Video: 'Disney World Opens - 1971 | Today In History | 1 Oct 18'

(Friday, October 1, 1971, 10:00 a.m. EDT) — Walt Disney World, an entertainment resort complex near Orlando, Florida, opened this morning.

Video: 'The Grand Opening of Walt Disney World 1971 TV Special' (aired Friday, October 29, 1971, at 8:00 p.m. EDT)

Roughly 2,000 people were waiting when the gates opened to the eastern U.S. counterpart to Disneyland, which had opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California.

On the first day, only 10,000 paying customers showed up rather than the predicted 30,000.