Disneyland Notches 1 Billionth Guest Ahead Of Park’s 71st Birthday

Disneyland said Friday that it welcomed its 1 billionth guest through the gates, just less than 71 years after Walt Disney opened his now-iconic theme park in Anaheim, CA.

The guest was Andres Robles, of Arizona, who was at the park with his parents celebrating his eighth birthday. They participated in a ceremony at the park’s Main Street U.S.A. train station platform, where they helped to unveil a newly updated park sign that now reads: “Population 1,000,000,000.”

The park said the Robles family also scored a free VIP tour guide for the day and toured Walt Disney’s private apartment and the newly opened Soarin’ Across America among other experiences.

Disneyland had been celebrating its landmark 70th anniversary since May 2025 with special pricing and more into this August.

The park itself opened its gates on July 18, 1955 and paved the way as the first theme park of the modern age.

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In March, newly installed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro — the former head of Disney’s Experiences division which houses the company’s theme parks — was asked about the business amid criticism for the company’s raising park prices, especially in recent years as consumers have been hit with soaring prices for groceries, gas and a number of other essentials.

The annual increases phased in last fall were more modest than they had been in prior years, but many of the ticket hikes still outpaced the rate of inflation.

“That is an important question,” he said. “I guess I’d start with the fact that I know that a Disney park visit is a meaningful investment for families that visit us, and our goal is for every single guest to feel that their experience is worth it. Basically, we want this experience to be the best day of a guest’s life. And we’re always measuring our success here. So, for example, we look at things like guest experience ratings, and a guest intent to return after they’ve visited us. And these metrics are both very high across all of our parks.”