Countdown - 65 Days to Go!
- Jillian Wallin
- Oct 5
- 2 min read
🏰 This Day in Disney History: Day 5
65 Days to Go!
Today marks a major milestone in Disney history—the grand opening of the original Disneyland Hotel in 1955! Just a few months after Disneyland Park welcomed its first guests, Walt Disney expanded the dream by introducing the Disneyland Resort, a revolutionary concept that paired a theme park with an on-site hotel. Before this, nothing like it existed. Walt didn’t just build a place to stay—he built a whole new way to vacation.
It’s wild to think how this one idea paved the way for themed resorts everywhere: Universal Studios, Legoland, SeaWorld… all owe a little something to Walt’s boundless imagination.
✨ Personal note: I haven’t stayed at the Disneyland Hotel yet (those good neighbor hotels are budget-friendly lifesavers), but it’s absolutely on my Disney bucket list.
Someday, I’d love to stay in every Disney resort—just imagine the stories!
❄️ From Vikings to Arendelle: Epcot’s Norway Pavilion
On this day in 2014, Maelstrom took its final voyage through the Norway Pavilion at Epcot. While I never got to ride it myself, I’ve heard the track didn’t change much when it transformed into Frozen Ever After—but the storytelling sure did!
Disney saw a golden opportunity to update the experience, and in 2016, they let it go… literally. Elsa, Anna, and Olaf took over the fjords, bringing a new kind of magic to the pavilion.
💭 For those who rode both… do you ever wish they’d left Maelstrom untouched?
🎉 Come back tomorrow for Day 6 in our countdown to Disney magic!
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