Disneyland opened its gates in California
On this day · 17 July 1955
In 1955, Walt Disney turned a former orange grove into the first modern theme park, despite a chaotic opening day.
On July 17, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California. The roughly $17 million park represented a new idea: a single, fully themed environment rather than a collection of unrelated rides.
Opening day was a mess. The press preview ticket had been counterfeited, so thousands of uninvited guests poured in. Food and drink ran out, a woman’s high heel sank into freshly poured asphalt on Main Street, and the Mark Twain steamboat nearly capsized under the weight of its passengers.
Walt himself reportedly called the debut “Black Sunday.”
The park opened to the public the next day with twenty attractions, and the rough start quickly faded. Disneyland’s immersive design reshaped the amusement and tourism industries, and the template Disney built in Anaheim would later be copied around the world.
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