Walt Disney opened Disneyland Park on July 17, 1955, with hopes that it would become “a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” Since then, the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. – known as The Happiest Place on Earth – has welcomed guests from around the world, expanding to become an approximately 500-acre, multifaceted, world-class family resort destination, complete with two renowned Disney theme parks, three hotels and the Downtown Disney District.
Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2025, Disneyland has been a place for generations of families and friends of all ages to create memories that last a lifetime. Today, it continues to invest in creativity, technology and innovation to bring storytelling to new heights, while fulfilling Walt Disney’s vision that “Disneyland will never be complete as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
Disneyland Park – Upon its opening on July 17, 1955, Disneyland introduced a new concept in family entertainment and launched the theme park industry as we know it today. Disneyland presented 18 major attractions on its opening day including the Mad Tea Party, the Jungle Cruise, Autopia and the Mark Twain Riverboat, and it featured five themed lands: Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland and Main Street, U.S.A. Today, Disneyland is an evolving American institution, featuring dozens of attractions and entertainment experiences in nine themed lands, having added New Orleans Square in 1966, Bayou Country (previously Bear Country and Critter Country) in 1972, Mickey’s Toontown in 1993 (reimagined in 2023) and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019.
Favorite Disneyland attractions include Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, “it’s a small world,” Indiana Jones Adventure and the mountain range of thrill rides: Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Entertainment is presented throughout the park, ranging from character appearances to live music and nighttime spectaculars.
Disney California Adventure Park – Since opening on Feb. 8, 2001, Disney California Adventure Park has been bringing adventure to life with Disney storytelling magic and popular attractions, plus distinctive entertainment and dining. Disney California Adventure Park has eight lands: Avengers Campus, Cars Land, Buena Vista Street, Hollywood Land, Grizzly Peak, Paradise Gardens Park, Pixar Pier and San Fransokyo Square.
Among the attractions in Disney California Adventure are WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, Incredicoaster, Toy Story Midway Mania!, Soarin’ Around the World and more. Disney California Adventure Park is home to the nighttime spectacular, “World of Color.”
Downtown Disney District – The Downtown Disney District is a promenade of exciting dining, shopping and entertainment experiences. It is the gateway between the Disneyland Resort theme parks and hotels, with no admission fee required. Recent additions to the diverse collection of restaurants and shops include Parkside Market, The D-Lander Shop, Avengers Reserve and Disney Wonderful World of Sweets.
Work is underway on the next evolution of the Downtown Disney District, as Disneyland Resort invests in the development of new guest experiences.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa –1600 S. Disneyland Drive, (714) 635-2300 Featuring 948 rooms and 71 Disney Vacation Club Villas, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is the flagship hotel of the Disneyland Resort. The design of this AAA Four Diamond Award-winning luxury property is inspired by the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts movement of early California. It is the first hotel in the United States to be built inside a Disney park, with dedicated entrances to the Disney California Adventure Park and the Downtown Disney District.
The hotel offers 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. Additionally, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa features four dining locations: Storytellers Cafe, the award-winning Napa Rose restaurant, GCH Craftsman Bar & Grill and Hearthstone Lounge. The Tenaya Stone Spa is a full-service spa and rejuvenating retreat designed by Disney Imagineers who gathered inspiration from the spirit of nature and the iconic Craftsman design of the hotel.
Disneyland Hotel – 1150 W. Magic Way, (714) 778-6600
This landmark hotel surrounds guests with the magic and nostalgia of Disneyland Park with 970 guest rooms, plus 344 Disney Vacation Club Villas. The hotel features guest rooms decorated with mid-century modern décor, specially themed Disney suites, three pools, splash pad and two Disneyland Monorail-inspired water slides. Goofy’s Kitchen, Tangaroa Terrace Tropical Bar & Grill, Broken Spell Lounge and Palm Breeze Bar are among the distinctive dining options. The AAA Four Diamond hotel also features 136,000 square feet of contiguous convention space.
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel, the newest Disney Vacation Club property at Disneyland Resort, is a 12-story tower designed to immerse guests in the world of Walt Disney Animation Studios stories while offering a wide range of themed home-like accommodations.
Pixar Place Hotel – 1717 Disneyland Dr., (714) 956-6425
Reimagined in 2024, the 15-story high-rise overlooking Disney California Adventure Park offers comfortable and contemporary Pixar-themed guest rooms, dining options by Great Maple, a relaxing rooftop pool area with a “Finding Nemo” themed splash pad and water slide, a play court, new fitness center, shopping and more. Pixar Place Hotel is the first fully Pixar-themed hotel in the United States, weaving the artistry of Pixar Animation Studios into a modern setting designed to evoke the creativity and humor in every Pixar film.
Disneyland Resort Facts & Firsts
- Matterhorn Bobsleds opened in 1959 as the first tubular steel roller coaster in the world, setting the standard for modern-day roller-coaster design.
- Disneyland created the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere.
- With more than 160 food and beverage locations, the Disneyland Resort offers more than 14,900 recipes. Many chefs are graduates of prestigious culinary schools.
- Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened in May 2019 as the largest single-themed land expansion in the history of Disneyland Park.
- The Disneyland app, the official mobile app for the Disneyland Resort, enables guests to purchase and link tickets, mobile order food and beverages, shop with merchandise mobile checkout, make dining reservations, view attraction wait times and park maps, and more.
- The landscape surrounding the Jungle Cruise has evolved into its own ecosystem since the attraction opened in 1955. The trees have created a canopy that allows species of ground plants to grow that otherwise wouldn’t thrive in Southern California.
- More than 3,000 species of plants, native to more than 40 countries around the world, grow at the Disneyland Resort.
- Since launching its Food Scraps program in 2013, Disneyland Resort has made significant strides in reducing food waste and promoting sustainability. Today, the resort successfully diverts over seven million pounds of food waste from landfills each year, turning scraps into valuable resources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has twice honored Disneyland Resort with the ‘Food Recovery Challenge Award’ for its leadership in food waste reduction. Disneyland has also received the SEAL Business Sustainability Award for its efforts to keep organic materials out of landfills.
- More than 32 different languages are spoken among Disneyland Resort cast members.
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