Disneyland Resort
| Disneyland Resort | |
|---|---|
| Location | Anaheim, California, United States |
| Opened | July 17, 1955
|
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Operator | Disney Experiences |
| Status | Operating |
The Disneyland Resort is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California, United States, owned and operated by Disney Experiences, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It comprises two theme parks — Disneyland Park, the original park built under Walt Disney's personal supervision and opened in 1955, and Disney California Adventure, opened in 2001 — along with three resort hotels and the Downtown Disney shopping and entertainment district.
For most of its life the resort consisted of a single park, its parking lot, and the independently owned Disneyland Hotel. A major expansion at the turn of the 21st century, modelled in part on the multi-park Walt Disney World in Florida, transformed it into a destination resort in its own right.
History
Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, on 160 acres of orange groves in Anaheim. Walt Disney had pursued the idea of a park for his studio's employees and their families since the 1930s, and after visiting amusement parks and fairs around the world he financed the project in part by borrowing against his life insurance and by selling a share of the venture to the ABC television network, which broadcast the Disneyland anthology series that helped fund construction.
The park's opening day — remembered in company lore as "Black Sunday" — was plagued by unfinished attractions, counterfeit tickets that doubled the expected crowd, melting asphalt and a plumbers' strike that forced a choice between working drinking fountains and working toilets. The park recovered within weeks, and within a year it had received more than a million guests.
For decades the surrounding city grew up tightly around the park, a situation Walt Disney came to regret and the direct cause of his decision to buy land on a far larger scale in Florida. In the 1990s, under chief executive Michael Eisner, the company committed to turning Anaheim into a true resort. The original parking lot was replaced by a second theme park, Disney California Adventure, a new grand hotel built inside it, and the Downtown Disney district; the parking lot itself was replaced by one of the largest parking structures in the world. The expansion opened in 2001.
In 2024 the City of Anaheim approved DisneylandForward, a rezoning framework that allows Disney to build new attractions, hotels and entertainment on land it already owns around the resort over the coming decades.
Components
Theme parks
- Disneyland Park (1955) — the original park, with Sleeping Beauty Castle and eight themed lands including New Orleans Square and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
- Disney California Adventure (2001) — a park celebrating California and, increasingly, the worlds of Pixar and Marvel, across the esplanade from Disneyland.
Hotels
- Disneyland Hotel (1955) — opened months after the park under independent ownership; acquired by Disney in 1988. A Disney Vacation Club tower, The Villas at Disneyland Hotel, opened in 2023.
- Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa (2001) — a Craftsman-style hotel with its own entrance into Disney California Adventure.
- Pixar Place Hotel (2024) — a retheme of the former Paradise Pier Hotel, itself built in 1984 as a third-party hotel and acquired by Disney in 1995.
Downtown Disney
The Downtown Disney District, opened in 2001, is an outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment promenade between the parks and the hotels. It has been progressively rebuilt since 2023.
Transportation
The Disneyland Monorail, opened in 1959 as the first daily-operating monorail in the United States, links Tomorrowland with the Downtown Disney District. Most other movement within the compact resort is on foot; resort parking is concentrated in the Mickey & Friends and Pixar Pals structures, served by tram.