Walt Disney, pictured in 1950, wanted to build a family-friendly theme park across from his studios in Burbank, California, but local officials turned it down because they feared the carnival atmosphere would bring crime to the area.
Source: USA Today
Disney settled for 160 acres of orange groves in beautiful Anaheim, California. Construction began in 1954, just 12 months before the park's official opening.
Source: USA Today
The park cost $17.5 million to build. In order to finance the project, Disney partnered with ABC to produce a weekly one-hour program, titled "Disneyland."
It featured classic characters and fairy tales, documentary shorts on science and technology, and progress reports on the park's construction.
Source: The Walt Disney Family Museum
Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. President Ronald Reagan co-hosted the opening ceremony.
Source: USA Today
The park means a lot to me in that it's something that will never be finished," Disney told journalist Pete Martin in a 1956 interview. "[It's] something that I can keep developing, keep plussing and adding to — it's alive.
Source: The Walt Disney Family Museum
When it opened, Disneyland featured 18 attractions scattered throughout five lands: Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street USA.
Inspired by Disney's Missouri hometown, Main Street, U.S.A. imitated turn-of-the-century America. "For those of us who remember the carefree time it recreates, Main Street will bring back happy memories," Disney said.
Source: CNN
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and other iconic Disney characters rode in a parade down Main Street.
Source: USA Today
Adventureland invited guests to explore new and exotic worlds. Its central ride, the Jungle Cruise, was one of the first attractions built, because Disney wanted to make sure the foliage had time to bloom.
Source: Disneyland
Frontierland, based on the escapades of cowboys and pioneers in the American Old West, featured few attractions at the start. Children traveled across the expanses of wilderness in old-fashioned stagecoaches and on pack mules.
Source: Disney
Disney dreamt up Fantasyland, pictured in the 1960s, as a fairy tale town inspired by Sleeping Beauty's castle in the animated movie. It was his favorite land in the park.
Source: Disney
Upon opening, children raced across the drawbridge toward the castle, which was modeled after a real Bavarian estate. The drawbridge has been lowered once since, at the land's rededication in 1983.
Source: Disneyland
The company scouted the country for old, hand-carved horses to be used on a merry-go-round erected in the center of Fantasyland. They were restored in a Disneyland workshop, and inspected by Disney himself.
Source: AP
Tomorrowland aimed to serve as a window to the future, inspired by Space Age innovations. It appeared barren on opening day. Disney and his Imagineers couldn't quite figure out what it should look like, and faced other practical roadblocks.
Source: Disney History Institute
When Disneyland first opened, it charged an entrance fee and an additional fee per ride. Starting in 1956, guests could instead purchase a booklet of tickets for different attractions. The prices pictured are from 1964.
Source: USA Today
As "Uncle Walt" hoped, the park continued to evolve over the years. Starting in the late 1950s, the Dapper Dans of Disneyland, a barbershop quartet, entertained guests along Main Street, U.S.A.
Tomorrowland filled out with rides like The Peoplemover. Guests boarded small trains that ran on an elevated track, providing panoramic views of the park. The attraction closed in 1995 because Imagineers thought it was too outdated.
Source: Disney
Another ride of by-gone days, the Flying Saucers were called "the bumper cars of the future." Guests sat in a car that hovered using airflow. It couldn't hold many people, and Space Mountain eventually replaced the Tomorrowland ride in 1977.
Source: AOL
When people wanted to get from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, they rode the Disneyland Skyway gondola lift. The Skyway opened in June 1956 and made its last run in 1994.
Source: Huffington Post
There, guests could go down the rabbit hole in a caterpillar-shaped vehicle at the Alice in Wonderland attraction.
Source: Disney
The only thing that didn't seem to change were the gates. Pictured in 1960, the entrance to Disneyland has managed to stay almost entirely in its original condition since the park opened.
Source: Huffington Post
The 1960s introduced rides such as the Haunted Mansion, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and the iconic It's a Small World boat ride.
Source: harmonize.com
Originally called "Children of the World," It's a Small World played an array of national anthems sung by children. Costume artists designed 300 colorfully dressed audio-animatronic dolls to be featured in the ride.
Source: Disney
Trains carried guests from the Disneyland Hotel to the park on a monorail. In the background is the The Matterhorn Bobsleds, a roller coaster modeled after a mountain in the Swiss Alps.
Vice President Richard Nixon, his wife Pat Nixon, and their children were on-site for the opening of the Matterhorn ride.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Nixon also led a 150-unit, hour-long parade with Disney. The president had reportedly promised his daughters a day at the park during their weeklong California vacation.
Source: AP
Nixon wasn't the only president to visit the "Happiest Place on Earth." Former President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie Eisenhower took their grandchildren in 1961.
The park received many celebrities over the years, including Shirley Temple, who attended the inauguration of the Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama in 1957.
Elizabeth Taylor and boyfriend Eddie Fisher rode one of the fantasy rides during a family outing in 1959.
Even TV star Zorro swung on scene. For three weekends in 1958, 1959, and in 1960, characters from the show would make an appearance for "Zorro Day."
Source: Disney History Institute