Disneyland opens 1955
Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy, and
futurism, opens on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park was built
on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon
brought in staggering profits. Today, Disneyland hosts more than 14
million visitors a year, who spend close to $3 billion.
Walt Disney, born in Chicago in 1901, worked as a commercial artist
before setting up a small studio in Los Angeles to produce animated
cartoons. In 1928, his short film Steamboat Willy, starring the
character “Mickey Mouse,” was a national sensation. It was the first
animated film to use sound, and Disney provided the voice for Mickey.
From there on, Disney cartoons were in heavy demand, but the company
struggled financially because of Disney’s insistence on ever-improving
artistic and technical quality. His first feature-length cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938), took three years to complete and was a great commercial success.
Snow White was followed by other feature-length classics for children, such as Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). Fantasia (1940), which coordinated animated segments with famous classical music pieces, was an artistic and technical achievement. In Song of the South (1946), Disney combined live actors with animated figures, and beginning with Treasure Island
in 1950 the company added live-action movies to its repertoire. Disney
was also one of the first movie studios to produce film directly for
television, and its Zorro and Davy Crockett series were very popular with children.
In the early 1950s, Walt Disney began designing a huge amusement park
to be built near Los Angeles. He intended Disneyland to have
educational as well as amusement value and to entertain adults and their
children. Land was bought in the farming community of Anaheim, about 25
miles southeast of Los Angeles, and construction began in 1954. In the
summer of 1955, special invitations were sent out for the opening of
Disneyland on July 17. Unfortunately, the pass was counterfeited and
thousands of uninvited people were admitted into Disneyland on opening
day. The park was not ready for the public: food and drink ran out, a
women’s high-heel shoe got stuck in the wet asphalt of Main Street USA,
and the Mark Twain Steamboat nearly capsized from too many passengers.
Disneyland soon recovered, however, and attractions such as the
Castle, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White’s Adventures, Space Station
X-1, Jungle Cruise, and Stage Coach drew countless children and their
parents. Special events and the continual building of new
state-of-the-art attractions encouraged them to visit again. In 1965,
work began on an even bigger Disney theme park and resort near Orlando,
Florida. Walt Disney died in 1966, and Walt Disney World was opened in
his honor on October 1, 1971. Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios, and
Animal Kingdom were later added to Walt Disney World, and it remains
Florida’s premier tourist attraction. In 1983, Disneyland Tokyo opened
in Japan, and in 1992 Disneyland Paris–or “EuroDisney”–opened to a mixed
reaction in Marne-la-Vallee. The newest Disneyland, in Hong Kong,
opened its doors in September 2005.
(More Events on This Day in History)
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American Revolution
- 1776 Congress learns of war of words
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Automotive
- 1920 Three-point seatbelt inventor Nils Bohlin born
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Civil War
- 1864 John Bell Hood takes command of the Army of Tennessee
-
Cold War
- 1945 Potsdam Conference begins
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Crime
- 2011 Casey Anthony released from prison
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Disaster
- 1944 Port Chicago disaster
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General Interest
- 1938 “Wrong Way” Corrigan crosses the Atlantic
- 1975 Superpowers meet in space
- 1996 Flight 800 explodes over Long Island
-
Hollywood
- 1956 High Society, Grace Kelly’s last film, opens
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Literary
- 1889 Erle Stanley Gardner is born
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Music
- 1967 Jimi Hendrix drops out as opening act for The Monkees
-
Old West
- 1763 John Jacob Astor is born
- 1870 “Wild Bill” Hickok kills a soldier
-
Presidential
- 1945 Truman records impressions of Stalin
-
Sports
- 1941 Joe DiMaggio ends 56-game hitting streak
-
Vietnam War
- 1969 Wheeler visits South Vietnam
- 1972 South Vietnamese paratroopers fight for Citadel
-
World War I
- 1917 Fighting in the streets of Petrograd, Russia
-
World War II
- 1945 Potsdam Conference convenes
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