Disneyland opened on this day in 1955 at a cost of $17 million. Already a giant in the animation world, Walt Disney had been working on the plan for a few years as a park to educate and entertain children and adults. He went to extreme lengths to complete the project despite the advice of many, going as far as selling some of his property and taking on debt. The opening was put on television and watched by 70 million viewers, around 42 percent of the population at the time. It was a huge made-for-TV spectacle. But on the ground, visitors found something less than spectacular.
Construction had been rushed to open the park a year or so after breaking ground. Opening day was over capacity, too: Park staff were supposed to allow in around 15,000 guests, but over 28,000 showed up thanks to the widespread distribution of fake tickets. Several of the park's main rides were still inoperative, it was extremely hot, drinking water was hard to find due to an unfortunately timed plumber's strike, and vendors ran out of food to sell.
Disney bounced back, with revamps to a few rides and a couple more incidents (including a tiger and a panther escaping and battling each other in the middle of the park) before things got ironed out. Within seven weeks, though, over 1 million had visited the park. It's been a pretty continuous success story since then. The model has been replicated elsewhere, with the larger Walt Disney World in Florida and other Disneyland parks around the world.
You can learn more about the opening of Disneyland at History.com.
