My Walt Disney and Disneyland School Essay

[A Disney Dreamer]

I currently did a report on Walt Disney and Disneyland for a final thesis paper I had to do in order to graduate. I thought I would share it with you guys. Enjoy!

Walt Disney was a man of many “firsts.” He was the “first” man to create beautiful, full-length hand-drawn animation films and the “first” man to create a very successful theme park enterprise. During his lifetime, Walt Disney had many fun and creative ideas and dreams - none of which that were too impossible or too hard to make into reality. (This was my Thesis statement.)

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5th, 1901, in the great city of Chicago, Illinois. His father, Elias Disney, was Irish-Canadian, while his mother, Flora Call Disney, was of German-American descent. When Walt was born, the Disney family already had three sons: Herbert Arthur Disney (December 8th, 1888), Raymond Arnold Disney (December 30th, 1890), and lastly Roy Oliver Disney (June 24th, 1893). Walt Disney would be the fourth and final son of Elias and Flora. However, on December 6th, 1903, the Disney family was blessed with a beautiful daughter named Ruth Flora Disney. In later years, both Walt and Ruth would develop a great friendship as brother and sister.

After the birth of Ruth, Elias decided to move his family to a 45-acre farm in Marceline, Missouri (in April of 1906), to let his wife and kids escape from the pressures of daily city life. Obviously during this very crucial time of Walt’s childhood, Disney derived (or acquired) special passions that would, later in his lifetime, become very helpful to his success in both his films and his theme parks. Most of these passions (you could also say “beliefs”) Disney had grown accustomed to was mainly due to where he lived during his early years, which was a very small little community in Missouri. Marceline gave Disney a sense of what an idyllic place should be like, in which “neighbors helped neighbors out and every day was a happy and joyous one.” And this idea and belief, in some form or another, would later form the very foundation of Disneyland.

[A Disney Dreamer]

* On the farm, Disney drew continuously with his crayons and papers, which were provided by his much loved Aunt Margaret. Walt Disney loved boasting about his uncle, Mike Martin, who was a train engineer. (Martin was the one who started Disney’s fascination of trains.) Disney also liked to tell the neighborhood kids about Doc Sherwood, a neighbor, who paid him a few cents for a picture he drew of his horse. *

In 1908, both Disney brothers Herbert and Raymond left the Marceline farm to pursue their own way of life, while Roy began high school. Later on, in 1909, both Walt Disney and his only sister attended the first grade at Park School. Sadly, however, Disney’s father fell ill with typhoid a few months later and he sold the farm in November of 1910. When he got better, Elias made new plans to move his family yet again to a new city known as Kansas City.

During the summer of 1911, the family, under Elias’s direction, moved to Kansas City. In Kansas City, Walt and Ruth Disney both repeated the second grade at Benton School (from 1912 to early 1917). At Benton, Walt became an indifferent and not too impressive student. However, he impressed his teachers with his talents in acting and art (he often drew pictures during math class because he was uninterested in numbers!). Disney also met student Walt Pfeiffer, and eventually the two would become the best of friends. While not in school, Disney and Pfeiffer would go see local vaudeville shows, and, from these shows, Disney created his very own skits based off of Charlie Chaplin. Besides creating his own skits,Disney also delivered newspapers, traded drawings at local barbershops for free haircuts and, besides his own Charlie Chaplin impersonations, did amateur vaudeville skits with Pfeiffer. Both Walt and, well, Walt, in later years, would became known to many as “The Two Walt’s” when they performed at local theaters.

The year 1917 was a very busy one for the Disney family: Both Ruth and Walt graduated from Benton and Elias took Flora and Ruth to Chicago, Illinois, due to a recent investment he made in a company called O-Zell. Walt, who had been working as a news butcher – one who sells sodas, popcorn, and newspapers on passenger trains – on the Missouri Pacific Line during the summer, joined his family in September and then enrolled at McKinley High School as a freshman. At McKinley, Disney joined the school’s magazine, The Voice, to draw pictures for the cartoon section. Walt Disney also attended nightly art classes at the nearby Academy of Fine Arts to improve his drawing abilities.

[A Disney Dreamer]

* During the summer when school was out, Walt lost interest in school and decided to enlist in the military. However, Disney was too young and, instead of going out for the military, joined the Ambulance Corps. In the early fall of 1918, Disney unfortunately caught influenza and was sent back home from the local Red Cross Camp. When Walt recovered (in November of 1918), the war was already drawing to a close. Luckily, cleanup operations were still continuing in France and Disney was sent over to help out with the war effort. During his stay, Disney exchanged letters with his sweetheart Beatrice – Disney’s first girlfriend – who was in the United States during the time. However, when Disney came home from France (in October of 1919), he found out that Beatrice had already gotten married to some one else. *

Between 1919 and 1921, Disney tried to forget about Beatrice and, to do so, moved into his older brother’s home (Herbert Disney) in Kansas City. Roy also moved in. Meanwhile, in Chicago, the O-Zell Company had failed and Elias, Flora, and Ruth eventually moved back into Kansas City. In Kansas City, Walt Disney was hired by the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio in late fall of 1919. Unfortunately, Disney was let go from the studio quite quickly due to the pre-Christmas rush. Along with former Pesmen-Rubin artist Ub Iwerks, Disney, who liked to always experiment with new things, created the Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists just a month after his firing. Sadly to say, Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists lasted for only about one month. After his first small company had failed, Disney, along with Iwerks, joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company in 1920. At Film Ad, the two were both introduced to primitive animation for the very first time. Until about 1931, Disney and Iwerks would become very good friends.

In 1922, Disney found that he was alone in a very big city. Elias, Flora, Ruth, and Herbert, along with his family, had all moved to Portland the previous year. Roy had also abandoned Walt because he had gotten tuberculosis and was sent to the West Veterans Hospital. Disney, at this time, decided to move into a rooming house in Kansas City, but he was kicked out because he couldn’t pay the rent. Disney, with no where else to go, began to sleep in his Film Ad office. Tired, upset, and frustrated that his Laugh-O-gram company (his first ever cartoon company), after just one year, had failed and was filed for bankruptcy, Disney decided to quit his job and try his luck out in Hollywood (“to be a director”) in the late summer of 1923.

When Walt Disney made it to Hollywood, he moved into his Uncle Robert’s garage after many unsuccessful job searches. (Uncle Robert was Elias Disney’s brother.) While during his stay at the garage, Disney set up his own makeshift cartoon studio – Walt placed his trust back into the Laugh-O-gram films which had failed in Kansas City. Also during this time, Walt made a personal request to Veterans Hospital to ask if Roy, his faithful brother, could leave and come out to Hollywood. The Hospital allowed and Roy joined Disney in California to help his brother out. The two eventually shared a small apartment together. In the fall of 1923, Disney, alongside his brother, started to create the Alice Comedies, which were short silent-film cartoons.

After a daring New York distributor ordered twelve of these “new” Alice Comedies in the fall of 1923, Walt Disney and his older brother launched a partnership. This partnership would last for many years, and would be a successful one at that. Both Roy and Walt, with this official partnership, would produce high-quality films in the late 1930s and onwards.

The Laugh-O-gram Company Walt had originally created in Kansas City, which like already mentioned had at first failed, was becoming even more popular now that it was being featured in Hollywood. Disney – who now had enough money from the already guaranteed twelve Alice Comedies for the New York distributor – built the Disney Brothers Studio on Kingswell Avenue. In March, 1924, the first Alice Comedy was shown at the Studios before being sent over to New York. Also during 1924, Lillian Bounds, a pretty and charming young lady, was hired as an inker and painter by the Disney Brothers Studio. When Disney saw her simple and elegant features and funny, outgoing personality, he immediately fell in love. Lillian felt the same way about Disney. Eventually, the two began to go out with each other after work. Both Walt Disney and Lillian Bounds thought they were “perfect” for each other, so they ended up getting happily married on July 13th, 1925, in Lewiston, Idaho. Roy had also gotten married to his beloved girlfriend, Edna Francis, just two months earlier in April. Both Lillian and Edna helped Walt and Roy Disney deal with their every day stresses that the Studio created. In 1925, Disney was thrilled to find out that Ub Iwerks had joined the Disney Brothers Studio team.

[A Disney Dreamer]

In early 1926, the Disney Brothers Studio moved from Kingswell Avenue to its new location on Hyperion Avenue. Walt Disney Studio, the Studio’s new name, began to purchase adjoining lots to expand the Studio. With the soon-to-be-larger Walt Disney Studio, Disney decided to build a few prefab houses on Lyric Avenue so he could have a more permanent living residence. The Alice Comedies, which were doing fairly well at this time, gave Walt funds (and more importantly hope) to move on to a brand new character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in mid-1927. Just a few months after the creation of Oswald, the prefab houses were complete and both Walt and Lillian Disney moved into one, along with Lillian’s mother. During their first Christmas together, as part of a house-warming gift, Walt bought his beloved wife a chow puppy named Sunnee. Lillian absolutely adored the dog. (Fun fact: This classic gift Disney had presented to his wife would later become a show scene in the Disney animation film Lady and the Tramp.)

During the next year (1928) both Walt and Lillian enjoyed the “good” home life. Their evenings were often spent at the Walt Disney Studio. Walt Disney even drove Lillian in his Moon roadster to see nearby competing films. However, these “fun and enjoying life-at-home” times would not last for very long. In the mid-summer of 1928, Disney lost much of his Studio staff and also the rights to his cartoon character (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) to Universal. Disney decided at this time to start completely “fresh.” On his train ride to New York City, Walt started forming ideas on a new cartoon character. When Walt wrote to Lillian and proposed a new idea to her that he was thinking of creating a new mouse character named Mortimer, she hated the name and told her husband to name his new cartoon mouse simply Mickey. Disney really liked the name, and that folks, is how Mickey Mouse came around.

While in New York City, Disney wrote to his wife Lilly, saying to her simply: “I wish I was home.” (Source 1, Page 15.) However, though Walt missed California and his wife terribly, he managed to create three very successful cartoon films during his stay: Plane Crazy, Gallopin’ Gaucho, and Steamboat Willie. Steamboat Willie, which premiered at the New York Colony Theater on November 18th, 1928, became an instant hit. It was the very first cartoon that incorporated sound effects and music, thanks to an independent system called Cinephone, into the animation scenes.

* Mickey Mouse’s huge success had given Walt the courage to continue onwards in animation. With Walt becoming the voice of Mickey Mouse, Disney launched the Silly Symphony series. This particular series focused on musical themes. The first Silly Symphony cartoon was Skeleton Dance. In 1930, Walt Disney, who at this point had moved back to California, decided with his wife that they wanted to try and have children. They unfortunately had two miscarriages in 1930. Walt Disney became very busy at work due to Mickey Mouse’s crazy success with the nation. Mickey Mouse clubs began to spring up everywhere at theaters. At this point, Disney had a “nervous breakdown” due to the sudden success of his cartoon character and the demanding and relentless paperwork he had to deal with daily at the Studio. And on top of all of that, two of Disney’s Kansas City friends – Ub Iwerks and Carl Stalling – left the Studio. Walt Disney decided to take a very lengthy vacation to relieve all of his pressures and when he returned to his work he was again his old happy self. *

In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive two-year contract with Technicolor. Flowers and Trees, the first Silly Symphony cartoon made with a three-coloring process, was the first-ever cartoon which received an Academy Award. When 1933 came around, Disney had built a Tudor-style home for his wife and his soon-to-be-born daughter, Diane Marie Disney. (Diane was born on December 18th, 1933.) At the Studios, Three Little Pigs, an eight-minute Silly Symphony cartoon, like all of its past films, became a major hit.

* Now in 1934, Disney really began to move forward in the animation area. Mickey Mouse’s always-angry, yet funny pal Donald Duck made his first appearance in The Wise Little Hen. Later on in that year, Disney stated to his 200 staff members of a new project that he was creating, something grander and much more impressive to anything that they had ever done before. That project would become Disney’s first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 1935, Snow White began production and the Studio added 300 new artists to help out with the film. The Band Concert, the first colored Mickey cartoon was released during the same year. Walt and Lillian Disney, along with Roy and Edna Disney, decided to take a long break from work and go on their first of-to-be-many trips to Europe. When they got back, Lillian suffered her third miscarriage and both Walt and his wife decided to adopt a child instead. In early January of 1937, Sharon Mae Disney was adopted into the Disney family. Also during this year, The Old Mill was released out to the public and became yet another instant hit due to the film using multiplane cameras, which gave the cartoon depth. *

December 21st, 1937, was a big day for Walt: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered for its national debut at the Carthay Circle Theater. To Walt’s relief, his beautiful animated feature – which told the story of a beautiful young girl named Snow White who was despised by her vain and wicked stepmother, the Queen, and how she escaped and defeated her ruthless ways with the help of seven dwarfs – became a major success, bringing in eight million in its first release. The money produced from Snow White would be used to aid in future animation production developments, such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi.

* However, the year 1938 would not be so kind to Walt as 1937 had been. At the beginning, everything was going very well: Walt’s parents, Elias and Flora, had moved to California, during their 50th Anniversary to be closer to their grandkids. Eventually, they moved into a house which Roy and Walt Disney had purchased for them. During the summer, Disney’s parents enjoyed life with their grandkids. However, in November, Flora called Walt telling him that there was something wrong with the furnace. Walt and Roy immediately sent two studio repairmen out to the house to check it out. After checking up on it, they said it would cause no more problems. Flora was still nervous that there was something wrong with it, even calling her own daughter Ruth to tell her about her worries. She would prove herself unfortunately right: One night in late November, gas leaked out of the still-broken furnace and Flora Disney was asphyxiated overnight. Luckily, Elias Disney managed to survive – though he did suffer some permanent damage to his brain. Walt Disney would never be the same after this horrific accident, as noted in this following passage from Sharon Mae Disney (this quote is from later years after Flora’s death): “One morning I drove Daddy to work. I remember driving down Sunset Boulevard and asking Daddy where his mother was buried. All he said was, ‘She’s in Forest Lawn. And I don’t want to talk about it.’ Tears came into his eyes. Nothing more was said.” (Source 1, Page 70.) As noted in this quote, Disney would forever regret buying his parents that house, but he, though it was hard, moved on. In December of 1938, Roy and Walt Disney purchased property in Burbank to build a new, larger Studio for their artists. *

[A Disney Dreamer]

During 1939, the Silly Symphony series ended. Disney, to try and get the previous year’s events out of his mind, started to take his daughters to the local Griffith Park carousel and other local amusements. Seeing how there was nothing for him to do at the Park, Walt Disney began to come up with his own ideas of how an “amusement park” should be like. Walt Disney Studio, by February of 1940, premiered Disney’s second animation film, Pinocchio, in New York. The story of the little wooden boy, like Snow White, became very popular with crowds. Disney’s third animation film, Fantasia, premiered in New York as well in November of the same year. After the musical adventure of Fantasia, the company moved to Burbank, where it currently stands as of today. However, the company was now strained in finances due to the loss of foreign markets.

* In 1941, the Walt Disney Studio strike came. The main heat of the strike was between the employees and the managers. During the strike, Disney, Lillian, and a number of artists traveled to South America for visuals to help out with their next production. When they returned, Walt sadly found out that his father Elias – a now broken man without Flora – had died. However, Walt Disney’s personal ambition made him keep moving forward with animation productions and, to prove this, Dumbo was released in December of that year. *

* Just like he had started in 1939, Disney continued to take his daughters out for weekly outings. Disney, who really was a kid at heart, visited the Studio on Saturdays to just ride his bike and roller skate on the grounds. Through the years 1942 and 1945, Walt Disney Studios produced the following educational and propaganda films: The New Spirit (1942), Der Fuehrer’s Face (1943), and full-length Victory Through Air Power (1943). Two feature-length films were also released during this time: Saludos Amigos (1943) and The Three Cabaleros (1945). Both of these featured animation films were products of the South American trip that Walt and Lillian Disney took in 1941. When 1946 came about, the Studios produced Song of the South – which told the tale of Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Rabbit – which combined both love action and animation and Make Mine Music – a first of several cartoon packages. Unfortunately in August, the Studio had to cut 300 workers. *

Between 1947 and 1949, Disney, who loved trains, bought himself an electric train set for his own amusement. In 1948, Walt Disney, along with Ward Kimball, a fellow animator, traveled to a Railroad Fair just to see what it was like. After he had returned, Disney purchased property on Carolwood Drive for a new home. This new house also had enough room in the backyard to build a miniature railroad. Plans were set up for the Disney family to move in. In summer of 1949, the Disney family took a two-month long trip to Europe, including five weeks in England during the shooting of Disney’s latest film, Treasure Island. When they returned, rumors of a “Mickey Mouse Park” accelerated at the Studio.

Finally in 1950, the Disney family moved into their Carolwood house. Without a moment to lose, Walt wrote to his beloved and only sister Ruth the following message: “I am going to take time out (now) to play with my train.” (Source 1, Page 16.) While Disney was busy building his train, animators were working on their latest Disney film, Cinderella. The film – which told the story of a sweet young girl by the name of Cinderella who is treated miserably by her stepmother, Lady Tremaine, but at the end is helped out by her Fairy Godmother and then marries the man of her dreams – became an instant “storybook” classic Disney film when it premiered in February. Since the film was also one of the highest-grossing films of the year, it gave the company some much needed revenue.

Disney finished his backyard miniature railroad in 1951. He dubbed it the “Carolwood Pacific Line.” Disney always managed to give it little enhancements every single day: it was one of his largest and most proud hobbies. At the Studio, Disney produced Alice in Wonderland – which followed the story of a young girl named Alice trying to escape from her own Wonderland and one very mad Queen – but didn’t care for the film because he thought, quote, “Alice had no heart.” (Source 1, Page 96.) Although Alice in Wonderland actually did pretty well at the theaters, Disney wished he had never done the film simply because he thought it lacked the qualities that were found in his previous films such as Pinocchio and Snow White. Disney, who was now really up on the idea of creating a theme park of some sort, took more family trips to Europe so he could have peaceful moments to himself to create a more tangible idea of what this perfect theme park should be like. When he returned, Disney made official plans for a family-type park to be built across the street from Walt Disney Studio, which would be bordered by the Los Angeles River. In December of 1952, W.E.D. (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises, his privately held “creative think tank” chartered with creating Disneyland, the now official name of Walt Disney’s soon-to-be-theme park, was created. The Burbank Review, which overheard rumors of Walt’s “ideas” on a new theme park, began to write headlines such as the following in their papers: “Walt Disney Make-Believe Land Project Planned Here.” (Source 3, Page 46.)

* In 1953, many events occurred: Walt Disney sold his vacation home in Palm Springs and borrowed money from his life insurance to help finance Disneyland, animation film Peter Pan was released, and True-Life Adventure film The Living Desert was also released. Both films were major hits and brought in quite a bit of money for the company, which was now greatly needed for the funding of Walt’s new theme park. *

However, Disney, who kept dreaming and developing his theme park in his mind, found out with a good laugh that the little parcel of land next to his Studio would not fit everything he had planned for Disneyland. He needed more land. So Disney hired the Stanford Research Institute to find the best site possible for his park. The best area they find was an orange grove in Anaheim. Before anything could get done, however, Disney, along with his brother, had to prove to the bankers in New York City that Disneyland was a feasible idea. So, over the weekend of September 23rd, 1953, Disney, along with artist Herb Ryman, created a visual of what Disneyland would look like if built. Disney said to the bankers that, quote, “Dreams offer too little collateral.” (Source 2, Page 7.) The 43 times 70-inch pencil sketch, however, impressed the bankers and, with a “go” given, the 160-acres of land in Anaheim were purchased. Disneyland would soon become a reality.

So Disneyland broke ground in early 1954. Walt Disney made sure his “dream” park would be fun for all ages. Disney originally created five themed “lands” at Disneyland during its construction. New Orleans Square, Bear Country (now known today as Critter Country), and Toontown would all come in after the park’s original opening. The following is a brief description of Disneyland’s original “lands.”

[Disney Wrassler]

I like the essay ADD, but I think you should have posted it a little later. I mean I would hate for your teacher to do a random search on google to make sure your paper wasn't copied and pasted from the net and then find out that some person named A Disney Dreamer wrote your essay (Thinking that you and "A.D.D." are 2 entirely different people). Then you might be in some trouble there.

But as long as you already graduated and this paper is graded, I guess there would be nothing to worry about.

[A Disney Dreamer]

Disneyland’s Original “Lands:”
(Descriptions updated to present-day look of “land” and what guests may do in that particular “land.”)

• Adventureland: Walt created this particular “land” to place visiting guests in the remote jungles of Asia and Africa. In Adventureland (today), visitors can find themselves surrounded by wild animals such as toucans, piranhas, lions, zebras, and gazelles and be entranced by singing Tiki birds and flowers.
• Frontierland: Walt created this particular “land” to set guests back to the good old days of the Old American West. In Frontierland (today), visitors can shoot guns in a Shooting Gallery, ride a runaway mine train through towering buttes, and sail on a majestic paddle-wheeled steamboat.
• Fantasyland: Walt created this particular “land” to place all of his beloved Disney cartoons in “live” attractions. In Fantasyland (today), visitors can ride the charming tales of Walt’s most beloved characters or race on a bobsled though a snowy Swiss mountain.
• Tomorrowland: Walt created this particular “land” to allow guests to dream of a “great, big beautiful tomorrow.” In Tomorrowland (today), guests can climb board on a space rocket to experience and witness the awesome site of deep space or take a submarine voyage through “liquid space.”
• Main Street U.S.A.: Walt created this particular “land” to transport guests to a beautiful turn-of-a-century American town. In Main Street (today), guests can encounter whimsical pastel-colored building facades and also enjoy a tasty, scrumptious breakfast or an ice cream at the nearest corner café.

At the pre-opening Disneyland party (July 13th, 1955), Walt and Lilly Disney celebrated their 30th Anniversary on the Mark Twain. Just a few days later, Disneyland opened its gates to a specially-invited audience on July 17th, 1955. However, thanks to fake ticketing, additional (and unplanned for) guests crowded the park. Known as the “Black Sunday” of the Park, Disneyland that day encountered many numerous problems: A large power failure in Fantasyland had caused half of the rides in that “land” to shut down for quite some time, food ran out quickly due to all the extra guests, ladies’ high heel shoes got caught in the freshly poured asphalt on Main Street, and, to make it worse, Television crews at the Park had filmed Walt Disney during the wrong times! However, even though the opening day started out rough, Disneyland welcomed one million guests just after seven weeks of operation: The Park had become a national treasure.

“To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land.
Here age relieves fond memories of the past… and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.”

- Walt Disney

[A Disney Dreamer]

In October of 1955, “The Mickey Mouse Club” premiered on ABC for the first time. At the Disney Studios, the animation feature Lady and the Tramp came out with raving reviews. Since Disneyland was such a huge success, Walt Disney made sure that he would keep his park always “fresh” and he did so by always introducing new attractions (not rides). By 1959, Disney had added into his park the majestic, snowcapped Peak of the Matterhorn Mountain, the sleek Disneyland Monorail, the “venture through liquid space” Submarine Voyage, and the fun Skyway that ran through the Matterhorn itself. These attractions definitely added a whole new layer of magic to the park. Back at Walt Disney Studio, the last major “fairy tale” animated feature of Walt’s life, Sleeping Beauty, was released. The story of Sleeping Beauty – which told the story of a young princess named Aurora and her sweetheart Prince Phillip – was not new to most people. Sleeping Beauty Castle had already been at Disneyland for four years! Plus it was the opening image for the “Mickey Mouse Club.”

In October of 1955, “The Mickey Mouse Club” premiered on ABC for the first time. At the Disney Studios, the animation feature Lady and the Tramp came out with raving reviews. When Sharon had left for a secretary position at the studios, Disney built a vacation home in Palm Springs for himself and his wife. After plans had gone through for the house, he turned back to Disneyland, which was becoming a huge success, Walt Disney made sure that he would keep his park always “fresh” and he did so by always introducing new attractions (not rides). By 1959, Disney had added into his park the majestic snowcapped Peak of the Matterhorn Mountain, the sleek Disneyland Monorail, the “venture through liquid space” Submarine Voyage, and the fun Skyway that ran through the Matterhorn itself. These attractions definitely added a whole new layer of magic to the park. Back at Walt Disney Studio, the last major “fairy tale” animated feature of Walt’s life, Sleeping Beauty, was released. The story of Sleeping Beauty – which told the story of a young princess named Aurora and a young prince named Phillip who helped destroy Maleficent – the evil fairy – to save her – was not a new story to most people. Sleeping Beauty Castle had already been at Disneyland for four years! Plus it was the opening image for the “Mickey Mouse Club.”

* By early 1960, Lillian and Walt Disney continued to enjoy their vacations at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs. Besides Smoke Tree Ranch, Disney enjoyed spending time with his four grandkids – Diane Disney had gotten married in 1954 to Ron Miller and together, by 1960, had four kids – Christopher (1954), Joanna (1956), Tamara (1957), and Jennifer (1960). At Disney Studios, the films Swiss Family Robinson and Pollyanna came out in late 1960. *

In 1961, Ron Miller and Diane have their 5th child – Walt Elias Disney Miller (a namesake to Walt). Two wonderful films, 101 Dalmatians – a story about a crazy woman named Cruella De Vil and her desperate need to have fur coats – and The Absent-Minded Professor, became instant hits. With the coming of the two films, “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” was also introduced on NBC.

Between 1962 and 1963, three huge events happen: Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room opened at Disneyland – the first show ever to use Audio-Animatronics figures, Disney created an art university called the California Institute of the Arts (“CalArts”), and Walt begun his very own plans for the upcoming World’s Fair. During 1964, the enchanting film Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews as Mary, was released to thrilled audiences. The film would go on to win five Oscars. The New York Fair opened the same year Mary Poppins was released, and Walt Disney was ready to present four of his original creations to the Fair, two of them being “it’s a small world” and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

When the Fair was over, these attractions (along with the Dinosaur and Grand Canyon dioramas [you can find these two dioramas while traveling the Disneyland Railroad between the Tomorrowland and Main Street Stations]) made their way to Walt’s park, Disneyland, in 1965. During the same year, Walt and Lilly Disney took many trips to Europe, even visiting the famous Disney Street in London. Beside his own plans for Disneyland, Disney wanted a newer kind of Disneyland on the East Coast, so both Walt and Roy Disney purchased 22,443 acres in Florida for about $5 million in the summer. Plans for a “Disney World” were introduced in a November Press Conference.

During Walt Disney’s last year on Earth, Disney became the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade. During the summer, Walt Disney did two things: He opened up New Orleans Square at Disneyland and also took a large amount of family to British Columbia for a summer trip. In October, Walt and Lillian Disney traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia, with Sharon and Bob Brown (Sharon’s husband). Then, on November 2nd, bad news hit Walt: An X-ray at St. Joseph’s Hospital revealed that Disney had a spot on his left lung (Disney was a heavy smoker), which was removed on November 7th. Disney stayed at the Hospital for about two weeks until being released. He visited the Studio and W.E.D. for one last time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. Disney had Thanksgiving with family. He had enough strength to travel to Palm Springs with Lilly, but only lasted for one night. Disney had to return to the Hospital on November 30th, staying there for fifteen days until he unfortunately passed on, with his entire family around his bedside, on December 15th, 1966.

The news of Walt’s passing shocked the World. For months, “Imagineers” (the creative people behind Disney) had no idea on what to do without such a great leader to direct and guide them. However, progress finally began to go again with the message that “Walt would have wanted this…for us to continue on.” And indeed I’m sure he would have. Thanks to Walt’s glowing example of what films and theme parks SHOULD be like, Disney (without Walt to physically guide them) has created beautiful films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Mulan and amazing new theme parks such as Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland. Even his beautiful wife Lillian created the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to showcase Walt’s love for music.

Walt Disney is everywhere and, you know what, he always will be – in his theme parks, in his artists, in his films, and in the heart of any dreamer who wishes upon a shooting star.

“Side by side, heart to heart,
We can finish anything we start…
Anything can be done…
…With just one dream.”


The End.
I Hope You Enjoyed It!

[A Disney Dreamer]

I like the essay ADD, but I think you should have posted it a little later. I mean I would hate for your teacher to do a random search on google to make sure your paper wasn't copied and pasted from the net and then find out that some person named A Disney Dreamer wrote your essay (Thinking that you and "A.D.D." are 2 entirely different people). Then you might be in some trouble there.

But as long as you already graduated and this paper is graded, I guess there would be nothing to worry about.

Thanks for your concern, but I have already turned this paper in

[Disney Wrassler]

Television crews at the Park had filmed Walt Disney during the wrong times!

It wasn't just Walt that was caught off guard. Believe me, if you saw the Opening day ceremonies on the "Disney Treasures: Disneyland USA" DVD, you will see how many technical difficulties and screw ups happened. There wasn't a lot, but a good amount.

[A Disney Dreamer]

It wasn't just Walt that was caught off guard. Believe me, if you saw the Opening day ceremonies on the "Disney Treasures: Disneyland USA" DVD, you will see how many technical difficulties and screw ups happened. There wasn't a lot, but a good amount.

yea, I added that for some emotion

[Disney Wrassler]

Of course it was the first time ABC did something like that on television so there was bound to be mistakes.

[A Disney Dreamer]

Of course it was the first time ABC did something like that on television so there was bound to be mistakes.

Very true.

[Disney Wrassler]

It was funny watching Walt give the Tomorrowland dedication speech only to be cut off by the producer behind the cameras telling him that they were not on (when in fact they were ) Walt was like "I thought you said we were on??"

[jepple]

(This was my Thesis statement.)

I hope that was actually in your paper. I would have laughed out loud and called all my teachers friends if I was grading that.