It's Disneyland's 68th birthday today. The destination that revolutionized the theme park industry opened July 17, 1955.
Today, Disneyland is the second-most visited theme park in the world, surpassed only by its younger sibling, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. While Disneyland continues to offer the charm and the heart that captivated millions of fans in its first year, the park has continued to evolve. New attractions such as Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge have helped make Disneyland not just a historical model for the theme park industry, but a modern benchmark for all competitors, as well.
The Disneyland Resort is celebrating The Walt Disney Company's 100th anniversary this year with two new nighttime spectaculars, World of Color - One at Disney California Adventure and Wondrous Journeys through August 31 at Walt's original park.
I am proud of our Visitors guide to Disneyland, which I think is the next single page devoted to Disneyland on the Internet. Please check it out for Theme Park Insider reader rankings of the attractions in the park, on-ride and full show videos, strategies for visiting, as well as links to what I have found are often the best discounts available online for Disneyland tickets.
There's still much to come from Disneyland in the months ahead, as well. Tiana's Bayou Adventure will take over the former Splash Mountain next year, extending the park's New Orleans Square land. The Swiss Family Robinson is coming back to Adventureland's treehouse. And Disney is pushing its DisneylandForward proposal in the local community, which would allow the resort to expand the park's footprint into space now reserved for surface parking. That would mean space for dozens of new attractions at the resort, providing homes of lots of Disney, Pixar and Marvel IP not currently represented at Disneyland.
It's been tough for the tourism and hospitality business to bounce back following the pandemic lockdowns, and Disneyland is no exception. Staffing, construction, maintenance, and pricing all have remained challenges, even as demand soars for out-of-home experiences. But with all that has happened and that remains on deck for the resort, it should be a very happy birthday for Disneyland today.
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Are you saying that Walt and the original Imagineers... mailed it in?
(Puts on sunglasses) YEE-AAH!!!
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More of a miracle than a theme park. By today's standards it was built on a site the size of a postage stamp. Best wishes to the cast members of this remarkable American institution.