Melting Roads, Strikes And Escaped Tigers: Disneyland’s Opening Was Disastrous
Broken rides, 15000 gatecrashers, plumbing issues, and a tiger getting loose made for a memorable start
When Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, it was broadcast live on the ABC network (a one-third investor) to 70 million people in the US—about half the population at the time.
The star-studded event was hosted by the actor Ronald Reagan (before his dramatic career change), who was accompanied by legendary crooner Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Viewers saw parades, happy crowds, and the $17 million park in all its glory.
However, the reality for the poor sods who attended the opening event led to the day becoming known as “Black Sunday”. It was chaos.
The Associated Press reported, “Probably for the first time in his career, Disney disappointed thousands of youngsters.”
But was it really as bad as people say? Spoiler alert — yes, it was.
Concerns mounted Disneyland pre-opening, and things were massively rushed
Even prior to the big day, there were significant concerns, mostly resulting from the tight schedule and the required finances. To fund the new site, which was on a 160-acre orange grove in Anaheim, California, Walt Disney had to sell some property and borrow against his life insurance.
Even his brother Roy, the studio’s finance director, thought it would bankrupt them all. Roy was not alone in his concerns. Hollywood started to call the park “Walt’s folly.”
Only too aware of how much was at stake, Disney went all out. He set an unbelievably unrealistic schedule of just a year to build everything – including rides, parks, a train… and a castle.
To put that in perspective, the new attraction Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge took around three years to build. And that is just a 14-acre section of Disneyland.
Due to this tight schedule, construction continued day and night, right up to the opening event and the live broadcast. Getting everything done in time proved impossible, and many things just weren’t ready.
What kind of things went wrong on opening day?
Strikes and melting roads
As mentioned, the schedule was tight. So, a plumber strike a few weeks before opening led to some awkward decisions. Walt Disney had to decide between toilets and drinking fountains.
According to those present, Disney said, “Well, you know they can drink Coke and Pepsi, but they can’t pee in the street. Finish the restrooms.”
While Disney’s decision made sense, it didn’t hold up when there was also overcrowding due to gatecrashers—we’ll get to that in a sec. As a result, not only did all the Coke and Pepsi run out, but Disney was accused of trying to profit from it.
Adding to the misery was that launch day was an absolute scorcher, with temperatures hitting 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to the rush to finish making everything, the tarmac had only been laid down the previous evening, and so hadn’t had time to set. In the heat of the opening day, the main roads started to melt. Ladies in high heels had a particularly troublesome time.
Overcrowding and gatecrashers caused problems
The grand opening was supposed to be an exclusive invite-only event for an expected 15,000 guests. Unfortunately, the tickets were really easy to forge, and almost 30,000 people flooded through the gates.
Others found different ways to get in. One enterprising fellow even turned up with a ladder and charged people $5 to climb over the fence.
The crowds of people arriving caused California’s Santa Ana Freeway to be backed up for seven miles. Families were forced to urinate by the side of the road and in the car park. This feels doubly unfortunate, as the toilets were one of the few things at Disneyland that actually worked fine.
This overabundance of humanity led to epic lines for rides. Also, within a few hours, the food and drink ran out at all the concession stands and restaurants, which, with the heat and lack of drinking fountains, made for an unpleasant day out.
Evacuations, fires, sinking ships, and fake plants
The huge number of people caused problems on the rides that worked. For example, the Mark Twain Riverboat soon became filled beyond capacity, with 500 people crowding on board. This led to it coming off its track and starting to sink into the mud of the Rivers of America.
It took half an hour to fix, and when it finally arrived at the landing, everyone rushed to get off. This caused the riverboat to fall to one side, back into the water, and an understandably unhappy crowd was forced to wade ashore.
But at least it was open.
Quite a few of the most anticipated rides, such as Dumbo and Peter Pan’s Flight, weren’t ready. Tomorrowland’s Rocket to the Moon ride was supposed to reveal the giddy and exciting future of what life would be like in the far-off year of 1986. Instead, visitors were shown to a picnic area (which is probably closer to life in the mid-80s than what Disney had planned).
The Canal Boats of the World ride had developed a major foliage problem with thick weeds sprouting down the river banks. Due to the rush, there wasn’t time to clear them. So, in a stroke of genius, workers placed signs all everywhere with Latin names for exotic plant species, creating the impression of an arboretum rather than a colossal mess of overly fecund weeds.
In addition to all this mayhem, Fantasyland had a gas leak, with flames threatening to engulf Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Half the park had to be temporarily evacuated while the leak was contained, and the castle occupants were woken up and led to safety.
The next few weeks weren’t much better, with a tiger vs panther fight in the street and children turning dystopian
Disney was aware of the unfortunate teething troubles, saying, “We’ll settle down and get this place operating. It may take a month before everything’s going smoothly.”
He was mostly right, but it was still an interesting month.
Tiger and panther escape during the parade
During a circus parade, a tiger and a panther somehow managed to escape and get loose. The animals could have opted to savage spectators and create a major disaster for the fledgling Disneyland park. Fortunately for the terrified crowds, but unfortunately for the two animals, the tiger and panther turned on each other. The beasts became locked in what was described as a “furious death struggle” on Main Street, USA, in front of crowds of soon-to-be traumatised children.
Autopia was designed to teach kids about driving, but it instead it turned dystopian
Disney had envisaged Autopia as a utopian mini-freeway where children could climb into one of 36 cars and learn about the rules of the road and respect for other drivers. However, it actually resulted in a dystopian Mad Max-like experience, with the kids turning overly aggressive and smashing the cars into each other, destroying them. It does sound fun, though.
Frontierland ride was deemed too dangerous
Frontierland was designed to show the excitement and dangers of life on the old frontier. Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, the stagecoach ride proved too dangerous and had to be shut down. It was too top-heavy and was consequently prone to flipping over – an issue that was probably low on frontiers-people’s concerns.
As Walt Disney had promised, things finally get good. Very good.
Despite all the opening problems and aided by a blessed lack of social media, people kept flocking to Disneyland.
The park welcomed its millionth visitor just seven weeks after opening, and it was soon a more popular destination than Yellowstone Park or the Grand Canyon.
Disneyland has now received over 750 million visitors and is cumulatively the most visited theme park in the world. New Disneylands have since sprung up all over the globe, including Florida, Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
“Walt’s Folly” turned out to be a great idea after all.
This article originally appeared on my Intriguing Times Substack.
