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The '''opening day of Disneyland''' took place on Sunday, July 17, 1955, when [[Disneyland Park]] in Anaheim, California, was presented to invited guests, the press and a national television audience in a live ABC broadcast. Intended as a controlled preview before the park opened to the general public the following day, the event instead drew roughly twice the expected crowd in extreme heat, with several attractions unfinished or breaking down, food and drink running short, and traffic backed up for miles. Employees later referred to the day as '''Black Sunday'''. The park recovered quickly in the following weeks, but the opening remains the standard example of the gap between its planned presentation and its first-day operation.

== Background ==
[[Walt Disney]] had built Disneyland in about a year on former orange groves in Anaheim, at a cost of about 17 million dollars. Financing came from the studio, from Disney's personal borrowing and from the ABC television network, which took a minority stake in the park and aired the weekly ''Walt Disney's Disneyland'' programme. The television contract also fixed the opening date: ABC planned a live special from the park, so construction had to meet a broadcast deadline rather than a date chosen for readiness. Work continued up to the morning of the broadcast, and some areas, particularly Tomorrowland, were visibly incomplete.

== The broadcast and dedication ==
The 90-minute ABC special, ''Dateline: Disneyland'', was hosted by Walt Disney with Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings and Ronald Reagan as co-hosts, at a time when live television on this scale was still unusual. An estimated tens of millions of viewers watched in the United States.

During the programme Disney read the dedication that still appears on a plaque at the park, welcoming those who come in search of happiness and knowledge and describing Disneyland as dedicated to the ideals, dreams and hard facts that created America. The broadcast moved between the lands — [[Main Street, U.S.A.]], Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland — and showed attractions including the Mark Twain Riverboat, Jungle Cruise and Autopia.

== Crowds and counterfeit tickets ==
July 17 was not a public opening. Admission was by invitation, distributed to employees' families, company partners, officials, celebrities and the press, with staggered arrival times. About 15,000 guests were expected. The recorded attendance was 28,154.

Investigations afterwards attributed the difference mainly to counterfeit invitations, which were difficult to distinguish at the gates, and to unauthorised entry over fences and service areas. Contemporary reports described a man charging visitors to climb a ladder propped against a fence at the rear of the park. Traffic on the Santa Ana Freeway backed up for about seven miles, and Anaheim's roads and car parks were not prepared for the numbers that arrived.

== Problems during the day ==
Temperatures reached about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). A local plumbers' strike during construction had left the park short of working drinking fountains, a shortage that drew particular criticism on a hot day. Restaurants and refreshment stands ran out of food during the afternoon.

Fresh asphalt on Main Street, U.S.A., laid shortly before opening, softened in the heat and was reported to have caught at visitors' shoes, including women's high heels. Elsewhere, unfinished planting along the Canal Boats attraction was disguised by labelling weeds with Latin plant names, making the banks resemble a botanical display.

Several attractions were not ready. Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Peter Pan's Flight and Rocket to the Moon were among those closed or unavailable for part or all of the preview. Others broke down under sustained use. The Mark Twain Riverboat, whose safe capacity had not yet been established in practice, was loaded heavily enough to sit low in the water and take water over its decks. A gas leak led to the temporary closure of parts of Adventureland, Fantasyland and Frontierland, and Autopia cars were extensively damaged by collisions.

Press coverage the next morning was mixed to negative, with some reports focusing on disappointed children and long queues. Disney acknowledged that operations would need time to settle, estimating about a month before the park ran smoothly.

== The following days ==
Disneyland opened to the general public on July 18, 1955, with admission priced at one dollar for adults, and drew a more manageable crowd of roughly 10,000. Over the next several weeks management limited daily attendance while staff corrected the first day's failures: capacities were established for boats and vehicles, drinking fountains and food service were expanded, broken attractions were repaired and ticket controls were tightened.

By the end of its first seven weeks the park had recorded its millionth guest, and first-year attendance exceeded early projections. The difficult preview nevertheless entered the park's internal folklore as Black Sunday, a name used in later anniversary coverage to contrast the opening day with the park's later reputation for tightly controlled operations.

== See also ==
* [[Disneyland Park]]
* [[Walt Disney]]
* [[Roy O. Disney]]
* [[Disneyland Resort]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Disneyland Park]]
[[Category:Disneyland Resort]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:1955 establishments in California]]

Opening day of Disneyland - Revision history

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