The Disneyland Park Fact Sheet: 9 Essential Highlights

This Disneyland Park fact sheet breaks down everything worth knowing before you walk through the gates in Anaheim, California. Nine themed lands, record setting rides, and seven decades of history live inside one 100 acre park. Here’s the rundown.

Where Disneyland Park Sits

Disneyland Park sits about 27 miles southeast of Los Angeles, in Anaheim. The park opened July 17, 1955, and Walt Disney himself read the dedication that day, calling it a place built to spark joy for “all the world.” He was the only Disney park boss to personally oversee construction from the ground up, and that hands on legacy still shapes how the park feels today.

Parking runs through two structures. Mickey & Friends holds roughly 10,000 vehicles and opened in June 2000. Pixar Pals holds about 5,000 more and opened in June 2019.

The Nine Lands, One By One

Main Street, U.S.A.

The Disneyland Railroad still runs the same loop it has for decades, and that train depot marks the very first thing most guests see walking through the turnstiles. Steam rolls out from under the engine as it pulls in, a small detail that’s become one of Main Street’s signature moments. The station also sits above the entrance tunnel, so it’s the literal gateway between the turnstiles and the park itself.

Past the station, the entrance corridor opens into small town America at the dawn of the 1900s. Shops and horse drawn streetcars line both sides of the street, with Sleeping Beauty Castle framed at the far end, setting the pace before the rest of the park opens up. Above the Fire Station in Town Square sits Walt Disney’s private apartment, where he stayed during construction and watched the park come to life. A lamp still burns in that window today, a quiet tribute that’s stayed lit since his passing.

Adventureland

Tarzan’s Treehouse covers Africa. Indiana Jones Adventure covers India. Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room covers Polynesia. Jungle Cruise ties it together with a boat trip past elephants, crocodiles, and a script full of dad jokes.

Frontierland

Frontierland covers the pioneer era, from riverboats on the Rivers of America to the dusty desert setting of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The Mark Twain Riverboat has been circling the water since the park’s early years.

New Orleans Square

This land recreates the French Quarter, elegance mixed with restless spirits and pirates. The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean both call it home.

New Orleans Square also hides Disneyland’s most exclusive secret. Club 33, tucked above the shops at 33 Royal Street, is a private membership club that Walt Disney planned but never lived to see open in 1967. Members pay a steep initiation fee and a long waitlist just for the chance to dine behind its unmarked door, easy to spot right next to the Blue Bayou Restaurant. Most guests walk past it without ever knowing it’s there, though plenty stop for a photo at the entrance since it’s as close as they’ll get.

Bayou Country

Formerly Critter Country, this corner of the park was renamed Bayou Country after Tiana’s Bayou Adventure replaced Splash Mountain in 2024. The ride keeps the same iconic drop but tells a new story built around Princess Tiana and a bayou full of musical critters. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh still operates here too.

Fantasyland

Classic Disney animation comes to life here. Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and the King Arthur Carrousel all sit inside this Old World style land.

Mickey’s Toontown

Toontown recreates a 1930s cartoon world in full color. Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin anchors the downtown section, while Mickey’s House and Minnie’s House cover the residential side.

Tomorrowland

Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter, and Autopia fill this land dedicated to imagination and discovery. Star Tours: The Adventures Continue links Tomorrowland directly into the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

At 14 acres, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the largest single themed land Disney has ever built. Set on the planet Batuu, it puts guests behind the controls of the Millennium Falcon on Smugglers Run and drops them into an active rebellion on Rise of the Resistance. The land now spans multiple eras of Star Wars story, with characters ranging from Darth Vader to the newer generation of heroes roaming Black Spire Outpost.

Record Breakers Worth Knowing

• Matterhorn Bobsleds opened in 1959 as the first tubular steel roller coaster on the planet, setting the design standard the industry still follows.
• Disneyland built the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere, running since June 1959.
• Holiday overlays started in 1997 with “it’s a small world” Holiday, followed by Haunted Mansion Holiday and a seasonal Space Mountain transformation each fall.
• The park opened in 1955 with 18 attractions. Today that number has grown past 40 across all nine lands.

5 Disneyland Park Facts Most Guests Never Know

This wouldn’t be a complete Disneyland Park fact sheet without a few details even longtime visitors miss.

• Doritos were born in Frontierland. Casa de Fritos, now Rancho del Zócalo, is where an employee fried up stale tortillas rather than tossing them, and a Frito-Lay executive turned that leftover snack into a national brand.
• The Haunted Mansion’s stretching room is a real elevator. The actual ride building sits outside the park’s berm, so guests descend below the Disneyland Railroad tracks before boarding. Florida’s version skips the elevator entirely since there’s no railroad in the way.
• Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes run on muscle, not a track. Guests paddle themselves around Tom Sawyer Island with a cast member steering from the back, one of the only attractions in the park guests actually power themselves.
• The Dominguez Tree predates Disneyland by nearly 60 years. This Canary Island date palm was planted in 1896 as a wedding gift, and its preservation was a condition of the land sale that made Adventureland possible.
• Hidden Mickeys are everywhere, and there’s a whole book on finding them. Disneyland’s Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Disneyland Resort’s Best Kept Secrets (affiliate link) rounds up the classic three circle silhouette tucked into ride details, restaurant décor, and pathway tile all over the park.

Plan Your Visit: The Rest of the Disneyland Park Fact Sheet

• Hours: Disneyland Park (affiliate link) stays open 365 days a year, with extended hours during holidays and summer. Hours shift seasonally, so lock in your tickets and check current hours before you go.
• Lodging: Anaheim opened with five hotels and two motels totaling 87 rooms in 1955. The city now counts roughly 150 hotels and motels with more than 18,000 rooms today. Our pick for a home base near the park is Hotel Pepper Tree, which you can book here (affiliate link).
• Workforce: The Disneyland Resort employs more than 30,000 cast members.
• Legacy: More than 900 million guests have passed through the gates since opening day, including heads of state, presidents, and athletes from every era.

That’s the Disneyland Park fact sheet in full: one lot in Anaheim that Walt built himself, and everything that followed traces back to it.