7,642 First-Day Patrons Create Traffic Jam and Bulge $17 Mil Spot
ANAHEIM, Calif., July 23.- Walt Disney debuted is multi-million-dollar Disneyland to the public here Monday (18) following an over-crowded invitational premiere the day before.
Altho the park supposedly geared to handle 60,000 patrons a day, the so-called press mule did not show it. With an estimated 22,000 on hand, the guests were barely able to budge in some sections, giving way to the impression that Disneyland might not handle the number of people needed for support of the $17,000,000 plant. Monday’s opening pulled 27.642 people, with the Los Angeles radio stations giving out the
stories of bumber-to-bumper traffic for miles on the Santa Ana Freeway. Over 10,000 people were reported queued up in front of the ticket boxes long before the opener. With the parking lot set to receive automobiles at 9:15 a.m., the Monday schedule was pushed ahead 45 minutes to an hour, it was said, to relieve traffic on the southbound freeway.
The reactions of the press to it's prevue on Sunday (17) generally was not good. However, the errors made on the occasion of the two-day debuts are recognized. Perhaps, they are no more than those found at the launching of any expansive project. The blast came primarily from columnists, many of whom believe their presence an occasion for red carpet. In some cases, their facts were well founded. […]