The first Disneyland celebrates its 70th anniversary. It's "the happiest place on Earth."

Seventy years ago, Disneyland, Walt Disney's first theme park, opened in Anaheim, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. The attraction that revolutionized the amusement park industry still attracts millions of visitors annually.

Disneyland in California , promoted as "the happiest place on Earth," remains one of the world's most popular amusement parks. It is also the only one designed and built under the supervision of Disney itself.

"All who come to this joyful place are welcomed! Disneyland is your land. Here, mature age relives fond memories of the past, and youth can savor the challenges and promises of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, dreams, and hard facts that created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration for the whole world," Disney said during the opening ceremony on July 17, 1955.

For the first time, the amusement park's opening was televised live. ABC broadcast the coverage, hosted by actors Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan, later president of the United States. Eleven thousand people were invited to the ceremony, but thousands more managed to gain entry with counterfeit tickets.

The park's construction took exactly one year and cost $17 million. On its opening day, Disneyland offered guests five themed lands and a total of 20 attractions. Some of these attractions are still operational, although they have been renovated and improved over the decades, noted ABC's local Los Angeles channel, ABC7, on its website.

Disneyland California began celebrating its 70th anniversary in May. The park announced in a press release that the celebration will continue until the summer of 2026 to "pay tribute to seven decades of happiness and many moments of joy." Special shows and other events are planned to mark the anniversary, and the evening light parade, "Paint the Night," has also returned, featuring over a million LED lights.

According to data cited by Fortune magazine, 17.3 million people visited Disneyland California in 2023 , compared to "only" four million visitors in the park's first full year of operation. Since then, the park has expanded significantly—as have admission prices.

Initially, they cost one dollar and 10 to 30 cents for each ride. Converted to today's dollars and adjusted for inflation, that would be about $50 for admission and multiple rides. By 2025, visitors to the "happiest place on Earth" could expect to pay between $104 and $206, depending on the season.

Over time, the Walt Disney Company consortium also grew. Today, it owns the ABC television network and operates six theme parks worldwide; the others are located in Florida, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Walt Disney World in Florida, the second park built, and significantly larger than the one in Anaheim, opened in 1971, five years after the death of the company's founder.