 |
|
|
|||||
Its almost impossible to imagine an entertainment landscape without Disney. Since the 1928 release of Steamboat Willie, starring Mickey Mouse and voiced by creator Walt Disney, the company has been at the forefront of family-friendly entertainment. One of the many accomplishments by Walt Disney was the 1955 opening of his flagship amusement park, Disneyland, a place where families could spend magical time together. Today (Thursday, July 17, 2025) marks the 70th anniversary of the beginnings of the happiest place on earth. Let’s take a look at the numbers then and now and examine business lessons hard-earned from the disastrous opening day. When was Disneylands actual opening day? Officially, Disneyland celebrates July 17 as its opening date. Technically this was an invitation-only gala with around 15,000 people expected (sources vary on the exact number) to attend. Many at home watched the festivities because it was broadcast by ABC, the network that helped finance the park. The following day, July 18, the park was open to the general public for the first time. People began lining up at 2 a.m. According to a New York Times headline, 15,000 people managed to queue up before the 10 a.m. opening. It only took 10 weeks for a million visitors to experience the park. Just five years after opening, the park boasted 5 million visitors a year. How many lands were in Disneyland then and now? Disneyland cost $17 million to create. The eighth wonder of the world opened with five themed lands and 35 attractions, as noted by CNBC, spanning 60 guest-accessible acres. A single entrance that led to Main Street USA transported visitors, preparing them for whimsical moments ahead. Fantasy, Adventure, Tomorrow, and Frontier lands contained attractions such as Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Autopia, Mark Twain Riverboat, and the Jungle Cruiseall of which are still open today. Today, Disneylands expanded 98 acres are the home of 82 things to do, according to its rides and entertainment map on the official website. Four additional lands have multiplied the magic: New Orleans Square debuted in 1966 Bear Country (now Bayou Country) in 1972 Mickeys Toontown in 1993 Star Wars: Galaxys Edge in 2019 The whole resort spans 550 acres, including an additional park, Disney’s California Adventure, Downtown Disney, an outdoor shopping and dining center, and multiple hotels. How much did it cost to get into Disneyland when it opened? Admission to the park worked differently in 1955. Visitors had to purchase a general ticket, which was $1 for adults and 50 cents for children. Attractions required additional tickets, which ranged in cost from 10 cents to 35 cents. According to a 1955 Associated Press article, if you wanted to do it all in 1955, it would cost $8.70 for an adult and $5.15 for a child. Admission in 2025 depends on the date, how many parks you want to visit, and if you want any additional add ons to skip ahead in the line. A one-day, one-park ticket ranges from $104 to $206 for adults, and $98 to $196 for kids. Children under the age of 3 are free. Purchasing a Lightning Lane Multi Pass adds an additional $32.00 per ticket, per day and does not work on all attractions. And then there are the parking costs. What went wrong on opening day? July 17, 1955, was anything but perfect. The park simply wasnt ready, but Walt Disney decided to open anyway. Workers scrambled until the last possible second to finish what they could. Thousands more people were admitted than planned for because of forged tickets. The hot temperatures caused freshly paved asphalt to melt, as noted by Smithsonian magazine. There were not enough working drinking fountains because of a plumbers’ strike. Walt Disney was forced to choose between making them operational or the bathrooms. He went with the toilets. Food ran out. Rides broke down. A small fire broke out near Sleeping Beautys castle. Too many people rode the Mark Twain River boat, causing it to get stuck in the mud and take on water. Despite all that, Disneyland succeeded. How did Disneyland reshape the amusement park industry? Disneyland was able to overcome its disastrous opening day because of Walt Disney’s commitment to his overall vision and willingness to adapt. His secret weapon was his brother Roy O. Disney, whose business acumen led to strategic corporate sponsorships. Before Disneyland, amusement parks were dingy and catered mainly to children. Walt dreamed of a park like no other, one that was clean and was designed for young and old alike. He wanted to bring out the inner child in every visitor. Walt considered Disneyland to be a perpetually blank canvas. Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world,” he mused on opening day. “It is something that will never be finished.” Walt was the creative mind and Roy was the practical one. Roy was instrumental in getting ABC to help fund Walts dream. Even before opening, the magic of Disneyland came into everyones homes via television thanks to the broadcast network (which the Walt Disney Company now owns). This genius marketing move created an enormous amount of hype. The live broadcast on opening day, while also far from perfect, generated even more buzz. Beyond ABC, other corporate sponsors supported individual attractions, a tradition still going strong today. Richfield Oil bolstered Autopia until 1970. Honda holds that title these days. Walt Disney’s ability to ush through difficulties and stay true to his vision, combined with his brother Roys business skills, created an undeniable empire and changed the direction of the amusement park sector, known today as part of the broader Experience Economy. In 2025, U.S. amusement parks were expected to generate $35.5 billion, according to analysis from IBISWorld. Globally, theme parks attracted 244.6 million visitors in 2023, according to a report from AECOM. Competition between Disney and its rivals is constantly heating up. In the Orlando area, where Disney launched a sprawling theme park industry in the 1970s, it competes for visitors with Comcast’s Universal, which recently opened its latest salvo: Epic Universe. Disneyland is proof you that dont have to get it perfect on the first dayyou just have to continuously improve. As Disneyland turns 70, its theme park legacy is undeniable. With 12 parks around the world and plans for number 13 recently announced, Walts gamble certainly paid off.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Trump administration revoked federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project on Wednesday, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles.The U.S. Transportation Department announced it was pulling back $4 billion in funding for the project, weeks after signaling it would do so. Overall, a little less than a quarter of the project’s funding has come from the federal government. The rest has come from the state, mainly through a voter-approved bond and money from its cap-and-trade program.President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the project as a “train to nowhere.”“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”The loss marks the latest blow to California by the Trump administration, which has blocked a first-in-the-nation rule to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars, launched investigations into university admission policies and threatened to pull funding over transgender girls being allowed to compete in girls sports.It also comes as rail project leaders are seeking private investment to help pay for its estimated price tag of more than $100 billion.Voters first approved the project in 2008 and it was supposed to be operating this decade. But cost estimates have consistently grown and its timeline pushed back.State officials are now focused on building a 119-mile (192-kilometer) stretch connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Merced that is set to be operating by 2033. The California High Speed Rail Authority is slated to release a report this summer to state lawmakers with an updated funding plan and timeline for the project.Authority officials wrote in a letter earlier this month that the Trump administration made up its mind about revoking funding before thoroughly reviewing the project. They noted that more than 50 structures have already been built, including underpasses, viaducts and bridges to separate the rail line from roadways for safety.“Canceling these grants without cause isn’t just wrong it’s illegal,” authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a statement Wednesday. “These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025.”The authority has asked potential private investors to express their interest by the end of the month.Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will keep “all options on the table” to fight the revocation of federal funds.“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him,” he said in a statement.The state has “no viable plan” to complete even the Central Valley segment, said Drew Feeley, acting administrator of the transportation department’s Federal Railroad Administration, in a report released last month. He called the project a “story of broken promises” and a waste of taxpayer dollars.California Democrats also have criticized project spending. Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said at a budget hearing earlier this year that her constituents “overwhelmingly believe” high-speed rail spending “has been irresponsible.”Newsom plans to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program, a key funding source for the project which is set to expire at the end of 2030, through 2045.The program sets a declining limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions large emitters can release. Those polluters can buy allowances from the state needed to pollute, and about 45% of that money goes into what’s known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, a group of experts that reviews the program.The fund helps pay for climate and transportation projects, including high-speed rail.The bullet train project receives 25% of the money from the fund, which ends up being a little less or a little more than $1 billion annually, depending on the year. Newsom in May proposed guaranteeing $1 billion a year for the project from the fund, but lawmakers have not agreed to that. Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna Sophie Austin, Associated Press/Report for America
Category:
E-Commerce
The use of AI companions is no longer niche behavior but has become embedded in mainstream teenage life, according to a new report. A nationally representative survey of 1,060 teens ages 13 to 17, conducted in April and May 2025 by Common Sense Mediaa U.S.-based advocacy and research nonprofitfound that 72% have used AI companions at least once, and more than half qualify as regular users. Of those surveyed, 13% are daily users. For the purposes of the research, “AI companions” were defined as “digital friends or characters you can text or talk with whenever you want.” This includes apps specifically designed as AI companions, such as Character.AI, Nomi, and Replika, as well as tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, which, though not built for companionship, are frequently used in that way. According to the survey, most teens are taking a pragmatic approach to these tools rather than treating them as replacements for real-life relationships. Nearly half said they view AI companions mainly as tools or programs, while 33% avoid them entirely. However, a third said they engage with AI companions for social interaction and relationships, including role-playing and practicing conversations. Others said theyve sought emotional support, friendship, and even romantic connections with AI. Entertainment and curiosity are the primary drivers of use among teens, though a smaller number rely on AI companions for advice, appreciating their constant availability and nonjudgmental responses. Michael Robb, head of research at Common Sense Media, expressed concern over one particular finding: 31% of teens said their conversations with AI companions are as satisfyingor more satisfyingthan those with other people. A third have discussed serious and important issues with AI companions instead of humans, and 12% said they share things they wouldnt tell friends or family. From a developmental perspective, teens are still learning the tricky and sometimes uncomfortable skills of human relationships like handling disagreements, reading subtle social cues, and learning to understand others’ perspectives, Robb tells Fast Company. AI companions are specifically designed to be agreeable and validating. They tell teens what they want to hear rather than what they might need to hear from someone in their real life. A separate safety assessment published earlier this year by Common Sense and Stanford University’s Brainstorm Lab warned that no AI companion is safe for kids younger than 18. Although most platforms technically forbid minorsexcept for Character.AI, which rates its service as safe for ages 13 and upage verification processes are often easy to bypass. For now, most teens still prefer people to bots. According to the recent report, 80% of AI companion users spend more time with real friends than with AI. Just 6% said they spend more time with AI companions than peers, while 13% spend about equal time with both. The fact that half of teens express skepticism about AI companion information shows they may be using their critical thinking, Robb says. Though additional digital literacy education could certainly make that number larger.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||