Disneyland workers in Cafeteria, 1961. freeyork.org
The “Happiest Place on Earth” began in Walt Disney’s mind in the early 1940s before becoming a reality in 1955. The now worldwide corporation broke ground to $17 million, a 160-acre orchard, and just a single year of construction! Perhaps most amazingly, one of the largest entertainment corporations in the world came into existence on the back of Disney’s imagination and the popularity of his animated drawings.
The cartoon tycoon also made the incredibly prescient decision to continually invest in technology to improve not only his animated children’s movies but also his vast “Mickey Mouse Park.” Here’s the unbelievable history of Disneyland!
When Disneyland first opened admission was $1, according to PBS. Today? $99.
The Power Of Imagination
Born in 1901, Walt Disney toiled away as a commercial artist until opening his own humble studio for animated cartoons. Evidently, Disney owned a clear vision for his success and quickly struck oil with his 1928 short film, “Steamboat Willie”, starring a character named “Mickey Mouse.” His film debuted to rave reviews and immediately people clamored for more movies.
Over 84 million Mickey Mouse ears have been sold, making them the most popular Disneyland souvenir of all time. Business Insider
The Slow Build Of An Animated Empire
Smartly, Disney never sacrificed quality for quantity. His first feature-length picture, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1938, took an astounding three years to finish and like “Steamboat Willie” opened to massive success. However, despite the raging success of his productions, Disney’s company limped along financially, thanks to his determined insistence to heavily invest in improving the quality of his films. Of course, the slow burn of his incredibly popular cartoons only whet the appetites of millions of people moving forward.
Walt Disney and his wife celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on the Mark Twain Riverboat before the gates opened.
Letters From Heaven
It wasn’t until Disney started receiving countless letters from parents who wanted to bring their children to the studio and experience the magic of his films that he started to think bigger. Those letters also coincided with a trip to Griffith Park with his daughters where Disney realized his dream of a park where families could revel in the wonder of all his fantastical films.
The top floor Main Street's fire station was Walt Disney's private apartment during construction. MiceChat
From Kernel To Tree
In 1948, he sent studio production designer, Dick Kelsey, an outline for his “Mickey Mouse Park.” His vision hoped to replace the amusement parks at the time which mostly served as places for parents to get drunk and attract undesirables. His original conception was of an 8-acre park with boat rides and a few themed areas. However, they quickly realized it needed to be much bigger and purchased a 160-acre orchard of orange and walnut trees 27 miles away from LA.
The park sits on 160 acres of land, but only about half are open to the public.
Mickey Mouse Park
Disney’s multi-billion dollar idea started as Mickey Mouse Park, then “Disneylandia” before finally settling on “Disneyland.” Construction began in 1954. Just a year later they attempted their grand opening. Unfortunately, most roads to success aren’t without their speed bumps and Disneyland’s opening day served as a dumpster fire.
First, roughly half of the 28,000 people who mobbed the park entered using counterfeit tickets or simply jumping a fence. Then a number of women’s heels got stuck in the freshly poured cement under the wilting 101-degree heat.
To make matters worse, a plumber strike forced Disney to choose between functioning toilets or drinking water. While working plumbing would seem like the lesser of two evils, many people complained about having to purchase soda. Last but not least, the Mark Twain Steamboat almost capsized due to overcrowding. The media would go on to describe the grand opening as “Black Sunday'' or “Walt’s Folly”. It would appear that things worked out well for old Disney. Just a year after Disneyland opened its doors to complete calamity, 5 million people made the pilgrimage. As of 2019, more than 700 million people have visited “The Happiest Place On Earth.”
