History of the Los Angeles Angels team general manager, under whose watch the Angels eventually won their first World Series Championship. Although Disney did not technically acquire a controlling interest in the team until after Autry's death, for all practical purposes it ran the team (the Autry loyalists on the board acted as "silent partners") through its Anaheim Sports subsidiary, which also owned the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at the time. Disney, of course, had been a catalyst for the development of and population growth in Orange County, having opened its Disneyland theme park in Anaheim in 1955. Autry had named Walt Disney himself to
The American Adventure Theme Park seam and opencast coal mining, was originally opened in June 1987 with an Old West and Cowboys vs. Native Americans theme. A theme park called Britannia Park had been opened on the site in 1985 but closed after just 10 weeks, insolvent, and its founder Peter Kellard was later imprisoned for fraud. Derbyshire County Council purchased the site in 1986 and sold it to Granada, who in June 1987 opened the American Adventure, heralded as "Britain's Major New Theme Park". Initial attractions at the American Adventure included the two-drop log flume, the runaway mine train, the Buffalo Stampede roller coaster,