Disneyland Hotel (California)

Disneyland Hotel
The Hotel seen from the Frontier Tower
Location	Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, California, United States
Category
Opened	October 5, 1955
Theme	Various, with elements of Classic Disneyland laced throughout
Rooms	990
Suites	Adventureland, Big Thunder, Mickey Mouse Penthouse, Pirates of the Caribbean, Fairy Tale
Operator	Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (The Walt Disney Company)
Website	Official Website

The Disneyland Hotel is a resort hotel located at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, owned by the Walt Disney Company and operated through its Parks and Resorts division. Opened on October 5, 1955 as a motor inn owned and operated by Jack Wrather under an agreement with Walt Disney, the hotel was the first to officially bear the Disney name. Under Wrather's ownership, the hotel underwent several expansions and renovations over the years before being acquired by Disney in 1988. The hotel was downsized to its present capacity in 1999 as part of the Disneyland Resort expansion.

At the time of its construction in the early 1950s, Disneyland was in a remote area outside Anaheim, California. Walt Disney wanted to build a hotel for Disneyland visitors to stay overnight, since Disneyland was quite a drive from the established population centers of Southern California at the time. But Disney's financial resources were significantly depleted by the construction of the park. Initially he tried to interest his friend Art Linkletter in building the hotel but Linkletter declined. At the time, Linkletter was hesitant about the prospects of the park (only ruefully years later to walk along the sidewalk in front of the property while telling himself with each step "And that's another million I missed out on"). So Disney then sought out and negotiated a deal with Jack Wrather and his business partner Maria Helen Alvarez under which Wrather-Alvarez Productions would own and operate a hotel called the Disneyland Hotel across the street from Disneyland. Wrather was a Texas oil millionaire turned film producer who already owned hotels in Las Vegas and Palm Springs, and co-owned television stations in Tulsa and San Diego with Alvarez.