--- title: Disneyland History: How Walt Disney Prepared to Open His Theme Park description: This exclusive video clip shows the lead-up to the July 17, 1955, opening of the park canonical: https://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-16T14:00:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:29.834Z article:section: History og:title: Disneyland History: How Walt Disney Prepared to Open His Theme Park og:description: This exclusive video shows the lead-up to the July 17, 1955, opening og:url: https://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b94b6d5809c06c/69885adb5f570f8881b1c715/screen-shot-2015-07-14-at-2-37-20-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1708 og:image:height: 961 og:image:alt: Disneyland Clip og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Disneyland History: How Walt Disney Prepared to Open His Theme Park twitter:description: This exclusive video shows the lead-up to the July 17, 1955, opening twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b94b6d5809c06c/69885adb5f570f8881b1c715/screen-shot-2015-07-14-at-2-37-20-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Video of Walt Disney Preparing for Disneyland's Opening > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 16, 2015 2:00 PM UTC  American Experience  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 16, 2015 2:00 PM UTC With Disneyland marking its 60th anniversary this week and news that Disney plans to open [a park in Shanghai](http://time.com/3958488/disneyland-shanghai/), it’s worth remembering that the theme park that started it all almost wasn’t ready in time for its planned July 17, 1955, opening day. As shown in this exclusive clip from the PBS _American Experience_ special _Walt Disney_, which premieres Sept. 14 and 15, Disney took a hands-on approach to the park that bore his name. He was personally involved in the planning, design and the last ditch effort to open the gates on time–which required thousands of extra workers and tripled the estimated cost of the project. Disney so committed to opening on time that he even made the tough decision between working bathrooms and working drinking fountains–only one would be ready. (Watch the clip to find out which amenity won out.) **_Read a 1954 cover story about Walt Disney, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Father Goose](http://time.com/vault/issue/1954-12-27/page/44/) ### Here's Your First Look at Disneyland in Shanghai  Adventure Isle Disney Shanghai  Treasure Cove Disney Shanghai  Roaring Rapids Disney Shanghai  Pirates of the Caribbean, Battle for the Sunken Treasure Disney Shanghai  Tomorrowland Disney Shanghai  Aerial view of Shanghai Disney Resort Disney Shanghai  Fantasyland Disney Shanghai  Voyage to the Crystal Grotto Disney Shanghai  Dumbo ride Disney Shanghai  Fantasia Carousel Disney Shanghai  Sweethearts Confectionery Disney Shanghai  Disneytown's Broadway Plaza Disney Shanghai  Park layout Disney Shanghai  Shanghai Disneyland Hotel Lobby Disney Shanghai  Toy Story Hotel Disney Shanghai ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/"},"headline":"See Video of Walt Disney Preparing for Disneyland's Opening","datePublished":"2015-07-16T14:00:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:29.834Z","description":"This exclusive clip shows the lead-up to the July 17, 1955, opening of the park","url":"https://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/","keywords":["Television","movies","Disneyland","Disney"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b94b6d5809c06c/69885adb5f570f8881b1c715/screen-shot-2015-07-14-at-2-37-20-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b94b6d5809c06c/69885adb5f570f8881b1c715/screen-shot-2015-07-14-at-2-37-20-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Disneyland Clip","caption":"Disneyland Clip","creditText":"American Experience","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/","name":"See Video of Walt Disney Preparing for Disneyland's Opening"}}]}] ```