A crowd of 71,887 filled the home of Welsh rugby and they were rewarded with eight tries from the home side and a try bonus point before half-time.
"Credit to Uruguay, they were extremely passionate and forced us to ride out a storm in the opening 10 minutes. We had to be patient, but the main thing was winning and getting the bonus point," said Wales skipper Sam Warburton.
This was Uruguay's third time in the top flight at the World Cup and Los Teros gave a great account of themselves, taking the lead with two early penalties from outside half Felipe Berchesi and staying with one score for the first half-an-hour.
They tackled hard, especially in midfield, and made life tough for Wales at the breakdown through their industrious back row trio of Juan Gaminara, Matias Beer and Alejandro Nieto. Although they never threatened the Welsh try line, they made sure Wales worked hard for their scores.
Cardiff Blues centre Cory Allen helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in the first-half before limping out of proceedings in the second. Returning prop Samson Lee also crossed before the break as he converted a driving line-out.
The Scarlets tight head hadn't played since rupturing his Achilles against Ireland and he looked to be back to full fitness as he anchored the scrum in the first-half before being replaced at half-time.
His clubmate Liam Williams also made his return after surgery on a foot injury, but he left with what looked like a dead leg after 35 minutes. The injuries - Paul James was also hauled off in the first half - meant that Warren Gatland had emptied his bench by the time Lloyd Williams replaced Allen in the 54th minute.
The Welsh coach was then forced to send No 8 James King back onto the field with five minutes left to play when Dan Lydiate left proceedings.
There were four more tries to savour in the second half as Hallom Amos skipped through to score his first try for Wales and there were three more from driving line-outs. Scrum half Gareth Davies skipped around the blindside to convert the first, the outstanding Justin Tipuric bagged a second closer to the heart of the action and then Davies got a second with the last move of the match.
Rhys Priestland converted seven of the eight tries to bag 14 points for himself, but it was Allen who was named at the Mastercard Man of the Match for his hat-trick.
Australia open their Pool A account against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday night, while Wales now have to prepare for the first of their two trips to Twickenham on Saturday for the vital clash with arch-rivals. England
