The Life of Walt Disney

Walt was running around frantically from one attraction to another. Everything that could have gone wrong did. The restrooms were backed up, the parking lot was overflowing. Nothing in Tomorrow Land was operating, TV microphones were dying. The opening day of Disneyland had been a disaster! Afterward, Walt always referred to July 17 1955, as Black Sunday. But he didn’t let that stop him! Walt continued to work hard. His creativity, confidence, and loving nature turned him into one of the most successful men in entertainment.

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 5 1901. After the birth of his younger sister, Ruth, Walt’s father, Elias, moved the family of seven to Marceline, Missouri to live a quieter life (Greene 7). The family owned a 45-acre farm where Elias, and Walt’s brothers, Herbert and Raymond worked from morning until night, until they left home in 1908 (Greene 11). Two years later, Elias became sick with Typhoid fever, followed by pneumonia (Greene 11). When he was finally well again, Walt’s mother, Flora, decided he was no longer fit to run the farm. The family moved farther west to Kansas City where Walt and his older brother Roy worked a two thousand customer newspaper route (Greene 13). Walt hated working and was easily bored with school. He often pulled practical jokes on his classmates and performed in amateur-night contests at local theaters with his best friend, Walt Pfeiffer (Greene 17). Walt continued to live in Kansas City until World War I when he joined the Red Cross and was moved to France for a year (Greene 30).

When Walt returned home he began working two jobs. The first was illustrating cartoon shorts that lasted about six minutes each for Kansas City Film Ad Company (Greene ...

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...annel along with several other spinoff networks. His company still owns its original theme parks, Disneyland of California and Walt Disney World of Florida, which are both extremely popular places to visit. Although not all of his dreams could come true, like his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, many of his ideals are kept alive by the people who grew up with Walt’s cartoons and continue to share them with their children and grandchildren. His immense love for his family and his dedication to his work is what held his company together through all of the challenges he faced along the way to success.

Works Cited

Aldridge, Brad. “Walt Disney, Biography.” JustDisney.com. N.p, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

Greene, Katherine and Richard Greene. The Man Behind the Magic. New York: Viking, 1998. Print.

“Walt Disney.” IMBd. IMBd.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.