"Disneyland Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, opened on July 17, 1955. It is the only theme park designed and built to completion under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. It was originally the only attraction on the property; its official name was changed to Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the expanding complex in the 1990s. Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. He initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent"
"known as ""Imagineers"". After obtaining bank funding he invited other stockholders, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatrespart of American Broadcasting Company (ABC)and Western Printing and Lithographing Company. In mid-1954, Disney sent his Imagineers to every amusement park in the U.S. to analyze what worked and what pitfalls or problems there were in the various locations and incorporated their findings into his design. Construction work started in July 1954, and Disneyland opened in July 1955; the opening ceremony was broadcast on ABC, which reached 70 million viewers. The park was designed as a series of themed lands, linked by the central Main Street, U.S.A.a"
"one of many companies that sponsored attractions in the park with its 5-year sponsorship of all Disneyland trains and stations at the park's opening agreed. Rear Admiral Joseph W. Fowler was hired in April 1954 as senior vice president for engineering and construction to oversee building Disneyland. Work began on the site in July with the removal of the first orange tree. A 1955 strike by the Orange County plumbers and asphalt workers puts the Disneyland building schedule in jeopardy. On July 17, 1955 at 2 PM, the Disneyland park with Five themed ""lands"" containing eighteen attractions opened. 15 thousand"
"television special on the opening day of Disneyland. Killingsworth had never heard of ABC, Disneyland, or Anaheim, California, at the time. However, she accepted the one-day job, becoming Disneyland's very first Snow White at the parks opening day on July 17, 1955. 30,000 guests and dignitaries attended Disneyland's opening ceremonies (and ABC simulcast) on July 17, 1955. 11,000 people were guests of Walt Disney, mostly Disney employees, their families, members of the media, as well as celebrities, including Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Debbie Reynolds. An additional 11,000 people were on hand for the opening thanks to counterfeit tickets"
"at the same time. On July 18, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland to the general public. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland was previewed with a live television broadcast hosted by Robert Cummings, Art Linkletter and Ronald Reagan. After a shaky start, Disneyland continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world. A major expansion in 1959 included the addition of America's first monorail system. For the 1964 New York World's Fair, Disney prepared four separate attractions for various sponsors, each of which would find its way to Disneyland in one form or another. During this"
"referring to the circus as ""Holidayland,"" including a November 25, 1955 Los Angeles Times article declaring ""Holidayland was a roaring success. The kids consumed great amounts of popcorn, and [Walt] Disney enjoyed himself as much as anybody. Holidayland Holidayland was a grassy picnic ground located along the western edge of Disneyland, near the area that is now New Orleans Square. It is often referred to as the ""lost"" land of Disneyland. Opening on June 16, 1957, Holidayland had its own admission gate into Disneyland and could hold up to 7,000 guests for large events. It also had playgrounds, horseshoes, baseball"
"changed it to Disneyland two years later, when excavation of the site began. Construction began on July 16, 1954 and cost $17 million to complete. The park was opened one year and one day later. U.S. Route 101 (later Interstate 5) was under construction at the same time just north of the site; in preparation for the traffic Disneyland was expected to bring, two more lanes were added to the freeway before the park was finished. Disneyland was dedicated at an ""International Press Preview"" event held on Sunday, July 17, 1955, which was only open to invited guests and the"
"Holidayland Holidayland was a grassy picnic ground located along the western edge of Disneyland, near the area that is now New Orleans Square. It is often referred to as the ""lost"" land of Disneyland. Opening on June 16, 1957, Holidayland had its own admission gate into Disneyland and could hold up to 7,000 guests for large events. It also had playgrounds, horseshoes, baseball field, volleyball, ""the world's largest candy-striped circus tent"" (previously used by the short-lived Mickey Mouse Club Circus and Keller's Jungle Killers attractions) and other activities. Food and concessions were available for purchase including beer, which was not"
"original attractions. Another early design for the park included a narrow-gauge steam railroad encircling it, a feature which was retained in the park's final design. Disneyland, and the Disneyland Railroad encircling the park, opened on July 17, 1955. The Disneyland Railroad's No. 1 locomotive, the ""C.K. Holliday"", bears a strong resemblance to the CPRR's ""Lilly Belle"" locomotive, since their designs were based on the same blueprints. In addition to the Disneyland Railroad, there are steam railroad attractions in the Magic Kingdom within Walt Disney World in the vicinity of Orlando, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland next to Tokyo, Japan; and Disneyland Park"
"January 2, 2001, Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel on December 15, 2000, and Downtown Disney on January 12, 2001. Disneyland was rebranded Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the larger resort complex. The resort focuses on Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters and occupies . The Walt Disney World Resort opened October 1, 1971, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, with the Magic Kingdom theme park and three resort hotels. It expanded with the opening of Epcot in 1982, Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) and Disney's Typhoon Lagoon in 1989, Disney's Blizzard Beach in 1995, Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998, Disney"
"to agree to finance part of the Disneyland project in exchange for producing a television program for the network. Walt wanted ABC to invest $500,000 and accrued a guarantee of $4.5 million in additional loans, a third of the budget intended for the park. Around 1954, ABC agreed to finance Disneyland in exchange for the right to broadcast a new Wednesday night program, ""Disneyland"", which debuted on the network on October 27, 1954 as the first of many anthology television programs that Disney would broadcast over the course of the next 50 years. When Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955,"
"Happiest Homecoming on Earth The Happiest Homecoming on Earth was the eighteen-month-long celebration (May 5, 2005 through September 30, 2006) of the 50th anniversary of the Disneyland theme park, which opened on July 17, 1955. The Happiest Celebration on Earth commemorated fifty years of Disney theme parks, and celebrated Disneyland's milestone throughout Disney parks all over the globe. Disneyland's 50th anniversary was July 17, 2005, but the celebration was launched on May 5, 2005 in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Disneyland Park was actually closed to the public on this date, the first planned closure of the park in decades"
"Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World and Disney World, is an entertainment complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in the United States, near the cities Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is owned and operated by Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It was first operated by Walt Disney World Company. The property covers nearly and only half of it has been used, comprises four theme parks, two water parks, twenty-seven themed resort hotels, nine non-Disney hotels, several"
"Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products division, the park opened on October 1, 1971, as the first of four theme parks at the resort. Initialized by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises, its layout and attractions are based on Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and is dedicated to fairy tales and Disney characters. The park is represented by Cinderella Castle, inspired by the fairy tale castle seen in the 1950"
"Company has mentioned that it wanted to keep Tomorrowland from becoming ""Yesterdayland"". As a self-referential joke along this line, the 2007 Walt Disney Animation Studios film ""Meet the Robinsons"" (which is set mainly in the year 2037) features an amusement park called ""Todayland"", which has rides that look similar to Space Mountain and Disneyland's original Rocket Jets. The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 17, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a"
"steam trains of the DRR were the first of Disneyland's attractions to become operational. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland and the Disneyland Railroad opened, and the day began with Walt Disney driving the DRR's No. 2 locomotive and its passenger train into Main Street, U.S.A. Station with California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and AT&SF Railway President Fred G. Gurley riding in the locomotive's cab. They were greeted at the station's platform by the park opening ceremony's host Art Linkletter, actor Ronald Reagan, and several television camera crews broadcasting the festivities nationwide. After exiting the locomotive, Linkletter briefly interviewed Disney, Knight,"
"(expanding to about 100 acres with the addition of the ""Star Wars""-themed Galaxy's Edge). The park opened with Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland, and has since added New Orleans Square in 1966, Bear Country (now known as Critter Country) in 1972, and Mickey's Toontown in 1993. In 1957, Holidayland opened to the public with a recreation area including a circus and baseball diamond, but was closed in late 1961. It is often referred to as the ""lost"" land of Disneyland. Throughout the park are 'Hidden Mickeys', representations of Mickey Mouse heads inserted subtly into the design of"
"Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, and Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1, 1989, as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, and was the third of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. Spanning , the park is dedicated to the imagined worlds from film, television, music, and theatre, drawing inspiration from the Golden Age"
"animation studio, laying off personnel and then moving the operations to the main animation studio in Burbank, California. A radio studio is also located on the lot, behind ""Sounds Dangerous"". Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, and Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1, 1989, as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, and was the third of"
"parents threw their children over the crowd's shoulders to get them onto rides, such as the King Arthur Carrousel. In later years, Disney and his 1955 executives referred to July 17, 1955, as ""Black Sunday"". After the extremely negative press from the preview opening, Walt Disney invited attendees back for a private ""second day"" to experience Disneyland properly. At the time, and during the lifetimes of Walt and Roy Disney, July 17 was considered merely a preview, with July 18 the official opening day. Since then, aided by memories of the television broadcast, the company has adopted July 17 as"
"Disney Springs Disney Springs (previously known as Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village in 1975, Walt Disney World Village in 1977, Disney Village Marketplace in 1989, and Downtown Disney in 1997) is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. The complex opened on March 22, 1975, and has been expanded and renamed at other times over the years, until 2013, when plans were announced for a three-year renovation and expansion of the complex, and on September 29, 2015, the name officially changed to Disney Springs. The complex includes four"
"London by the early 1960s, and further into Europe and Asia by the 1970s. Though arguably not the first theme park, the opening of Disneyland in 1955 popularized the idea of an amusement park combining multiple named areas (“lands”) with different themes. The term ""theme park"" came into use circa 1960, likely to describe the many parks built across the United States and around the world following Disneyland's success. As theming became more popular, the word was applied to other types of attractions, including ""theme restaurant"" and ""themed hotels."" David Tallichet took inspiration from Disneyland when he opened his first"
"and perhaps an open field where a circus could come to perform. This original version would be located where the Matterhorn sits today. As Disneyland came together in 1954, it became apparent that there wasn't enough space within the park for Holidayland to become a reality, and the land (now sometimes called ""Recreationland"") became a picnic and recreation area, with minor seasonal holiday decorations. In November 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club Circus came to Disneyland, in the Fantasyland section of the park. This event only lasted until January 1956, and was themed to the celebration of Christmas, with promotional material"
"Rail transport in Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Rail transport can be found in every theme park resort property owned or licensed by Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products, one of the four business segments of the Walt Disney Company. The origins of Disney theme park rail transport can be traced back to Walt Disney himself and his personal fondness for railroads, who insisted that they be included in the first Disney park, the original Disneyland (a key component of the Disneyland Resort) in California in the United States, which opened on July 17, 1955. The Disney tradition of"
"Disneyland Park in Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland Park, owned by the Walt Disney Company. A lawsuit eventually forced the mall's owners to change the park's name, though they were allowed to continue using the name ""Fantasyland Hotel"" for a hotel in the mall. Fantasyland became Galaxyland officially on July 1, 1995. This was celebrated with a new ""space age"" theme, and the arrival of the park's new mascot ""Cosmo"". In June 1986, a wheel sheared off the last car on the train of the Mindbender and the train crashed at high speed into a concrete pillar killing three"
"the first modern theme park, Disneyland. The Heim brothers built the first Electric Park in land adjacent to the Heim Brothers Brewery (at the time the largest brewery in the world) in East Bottoms. The amusement park was bounded by Montgall, Chestnut, Nicholson, and Rochester Avenues. Open from 1899 to 1906, the first Electric Park proved to be an immediate success as one of the world's first full-time amusement parks. Featuring a Shoot-the-Chutes ride (called the Mystic Chute), the park also had a beer garden with beer piped directly from the brewery next door. Eventually, the carefully groomed grounds were"
"opened with the theme park on July 17, 1955. She continued to work on Disneyland expansions after the park's grand opening. Burns designed models of the Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction as a 1/100th scale replica of the famous Matterhorn in Switzerland. Another of Burns's job at Disneyland was what is called ""figure-finishing."" Figure-finishing involves applying paint and other finishes to Disneyland attractions and mannequins to create a ""finished"" look. Burns personally designed and painted the set pieces and underwater figurines for the Submarine Voyage ride. She applied individual feathers to the animatronic birds in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, which opened"
"towns to create their own parks. Walt Disney toured many amusement parks in 1950, including Children’s Fairyland, seeking ideas for what turned out to be Disneyland. He hired the first director of Fairyland, Dorothy Manes, to work at Disneyland as youth director, in which position she continued from the park's opening until 1972. Numerous artists have contributed exhibits, murals, puppetry, and sculptures to the park. Some of the better-known artists are Ruth Asawa and Frank Oz, who was an apprentice puppeteer in the park as a teenager. On a 1947 trip to the Detroit children's zoo in Belle Isle Park,"
"of building the entire park in 1955, the ride opened to throngs of patrons, many of whom dressed up as ""Star Wars"" characters for the occasion. In celebration, Disneyland remained open for a 60-hour marathon from January 9 at 10 a.m. to January 11 at 10 p.m. On August 14, 2010, Walt Disney World hosted the ""Last Tour To Endor"" event exclusively for Celebration V attendees at Disney's Hollywood Studios from 8pm to 1am. Entertainment features and events at ""Last Tour To Endor"" included George Lucas, character appearances, Jedi Training Academy, Death Star Disco, Bespin Stage Dance Party, ""Raiders Of"
"Wonderland Amusement Park (San Diego) Wonderland was a beachfront amusement park in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California from 1913 to 1916. It was the first amusement park in San Diego. The amusement park was built on or near the Pacific Ocean beach by the Ocean Bay Beach Amusement Center, owned by Herbert P. Snow and managed by Bert Snow. It opened on July 4, 1913 to a crowd of more than 20,000. It featured the largest roller coaster on the West Coast, called the Blue Streak Racer, as well as a carousel, water slide, and carnival games."
"This section contains nine resort hotels and a number of dining and shopping locations, and was joined by the Great Wolf Lodge hotel and waterpark in 2016. The opening of Disneyland in 1955 created a boon of tourism in the Anaheim area. Walt Disney had originally intended to purchase additional land to build accommodations for Disneyland visitors; however, the park's construction drained his financial resources and he was unable to acquire more land. Entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on Disney's success moved in and built hotels, restaurants, and shops around Disneyland and eventually boxed in the Disney property, and turned the"
"Disney Productions, Western Publishing and Walt Disney. The other shares were 34.48% by Walt Disney Productions (US$500,000 investment), 13.8% by Western Printing and Lithography Co (US$200,000 investment), 16.55% by Walt Disney (US$250,000 investment). Walt Disney Productions had the option to repurchase the Walt Disney, WED and Western Publishing shares (31%) by May 1, 1959 for $562,500. WED held ownership of the Disneyland Railroad. Disneylandia was announced that in April 1954 by Walt to be opened in July 1955. While some time in 1954, Walt at the urging of ABC TV, the park's name was changed from Disneylandia to Disneyland. With"
"British architecture critic Reyner Banham to describe Los Angeles in his 1971 book ""Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies."" The Disneyland Autopia, in one form or another, is one of the few current attractions that opened with the park on July 17, 1955. When it opened, it represented the future of what would become America's multilane limited-access highways, which were still being developed. President Eisenhower had yet to sign the Interstate Highway legislation at the time Disneyland opened. Drivers can use the steering wheel along the track but the center rail will guide the cars along the track regardless"