Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy and futurism, opened on July 17, 1955. The $ 17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of old orange groves in Anaheim, California, and quickly generated staggering profits. Today, Disneyland welcomes more than 18 million visitors a year, who spend nearly $ 3 billion.
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Walt Disney, born in Chicago in 1901, worked as a commercial artist before setting up a small studio in Los Angeles to produce cartoons. In 1928, his short film Steamboat Willy, with the character “Mickey Mouse”, was a national sensation. It was the first animated film to use sound, and Disney provided Mickey’s voice. From then on, Disney cartoons were in high demand, but the company experienced financial difficulties due to Disney’s insistence on constantly improving artistic and technical quality. His first feature film cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938), took three years and was a great commercial success.
White as snow was followed by other long-lasting classics for children, such as Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). Fancy (1940), which coordinates animation segments with famous classical music pieces, is an artistic and technical success. In Southern song (1946), Disney combined live actors with animated characters, and starting with Treasure island in 1950 the company added live films to its repertoire. Disney was also one of the first film studios to produce films directly for television, and its Zorro and Davy Crockett the series were very popular with children.
In the early 1950s, Walt Disney began designing a huge amusement park to build near Los Angeles. He wanted Disneyland to have educational and fun value and to keep adults and their children entertained. Land was purchased in the farming community of Anaheim, about 40 km southeast of Los Angeles, and construction began in 1954. In the summer of 1955, special invitations were sent out for the opening of Disneyland on July 17. Unfortunately, the pass was forged. and thousands of uninvited guests were admitted to Disneyland on opening day. The park was not ready for the public: food and drink ran out, a women’s high heel shoe got stuck in the wet asphalt of Main Street USA, and the steamer Mark Twain almost capsized by too many passengers.
Disneyland quickly recovered, however, and attractions such as the castle, Mr. Toad’s Wild Tide, Snow White’s Adventures, Space Station X-1, Jungle Cruise and Stage Coach have drawn countless children and their parents. Special events and the continued construction of new cutting-edge attractions have encouraged them to return. In 1965, work began on an even larger Disney theme park and resort near Orlando, Florida. Walt Disney died in 1966, and Walt Disney World was inaugurated in his honor on October 1, 1971. Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom were then added to Walt Disney World, and it remains the main tourist attraction of the Florida. In 1983, Disneyland Tokyo opened its doors in Japan, and in 1992 Disneyland Paris – or “EuroDisney” – opened a mixed reaction in Marne-la-Vallée. Disneyland in Hong Kong opened in September 2005.
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