Disneyland Opens (1955)
by admin - October 23rd, 2013
The 1950s are portrayed as one of the happiest decades in American history. What is happier than Disneyland? On July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California Walt Disney opened his theme park that he had been envisioning for years. He came up with the idea for his park while sitting in boredom on park benches watching his two daughters ride on the carousal. Disney first imagined the park to be a small 8-acre park to add entertainment for the people who wanted to visit his movie studio. As he went to other parks and talked to designers, the ideas got bigger and more elaborate, enough to cover 160-acres of land.
Funding Disneyland was not easy, in the end it cost $17 million to build. Disney was able to get funding through television. ABC agreed to help fund the park if Disney made a show to play on their program. Disney created the show “Disneyland” which not only got him the essential funding, but also provided an opportunity to advertise the park to the viewers.
On opening day it was invite-only, Walt Disney had invited 6,000 people to come before it was opened to the public the next day. That day didn’t go according to plan, instead of the 6,000 people invited; an extra 22,000 people arrived with counterfeit tickets. Along with this unexpected outcome, the current heat wave caused the park to be less enjoyable than originally anticipated. After these surprising events, the next day the park was officially open to the public an entrance fee of $1 per person.
Today the park is still successful and has the addition of Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The entrance fee is higher, but the park still has the same mission. On opening day Walt Disney announced, “To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”
–Alex D.
I never knew that Disneyland opened in the 1950s, but you are accurate on saying that it goes along with being portrayed as such a happy place in such a happy decade. Advertising through a television show was a great idea considering the phenomenon television was at the time. It is hard to imagine that Disneyland only had a $1 entrance fee because it is so expensive to enter these theme parks today.