Dennis Mccann; in Step with the Mouse; Disneyland's Opening Was a Wild Adventure
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel › April 20, 2005
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Summary
Anaheim, Calif. No one said magic would be easy. Still, 50 years later, what almost no one remembers is the opening day that stumbled like Dumbo dancing in leg irons.
When the widely anticipated, but hardly completed, Disneyland opened its doors on July 17, 1955, so eager was the world to share Walt Disney's dream that instead of 6,000 invited guests, more than 28,000 people most armed with counterfeit tickets flooded into the new park.See the full content of this document
Extract
Dennis Mccann; in Step with the Mouse; Disneyland's Opening Was a Wild Adventure
The dream wasn't ready. Traffic jams broke records, attractions broke down, Tomorrowland suffered a gas leak, Fantasyland a power outage. Food and water ran short, lines ran long and the park's fresh blacktop streets were so sun-softened they sucked the high heels off women visitors. Disney, making the rounds with Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings and an actor named Ronald Reagan for a special television broadcast, could only roll with the punches but the early reviews were brutal.
"Walt's Dream a Nightmare," read one, while another declared "Disneyland Shatters Illusions."It d...See the full content of this document
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