Disney Park History

The history of the Disney parks is complex.  The empire has expanded from origins in a single park in California, to multiple parks in different continents, as well as cruise lines and time-share properties all over the world.  Due to the fantastic image Disney has been able to create, many amateur historians keep the history both on the Internet and in print.

Disneyland was born in concept when Walt Disney was visiting an amusement park with his daughters.  As he watched them ride the Merry-Go-Round, he envisioned a park where children and adults could enjoy themselves together.   After finally obtaining funding for his idea, construction began in 1954 and opened to the public exactly one year later on July 18, 1955.

In 1959, Disney began looking for a second location for a theme park.  Disneyland, despite all its success had several issues they wished to resolve.  Only a small fraction of the visitors came from East of the Mississippi and the park was encircled by businesses seeking to capitalize on Disneyland's success.  They settled on Orlando and although Walt died in 1966, the park finally opened on October 1, 1971 as "Walt Disney World."

Several international parks followed this development.  Tokyo Disney opened in 1983 in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.  Disneyland Paris, originally called "Euro Disney" was opened in 1992.  Finally Hong Kong Disneyland opened on September 12, 2005.

All of the Disney parks are constantly evolving and growing.  There is a rich history of extinct attractions, attractions that were never made and ones that have been rumored for years.  The amount of information available could fill many volumes.  Fortunately there are many who are fascinated by all of this history and help track and record it.

There are a myriad of Websites dedicated to documenting the history and details of the parks.  In fact many sites do detailed articles on the current parks, which will likely serve as histories in the constantly evolving world of Disney parks.  There is so much of interest that one could practically dedicate a life's research to the subject.