1950s Main Street

This Day in History: July 17, 1955

Disneyland's Grand Opening

Walt Disney's very first theme park, Disneyland, opened its gates at 

2:30PM on Sunday, July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California.

14 Obscure and Wonderful Things to Notice in this Video, click HERE!
*****

 

Things you may not know about opening day...

6,000 special invitations (passes) were sent out for opening day since the park was not ready for a public crowd.

The pass was counterfeited and thousands of uninvited people were admitted into Disneyland on opening day.

As a result. . .

Food and drink ran out.

A women's high-heel shoe got stuck in the wet asphalt of Main Street USA. 

The Mark Twain Steamboat nearly capsized from too many passengers.

Did Disneyland recover?  

Of course, we all know the answer to this question. Disneyland is still going strong with many changes indeed made through the years.

Are you familiar with any other Disney parks?

~Walt Disney World:  October 1, 1971. Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom were later added to Walt Disney World, and it remains Florida's premier tourist attraction. 
~In 1983, Tokyo Disneyland opened in Japan. 
~In 1992 Disneyland Paris--or "EuroDisney"--opened to a mixed reaction in Marne-la-Vallee. 
~The newest Disneyland, in Hong Kong, opened its doors in September 2005.

Which Disney Park never made it past the Disney Drawing Board?

Disney's America!

©Disney

"Disney's America was a planned theme park that was to have been built by The Walt Disney Company in Haymarket, Virginia in the early 1990s. The park was to have been dedicated to the history of the United States; however, amid opposition from citizen's groups, the project was canceled in 1994." Read MORE at wikipedia.org. . .