Walt Disney famously said that Disneyland will never be completed. He was right.
The vote by the Anaheim City Council on Wednesday to approve the Disneyland resort’s $1.9-billion expansion plan is the latest of several huge investments made by the media giant at the 100-acre facility known to its fans as the “Happiest Place on Earth.”
Once upon a time, Disneyland was just a concept that grew out of a visit by Disney to Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Then on July 17, 1955, the gates were flung open at the then-$17.5-million resort and things have never been the same for the city of Anaheim.
Ticket prices on opening day were $1 for an adult and 50 cents for a child, with each attraction charging extra at each location, ranging from 10 to 35 cents.
Over the decades, the resort has added new attractions and entire worlds built around new franchises acquired by Disney. Bear Country opened in 1972 and gave way to Critter Country in 1988 in anticipation of Splash Mountain , which eventually closed in May 2023. Splash Mountain will be reopened later this summer as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure , inspired by the Disney film “The Princess and the Frog.”