Disneyland Photo Archives - LIFE https://www.life.com/tag/disneyland/ Mon, 19 Jun 2023 19:01:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/02211512/cropped-favicon-512-32x32.png Disneyland Photo Archives - LIFE https://www.life.com/tag/disneyland/ 32 32 An All-Night Prom at Disneyland, 1961 https://www.life.com/history/an-all-night-prom-at-disneyland-1961/ Tue, 06 Jun 2023 18:03:06 +0000 https://www.life.com/?p=5374801 When Disneyland opened in California in 1955 after years of design from Walt Disney, LIFE magazine proclaimed it “the stuff children’s dreams are made on.” Six years later both the park and the dreamers had grown up enough that Disneyland decided to host an event aimed at kids who might be outgrowing their mouse ears: ... Read more

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]]> When Disneyland opened in California in 1955 after years of design from Walt Disney, LIFE magazine proclaimed it “the stuff children’s dreams are made on.”

Six years later both the park and the dreamers had grown up enough that Disneyland decided to host an event aimed at kids who might be outgrowing their mouse ears: an all-night prom.

The details of the evening are scant because the photos, taken by staff photographers Ralph Crane, J.R. Eyerman and Grey Villet, never ran in the magazine. But one thing is clear: the kids had a blast. With the spinning teacups, water rides, a big band, and romance in the air (and on display for some of the couples, especially on the carousel) all the elements were there for a magical night in the magic kingdom.

Take a look and see for yourself. And if you want to read more about the creation of Disneyland, please consider LIFE’s special tribute issue Inside Disney Parks: The Happiest Place on Earth.

Students walking inside Disneyland during their all-prom-night, United States, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People attending the all-night prom at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, June 1961

J.R. Eyerman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People attending the all-night prom at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, June 1961.

J.R. Eyerman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Students getting their prom pictures during All Night Prom at Disneyland – Photographs of an all-night high school prom held at Disney Land

People riding the carousel during all night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night high school prom held at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all night high school prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night high school prom held at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People riding a gondola boat during an all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Students participating in a high school all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

J.R. Eyerman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night high school prom held at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Band playing at an all-night prom at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, June 1961.

J.R. Eyerman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night high school prom held at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenage boys sit at cafe tables outside of Tomorrowland during an all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An all-night prom at Disneyland, 1961.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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]]> The Nixons at Disneyland—with Clint Eastwood, 1959 https://www.life.com/history/the-nixons-at-disneyland-with-clint-eastwood-1959/ Wed, 25 Jan 2023 14:38:03 +0000 https://www.life.com/?p=5372589 In 1959 the first Disney theme park, which had opened to great fanfare in 1955, was already an international sensation. When Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev toured the U.S. that year and was in California, he asked if he could visit Disneyland—and was denied. ‘Why not?” he complained in a speech. “What is it? Do you ... Read more

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]]> In 1959 the first Disney theme park, which had opened to great fanfare in 1955, was already an international sensation. When Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev toured the U.S. that year and was in California, he asked if he could visit Disneyland—and was denied. ‘Why not?” he complained in a speech. “What is it? Do you have rocket-launching pads there?’ ”

No, but Disneyland did upgrade its entertainment arsenal that year, and when it did it invited another politician, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, to come celebrate the park’s new attractions. Disneyland was debuting the Matterhorn, the Submarine Voyage, and also the monorail that would become a Disney theme park signature (and also the basis for a beloved episode of The Simpsons).

Nixon came with his wife and daughters, and he stood side by side with Walt Disney for the monorail’s ribbon-cutting ceremony—though Nixon handed the giant ceremonial scissors to his daughters to cut the actual ribbon.

Nixon and Walt Disney then sat next to each other in the front row of a grandstand and watched a parade that celebrated all things Disney. While Nixon was the star guest that day, other notables included television host Art Linkletter, Broadway composer Meredith Willson, and an up-and-coming actor named Clint Eastwood.

The photos that Ralph Crane shot that day focus understandably on the parade, the park, the Vice President and Walt Disney. But his picture of Nixon and Eastwood together can’t help but jump out in this photoset, not only because they are each in their own way major figures, but because Disneyland is not the most obvious place to find either of them individually, let alone as a pair. Nixon would gain infamy as the only U.S. President ever resign, after the details of the Watergate scandal came to light. Eastwood would make his name as the gun-wielding star of Sergio Leone’s westerns and his signature Dirty Harry movies before becoming an Oscar-winning director.

This meeting at Disneyland caught both men in a period of transition. Nixon was about to launch his first run for President—he would lose to John F. Kennedy in 1960 before winning the office in 1968. For Eastwood, meanwhile, 1959 was the year his star first began to rise, playing Rowdy Yates in television show Rawhide. His first leading movie role, in A Fistful of Dollars, was still five years away.

And there they were, at Disneyland. In Ralph Crane’s photo Eastwood slyly smiles at the camera. Perhaps his look simply reflects the glee of a young star enjoying his new orbit. But he also looks like a guy who knows there are bigger things ahead.

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland at festivities to welcome new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Clint Eastwood (right) with the Vice President Richard Nixon and his family during festivities to welcome new attractions at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon and family having ice cream at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, during a day of festivities to honor new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland at festivities to welcome the monorail and other new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland at festivities to welcome new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family led a parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walt Disney (left) and Vice President Richard Nixon (right) with his family watching a parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walt Disney (left) and Vice President Richard Nixon (right) with his family watching a parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A parade at Disneyland, 1959, with Walt Disney and Vice President Richard Nixon visible in the background.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walt Disney (left) and Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland watching a parade.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard M. Nixon and family watched parade at Disneyland with Walt Disney, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Richard M. Nixon and family with Walt Disney during the ribbon-cutting for the new monorail train at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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]]> See Photos of Disneyland When It Opened in 1955 https://www.life.com/arts-entertainment/disneyland-1955/ Fri, 17 Jul 2015 08:00:33 +0000 http://time.com/?p=3943789 Celebrate the theme park with a look at its first weeks as a national sensation

The post See Photos of Disneyland When It Opened in 1955 appeared first on LIFE.

]]> If a dream is a wish your heart makes, then Disneyland was, as LIFE declared one month after it opened on July 17, 1955, “the stuff children’s dreams are made on.” The brand new park featured a Frontierland complete with Davy Crockett museum, an Adventureland with hydraulically operated jungle animals and, of course, Sleeping Beauty’s castle, which would soon include a model torture chamber.

The $17 million park, built on a 160-acre site, was “the most lavish amusement park on earth,” but its opening day was a disaster. Traffic was backed up for hours, delaying celebrity guests. The temperature crept above 100 degrees, causing heels to sink into soft asphalt, while a plumbers” strike decommissioned all water fountains. Oh, and there was a gas leak, too. Practically everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Some parents also expressed dismay at the prices. “Disney had expected that $2 would see a child through enough of his $17 million wonderland, but mothers said twice that was needed to keep any enterprising small boy pacified,” LIFE wrote. Today, admission for a child under 10 is $93 not including the Mickey ears, Frozen wand or Goofyroni & Cheese.

But, said those mothers back in 1955, “as they emerged spent and spinning… it was probably well worth it.”

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Correction, Aug. 10, 2018:
A caption in the original version of this gallery misstated the name of a train ridden by Mickey Mouse. The photo shows the Disneyland Railroad, not the Dumbo-inspired Casey Jr. Circus Train.

Sleeping Beauty's castle in Fantasyland is overrun by children crossing drawbridge over moat. Inside, Disney plnas a model torture chamber.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

One of Disneyland's boat rides, Anaheim, California, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rides at Disneyland in 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People riding the teacup ride at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People riding a riverboat at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland Parade done as a preview for national television, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Planted flowers forming design of Mickey Mouse's face, with Disneyland train in background, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mickey Mouse riding the Circus train at Disneyland which is a replica of Casey Jr.'s train used in the movie Dumbo ,1955.

Disneyland 1955

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland rides in 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children scared during Snow White ride at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cups and saucers filled with squealing children as paying guests while through park's Fantasyland at Disney's "Mad Hatter's Tea Party."

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Showgirl performers taking a break and having a drink at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People resting by TWA rocket at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland rides, 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A family at Disneyland in 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland rides in 1955.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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