That's right, Mouseketeers: 54 years ago today, seconds before Disneyland swallowed its first lookee-loos, chain-smoking Uncle Walt took that infamous stroll through Sleeping Beauty Castle (it's Cinderella's joint in Orlando), surveying his "architecture of reassurance" before it went live. Love that picture. This is what he told the throngs (mostly the press) on opening day:

To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America...with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world..

Since that speech, 515 million people have visited the Anaheim, Calif., park (although that opening day was a major mess -- all Mouse House hell broke loose).

As the Forever Fiancee will tell you with a dramatic eye-roll, I'm an unabashed Disney apologist, from obsessing about Hidden Mickeys to nerding out over Mr. Toad memorabilia. I have no problem with the notion of going to a park and relying not on my own imagination, but someone else's. As the father of two young daughters, I'm often swearing, sweating, bemoaning my fate as I wait 50 minutes for a 30-second Dumbo ride. I get the grotesqueries. I do. And yet, I always return. (For all the FF's mocking, for Father's Day she bought me two drool-worthy books: Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show and Walt Disney's Legends of Imagineering and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park.)

To celebrate Disneyland's anniversary, here's the coolest Disney song of all time, brought to you by Phil "Baloo" Harris and those songwriting Sherman Brothers.