In honor of Disneyland's 45th Birthday, July 17, 2000, I thought it would be fun to see how Disneyland has changed in the past 45 years. Below, you will find a comparison, done by the LA Times which I have reformatted for this site. Enjoy!
Disneyland Then (1955) and Now (2000)
Number of attractions then: 22
Number of attractions now: 63
Admission cost for family of four (parents and two children) then: $8. This included books of eight A through C ride tickets
Admission cost for family of four (parents and two children) now: $144. This includes one-day passports allowing guests to
participate in all the attractions (assuming no children are under the age of 3)
Typical Food then: Pancakes and waffles at Aunt Jemima's Kitchen, fried chicken dinners at the Plantation House, tuna sandwiches
at Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship and others
Typical Food now: Gourmet pastas at Plaza Inn; Benyan beef, chicken or vegetable skewers at Bengal Barbecue; assorted pizzas at Redd Rocket's Pizza Port; and others
Most popular attraction then: Jungle Cruise
Most popular attraction now: Space Mountain
Most popular souvenir then: Mickey Mouse ears
Most popular souvenir now: Mickey Mouse ears; (some things never change!)
Sponsored attractions then: TWA's Rocket to the Moon, Kaiser's Aluminum Hall of Fame, Monsanto's Hall of Chemistry and others
Sponsored attractions now: Indiana Jones ("presented" by AT&T), Autopia (presented by Chevron), The Enchanted Tiki Room (presented by Dole Pineapple), Honey I Shrunk the Audience
(presented by Kodak) and others
Disneyland parade then: No daily parade
Disneyland parade now: Usually twice a day (parade varies each year and each season)
Disneyland costumed characters then: Disneyland didn't have any of its own costumes when the park opened, so it originally
borrowed costumes from the Ice Capades, which had a Disney unit.
Disneyland costumed characters now: Disneyland makes its own costumes for its huge cast of characters.
Number of Disney TV shows then: One, the weekly "Disneyland" series on ABC-TV
Number of Disney TV shows now: 28, including "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Felicity," "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee" and
"The Wonderful World of Disney" not to mention the rise of The Disney Channel
Current Disney movies then: "Lady and the Tramp"
Current Disney movies now: "Dinosaur," "Fantasia/2000"
Noted "Mickey Mouse Club" alumni (1955-1959): Annette Funicello, Paul Peterson, Don Grady and Johnny Crawford
Noted "Mickey Mouse Club" alumni (1989-1994): Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell and 'N Sync band members Justin
Timberlake and J.C. Chasez