These retro Disney pictures show the theme parks then and now

Once upon a time at Disney's parks

From Florida to Paris, Disney's larger-than-life theme parks attract millions of visitors each year. With the oldest park dating back to the 1950s, these whimsical worlds have changed considerably through the decades.

Read on to take a look at Disney parks through the ages with 46 nostalgic photos.

1950s: the Disney dream is set in motion

By the early 1950s, Walt Disney had already achieved immense success as an animator – but he wasn't one to rest on his laurels. Inspired by his own visits to amusement spots around the world, he conceived of the granddaddy of all theme parks – a magical place that would enchant both adults and kids alike. In this Fifties shot, he's seen explaining sketches of what would become Disneyland California.

1950s: a fairy-tale castle is born

The park's crowning jewel would be the now iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle, a soaring pile, all towers and turrets, that could be plucked straight from a Disney fairy tale. Walt Disney himself is seen here in 1954 in Los Angeles, California, talking through a model of the castle with a team of "imagineers", the band of visionaries that helped Disney realize his dream.

1950s: California's Disneyland opens its gates

Soon, Walt Disney's dream was manifest. Disneyland (now Disneyland Park) in Anaheim, Orange County threw open its gates to select guests on Sunday 17 July 1955, and scores of Americans gathered around their TV sets to watch Disney give his dedication speech (pictured). The words Disney spoke that day have remained famous: "To all who come to this happy place – welcome. Disneyland is your land".

1950s: guests line up for entry to Disneyland

Such was the buzz around Disney's glittering new theme park that thousands more guests than were invited turned up (reportedly some 28,000 people). This photo shows eager visitors lining up at Disneyland's main entrance on 17 July 1955. The huge influx of people meant the opening day didn't run quite as smoothly as planned, but luckily the public's fascination with this magical place was not marred.

1950s: Disneyland parades get underway

In renowned Disney fashion, the California park's opening was marked with loud, proud parades, music and appearances from familiar characters. Here Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck march out hand-in-hand before Sleeping Beauty Castle, as they're serenaded by fanfares from costumed folk on horseback.

1950s: Walt Disney enjoys Disneyland's opening day

On the opening day, Walt Disney could hardly contain his joy as he showed California dignitaries around the park. He's snapped here riding the beloved Disney steam locomotive E. P. Ripley, as he gleefully points out the sights to then-state governor Goodwin Knight (pictured middle).

1950s: children run towards Sleeping Beauty Castle

The park's youngest visitors could hardly wait to experience Disneyland's delights either. Here we see hundreds of excited children rush into the Fantasyland area of the park – the photo was taken immediately after the drawbridge entry was lowered on the opening day. The youngsters are headed straight for Sleeping Beauty Castle.

1950s: tourists enter Frontierland at California's Disneyland

California's Disneyland opened with five enchanting "lands", and versions of each are still present today. These were Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Main Street, U.S.A and Frontierland, the entrance to which is pictured here in 1955. Frontierland was designed to evoke America's Old West with early attractions including a horse-drawn Conestoga wagon and stagecoach and the Golden Horseshoe Saloon.

1950s: the Mark Twain Riverboat floats on the water

Another of Frontierland's early attractions was the Mark Twain Riverboat, which still ploughs Disneyland Park's rivers today. Here the paddle steamer, named for the celebrated American writer, is seen from Tom Sawyer Island in 1956. The island, inspired by Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, still remains today too.

1950s: Walt Disney enjoys Disneyland with his grandson

Disneyland was a family affair from the very beginning – and that included Walt Disney's own clan too. This heartwarming photo was snapped circa 1955, not long after the park's opening, and it shows Disney with his little grandson on a grassy lawn before Sleeping Beauty Castle. You can spot other families in the background enjoying the majestic attraction too.

1950s: Walt Disney rides the Autopia attraction at California's Disneyland

Another vintage Disney family snap, this one shows the park creator with his grandson and his daughter too. They're whizzing around on Autopia, a miniature speedway that still exists today. It was one of the park's opening attractions, debuting in futuristic Tomorrowland, where it remains.

1950s: Walt Disney on the Disneyland Railroad

Even when he wasn't entertaining his family, Walt Disney himself was regularly seen in the California park through the Fifties and early Sixties (Disney passed away in 1966). Rumoured to be Disney's favourite attraction, the Disneyland Railroad (once the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad) sliced through the park, passing scenic attractions like the Rivers of America and the Grand Canyon Diorama. Guests can still ride the railroad's nostalgic steam trains today.

1950s: the Matterhorn is a backdrop for the Skyway at Disneyland

Eventually closed in 1994, another early Disneyland attraction was the Skyway, a kind of gondola-lift ride that whisked guests between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. From these lofty heights, visitors had incredible views of the lands down below and of Matterhorn, a model of the imposing Alpine mountain at the Swiss-Italian border.

1950s: visitors gaze at the Monsanto House of the Future in Disneyland's Tomorrowland

More unique attractions awaited at Tomorrowland. Pictured here is the "House of the Future", which was displayed in the land from 1957 to 1967. The sleek house amazed visitors with its new-fangled gadgets and appliances (like a state-of-the-art intercom system) and its futuristic furniture, all of which were well ahead of their time.

1950s: the Monorail system is in full swing at California's Disneyland

Another incredible innovation at Disneyland was the Monorail, an uber-modern transport system initially used for sightseeing in the Tomorrowland area. It began operation in 1959, and is billed as the first daily operating monorail system in the entire Western Hemisphere. In the beginning, the Monorail supported two trains – the red "Mark I" train, now retired, is pictured here in 1959.

1960s: the Monorail leads to the Disneyland Hotel

By 1961, the Monorail system was expanded and a new fleet of trains was introduced. It became a key means of transport in the California park, providing a link from Tomorrowland to the Disneyland Hotel, which was opened in 1955. At this point in time, it was also the only monorail system in America to cross a public street. A modern version still whizzes guests around Disneyland Resort today.

1960s: the Disneyland marquee stands proud at the park's entrance

This sign – erected in 1958 and snapped here in the 1960s – would become synonymous with California's Disneyland, proudly greeting guests as they entered the park. After more than three decades on display, the classic sign was finally replaced with an electronic version in 1989. Today it remains a nostalgic symbol of the park's early days.

1960s: Sleeping Beauty Castle dazzles at California's Disneyland

Of course, of all the weird and wonderful sights at Disney's parks, Sleeping Beauty Castle remained – and remains – the most enduring icon. Disney's design was purportedly modelled on Neuschwanstein Castle, a fairy-tale fortress in Germany's Bavaria region, and the palace is pictured here still surrounded by tourists in the 1960s.

1960s: visitors spin on the Mad Tea Party ride at California's Disneyland

Mad Tea Party, a whirling tea-cup ride inspired by Alice in Wonderland, has also been in operation since Disneyland's opening. Though it has since moved location (to a spot near the Matterhorn), this whimsical attraction still dizzies Fantasyland visitors to this day.

1960s: Walt Disney admires an animatronics show at California's Disneyland

Ever the innovator, Walt Disney was a pioneer of animatronics and the animatronic robin in 1964 film Mary Poppins was an early example of this new technology. Here, in 1963, audio-animatronic figures make their debut at the Disneyland park – they formed part of a tropical-themed show featuring hundreds of birds and flowers. Walt Disney looks on in delight.

1970s: Florida's Magic Kingdom opens its doors

The Californian extravaganza wasn't Disney's only park for too long, though. In a moment that revolutionized Florida’s tourism industry, the gates to Magic Kingdom – Walt Disney World Resort's first theme park – were opened on 1 October 1971, bringing in 10,000 eager fans. Initially, the resort comprised six individually-themed lands: Main Street, U.S.A, Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square and Tomorrowland.

1970s: the Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat plows the water at Florida's Magic Kingdom

Today Walt Disney World Resort is Disney's flagship site, and is much larger than its California counterpart. Magic Kingdom was the first of four mammoth Floridian theme parks. The Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat (pictured in 1972), named for the retired admiral who oversaw construction of the Disney parks, was an early amusement here.

1970s: the Bicentennial parade at Florida's Magic Kingdom

Just five years after Florida's Magic Kingdom opened, America celebrated its Bicentennial – and, in true Disney style, the theme park marked the special occasion with parties and parades. Here children and adults look on in awe as a float carrying the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf glides through the streets in 1976.

1970s: the Bicentennial parade at Florida's Magic Kingdom

While Sleeping Beauty Castle takes centre stage at California's Disneyland Park, in Florida it was (and still is) all about Cinderella Castle. Here we can spot the Magic Kingdom attraction peeking out from behind more crowds and floats during Disney's celebrations for the US Bicentennial.

1970s: Skyway whisks visitors above Florida's Magic Kingdom

The Skyway, a gondola lift-style ride, was another amusement that appeared in both parks. Just like its sister in California, Florida's attraction soared over Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and is papped here in 1976. Today's Disney Skyliner (opened in 2019) is a nod to this vintage attraction.

1970s: Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain debuts

Remaining one of Disney's most popular rides, Space Mountain debuted in 1975, around four years after Magic Kingdom's opening. An indoor, space-themed roller coaster, it was extremely hi-tech for its day, with guests riding in the dark and enjoying stunning projections of stars and planets. Captured here in 1979, the cosmic attraction now has a place in Disney parks around the globe.

1980s: Epcot is built at Walt Disney World Resort

By the 1980s, Florida's Disney site had begun to expand into the magical juggernaut it is today. Curious, futuristic Epcot, which Disney had originally conceived to be a kind of utopian city and community, opened as a park in 1982. Its mammoth centrepiece – a geodesic sphere called Spaceship Earth – is pictured here at the centre of the construction site in the early Eighties.

1980s: Disney's Hollywood Studios opens at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort

Disney's Hollywood Studios came later in 1989. The Great Movie Ride (pictured), located in a model of Hollywood's Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, was a major attraction, but closed down in 2017.

1990s: Prince William makes a splash at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort

Walt Disney World continued to boom through the 1990s, with Disney's Animal Kingdom eventually opening in 1998. The park even had some special royal guests during this decade. The late Princess Diana, and a young Prince Harry and Prince William vacationed here in 1993. An 11-year-old Prince William is pictured (front right) enjoying a ride on the Magic Kingdom's Splash Mountain.

1990s: Cinderella Castle rises up at Tokyo Disneyland

Many don't know that Tokyo Disneyland was actually the first Disney theme park to open outside the USA. Debuted in 1983, the park (externally owned, but licensed by Disney) carefully mirrors its American sisters in many respects. Early attractions included "it's a small world" in Fantasyland and the Mark Twain Riverboat in "Westernland", Tokyo's answer to Frontierland. A defining feature of the park is its Cinderella Castle, pictured here in 1998.

1990s: Tokyo Disneyland celebrates Mickey Mouse's 70th birthday

Some 15 years after its opening, in 1998, Tokyo Disneyland garnered world attention for the creative way it marked Mickey Mouse's 70th birthday. The celebratory spectacle involved more than 2,000 people holding colourful materials above their heads to form an image of Mickey's beaming face.

1990s: Disneyland Paris gears up for its opening day

Located just east of the French capital, Disneyland Paris (then Euro Disney) opened to visitors on 12 April 1992. The first theme park here was Disneyland Park, which featured many familiar attractions and lands, including Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland and Main Street, U.S.A. Captured in this photo are those lucky enough to enjoy the press preview, which took place on the eve of the park's opening day, on 11 April.

1990s: it's opening day at Disneyland Paris

On the official opening day, then-chairman of the Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner gave a speech to an expectant crowd. Here he's seen at the entrance to Main Street, U.S.A holding up the very first entry ticket to the park.

1990s: opening night fireworks glitter at Disneyland Paris

The final hours of Euro Disney's opening day went with a bang. Fireworks shimmered over the new park and floats bright with lights passed in a parade through Main Street.

1990s: Disneyland Paris celebrates its 5th birthday in style

On 12 April 1997, Disneyland Paris (newly christened in 1994) celebrated its 5th birthday. The milestone was marked with a grand parade featuring hundreds of beloved Disney characters, from Snow White to Donald Duck. The parade saw star-of-the-show Mickey Mouse burst out from a giant birthday cake to the delight of the onlooking crowd.

1990s: Disneyland Paris celebrates its 5th birthday in style

One of Disneyland Paris' most striking 5th-anniversary floats was the one carrying a mammoth Beast (from Beauty and the Beast) and Belle in her famous yellow dress. In the background of this photo, you can make out the Sleeping Beauty Castle, which was given a new look for the occasion. The so-called Château du Fou was bedecked with jester hats and golden bells, in part to celebrate the release of The Hunchback of Notre Dame film the previous year.

1990s: the Disney Magic cruise ship sets sail

By the 1990s, it wasn't all about Disney's parks either. Disney Magic, the first cruise ship in the Disney Cruise Line's portfolio, was commissioned in the mid-Nineties. Having been built in Italy, the ship is pictured here cruising through Venice in early July 1998 – its destination was Florida's Port Canaveral, where it would set out on its maiden voyage on 30 July 1998.

2000s: Disneyland Paris has record visitor numbers

Disneyland Paris went from strength to strength in the Nineties and Noughties and, by 2001, the park had welcomed a whopping 100 million visitors. The landmark Sleeping Beauty Castle (or Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant) is pictured here that same year: its pointed turrets, glittering moat and pastel-pink façade love the camera.

2000s: Walt Disney Studios Park opens at Disneyland Paris

The year 2002 saw the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park, a glittering Disney park devoted to showbiz, with attractions from Hollywood Boulevard to movie-themed rides. Here, suited and booted, Mickey Mouse and Goofy welcome guests to the Studios' inauguration.

2000s: Disney California Adventure Park opens at Disneyland Resort

There were grand openings across the pond too. Disneyland's California Adventure Park opened to a fanfare in 2001. The park is themed around the Golden State, and the 150-foot (46m) Ferris wheel (now Pixar Pal-A-Round, then the Sun Wheel) is one of the site's most striking attractions. Today it's emblazoned with Mickey Mouse's face. It's pictured here in February 2001, a few days before the park opened to the public.

2010s: Shanghai Disneyland Park opens its gates

In summer 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Park – the third Disney park in Asia – opened to the public. It had all the usual trappings from themed lands and costumed characters to mega rides and fast-food spots. Best of all, though, is its castle. The Enchanted Storybook Castle is still the biggest in any of the Disney parks and it's devoted to not one, but all of the Disney princesses. It's snapped here on the park's opening day, on 16 June 2016.

2010s: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge gets its debut

Fans of a galaxy far, far away rejoiced as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – a land entirely dedicated to the celebrated sci-fi franchise – debuted at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort in the summer of 2019. This snap shows the attraction's dedication on 28 August, before its grand public opening the next day. Chewbacca and R2D2 join in the celebrations, with Batuu's Black Spires rising up behind them.

2020s: Disney parks are shut due to COVID-19

Disney's magic was dimmed for a while in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic closed parks around the world. This dusk shot shows the gates of California's eerily quiet Disneyland Park firmly shuttered on 21 November 2020. It finally opened again in April 2021, after a 13-month closure.

2020s: Walt Disney World's 50th birthday

Beginning 1 October 2021, Walt Disney World in Florida began an 18-month-long celebration (tipped as "The World’s Most Magical Celebration") to mark its 50th birthday. The event brought new attractions, day and nighttime entertainment, restaurants and merchandise to the resort, while the beloved characters Mickey and Minnie, and their pals Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto and Chip 'n' Dale all received a sparkling new looks, custom-made for the event. A new crest adorning the Cinderella Castle was also unveiled to celebrate the occasion.

2020s: Walt Disney World's 50th birthday

Among the new shows launched was Harmonius at EPCOT, which just recently finished. One of the largest nighttime spectacles ever created at Disney, it celebrated the music of Disney and how it inspires people. The scores were performed by a diverse group of artists from around the world, while the setting for the show featured massive floating set pieces, custom-built LED panels and choreography including moving fountains, lights, lasers and pyrotechnics.

2020s: Walt Disney World's 50th birthday

Also recently added to EPCOT is a new section of the France pavilion, dedicated to the Disney classic Ratatouille. The pavilion features a new 4D ride experience, the family-friendly Remy's Ratatouille Adventure that makes guests feel like they've shrunk to main character Remi's size, and a new restaurant La Crêperie de Paris with sweet crêpes, savory buckwheat galettes and French hard cider all on the menu.

Want more? Now discover what's new at America's theme parks