On 18 July 1955, Disneyland's first morning open to the general public, about 15,000 people lined up at the ticket windows. Contemporary Los Angeles Times reporting described a four-abreast line a mile long. The invitation-only preview the day before had already exceeded expectations through counterfeit tickets and produced food shortages, breakdowns and “endless lines” for attractions.
The entrance was both a gateway to a new kind of leisure and the first real test of its capacity. A mile of four-person rows translated national publicity into a physical bottleneck at a handful of ticket windows.