If you’re looking for the Disneyland opening day map from 1955, there are actually two different early Disneyland images that are often confused with each other. One is the guest map distributed during Disneyland’s opening year. The other is a much more detailed aerial illustration published before Disneyland was even finished.
The large color image that is frequently shared online as a “1955 Disneyland map” is the second one. It originally appeared in LOOK magazine on November 2, 1954 under the headline Here’s your first view of Disneyland.
That makes it arguably even more interesting. It shows what Disneyland was supposed to become while construction was still underway, rather than simply recording what guests found when the gates opened.
View the large pre-opening Disneyland illustration
The Famous Color Disneyland Map Is Actually From 1954
Look closely at the text printed directly on the illustration and the date becomes clear.
The accompanying article describes bulldozers building miniature mountains in Anaheim and says Disneyland currently exists mainly in drawings, models and the color image on the page. It also says the park is expected to open in midsummer 1955.
The spread was published in LOOK magazine on November 2, 1954, before Disneyland’s July 1955 opening.
It is therefore better understood as a pre-opening visualization of Disneyland.
That explains some of the strangest things on the image. You are looking at ideas while the park was still developing, not a precise guide to the completed park on July 17, 1955.
What the Actual 1955 Disneyland Guide Map Looked Like
Disneyland also distributed a much simpler fold-out map to guests during its opening year.
The early “Welcome to Disneyland” guide used a black-and-white illustrated map with colored accents and identified the areas of the new park for visitors.
The layout centered everything on the hub at the end of Main Street, U.S.A., with the original park areas spreading outward:
- Main Street, U.S.A.
- Adventureland
- Frontierland
- Fantasyland
- Tomorrowland
That basic hub-and-spoke arrangement is still immediately recognizable at Disneyland today, even though the park has expanded dramatically around it.
Disneyland on July 17, 1955 Was Smaller Than the Map Makes It Feel
Disneyland was officially dedicated on July 17, 1955 during an invitation-only press event and live television broadcast. The park opened to the general public the following day, July 18.
The park was built on former orange-grove land in Anaheim, and a large amount of what surrounds Disneyland today simply did not exist.
There was no New Orleans Square, Bayou Country, Mickey’s Toontown or Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Disney’s own historical sources describe Disneyland as opening with attractions spread across Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
The Disneyland Attractions That Were There on Opening Day
You will sometimes see different totals for Disneyland’s opening-day attractions.
Disney Parks Blog says 18 attractions were unveiled on July 17, 1955, while D23’s archival Disneyland entry lists 20 opening-day attractions. The difference comes down to what gets counted as an attraction, ride, show or Main Street experience.
D23’s opening-day list includes:
Fantasyland
- King Arthur Carrousel
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Mad Tea Party
- Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
- Canal Boats of the World
- Snow White’s Adventures
Tomorrowland
- Autopia
- Space Station X-1
- Circarama
Adventureland
- Jungle Cruise
Frontierland
- Stage Coach
- Mule Pack
- Mark Twain Riverboat
- Golden Horseshoe Revue
Main Street, U.S.A.
- Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad
- Horse-drawn Streetcars
- Fire Wagon
- Main Street Cinema
- Surreys
- Penny Arcade
If you want to compare that short opening-year lineup with the modern park, my complete list of Disneyland rides shows how much has been added since then.
Some Attractions Associated With 1955 Were Not Ready on Opening Day
This is another reason old Disneyland maps can be misleading if you treat every illustrated feature as proof that it was operating on July 17.
Several attractions closely associated with Disneyland’s first year opened shortly after the park itself.
- Casey Jr. Circus Train began carrying guests later in July 1955 after its opening-day version encountered problems.
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Exhibit opened in August 1955.
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant opened August 16, 1955 after technical problems delayed it.
- Mickey Mouse Club Theater opened August 27, 1955.
The park was changing almost immediately after opening.
What From Opening Day Can You Still Experience?
A surprising amount of 1955 Disneyland survives, although many attractions have been altered, renamed or rebuilt over the decades.
D23 identifies these opening-day experiences as surviving in Disneyland in recognizable form:
- King Arthur Carrousel
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Mad Tea Party
- Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
- Snow White’s attraction, now Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
- Autopia
- Disneyland Railroad
- Horse-Drawn Streetcars
- Main Street Cinema
- Jungle Cruise
- Mark Twain Riverboat
- Penny Arcade
They do not all look or operate exactly as they did in 1955, but that continuity is one of the reasons the original map is so interesting. You can still stand in parts of the park that connect directly to its first day.
The Biggest Things Missing From the 1955 Disneyland Map
Some of Disneyland’s most recognizable landmarks today were years or decades away.
The Matterhorn did not open until 1959. New Orleans Square followed in 1966. Mickey’s Toontown opened in 1993, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened in 2019.
The original map therefore shows something that no longer really exists: Disneyland before decades of expansion filled nearly every available edge of the park.
If you want to look in the opposite direction and see what’s being added now, my guide to new Disneyland rides tracks the park’s continuing changes.
The Original Map Also Shows How Different Disneyland’s Idea of Tomorrow Was
Tomorrowland is one of my favorite areas to study on the early artwork because the definition of “the future” was completely different in the 1950s.
Opening-year Tomorrowland relied heavily on exhibits, sponsored displays and ideas about highways, space travel, industry and new technology.
Autopia is the remarkable survivor. Disney still describes it as the only current Tomorrowland attraction that dates to Disneyland’s opening day.
That makes the map less like an obsolete navigation tool and more like a record of what Americans imagined the future might look like in the middle of the 1950s.
You Can See Opening-Day Disneyland Inside the Park Today
If this map is the kind of Disneyland history you enjoy, there is now a particularly good reason to stop at the Main Street Opera House.
Disney’s current historical gallery includes images, artwork and artifacts showing Disneyland before, during and after its creation. Disney also lists a scale model of Disneyland Park as it looked on opening day, July 17, 1955 among the historical material in the Opera House.
The building is also now home to Walt Disney – A Magical Life, making Main Street one of the best places inside modern Disneyland to connect the current park with the version shown in these early maps.
You can check Disney’s current Main Street Opera House information before your visit.
For a broader look at how Disneyland has changed beyond the map, the Disneyland guide is the best place to continue.
