When Walt Disney first conceived of Disneyland, the phrase theme park did not exist. In fact, at that time, amusement parks tended to be seedy affairs, and the idea that adults and children could enjoy the same recreational experience together was inconceivable. In those days, parents stood and watched while their offspring rode carousels or ponies.

After pioneering a number of firsts, including the world's first sound-on-film cartoon (Steamboat Willie, 1928) and the first feature-length cartoon (Snow White, 1937), Walt Disney built his Burbank, California, studio in 1940. Soon, Disney started getting requests from children who wanted to see where Snow White and Mickey Mouse “lived.” Rejecting the idea of a studio tour because he thought it would be boring just to watch people working, Disney started thinking about creating a character display on land surrounding the studio. At the same time, he was raising two young daughters and growing dissatisfied with the lack of places where parents could have fun with their kids.

Disney was also a lifetime fan of circuses, carnivals, and fairs, and he was enchanted with trains and railroading. Slowly, his interests and thoughts began to coalesce; an idea took shape for something new, something so revolutionary that he had trouble finding words to explain it to potential investors.

By 1948, Disney's idea began to crystallize. He circulated a memo about his “kiddie park” that included the seeds of Main Street, U.S.A. and Frontierland. By 1952, he presented a plan to the Burbank City Council, but it wasn't until 1955 that Disneyland became a reality, by then relocated to Anaheim.

On opening day, July 17, 1955, an estimated 90 million people watched the park's grand opening on television. By 1959, Disneyland became so popular that an international incident almost ensued when the first Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was denied entrance (on grounds that the park could not guarantee his safety). Within two and a half years, 10 million guests, famous and ordinary, had passed through its gates.

Disneyland was a new concept, an amusement park that offered state-of-the-art attractions, parades, and other forms of entertainment — all based on Walt Disney's most beloved characters. Shortly after it opened, Will Jones wrote in the Minneapolis Tribune: “If it's an amusement park, it's the gosh-darndest, most happily inspired, most carefully planned, most adventure-filled park ever conceived. No ride or concession in it is like anything in any other amusement park anywhere.” Since then, Disneyland has been called a “creative experiment in urban design” in Architectural Forum magazine, “the most important single piece of construction in the West in the past several decades” by Yale Architectural Digest, and a whole lot of fun by the guests who have visited it.

Disneyland innovations include the first tubular steel roller coaster (Matterhorn Bobsleds), the first simulator-based ride (Star Tours), and the first daily operating monorail in the western hemisphere.

Disneyland retains dozens of classic rides and attractions created by Walt and his team of “Imagineers,” but it also continues to add exciting new features designed for the entire family. Today's Disneyland theme park offers more than sixty rides, shows, and attractions.