short, Sully was the grease that kept the whole of Walt Disney World moving forward.

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Sully was also an integral part of the team that was planning and building EPCOT Center. Officially he was the director of PICO, the Project Installation and Coordination Office. Basically what that meant is that, while he didn’t have the authority to approve or disapprove of projects, all of them came through him and his office. With all of his operational experience, Sully could (and did) make improvement suggestions and rework the design of anything he felt needed tweaking. He spent four years perfecting the park and then was in charge of actually running the place for the first two years it was open. During the same period, Sully help train hundreds of cast members for the opening of Disney’s first international park, Tokyo Disneyland.

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In 1987, Sully was promoted to Vice President in charge of the Magic Kingdom, the world he had done so much to help create. He spent several years there until one of his old co-workers, Jim Cora, who was now in charge of all international Disney parks, sweet talked him into coming over to Europe to help get Disneyland Paris ready for its opening. So Sully spent the first few months of 1992 opening another Disney theme park. He returned to Florida where he resumed his duties as top man at the Magic Kingdom until his retirement in 1993.

Sully has the distinction of being one of the few people who have their names on not one but two windows on Main Street USA, both in the Magic Kingdom. The first one he received was as part of a group of guys who were instrumental in getting Walt Disney World off the ground. It reads “Windemere Fraternal Hall – Lodge Meetings Every Friday – Charter Members - Bob Allen - Pete Crimmings, Dick Evans, Bill Hoelscher, Bob Mathieson, Bill Sullivan” and can be found on Center Street above Crystal Arts. Sully received his second one for his retirement and it’s a solo act above the ice cream parlor. That one reads “Sully's Safaris & Guide Service - Chief Guide Bill Sullivan.” As impressive as having two windows is, Sully was absolutely floored the day he got his letter inviting him to a ceremony in 2005 where he was officially declared a Disney Legend.

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Sully still resides in Central Florida although he says he doesn’t go to the Disney parks much anymore. He admits that it’s mostly because he’d get too upset about all the changes that have been made since they were “his” parks. They aren’t his anymore but he’s okay with that. For 38 magical years he carried on the Disney tradition and now it is someone else’s turn. When asked about his favorite memory from his career, he gets a twinkle in his eye and mentions meeting the cute blonde who worked across from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland and has been his wife for over 50 years. I know just how he feels (although my twinkle is brunette).