Exactly one year and one day afte breaking ground on a 160-acre orange grove in Anaheim, Calif., "Disneyland," Walt Disneys $17,000,000 magic kingdom was opened to the pub lic. With this inaugural on July 18, 1955, Walt Disney realized a life-time dream in offering to the young of all ages the active delights of the moment and the challenging promises of the future. To the older generations he opened forgotten doors that they might relive the pasts fond memori
For more than 20 years—almost trom the time Mickey Mouses voice was first heard around the world——Walt Disney envisioned a Magi Kingdom : a lavish new kind of entertainment de tgned for family participation, based upon his own delightful cartoon chat acters
His original plan was to build the park on the studio lot in Burbank However, as his cartoon family and other activities grew, so did his dream and it soon becam«e apparent that something far more extensive than the Burbank lot would he needed Selec tion of the site was made after a year study in location analysis and a com plete search of land record Among other qualifications considered were iccessibility, topography and environ mental characteristi Even annual rainfall figures influenced the final site selection.
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