Almost 20 years after Walt Disney proved everyone wrong with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the master showman did it again with Disneyland. It’s hard to remember that, even as The Walt Disney Company is now getting ready to open a Disneyland in Shanghai, Disneyland itself wasn’t supposed work.
The park opened in anaheim to the public on July 17, 1955, exactly 55 years ago today. At the time, The Associated Press reported that it cost $17 million to build. Over 2,500 men worked on the park to make sure it opened on time. And Disney, ever the master showman, made sure that the opening ceremonies were televised. He was a marketing genius, since he had named his TV series Disneyland to get the entire country excited about it. Even if you didn’t live in California, you wanted to go there.
Disneyland first premiered in March 1954, over a year before Disneyland would actually open. Airing on ABC, the opening ceremonies featured host Art Linkletter and Hollywood luminaries from the time. Here’s the complete broadcast:
At the time, people weren’t sure if anyone would actually pay to just go to a theme park, but they did. When Disneyland first opened, it cost $1 for adults and 50 cents for children just to enter the gates. There were then tiers for rides. Some cost 25 cents for adults and others were 35 cents. For children, rides cost 10-25 cents. If you went on every ride, a day at Disneyland cost $8.70 for adults and $5.15 for children, the AP reported. Today, you don’t have to pay for individual rides, since it will cost you $100 to enter the park.
As the History Channel notes, Disneyland now has over 14 million visitors a year, spending a combined $3 billion there. Disney certainly proved everyone wrong.
As for Disneyland Shanghai, that will be open next year.