Walt Disney Opens Disneyland in Anaheim

On Sunday, July 17, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, dedicating the enterprise during a live nationwide television broadcast. What had originated as a concept for a modest tourist park beside his Burbank film studios had transformed into an ambitious project spread across 160 acres of former orange groves and walnut trees. Rather than a conventional amusement ground with disparate sideshows, Disneyland introduced a coordinated environment enclosed by an earthen berm designed to shut out views of the surrounding area.

The journey toward realization began after Disney realized his working studios offered little for traveling admirers to explore. After considering sites across from the studio, Disney commissioned the Stanford Research Institute to assess locations suited to regional population growth. In 1953, he secured the Anaheim acreage. To finance construction, which carried an eventual price tag of 17 million dollars, Disney negotiated a partnership with the fledgling ABC television network. The studio produced a weekly program for the channel in exchange for investment backing, and Disney established WED Enterprises to craft the setting.