Walt Disney's $17 million theme park opened to an invited press and celebrity crowd that swelled to nearly 28,000 people, double the expected number, due to counterfeit tickets. Freshly poured asphalt melted in the heat and trapped women's high heels, a plumbers' strike had forced Disney to choose between working toilets and drinking fountains, and several rides broke down, giving the day the nickname 'Black Sunday' among staff.
Walt Disney had staked his personal fortune and reputation on an entirely new kind of amusement park, one meticulously themed rather than a haphazard collection of rides, and television cameras broadcast the opening live to an estimated 90 million viewers, hosted by Art Linkletter and a young Ronald Reagan.
Behind the scenes it was pure chaos. Someone had printed thousands of counterfeit invitations, and the park's capacity was overwhelmed within hours. A gas leak forced the temporary closure of Fantasyland, the Mark Twain Riverboat nearly capsized from too many passengers, and restaurants ran out of food by early afternoon. Disney himself admitted decades later that he considered the day 'a nightmare.'
Despite the disaster, Disneyland's underlying concept, an immersive, meticulously designed environment married to storytelling, proved so compelling that within two months it had drawn a million visitors. It became the prototype for theme parks worldwide and cemented Disney's transformation from animation studio into an entertainment empire.
Key people: Walt Disney, Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter