Things You Didn’t Know About Disneyland on it’s 56th Birthday

Have you ever visited "The Happiest Place on Earth" in Anaheim, California?

Disneyland opened July 17, 1955 in southern California with just 18 major attractions and today has more than 60 adventures and attractions.

How well do you know the "home" to Mickey Mouse?

Here's some rare facts and trivia that you may not know about the park that Walt built:

• Construction of Disneyland, from groundbreaking to opening day,  took only 365 days.
• In 1955, it cost $17 million dollars to build, that's about $138 million in today's dollars.
• More than 600 million guests have visited the park since opening day, including seven U. S. presidents.
• Chewing gum isn't sold at Disneyland because Walt Disney wanted to keep the park clean and prevent any guest from stepping in a gooey mess.
• The Disneyland Resort issues, maintains and cleans costumes for more than 15,000 cast members and even maintains costumes for more than 650 Audio-Animatronics figures.
• Every Disneyland cast member has to wear a name tag, even the draft horses that pull the trolleys up and down Main Street, USA.
• More than 5,000 gallons of paint are used each year to keep Disneyland looking fresh and new.
• When Disneyland was under construction, Walt Disney had a private apartment built over the historic fire station on Main Street, USA so he could supervise. After the park was completed, he and his family still used it frequently.

Everyone  knew when Walt was there because he left a light on in the window. Since his death in 1966, the light has been left burning to honor his memory and to show that Walt Disney's spirit will always be part of Disneyland.