5. The Great Movie Ride

When putting together the Great Movie Ride at Disney-MGM Studios, Disney chairman Michael D. Eisner could have easily featured footage from Return to Oz to show Walt’s appreciation for the property. Instead, though, he paid a significant sum of money to include scenes from The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. He clearly respected what had come before, even if wasn’t from The Walt Disney Company itself.

6. Oz at Disneyland Paris

Image: David Jafra, Flickr (license)

Finally Oz came to Disney parks (in a small way) with a miniature recreation of the Emerald City on the "Les Pays des Contes de Fées” attraction at Fantasyland.

7. Oz: The Great and Powerful

Finally, Disney created a firm connection with Oz with the creation of big-budget film Oz: The Great and Powerful, which tells the story of the Wizard of Oz before he was, well, the Wizard of Oz. It’s partly inspired by the Frank L. Baum Oz book The Emerald City of Oz. The Walt Disney Company had to be very careful that the movie didn’t resemble the Wizard of Oz movie too closely, because it didn’t own the rights to it. Even the shade of the Wicked Witch’s green skin had to be altered to skirt those lines. However, there were a number of clear allusions to the historic film. Most noticeable is that Oz: The Great and Powerful starts out in black and white when the Wizard is in the “real” world, but it turns to full color when he enters the land of Oz. The movie didn’t receive stellar reviews, but many people did like it and a sequel is on the way.

8. Land of Oz garden

Image: Jared, Flickr (license)

To market the film, a Land of Oz garden was added to Epcot at Walt Disney World. There are no rides, but it did look spectacular, as pictures attest.

9. An expanded Oz presence

Rumors circulated that Disney was planning something bigger than the garden for Oz. Disney by Mark reported that Imagineers had finished drawing up concept art and designs for an Oz area at Disneyland. It was apparently to be located where the “Big Thunder Ranch” stands. Other purported plans included a restaurant reminiscent of the Magic Kingdom’s “Be Our Guest” but placed in the Emerald City and a Munchkinland retail store. Elements mentioned were a hot air balloon, tornado effects and Dark Queen Evanora’s army of Winkies and flying monkeys from Oz: The Great and Powerful. Disney by Mark expected the announcement of the Oz area to be made at the Disney expo D23, but that never happened. The belief stands that the area was shelved in favor of a spot for Disney’s recent major acquisition: Star Wars. Kind of sad for Oz fans, but Star Wars will probably bring Disneyland more attention than a hundred year-old property. That’s the way the theme park industry goes sometimes, I suppose. Still interesting to take a look at what Disney has done with Oz, both in and out of its theme parks.

NOTE: To find out more about Disney and Oz, read this immensely helpful piece by Jim Hill from 2006.