Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood
Encyclopedia
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.
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.
Wood and Walt Disney later had a falling out and Disney fired Wood Wood's role in the creation of Disneyland has been omitted from all official histories of the park. Bob Gurr
when asked to describe Wood stated "He was clearly a con man and certainly behaved that way."
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;. 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 and had a small part in the B movie
Miami Supercops.
Wood was initiated to Transcendental Meditation
by Nancy Cooke de Herrera
in the late 1960s.
Disney
Wood, who had earlier been Director of Industrial EngineeringIndustrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
for an aircraft manufacturer in his native Texas, was hired away from his position at the Stanford Research Institute by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
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.
Wood and Walt Disney later had a falling out and Disney fired Wood Wood's role in the creation of Disneyland has been omitted from all official histories of the park. Bob Gurr
Bob Gurr
Robert Henry Gurr is an American amusement ride designer and Imagineer. His most famous work was for Walt Disney's Disneyland Park, and its subsequent sister parks...
when asked to describe Wood stated "He was clearly a con man and certainly behaved that way."
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. Wood, leading his firm known as Marco Engineering, Inc., helped create Magic Mountain (now Heritage SquareHeritage Square
Heritage Square is a Storybook Victorian theme park shopping village at Golden, Colorado. It was originally built as Magic Mountain in 1957-59 by a group spearheaded by prominent Wheat Ridge businessman Walter Francis Cobb and Denver sculptor John Calvin Sutton. They hired Marco Engineering,...
at Golden, Colorado
Golden, Colorado
The City of Golden is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was...
) in 1957, Pleasure Island
Pleasure Island (Massachusetts amusement park)
Pleasure Island was an amusement park located in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The park, billed as the "Disneyland of the Northeast", was in business from 1959 to 1969...
(in Wakefield, Massachusetts
Wakefield, Massachusetts
-History:-Geography:The diagram above shows what is to the east, west, north, south, and other directions of the center of Wakefield. Towns with population above 25,000 are in bold italics.-Demographics:-Notable residents:...
) in 1959, Freedomland U.S.A.
Freedomland U.S.A.
Freedomland U.S.A. was a short-lived, U.S. history-themed amusement park in the Baychester area in the northeastern part of the Borough of The Bronx, New York City. Its slogan was "The World's Largest Entertainment Center" .Freedomland opened on June 19, 1960...
(on the current site of Co-op City in the Bronx), in 1960, and initial work on Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Over Texas is a major amusement park located in Arlington, Texas , east of Fort Worth and about west of Dallas. It is the oldest park of the Six Flags chain. The park opened on August 5, 1961 following just a year of construction and an initial investment of US$10 million by real estate...
before work was taken over by Marco member Randall Duell
Randall Duell
Randall Duell was an American architect and art director. Duell attended the University of Southern California School of Architecture and graduated in 1925...
. 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.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, played an instrumental role in the design and development of Warner Bros. Movie World
Warner Bros. Movie World
Warner Bros. Movie World is a popular movie related theme park on the Gold Coast in Australia. It is owned and operated by Village Roadshow since the take over from Time Warner and is the only movie related park in Australia...
theme park in Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, capping a noted theme park creating career
Wood was also the chief designer for Lake Havasu City;. 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 and had a small part in the B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
Miami Supercops.
Wood was initiated to Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
by Nancy Cooke de Herrera
Nancy Cooke de Herrera
Nancy Cooke de Herrera was an American socialite, fashion expert and author of the book All You Need Is Love: An Eyewitness Account of When Spirituality Spread from the East to the West.-Early life and education:...
in the late 1960s.