Disneyland, known as The Happiest Place on Earth, celebrates its 70^th anniversary on July 17, 2025. Over the last 40 years, I have had the distinct honor of interviewing Disney cast members – and some who would become cast members – who were on hand for Disneyland’s opening. This is one in a series on that important day in Disney history.

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Whether he realized it or not at the time, Tom Nabbe and the Walt Disney Company were destined to get together.

The Nabbe-Disney California adventure began in late 1954, when Tom’s family moved south, from Los Angeles to Anaheim, less than a mile from a construction site that would become known as Disneyland.

Like Walt Disney, Tom was a hustler … and, like Walt, he was a newspaper delivery boy as well. Even though Tom lost his paper route in Los Angeles when his family moved, he picked up another part-time route in Anaheim.

“Anaheim was a rural area back then,” Tom said. “You had to have a car for a regular paper route, but I was only 12. But I did get a Sunday route. Whatever papers my manager had left over, he’d give them to me.

“I’d go down to Harbor Boulevard and I’d sell the papers to the Disneyland workers who were walking out of the gate. At that time, construction guys were working three shifts. The overnight shift would get off at 7:30 in the morning and I’d sell the papers to the workers who were heading home.”

Tom got tantalizing glimpses of the park through openings near the gate, and what he saw intrigued him. Like the rest of the country, he also kept tabs on the project while watching the Disneyland television show.

It was during his Sunday morning trips to the construction site that he got to know two brothers who had a hand in changing the course of his life: Ray and Joe Amendt. The Amendts ran a concession stand inside Disneyland called Castle News when the park opened on July 17, 1955.

In addition to stroller and wheelchair rentals, Castle News sold The Disneyland News, an early 1900s-themed newspaper conceived by Marty Sklar. “The deal was that I would get 100 papers to sell outside the park, and once I did that, I’d be allowed into the park to sell more papers,” Tom said.

The Disneyland News sold for 10 cents, of which Tom was allowed to keep 3 cents.

Tom had an “in” when it came to opening day – his mother. “She was a starlet wanna-be,” he said. “She’d stand behind barricades at all the big Hollywood events with her autograph book. She always hauled us kids along with her. We’d go to the TV shows or grand openings. She always had dreams of grandeur.”

Which is why Tom, his mother and his sisters found themselves near Disneyland’s main gate on opening day, where they spent most of their time on the outside looking in. His mom was hoping to get autographs from some of the celebrities who were entering the park.

At one point, she approached TV star Danny Thomas, who wound up giving her much sought-after admission tickets.

Once inside, Tom discovered that most of the attractions were malfunctioning and “there was trash heaped up on the ground. In my decades and decades with Disney, that was the trashiest I’d ever seen the park.”

Still, Tom was thrilled “to be part of an event that made history.”

Tom returned the next day with his friend, Doug Harmon. “We paid our 50 cents … to see the park for ourselves, without all the reporters, TV crews and celebrities.” It was the one and only time Tom paid for admission to a Disney partk.

Tom continued selling The Disneyland News through the summer.

Then, in September, “someone told me that Walt was gonna build Tom Sawyer Island. Everyone thought that I looked like Tom Sawyer and I should ask Walt for a job. I found Walt and told him ‘You should hire me.’ He didn’t say no and said he’d think about it. Any time I would find Walt after that, I’d ask him the same question and he’d say he was still thinking about it.”

Walt’s initial response was: “Why should I put you on the island when I could put a mannequin there? Especially considering the dummy won’t be running off for hot dogs every half hour.”

Then, in May of 1956, Tom was in the Penny Arcade at Disneyland “using some of my hard-owned money. Dick Nunis walked in and said, ‘Come with me.’ Dick’s goal was to be a football coach. His management skill was very coach-like. Dick took me over to Frontlierland, where Bill Evans and Walt had just gotten off a boat from the island.

“Walt asked me, ‘Do you still want to be Tom Sawyer?’ I said, ‘Absolutely!'”

Even though Tom Sawyer was a fictional character, Tom Nabbe embraced the role and, for all intents and purposes, was author Mark Twain’s leading man.

He posed for photos in costume, helped guests bait their fishing poles and generally lived the life of a young lad along the Mississippi River in the 1800s. He was featured on the cover of magazines and in newspapers, posing with celebrities.

When he outgrew the Tom Sawyer role, Tom Nabbe was promoted to management positions in Disneyland, before shifting to supervisory roles at Walt Disney World. He was part of WDW’s opening day management team as the monorail supervisor.

Tom retired in 2003 and was named a Disney Legend in 2005. Since his retirement, he has been a regular guest at Disneyland and Walt Disney World anniversary events and fan conventions.

Tom recently took one last raft ride to Tom Sawyer Island in Walt Disney World prior to the attraction’s permanent closing.

LAST IN A SERIES. Happy 70^th birthday Disneyland!

Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist and retired Disney cast member who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored eight books on Disney, including his On the Disney Beat, The Beat Goes On, Disney’s Dream Weavers and his latest, Marty, Mickey and Me, for Theme Park Press. He has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, since 2015.

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