VIDEO: Disneyland's first kids: These two were the first boy, girl in the gate in 1955

Orange County Register ^ | July 16, 2015 | Joseph Pimentel

[Tupelo]

Time has not been kind to those two kids. Worse on Disney though. Both Walt and the company.

[beaversmom]

Nice story.

[Mears]

I was teaching first grade in 54-55 and the first group of kids received the Salk Vaccine.

It was a miracle to all of us.

(Off topic but brought back memories.)

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[kingu]

I don’t think Walt would like the present incarnation of his dream. Just my opinion.

I'm pretty sure if he walked through the gates of his original park, he'd be comfortable enough with what was done with his creation.

Best cover the ears of the children when they explain that the park is no smoking, and might want to turn up the TV for a while as they explain what happened to his ideas of Disney World and what Roy did do it.

Hopefully they'll tell him about Disneyland Paris while he's in a plane...

All in all, I think that at least the original park has kept to the ideals he put forward.

[left that other site]

Well, I have never been to the one in Anaheim, but I can deduce from your comment that they have more-or-less preserved the original design.

[Rodamala]

When I was in kindergarten and before my brother was in school, I got to leave school early for the summer as we were going to California to see an uncle. The old man flew his Piper Cherokee from NJ to CA. It was a loooong trip. A memorable part of the trip was flying down to Anaheim from Sacremento to go to Disneyland.

[Osage Orange]

I grew up in Anaheim....

My sister and I used to groan when relatives came to visit in the early-mid 60's...cause they all wanted to go to D-Land. We had been there 5k times before..and hated it. Ha!!!

[bigbob]

And probably jacked and beat up for cutting in line

[kingu]

Well, I have never been to the one in Anaheim, but I can deduce from your comment that they have more-or-less preserved the original design.

Lots of people have their favorite places; Anaheim's will remain mine. Having been to Roy's Disney World, the only place there that I really felt at home was in Animal Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom felt like a cheap Hollywood set of Disneyland, Hollywood Studios seemed like a really bad knockoff of Universal Studios, and while the World Showcase at Epcot was nice, it just seemed to miss the entire world's fair concept.

If you ever do decide to go, I would avoid the summer months.

[Yo-Yo]

55 years from now the world's population will probably have been cut by MORE than half. Yes I said it. If you pay attention to trajectory, mass, velocity and look at all the horrible things that have happened just within the last 7 years OR EVEN THE LAST 2 YEARS IN THE U.S., 55 years is totally unattainable for many thinking they'll actually live long enough to get there.

Well, I'm 56 so I seriously doubt that I'll make it 55 more years, but I think you're being just a tad pessimistic.

I think back to our grandparents who lived through WWII, with the entire world at war and 60 million people, 3% of the total population of the earth, were killed, and think that what is going on today, while not to be dismissed, was nothing like that.

Then I go back to our great grandparents who lived through WWI, where 17 million died, I and think the same thing.

Then I go back through history and look at the Black Death in Europe, where by some estimations up to 60% of the total population of Europe died, and yet we as a species recovered from that.

Yes, nuclear war is a very real possibility, and even more so with our government selling us out to the Iranians, but I have to believe that in the big picture, we have faced much darker times in the past than we do today.

[Aliska]

Rodamala, that sounds like fun, and some people are used to private planes, but that's a lot of flying. It would be long. Yes, we stopped in Sacramento to visit my mom's father's first cousin. They had us stay there which is sometimes kind of an imposition. I went on with a 3rd cousin and her aunt to San Francisco. They had one of these atrium two-story houses set back quite far from the ocean. She dropped me and my younger cousin off at the zoo the next morning. All I remember about that is my cousin noticed two tigers I think it was doing their thing and asked me what they were doing. I would have given her a dodgy answer. Then my folks and sister came from Sacramento and picked me up, went to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf, drove around, lots of sights there, dodged a drunk walking across the street. I loved the serpentine Lombard Street and made my husband take me down it years later. Thank you for the reminiscence.

Osage Orange, yeah, visiting relatives gets old, fun for cousins if they are close, lots of extra work for the relatives but everybody except the kids pitched in. CA seemed nicer in those years, but people were gravitating out there for the warmth and didn't have much going for them. It was not nearly as culturally diverse then as now.

I loved the scenery, Lake Tahoe, Monterey, the scrubby pine, on down to LA and a couple more friends, Farmer's Market where I had my first egg foo yung, Huntington Gallery, and Disneyland. I do remember the smog; it was already bad then.

We really saw and did a lot more going and coming.

[rockinqsranch]

I’ll never forget my Dad saying to my Brother, Sister, and me to be sure and thank Uncle George for taking us all to Disneyland that first year in Anaheim. He went on to say “....he spent almost a hundred dollars on you all”.

Between his kids, and us, him, and Aunt Liz, and a couple of others (12) he spent “almost a hundred dollars”.

[BunnySlippers]

I was 6 when it opened and went soon after.

The nice thing about Disneyland is that they keep everything fresh and updated. Everything is freshly painted and parts are replaced with brand new replacements.

You don’t get the feel that the park is old, rundown or out of date. it’s new all the time. A good move on the part of the company.

[truth_seeker]

“I was teaching first grade in 54-55 and the first group of kids received the Salk Vaccine.

It was a miracle to all of us.

(Off topic but brought back memories.)”

I was a first grader that year, moving from Colorado to Orange County over Christmas holiday break.

Probably got the vaccine that year in California. Had a neighbor kid down the street wearing braces and on crutches with polio.

Today I have an extreme reaction, to the no vaccine crowd, because I seriously doubt they saw the polio sufferers, pre vaccine.

[outofsalt]

"The nice thing about Disneyland is that they keep everything fresh and updated."

We took our kids there, maybe, ten years ago.
As we were driving in there were wild fires burning along the highway for miles. We were seeing flames and smoke all along the drive and were thinking of turning back but as we pulled off onto the exit to the park we got a wind shift that took all of the smoke away and the sky cleared. It was as if Disney made their own weather (ala Karl Rove?).

[Mears]

I remember the fears of the polio scares all too well.

Scarlet Fever was a biggie also.

The anti vaccine crowd haven’t lived through all of those epidemics.

Were quarantined when my brother got Scarlet Fever. Sign on the front door and all.

The “good” old days. :-)

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[rlmorel]

I am a fan of “The Incredibles”...:)

[Inyo-Mono]

Bttt.

[Mr Rogers]

“Frozen, IMO, is the greatest animated movie of all time.”

Odd. I wouldn’t rate it in the top 20.

[left that other site]

Yes, that is good business practice.

What is not good is alienating over 90% of your customer base to please 3% of a population that can find other forms of entertainment more in line with their values.

My childhood dream was to be a Disney Animator. My entire education (Graphic Design and Commercial Art) was built around that goal.

I ended up being a Rock Musician instead! LOL!

Life is funny, isn’t it? :-)