Here we have an aerial photo of Disneyland taken in 1955, the first year it opened. We can tell it must have been early on in the park’s life because it still had orange groves right next door, and people were parking around their periphery—but mostly in the shade of those trees. And look at all that undeveloped dirt on the left. Disneyland opened as what we would now call a “minimum viable product” which left plenty of room for improvement. And 69 years later, they’re still changing, expanding, and updating.
Lisa Marie H. says: “That’s Fantasyland looking from the back of the park. The orange grove in the foreground is currently Toontown and the little hill with pine trees on it became the Matterhorn in 1959. That orange grove was part of the land purchased by Walt Disney but obviously they hadn’t cleared it yet. The whole property originally looked like that and there were also 3 homes on the site.”
This aerial image of Disneyland is from December 2023, with nary an orange tree in sight.
Matt H. supplied this modern image from the same angle:
I am wondering if that could of been my Grt Aunt Janes orange groves. I had been told that they had orange groves where the Disneyland parking lot is. Her sister, Kat Moon is said to have had the tree in her front yard that inspired the family Robinson Tree House. Her house is gone but the tree is still there next to the Woelke – Stoffel House 400 n west st. Anaheim Ca.
It’s funny how small it looks from this angle, and how big it seems when you’re walking around it on a hot day!
While Disneyland was being built, we kids couldn’t wait for it to open. Of course, we went as soon as it did. Just as the photo shows, there were orange groves all around it.
Was there in 1966. My Aunt took me, my 2 brothers and 10 cousins. All at once! I can see how much it has changed!