I distinctly remember watching this broadcast live on July 17, 1955, when I was five years old, and the opening of Disneyland was, to me, the most important event in the world. Seeing it again brings back that long ago day of my childhood so vividly. The flubs and technical mishaps help bring the immediacy of this live telecast back, and seeing the nearly barren Disney park before the trees and bushes had grown or most of the rides installed is great fun. Particularly seeing empty Anaheim in the background where it is now so overdeveloped is amazing. Art Linkletter was hosting this show on his own birthday, but never mentions it. Walt turns out a parade of his Hollywood Republican pals for co-hosting bits, including Bob Cummings and Ronald Reagan. In opening Tomorrowland, Cummings says it represents the future world of 1984! If only co-host Reagan had looked at Tomorrowland and said, "Oh look, I'm the President." But no one would have believed it then. Linkletter took the camera and film concessions at the park for 10 years in lieu of payment for hosting, and made many thousands of times as much money as his hosting fee would have. Sadly, the performance by the Mousekateers on this show has been edited out of the DVD release, I assume to avoid having to pay them their royalties, which is a shame as this show was the TV debuts of Annette Funicello and Bobby Burgess, both of whom had long careers ahead of them. An amazing time capsule.
