It was a bright, sunny, 100-degree day on Sunday, July 17, 1955, in Anaheim, California. Fledgling network ABC television had its cameras in place, and journalists from all over the world were invited to the special preview. The park was almost ready - and had taken up to the very last minute to complete. Trees were planted only moments before the gates opened, Main Street was so freshly paved that the asphalt wasn't yet cured, and there were still areas of wet paint, but Disneyland was ready to shine for its 11,000 invitation-only guests. Except more than double that number showed up for the festivities.

Disneyland, as we probably all know, was the brainchild of Walt Disney, the founder of Disney Brothers Studio (along with his brother Roy) which evolved into the Walt Disney Company. Disney is said to have been inspired by his daughter riding a carousel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles along with the consideration of how to placate the growing requests for tours of his studio. He decided to combine the two ideas, using property across the street from his studio location to create Disneyland. There were other parks that inspired Disney, including another southern California staple, Knott's Berry Farm.

Although the Disney company in 2022 is flush with cash (an understatement), Walt Disney did not have the capital to fund his concept of a Disney Studios theme park without help. His vision was also growing by the day, and the plot of land in Burbank, adjacent to his studio, was deemed too small. Walt Disney Productions and Walt Disney joined forces with Western Publishing, the publisher of Little Golden Books, and the ABC Broadcasting Network to bring Walt Disney's park visions to life. A much larger plot of land in Anaheim was acquired for the park and official planning commenced. From planning to opening, the process took only 366 days.

Back to the press opening. As mentioned, 11,000 tickets were given out to the international press. However, the tickets were easily (and robustly) counterfeited, and more than twice as many people attended. Los Angeles is known for traffic jams, but the traffic coming into the park that day was unprecedented. Due to the number of people and the fact that the park was not prepared for such an onslaught, there were delays at rides, closures of whole areas of the park, food and water shortages, and even the escape of circus animals which marred the day for the press.

During this "press-only" opening, Walt Disney was not aware of all the things going wrong; his focus was the ABC special hosted by Ronald Regan, Art Linkletter, and Bob Cummings. Although the press were not kind about the issues of the park, the foibles of the day ultimately helped Disney and his park crew make modifications to layout and flow, along with removing some rides (like the top-heavy stagecoach ride with the propensity for flipping over). Opening day to the public, Monday, July 18th was also crowded, and despite the previous day's issues, the Disneyland park hit one million visitors in just seven weeks. As we all know, Disneyland continues its success, attracting 16+ million visitors annually.

Thanks to everyone who took our poll and provided feedback last month! We had lots of comments, and we're taking them to heart. Here are the two most requested changes we're instituting before releasing the final product:

Lastly, which colorway did people want to see most?

Pretty darn close. And you know what that means. It means we're just going to have to make both. Huzzah! Stay tuned while we get all the wrinkles ironed out.

We're launching a new section on our website called Home Decor. Check out what we have in our home decor section so far!

All the way back in our May 2021 newsletter, MORE THAN A YEAR AGO (how does time move that quickly) I wrote about needing to replace the patio at our home. Well, the patio is replaced, and now we're working on a secondary project.

On a side note, I never knew that a ride-on jackhammer was a thing. I can only imagine that it must make your whole body go numb!

Apparently, I have no GOOD photos of the finished patio where I have all my repainted chairs, flowers and plants, and a fire pit in the middle of the circle. (You'll have to imagine that). In the concrete photos above, you can also see a raised pad by the air conditioner. This is for our current project - a cool shed!

My husband drew up an entire set of construction documents in Revit, and we have all the main framing done and we're about to do some sheathing on the sides before we tackle the pitched roof joists. We're building it all ourselves, nights and weekends, among our day jobs, and for me, my second job as the president of a non-profit. I guess we're just setting ourselves up to be empty-nesters in the fall - never a dull day around here!

We'll keep you posted on construction - still deciding on exact colors to paint the panels and the door!

I love frozen lemonade concentrate as much as the next kid, but when I want to get REALLY refreshed, I whip out my own recipe for old-fashioned lemonade. Of course, the best lemonade is served in spun aluminum tumblers, the kind that freezes your fingers and drips on your lap, but other vessels will do in a pinch.

Stay cool, have fun, and remember the sunscreen. We'll see you next month!