Ground was officially broken for Disneyland on July 16, 1954. It is one of the most remarkable construction feats in history because the entire park was completed and opened just one year and one day later, on July 17, 1955. Walt Disney had spent years researching and planning "Mickey Mouse Park," but once he secured the 160-acre orange grove in Anaheim, California, the pace was frantic. Workers moved over 1 million cubic yards of earth, planted thousands of trees, and built the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle in record time. The project was so ambitious that Walt often had to "bet the company" to keep it funded, even selling his own vacation home. At any given time during that year, there were over 2,500 workers on-site, including specialists from Hollywood movie sets who were used to building the "impossible." By 2026, the July 17th anniversary remains a major celebration at the park, but historians still marvel at that July 1954 start date—without modern computers or advanced machinery, they built what is now the most famous theme park in the world in only 366 days, a timeline that would be virtually impossible under today's strict building codes and regulations.