2. His family bought a farm and his father struggled to raise his family. Four years of back-breaking work and the family sold out their farm, barely breaking even on his investment. It was four years work with nothing to show. The family then found themselves in Kansas City in 1910 when Walt was 8. When Walt lived on the farm, he had his first exposure to movies in a nearby theater. Movies had just come into existence around 1895 and 1896. (9)
3. He created more than 81 feature films and hundreds of shorts. He earned more than 950 honors, including 48 Academy Awards. He founded the California Institute of the Arts, and he built Disneyland.Within 7 weeks, a million visitors had visited Disneyland, making it one of the biggest tourist attractions in the US. Attendance was 50 per cent ahead of predictions and guests were spending 30 per cent more than expected. (4)
4. At age 22, Walt experienced bankruptcy after the failure of a cartoon series in Kansas City. He headed to Los Angeles with $40 in cash, and an imitation-leather suitcase containing only a shirt, two undershorts, and two pairs of socks and some drawing materials. Feeling that others did animation better, his goal was to be an actor out in Hollywood. It never occurred (4)
5. The vision of an amusement park grew in Walt’s mind as he traveled through the US and Europe and visited attractions of all kinds. He visited county fairs, state fairs, circuses, carnivals, and parks. He was distressed at operations where things were run down and ride operators were hostile. And he loved the spotless Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, with bright, upbeat music, excellent food and drink, and warm, friendly employees. Walt was convinced that an amusement park would be successful in the United States if it offered a “good show” that families could enjoy together, was clean, and had friendly employees. (3)
6. The Walt Disney Company started in 1923 in the rear of a small office occupied by Holly-Vermont Realty in Los Angeles. It was there that Walt Disney, and his brother Roy, produced a series of short live-action/animated films collectively called the ALICE COMEDIES. The rent was a mere $10 a month. Within four months, the staff moved next door to larger facilities, where the sign on the window read "Disney Bros. Studio."(11)
7. Walt was personally involved with all aspects of designing the studio. From the layout of the buildings to design of the animators' chairs, nothing was left to chance. His main concern was to produce a self-sufficient, state-of-the-art production factory that provided all the essential facilities for the entire production process.
8. In 1937, the Walt Disney Studios released its first fully animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and pioneered a new form of family entertainment. This website shows Disney;s progress throughout these seven decades on his productions.(11)
9. Walter Elias Disney, fondly called 'Walt Disney', was a film producer, voice actor, director, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is accredited with revolutionizing animated movies and bringing about many changes in the way they were filmed. (11)
10. Walt Disney had the inherent talent to make beautiful drawings that were the works of his vivid imagination. At the age of seven, he even sold some of his best drawings to his neighbors. Recognizing the fact that the talent of drawing was inherent in him, he decided to fine-tune his art. Therefore, he joined an art academy in Chicago to sharpen his skills in drawing.(12)
11. Although he was rejected from the Army, Disney didn't give up on his mission to serve the people. He, along with one of his friends, joined the Red Cross Society. He acted as a volunteer, while working with the organization. In the meantime, he also practiced drawing and sketching and kept on developing new ways to represent ideas. He even decorated the ambulance of Red Cross Society, which he drove, with cartoons, sketches and drawings. (12)
12. Walt Disney designed, built and opened a theme park in Anaheim, California. The amusement park was opened to public on 18 July 1955. The entire idea behind the construction of the theme park came in the mind of Disney when he visited the Griffith Park, with his daughters Diane and Sharon. The park is currently operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
13. Walt Disney was diagnosed with lung cancer, after many years of chain smoking. He was given treatment at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, during the critical stages of his disease. He breathed his last on December 15, 1966, at Burbank, California. (13)
14. It was not until the decade of the '90s, however, that Disney growth became truly phenomenal. In January 1990, Disney Chairman Michael D. Eisner unveiled an ambitious ten-year building plan. He called it The Disney Decade. By mid-decade attendance passed 500 million guests. Investment increased to five times its 1980 total.(13)
15. Disney’s Animal Kingdom -- a whole new species of theme park with 13 animal-themed adventures opened in 1998. A greatly expanded Asia section opened in 1999. In other parks, '90s attractions included: at Epcot - Innoventions, “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” high-speed Test Track and the highly creative Journey Into Your Imagination; at Magic Kingdom - Splash Mountain, “Legend of the Lion King,” The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and New Tomorrowland; at Disney-MGM Studios - Star Tours, “Voyage of the Little Mermaid,” “Jim Henson’s Muppet*Vision 3-D,” “Disney’s Doug Live!”, “Bear in the Big Blue House,” “Sounds Dangerous Starring Drew Carey,” “Fantasmic!”, Sunset Boulevard with The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. (12)
16. More than 100,000 employees and local guests visited Magic Kingdom before a month-long series of events beginning Oct. 1. Mickey Mouse led the official first visitors, William Windsor and his family, into Magic Kingdom. The climax of the grand opening was Oct. 23-25, with a gala concert by the 60-nation World Symphony Orchestra under direction of Maestro Arthur Fiedler.(14)
17. During its original construction and during the first decade of operation, Walt kept his own hand on the design of Disneyland. The first actual rendering of the park, drawn by Herb Ryman, was personally directed by Walt. The drawing was instrumental in securing the balance of the financial backing Walt needed. The design of Sleeping Beauty's castle, so named because the movie by that name was soon to be released.
18. Soon after the opening of Disney World, Roy Disney retired and the Disney Company was taken over by Card Walker. Walker ran the company until 1984. The company languished during those years. Almost no new attractions were added to the parks and the animation studios fell into a doldrums of epic proportion. Disneyland and Walt Disney World became museums that displayed the history of Walt Disney. (14)
19. Walt Disney bought the 43 square miles of Central Florida swampland for Disney World for $5 million, or about $185 an acre. Disney World has closed three times, all in anticipation of hurricanes: Sept. 15, 1999, for Floyd; Sept. 4-5, 2004, for Frances; and Sept. 26 of that same year for Jeanne. (15)1
20. 10,000. That was the number of people in attendance for Disney World's soft opening on Oct. 1, 1971.
21. the grand opening later that month — which included performances by Julie Andrews, Bob Hope and Glen Campbell — was televised nationally. Today, the Magic Kingdom alone averages about 47,000 visitors a day.(15)
21. the grand opening later that month — which included performances by Julie Andrews, Bob Hope and Glen Campbell — was televised nationally. Today, the Magic Kingdom alone averages about 47,000 visitors a day.(15)
22. Walt Disney began his legacy with Steamboat Willy on November 18, 1928, at the Colony Theater in New York.
23. Dave Smith wrote: This was the first synchronized sound cartoon, and it was a huge success. Reviewers commented on the cleverness of the cartoon, the advantage that sound brought to the medium, and the fun personality of Walt Disney's new character, Mickey Mouse.
24.He planned to finish it in eighteen months at a cost of $250,000; it took five years and $1.7 million. By the mid-1960s, it had earned $22 million.
25.Disney World contains the Magic Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon (water park), Pleasure Island (nightly entertainment), Epcot, MGM studios, and a nature preserve.
26. Disney envisioned Epcot as an experimental city of the future, but after Disney died, Epcot was developed into a year-round world's fair. The MGM studios in California have been replicated on the grounds of Disney World in Florida.
27. Some shows are now taped in Florida, and some animated films are drawn there. There are so many different rides and shows to see in Disney World that one has to rush just to do everything in a week. Now even more people can go to the unique theme parks because a wildly successful Disney park was built in Japan, and last summer a park opened just outside Paris, France.
28. Two hundred-forty million people have seen a Disney movie, and 800 million people have read a Disney comic book or magazine.
29. The work of Walt Disney continues sixty years later with Beauty and the Beast, which was nominated for an Oscar award last year, and Aladdin, the Disney Studio's latest animated film.
30. Disneyland and Walt Disney World became museums that displayed the history of Walt Disney. Walt Disney was diagnosed with lung cancer, after many years of chain smoking. He was given treatment at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, during the critical stages of his disease.
31. Eisner unveiled an ambitious ten-year building plan. He called it The Disney Decade. By mid-decade attendance passed 500 million guests. Investment increased to five times its 1980 total. Soon after the opening of Disney World, Roy Disney retired and the Disney Company was taken over by Card Walker. Walker ran the company until 1984. The company languished during those years.
32. Disney World emphasized cleanliness and demanded respectable workers to meet the public. The staff scraped up the gum and hosed down the streets
33. Even now the releases of the earliest Disney movies like Snow White and Fantasia (1940) are popular and profitable. Disney's nature films and live-action films also appealed to the family market. Television, a mass media vehicle, encouraged Disney to extend his message into individual homes. The primary reason that Disney went into television was because his brother, Roy, would not allow him to take money from the company to build his theme parks.
34. NBC and CBS did not want the shows because they were too different from their regular fare, but ABC was third in the ratings and was eager for programs that would increase ABC's share of the audience. Disney produced weekly one-hour shows that were incredibly successful, and each promoted Disneyland or a Disney movie.
35. Disney made changes that began in 1920 when he first used the newest mass media vehicle moving pictures for short animated films, and ended with television programs, high-tech, full-length animated films and amusement parks where families can be entertained for a week
23. Dave Smith wrote: This was the first synchronized sound cartoon, and it was a huge success. Reviewers commented on the cleverness of the cartoon, the advantage that sound brought to the medium, and the fun personality of Walt Disney's new character, Mickey Mouse.
24.He planned to finish it in eighteen months at a cost of $250,000; it took five years and $1.7 million. By the mid-1960s, it had earned $22 million.
25.
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