[3][4] As a teenager, he obtained a news butcher job on the Missouri Pacific Railway, selling various products to train passengers, including newspapers, candy, and cigars.

[8] In 1949, after purchasing 5 acres (2.0 ha) of vacant land in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, he started construction on a new residence for himself and his family, and on the elaborate 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) gauge ridable miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad behind it.

[14] In early 1953, after a visitor drove the Lilly Belle too fast along a curve, causing it to derail and injure a five-year-old girl, Walt Disney, fearing the possibility of future accidents, closed down the Carolwood Pacific Railroad and placed the locomotive in storage.

[16] During this time, Disney proposed that the narrow-gauge Crystal Springs & Southwestern Railroad, which the nearby Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park planned to build, be extended to run through Disneyland.

[19][21] Prior to the start of construction of the DRR, in the hope of saving money by buying already-existing trains for the attraction, Walt Disney tried to buy a set of 19 in (483 mm) gauge ridable miniature locomotives from William "Billy" Jones, but after Jones declined his offer, Disney decided that he wanted the railroad's rolling stock to be bigger and made from scratch.

[29][33] Main Street, USA Station, an example of Second Empire-style architecture, was built at the entrance to Disneyland using an original design that incorporated forced perspective elements on its upper levels to make it appear taller.

[31] Vilmer designed the operations of the DRR in such a way that each of its two trains would be assigned to a single station on the rail line, making only complete round trips possible.

[42][43] They were greeted at the station's platform by the park opening ceremony's host Art Linkletter, actor Ronald Reagan, and several television camera crews broadcasting the festivities nationwide.

3 locomotive participated in the inauguration ceremony for the DRR's Grand Canyon Diorama, which features a foreground with several lifelike animals, a background painted by artist Delmer J. Yoakum on a single piece of seamless canvas measuring 306 feet (93.3 m) long by 34 feet (10.4 m) high, and musical accompaniment from Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite.

1 locomotive, which involved adding side-facing bench seating pointed towards Disneyland and red-and-white striped awnings on all of the cattle cars and gondolas.

[28][65] The Lilly Belle was given a new exterior paint scheme and a new interior, which included varnished mahogany paneling, velour curtains and seats, a floral-patterned wool rug, and Disney family pictures framed and hung on the walls.

[65] The first official passenger to come aboard the Lilly Belle after its conversion into a parlor car in September 1975 was Japanese Emperor Hirohito, and since then it can be regularly seen coupled on the ends of the DRR's trains.

[70][71] The new roundhouse, where the DRR's locomotives and train cars are stored and maintained, was also built to house the storage and maintenance facility for the Disneyland Monorail.

[63] The Audio-Animatronic dinosaurs from Ford's Magic Skyway, one of the attractions created by Disney for the 1964 New York World's Fair, were incorporated into the diorama, including a Tyrannosaurus confronting a Stegosaurus.

[75] From 1982, A, B, C, D, and E tickets were discontinued in favor of a pay-one-price admission system for Disneyland, allowing visitors to experience all of the park's attractions, including the DRR, as many times as desired.

[37] Out of a desire to have four trains regularly running at once each day on the DRR, in the mid-1990s the Disneyland park began to search for an additional narrow-gauge steam locomotive to add to the railroad's rolling stock.

[77] Due to budget issues, the restoration of the locomotive was suspended not long after its arrival, and its parts were planned to be placed in long-term storage in late 2003.

[77] The Ward Kimball locomotive's restoration efforts were resurrected soon after, when it was decided that its addition to the DRR would be incorporated into the celebration of Disneyland's fiftieth anniversary in July 2005.

[82][83] The restoration work performed included installing new driving wheels, attaching a new smokebox door, and applying gold-leaf silhouettes of Kimball's Jiminy Cricket character on the sides of the headlamp.

[88][90] Johnston, then in his nineties, was helped into the Marie E., and with Lasseter at his side, he grasped the locomotive's throttle and drove his former possession three times around the DRR's main line.

[88][91] Although Johnston died in 2008, Lasseter continues to run the Marie E., the caboose, and an assortment of train cars on his private Justi Creek Railway.

[71][97] The DRR reopened on July 29, 2017, with a new route along the northern edge of the Rivers of America named Columbia Gorge, which features rock formations, waterfalls, a trestle bridge, and the line's only left-hand turn.

[98] Pulled behind the Marie E. were an inoperable locomotive and train car, which were both previously owned by Ward Kimball and run on his former Grizzly Flats Railroad.

[98] On May 31, 2023, the Splash Mountain log flume attraction containing one of the DRR tunnels permanently closed to be rethemed as Tiana's Bayou Adventure.

[70][105][123] It then moves over another trestle bridge that wraps around the Rivers of America in the Frontierland section, giving riders a unique view of the features as well as some animal maquettes not viewable to regular guests.

[100][124] Occasionally, the Mark Twain Riverboat can be seen in the Rivers of America alongside the train, at which time they will sound their whistles at each other to the tune of Shave and a Haircut.

Also in this area is a billboard titled "Agrifuture,"[126] a remnant of a concept in Tomorrowland where ornamental landscaping will eventually be replaced by manicured functional gardens, which is reflected in nearly every plant in the land being edible.

[70] A synthesized composition of the song There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, originally composed for the Carousel of Progress, plays during this stretch of the journey.

[55][128] Shortly after leaving the tunnel, the train arrives back at Main Street, USA Station, completing what the park refers to as The Grand Circle Tour.

[121][130] The option to ride in the DRR's Lilly Belle parlor car is also available upon request at Main Street, USA Station when a Disneyland employee is available to monitor the passengers aboard it and no heavy rain is falling.