2 How Did Disneyland Start?

One day, a man named Walt Disney took his daughters to an amusement park. At the amusement park, they went on the rides, played games, and saw animals. But the park was not exciting. It was also dirty. He looked around and said,“I want to take my children to a better place. I want families to have fun together.”

Walt Disney was famous for his movies.He was also famous for his cartoons.Now Disney started to think about a new park. He wanted a park with different parts with special names. One part was “Fantasyland” and another part was“Adventureland” . He also wanted to use ideas from his movies and cartoons. His most popular cartoon was Mickey Mouse. Disney wanted Mickey Mouse and other cartoon people to walk around the park and talk to the guests.

Disney's dream of a special park took many years to come true. People did not understand his ideas. Nobody wanted to give him money. So Disney used all his own money to build the park. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. It was an immediate hit. The first year, about five million people went to Disneyland. People came from all over the United States and all over the world.

Walt Disney wanted Disneyland to be perfect. Every night,workers washed the streets. They made sure the streets were clean. They also made sure there was no chewing gum on the ground.They painted the signs again at night. They wanted the signs to look new.

Disneyland always had many plants and flowers. But Disney did not want any signs that said, “Do not walk on the plants.” So every year, the workers changed 800,000 plants and put in new ones.

Disney wanted the workers to be happy and clean all the time. He started a special school for his workers called the University of Disneyland. The workers learned to be happy and polite to guests. They could not wear perfume,jewelry,or bright nail polish.They had to follow rules for how to dress and how to wear their hair.

Walt Disney became very rich. He was a millionaire. He died in 1966, but his dream of more Disneylands came true. In 1971, Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida. Today, there are Disneylands in Tokyo and Paris.