"Disneyland will never be completed," said Walt Disney at the opening of his first park in Anaheim, California, "it will continue to grow as long as there is imagination in the world." The Disneyland brand has since spread across the continents, but the Anaheim park was completed in July, 1955 after a year of construction. This photo shows Disney himself, standing before a still-scaffolded Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Opening day was a disaster – counterfeit tickets saw uninvited guests swarm into the park, asphalt melted in the hot sun, water fountains ran dry, and a gas leak forced three areas to close. But the park rebounded rapidly, and quickly turned vast profits.

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