Birth Place/Family: Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in small town Herosa,
Illinois. His last name, Disney, actually came from his ancestors’ name “D’Isigny,” which was pronounced “Dez-nay.” Walt’s dad, Elias Disney, was Irish Canadian, and his mom, Call Disney, was German American. Walt had four siblings; three brothers Roy, Raymond and
Herbert, and one sister, Ruth Flora Disney.
Childhood: After Walt was born his family moved to Marceline, Missouri. He went to Benton Grammar School for elementary, and that’s where he first started to draw. Once he began to get good at it, he came up with the idea to sell his art. He made signs, went door-to-door to neighbors, and even sold them to family.
When he was 10, his family moved again, this time to Kansas City where Walt’s uncle lived. His uncle was a train engineer, and Walt wanted to be just like him. He even started helping out at the train tracks, earning the nickname “the little helper.”
Later Walt went to McKinley High School, where he got back into art, took a photography class, and continued drawing. At 16, he dropped out of school because he wanted to join the army, but he was rejected for being too young.
Hobbies, Interest & Activites: From a young age art was a very big hobby of Walts. He
first started drawing in elementary school at age 12. Walt would draw
and paint pictures then sell them to his friends, family and neighbors.
Everyone loved his art and was amazed because he was so young. When Walt
got to high school he found a passion for another type of art,
photography.
When Walt moved to Kansas City, he grew closer to his uncle Mike Martin, who was a train engineer. As they spent more time together, Walt started to develop a big interest in trains just like his uncle. One summer, his uncle asked him if he wanted to work with him, and of course Walt said yes.
Anecdotes: With Walt's love
for drawing and photography after he returned from France, his brother
and him moved to California with plans to start their own business. Walt
and Roy soon after moving opened up "Disney Brother Studios". The first
thing the brothers began to work on was a cartoon octopus named Oswald.
Unfortunately Margaret Winkler, the women they hired to be the
distributer of there company stole the brothers characters and took them
to start her own company.
In 1955, Walt opened Disneyland, a place he wanted to be “the happiest place on earth.” Disneyland was created as a place where children and families could come together and make lifelong memories. Within the first year, the park was already worth 17 million dollars. After seeing how successful Disneyland was, Walt and his brother Roy began working on plans for another theme park, which would eventually open in Orlando, Florida.
Reason For Fame: Walt Disney did a lot of things in his lifetime that brought him the fame he had. From his sketches and the creation of Mickey Mouse to opening Disneyland, Walt did so much to make him the famous man he was and still is. It took him years of hard work and planning to get where he did. No one will ever go to Disneyland or watch Disney Channel without thinking about the amazing man, Walt Disney, who made it all happen.
Mid Life: In 1925, Walt and his brother hired a woman to work for them as their secretary, and her name was Lillian Bounds. Within a year of working at the Disney Brothers Studio, Walt had fallen in love with her and they got married. The first time Walt and Lillian tried to get pregnant it ended in a miscarriage, but on December 18, 1933, Lillian gave birth to their first daughter, Diane Marie Disney. Later on, the couple decided that with all the complications of their first pregnancy they would just adopt another child. On December 31, 1936, Walt and Lillian adopted Sharon Mae Disney.
Death: Early in life Walt had hurt his neck playing polo and in 1966 was finally going to have surgery to fix the damage. During a pre X-ray for the surgery the doctors discovered a tumor in his left lung caused by all the smoking he had done throughout his life. Five days after the discovery the cancerous tumor had spread through his whole lung. Immediately the doctors removed the lung and gave Walt the bad news he only had 6 months to 2 years to live. Shortly after the surgery Walt collapsed in his home but was revived by the paramedics. Unfortunately two weeks later, right after his 65th birthday, Walt passed away on December 15, 1966 from acute circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer.
After Walt passed an urban legend began that he was cryonically frozen and his corpse is now stored underneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. While people like Diane, Walt’s daughter, claim, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen. I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics," the guests of the park don’t know what to believe.
3. Background
Seaport Village on the other hand is almost 11 miles from
our event and would take 20-25 minutes to get to our destination.
