Seventy Years of Happiness: A Brief History of Disneyland Resort

The term visionary gets thrown around a lot, but there are rare instances when it truly applies.

For example, consider the illustrator who stared at 160 acres of orange groves and thought, “I see something here.”

This person hoped for a better place for families to congregate, and he succeeded in creating this place.

Honestly, in Walt Disney’s wildest dreams, he never could have imagined the impact of his vision.

Let’s discuss seventy years of happiness as we reflect on the stunning history of Disneyland Resort.

From Humble Beginnings

Walt Disney paid $17 million to create The Happiest Place on Earth, and we’d all agree it was money well spent.

In 2025 dollars, that’s the equivalent of $205 million today. Let’s just say that Disney’s next theme park will cost…more.

Even so, Walt Disney needed to take several loans to pay for Disneyland…and that wasn’t all.

When the project ran over budget, Disney sold a one-third stake in the theme park to none other than ABC.

Yes, the television network owned a significant stake in Disneyland for many years.

Not coincidentally, Walt Disney programming remained a staple of ABC for generations.

That union formed on opening day, when 90 million viewers watched an admittedly disastrous debut.

Since money was tight and time was short, several parts of the theme park weren’t quite ready.

People dressed to the nines for opening day, and this first-ever Dapper Day didn’t go well at all.

Viewers watched in confusion as high heels melted in not yet congealed pavement, and the paint wasn’t dry on chairs.

None of that mattered in the grand scheme, though.

With so many people watching, Disneyland cemented itself as a destination vacation location.

After just three years, the park was already one of the most visited tourist spots in North America.

You can understand why when I tell you some of the attractions that have been at Disneyland since opening day.

We’re talking about Autopia, Jungle Cruise, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Mad Tea Party, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Snow White’s Scary Adventures.

I’m not even listing them all, merely the highlights, attractions that have stood the test of time.

Only one of them, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, has undergone any sort of metamorphosis.

And that one makes sense since 1955 tourists didn’t understand the ride at first.

The First Plussing

Walt Disney used the term plussing to describe the act of improving existing attractions.

He believed strongly that Disneyland “will never be completed. “It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

Plussing is how Imagineers maintain the attractions to keep them just as lovable to modern audiences.

I mean, if you were five years old on Disneyland’s opening date, you’d be 75 now…and a lot has happened.

So, you probably barely remember the experience and mainly remember what your parents said about it.

Also, I doubt you have a TikTok account or have ever used ChatGPT for anything.

Imagineers must perfect the attractions such that the appeal to that 75-year-old AND everyone who knows what FYP is.

That’s a big ask, yet Disney has somehow achieved this feat for 70 years and counting.

And the key to it all is plussing, which began in earnest in 1959.

That’s when Tomorrowland changed forever.

The Second Opening

After just a couple of years, Disneyland had proven so successful that its founder wanted to reinvest.

Uncle Walt followed the maxim of “Go big or go home” by adding several new attractions as part of the Disneyland ’59 event.

ABC once again broadcast the debut of this “Second opening of Disneyland,” and you can watch the show here:

As part of this massive expansion, Imagineers constructed an artificial mountain. Yes, that’s how we got the Matterhorn.

Also, Disney went under the sea with its submarine ride, the one we now call Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

Those aren’t the updates that make this project so remarkable, though.

The pinnacle of Disneyland ’59 was the introduction of the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail System.

You can imagine the shock and awe that tourists felt in 1959 when they encountered the monorail for the first time.

As a historical footnote, this wasn’t even the only form of transportation Disney debuted in the 1950s.

In 1956, the legendary gondola system known as the Skyway transferred its first guests from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland.

During those early years at Disneyland, Uncle Walt insisted on innovation, and these two options proved it.

Suddenly, Disneyland fans enjoyed additional travel options other than the railroad that Walt loved so much.

They could take to the air via the Skyway or ride in Disney’s most iconic form of transportation, the monorail.

And all these things happened within five years of Disneyland’s grand opening.

You can imagine how much pressure Imagineers felt to keep the hits coming after that.

Welcome to New Orleans

In a weird twist of fate, Disney had the idea for its 1960s expansion from well before Disneyland’s opening.

Plans had always called for a Haunted Mansion attraction at The Happiest Place on Earth, a combination of words that makes no sense.

Why would people want horror at a place of joy? This debate played out behind the scenes at WED Enterprises.

Imagineers debated the point for years, loudly wondering how a Haunted Mansion attraction should work.

Did the attraction need to be scary to justify its name? Or could Imagineers infuse it with Disney levity?

Ultimately, as you know, Disney settled upon a healthy mix of both concepts, creating an inimitable attraction.

However, the process took more than 15 years and thereby turned Haunted Mansion into the expansion’s second ride.

You should know the other one, as it’s quite possibly the ride most inexorably linked with Disneyland.

Yes, a dozen years after Disneyland opened, its expansion area, New Orleans Square, introduced the world to pirates.

Specifically, fans met the Pirates of the Caribbean, a nefarious lot of nogoodniks whose shenanigans charmed us all.

The other introduction of New Orleans Square proved a bit odd, with the themed land debuting on July 24^th, 1966.

Pirates of the Caribbean wouldn’t arrive until March 18^th, 1967, which probably made New Orleans Square boring for its first nine months.

The place offered no rides during that span, and even Blue Bayou Restaurant wouldn’t arrive until the following March.

As for Haunted Mansion, it debuted to staggering acclaim on August 9^th, 1969.

Since Walt Disney had tragically died in 1966, these two rides felt like a permanent tribute to his wizardry.

In addition to hosting two exceptional rides, New Orleans Square is steeped in symbolism as Uncle Walt’s final project.

The New Fantasyland Era

Alas, the death of Disneyland’s namesake created innumerable effects within The Walt Disney Company.

Most of Disney’s focus turned east to Uncle Walt’s passion project, Walt Disney World.

The construction of this new theme park created cash flow issues at Imagineering.

So, Disneyland languished a bit during the 1970s, with the park opening just three major attractions.

Two of them, Country Bear Jamboree and Space Mountain, were duplicates of Magic Kingdom experiences.

Disneyland’s “original” ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was co-developed at both parks.

Thus, as Disneyland entered the 1980s, one of its most popular themed lands required plussing.

At the time, Fantasyland had grown congested and outdated, two huge theme park no-nos.

Disney tasked its Imagineers with creating a modern version of the area, which feels a bit weird to say about something more than 40 years old now.

Park officials knew that they had a hit on their hands, though. And they promoted New Fantasyland appropriately:

Imagineers removed the tents and replaced them with timeless Bavarian architecture.

In a proud Disney press release, the company explained that “a lot has changed in the past 28 years.”

Thus, New Fantasyland must change with the times. Plus, Disney had an ace in the hole.

The company unveiled its latest Fantasyland attraction, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, an instant classic.

Imagineers even employed holographic technology for the first time to craft the illusion of fiber-optic Pixie Dust.

Disney more recently performed some plussing at New Fantasyland by evolving one of its oldest attractions.

Imagineers updated the confusing Scary Adventures of Snow White from 1955 into the more fitting Snow White’s Enchanted Wish.

It’s a happier ride at The Happiest Place on Earth.

A New Adventure at Disneyland Resort

Perhaps the most dramatic changes at Disneyland Resort occurred at the turn of the millennium.

For the first time ever, Disneyland Park gained a sibling when Imagineers built Disney California Adventure (DCA).

The early days of this new theme park…weren’t great. But I’d rather not focus on the negative here.

Disney effectively doubled the entertainment options at Disneyland Resort in 2001.

Then, when Cars Land/Radiator Springs arrived in 2012, the park leveled up again.

With the arrival of the Pixar and Marvel experiences over the past decade, DCA has achieved its final form.

In less than a quarter century, this park has introduced E-ticket attractions such as:

• Grizzly River Run
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
• The Incredicoaster
• Pixar Pal-A-Round
• Radiator Springs Racers
• WEBSLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure

And I intentionally left one off the list. For all the early criticisms of DCA, it got one thing right.

The park introduced the world to the majesty of Soarin’ Over California, a breathtaking journey through the air.

Even now, Disney sometimes brings back Soarin’ Over California despite the fact that a replacement exists.

Whether you favor this version or Soarin’ Around the World, both rides embody Disney ingenuity.

One Imagineer took his work home with him for the holidays. Then, during a family get-together, he remembered his childhood toy.

That Erector set provided the inspiration for Soarin’, and the rest is theme park history.

Mickey’s Toontown Gets Plussed

Theme park tastes have evolved over the years, requiring Disney to keep up with the changing times.

Something Disney officials never could have imagined 70 years ago was that Mickey Mouse could star in his own ride.

At the time, no one dared to pitch a ride that might tarnish the legacy of Walt Disney’s beloved creation.

Thousands of Imagineers have since carried the torch in this regard, securing Disneyland’s fate.

So, after nearly 65 years in operation, Disney finally felt comfortable creating a Mickey & Minnie Mouse attraction.

Oddly, the first destination for this ride was Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which frankly felt a bit off.

Thankfully, Disney had grander ambitions than it acknowledged at the time. Two years later, Mickey’s Toontown closed.

Many would argue that this move was necessitated by the optics of a brutal fight that occurred here.

Whether that’s the case or not, this themed land had definitively lost its luster after 30 years in operation.

Kids no longer related to the outdated child-friendly activities on display here. Change was sorely needed.

Disneyland closed Mickey’s Toontown on March 9^th, 2022. One year and ten days later, it triumphantly reopened.

The new version of this themed land is a masterpiece reflecting all of Disney’s modern concepts for theme park immersion.

This experiences available here cater to all guests including the neurodivergent and extremely introverted.

And Disney finally introduced an attraction nearly 70 years in the making as part of the festivities.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway now anchors Mickey’s Toontown.

This attraction brings daily joy while also cementing the bond between Walt Disney and his most iconic character.

To a larger point, the new Mickey’s Toontown exemplifies how much the craft of Imagineering has improved over time.

The Best Is Yet to Come

As we speak, Disneyland Resort is undergoing a historic transformation.

As a byproduct of the DisneylandForward negotiations, Disney now owns a new street.

There’s more involved than that, but the acquisition of the street allows for the expansion of the entire campus.

For the first time in the entire history of The Happiest Place on Earth, park officials have a lot of new space to work with.

While Disney has already confirmed four new attractions coming to the parks, it’s merely scratching the surface.

According to the paperwork Disney filed with the local government, we should expect 16 new rides over the next decade.

Therefore, Disneyland Resort has entered a dramatic expansion era the likes of which we haven’t seen since 1959.

Walt Disney himself would be thrilled to know that after all this time, his park maintains his vision for family-friendly entertainment.

And that’s not all. As part of Disneyland 70 celebration commemorating the park’s creation, Imagineers did something special.

They created an Audio-Animatronic of Walt Disney as part of a new show.

From now on, fans can watch Walt Disney – A Magical Life and admire the legacy of Disneyland’s founder.

To a larger point, from now on, Walt Disney will always hold court at the Happiest Place he created.

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 Feature Photo: Disney