Early television programs generally would have only a single sponsor, or a series of rotating weekly sponsors, who not only produced all of the commercial content for their sponsored shows, but would have the final say in the creative direction of the programs they oversaw. However, the unique nature of Walt Disney's reputation as an entertainment mogul allowed him an unprecedented amount of creative freedom in the direction of his namesake programming. His sponsors understood that their role was to bow out, and let the master create his magic as only he knew how. In turn, Walt would offer the talents of his artistic staff to assist in the production of the commercials that would accompany his programming. This resulted in some of the most visually appealing ads from the days of early TV. It wasn't long before advertising executives came a-knocking on the Disney studio door, and staff animators were often assigned an uncredited role in creating animated commercials for various products throughout the 1950's. Usually, these ads would not include Disney characters or any references to the Disney organization at all. However, many corporations not only wanted the skills of the Disney artists, but also the Walt Disney reputation behind their products. Below are some early examples of television ads that either directly sponsored Disney programming, or were independent ads that used promotional tie-ins to Disneyland or Disney characters to help promote their own products. In addition to announcer Dick Wesson, the official voice of the Disneyland television show, voices familiar to fans of classic Disney animation can also be heard in these classic commercials, including Jimmy MacDonald, Cliff Edwards, Sterling Holloway, Clarence "Ducky" Nash, Bill Thompson, Katherine Beaumont and Paul Frees.

The ground breaking daily children's TV series, The Mickey Mouse Club, premiered on ABC only months after Disneyland opened. In fact, the first ever television appearance of the Mouseketeers was during the live Dateline Disneyland dedication telecast. From that point forward, the Mickey Mouse Club and Mouseketeers shared a close affiliation with Disneyland. A few days a week, the show presented a newsreel segment, modeled after the newsreels commonly seen in movie theaters at that time. Very often, these news items involved the various activities centered around the Magic Kingdom. Each day of the week the Mickey Mouse Club had a special theme, and Tuesday was always "Guest Star Day." One of the earliest featured guests was comedian Wally Boag, who demonstrated how to make balloon animals just as he did so daily as one of the live performers at the Golden Horseshoe Review in Disneyland. A specially composed balloon song was also performed by Boag and the Mouseketeers. Another guest act on the Mickey Mouse Club was the famous Firehouse Five Plus Two, who were also frequent performers in Disneyland. They would make a surprise appearance on Anything can Happen Day, joining Mouseketeer Cubby O'Brien on drums. During a special season three Talent Roundup Day, child performer Don DeGradi put the "emphasis on the wrong syllable" and joined the Mouseketeers in the Disneyland Calypso.

As much as Walt studied history and loved nostalgia, he was also a futurist. His inquisitive and imaginative nature fascinated him with the forward advancement of science and technology. He was also an avid supporter of the "space race" to send man to the moon, and felt it was vital for the future to explore our universe. In turn, Walt enlisted the most regarded scientific experts of the day to create a groundbreaking series of documentaries for the Disneyland TV program. This series was also closely tied into the development of Tomorrowland within Disneyland the park, and its Space Station X-I and Rocket to the Moon attractions. The first of these "Tomorrowland" programs aired only months before Disneyland's grand opening, and struck such a cord with the public at large, that president Eisenhower took notice and asked for a print of the film to be sent to the white house for review. In fact, many historians credit Walt Disney more than any other individual for garnering the enthusiasm and support that was needed for the US government to push forward with the NASA space program, eventually leading up to the Apollo mission of 1969. Walt produced three of these space travel episodes between 1954-1957, and then turned to other ideas for a brighter tomorrow, including the future of transportation. During the very height of America's development of an interstate highway system, the 1958 Tomorrowland episode, "Magic Highway USA," gave a history of transportation and provided many forward thinking concepts for improving traffic and congestion in our cities. Walt's concern over urban sprawl was profound, and became the force behind many of the biggest and most imaginative concepts of his late career. This included the planned and cohesive design of Disneyland itself, and led to the inclusion of several innovative transportation prototypes in his park including the Monorail and PeopleMover, which eventually led up to Walt's dream for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

As the novelty of color TV began to wane, the 1969 season of the Disney anthology series underwent yet another name change, becoming "The Wonderful World of Disney," which is perhaps the most recognizable name associated with this series over its many incarnations. The new theme music for the revamped series was an upbeat medley of Disney standards, which every few seasons was re-recorded with slight changes. The title music for the 1978-1979 season would be the last time such a medley arrangement would be used, and was also the last season the series would officially be called "The Wonderful World of Disney." In 1979, at the insistence of NBC executives, the name of the show was shortened to "Disney's Wonderful World, and a new and more contemporary sounding title theme was composed, forgoing the tradition of opening the show with a Walt Disney medley. In 1981, NBC cancelled the series, but it was quickly picked up by CBS, then becoming known simply as..."Walt Disney." The new opening title featured the more traditional Disney anthem "When You Wish Upon a Star," which was visually accompanied by an impressive display of early computer generated graphics. After its short run on CBS, the long running series would be cancelled after the 1982-1983 season, but this again would not mark the end of Disney on prime time network TV. In 1986 Disney returned to the airwaves after a three year hiatus. The new ABC series was known as "The Disney Sunday Movie," and the main title was again, "When You Wish Upon a Star." This version started out in a wistful and more traditional Disney style, before the tempo would pick up with some decidedly 1980's pop influences. Also in the 80's, Disney opened up its vaults, releasing several classic films and TV episodes into a daily syndicated format, once again under the name, "The Wonderful World of Disney." Then in 1988, the Disney primetime anthology series moved back to NBC once again, this time forgoing the wonder and adding a little magic under the slightly different title, "The Magical World of Disney."

The Disney Family Album was a half hour documentary series presented on the Disney Channel, originally airing between 1984 and 1986. It was narrated by veteran Disney performer Buddy Ebsen of "Davy Crockett" fame. The series took an unprecedented in-depth looked at the behind-the-scenes artists and performers at the Disney Studio, the Disney parks and at WED Imagineering. It featured rare archival footage and exclusive interviews with the women and men who turned dreams into realities, many of whom knew and worked with Walt Disney himself. Out of the 20 episodes produced for this series, four stand out as being the most closely tied to Disneyland. "Disneyland Designers" featured interviews with three exceptional artists who helped design the original Disneyland alongside Walt: John Hench, Herbert Ryman, and Bill Evans, followed by an interview with the up and coming young Imagineer Tony Baxter, who explained many of his imaginative ideas for the future of the park. A later episode of the series was an interview with one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" and Disney Legend Marc Davis, chronicling his career in animation and how it led to his career as a designer for many beloved Disneyland attractions. In yet another episode, the world famous Golden Horseshoe Revue in Disneyland was given the spotlight, featuring interviews with longtime cast members Betty Taylor, Wally Boag and Fulton Burley. A later episode in the series called "The WED Imagineers" featured more amazing Disney Imagineers, with a lineup of guest interviews spanning from the old order to the new regime, including Randy Bright, Bill Justice, Tim Delaney, X. Atencio and Dave Feiten.

Before the VCR became a common household device, Kodak offered professionally produced Super 8 reel-to-reel films, as a take home souvenir, available for purchase throughout Disneyland. When home video replaced home movies in the early 1980's, a new souvenir video was produced called, "A Day at Disneyland," which was also widely available for home rental in video stores nationwide. The video reused film footage from an earlier Super 8 release produced a few years earlier, and additional scenes filmed on video were added to the presentation. In 1991, a new and completely updated Day at Disneyland home video was produced for purchase exclusively in the park. It was then revised in 1993 to include additional scenes from Fantasmic! and Mickey's Toontown. Another favorite 1990's video featuring Disneyland was called "Disneyland Fun." This was part of a series of home releases called, "Disney's Sing-Along Songs," with follow the bouncing ball style musical segments. This fondly remembered video featured newly produced recordings of many memorable songs associated with the park, as well as a few obscure gems.