Since its opening in July of 1955, Disneyland in Anaheim, California, has been an icon of not only Walt Disney and the Disney empire, but also of family-friendly entertainment. Disneyland was the realized dream of Walt Disney and the culmination of Walt’s years of planning and envisioning a place where parents and their children could enjoy the day together, combined with the hard work of engineers, designers, contractors and builders to create this magical and most happy place.
Whether you’ve been to Disneyland once or one hundred times, you know the excitement felt by both children and children at heart when they first step through the front gates. You know the sheer joy Guests feel the first time they experience an attraction that Walt had his hands on. You also know the happiness in the hearts of Guests when they experience one of the nighttime spectaculars or parades for the first time at Disneyland.
But you may not know what it took to make Disneyland what it is today. You may not know about the obstacles faced by Walt and his team in 1955 on Opening Day. And you may not realize all that’s in the works for the future at Disneyland.