As the world changed that year, Jim recalls the changes at the park.
What a year 1968 was which is why there are so many 50th anniversary celebrations happening this year!
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Disneyland in 1968 was a bubble frozen in time, a fantasy world removed from the unpleasantness outside the berm, and was taking a moment in time to catch its breath. Annual attendance would end up being 9.4 million guests making a grand total of 77 million paying guests since opening day in 1955.
Walt had died in December 1966, and in 1968, his iconic signature was no longer on the little blue welcome note at the front of the ticket book. It was now Walt Disney Productions that welcomed guests to the park.
With the massive capital investment one year earlier in 1967 with the opening of a new Tomorrowland (that included six new attractions) and Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square, no new additions to Disneyland were in the immediate future.
All the resources and finances were being directed to Walt Disney World in Florida, since the necessary legislative bills establishing the Reedy Creek Improvement District and other authority necessary had been signed on May 12, 1967, paving the way for the preparation of the land and the building.
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