Disneyland's construction began in July 1954. 160-acres of trees had to be cleared from the Californian site and 15 house moved to make room for the park. After one year of construction and a total investment of $17million, Disneyland was opened for the first time to guests on July 17 1955. They decided to hold a special International Press Preview event which was only open to invited guests. Six thousand invitations had been mailed out for the Grand Opening to studio workers, construction workers, press and officials of the company.
As the gates opened, they were not at all ready. Workmen were still planting trees and paint was wet to touch in some areas. The asphalt on Main Street USA had only been laid in the morning of the opening and
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The expected 11,000 people suddenly turned to over 28,000 which also caused traffic jams and gridlocking in the city. Walt had not thought about the time of year he was opening his first park, Southern California was suffering form a record heat wave with temperature's soaring over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to this and the mass number of guests caused the park to run out of food and beverages.
Walt Disney productions began looking for another site for a second park. This search was driven by the results from surveys and Walt's desire to control a larger area of land to prevent other competitors. Walt was impressed with Orlando's infrastructure so construction began. Disneyworld then opened in October 1971 and had a smoother day than Disneyland's opening due to the fact they had learnt a lot of lessons.
Two days before the opening of Walt Disney World, the Florida highway patrol had issued a statement that they believed as many as 300,000 people might try to be among the first to get into the Magic Kingdom. Fortunately the small crowd of 10,000 on October 1,1971 allowed for any problems that sprang up to be fixed with minimal inconvenience. They also had all the highways being patrolled to reduce the traffic jams which occurred during Disneyland's