After years of planning, Walt Disney's very first theme park Disneyland debuted at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California. Television crews, Art Linkletter, Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings, the Mouseketeers, Thurl Ravenscroft, California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and over 28,000 guests witnessed the opening of Walt's dream. Broadcast on ABC, it was the biggest live telecast to date.
    Eighteen-year-old Bob Penfield operated the King Arthur Carousel that day - he was suppose to operate Peter Pan's Flight, but the attraction kept breaking down. Penfield went on to become the longest working Cast Member in Disneyland history!
    Charlie Ridgway, a reporter working for the Los Angeles Mirror-News was covering the opening of Disneyland on that hot July day. He later went on to work for Disney as a publicist before relocating to Orlando, Florida to run Disney's public-relations department for 30 years!
    Actor Ronald Reagan (who would later become president of the United States) introduced Walt Disney - "And now, Walt Disney will step forward to read the dedication of Disneyland." Walt christened his 160-acre park with these now famous words (penned by Winston Hibler):
    The park offered 5 themed lands with a total of 20
attractions. Disneyland opened as invitation only on this day,
given to studio workers, construction workers, the press and officials of company sponsors. (The park opened to the general public the following day - July 18.) Because tickets to the grand opening were counterfeited,
a surprising total of 28,154 attended. The day was marked by numerous disasters, including a traffic jam, a shortage of food, and a gas leak in Fantasyland. Even a chunk of window from the Mark Twain Steamboat crashed on the head of an invited state senator!
    Cast Member Ron Dominguez was working as a ticket taker at Disneyland's main gate. He would spend his entire career at the park eventually becoming a top executive (between 1971-1994). Ironically he grew up on one of the Anaheim orange groves later purchased by Disney for the theme park. The Dominguez family house was located just about where the entrance to the Pirates of the Caribbean is!
    Celebrities visiting Disneyland that day included Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
July 17, 1955 is known by Disneyland old-timers as
"Black Sunday" (because of the numerous mishaps)
... yet in those first 7 weeks more than a
million people walked down Disney's Main Street USA!
OPENING DAY ATTRACTIONS:
JULY 17, 1955
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MAIN STREET USA
The Santa Fe / Disneyland Railroad
Main Street Cinema
Horse-Drawn Street Cars
Horse-Drawn Fire Wagon
Horse-Drawn Surreys
Main Street Penny Arcade
 
ADVENTURELAND
The Jungle Cruise
 
FRONTIERLAND
The Mark Twain Steamboat
Stage Coaches
The Golden Horseshoe Review
Mule Pack
 
FANTASYLAND
King Arthur Carrousel
Peter Pan's Flight
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Mad Tea Party
Canal Boats of the World
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
 
TOMORROWLAND
Space Station X-1
Autopia
Circarama
THE GRAND
OPENING OF
DISNEYLAND
Nine-year-old Bonnie Williams was an opening day guests because her church youth group was invited. She was among the first children to cross the drawbridge into Fantasyland and ride Disneyland's rides! "I remember seeing Walt," she says. "He looked like a giant. I told him, 'I saw you on TV!' The whole day was magical. I felt like a real princess."
"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 which have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."
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