Who is Walt Disney?
Walt Disney, famously known as an American motion-picture and television producer of cartoons and animated films. He also created Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disneyland, and Walt Disney World alongside his brother Roy Disney.
Walt Disney began to show an interest in drawing at the age of 6. Throughout his childhood, he used the animals, trains, and neighbors he met as a form of inspiration for characters in his animations. He started pursuing his dream of working in animation shortly after returning home from France. Disney created his own animation business called “Laugh-O-Gram” and hired his friend Ub Iwerks. However, this company became bankrupt and they decided to head to Hollywood.
Disney in Hollywood
In Hollywood, Disney produced two animated short films that featured a new animated character, Mickey Mouse. The Mickey Mouse film included sound and Walt Disney voiced the character of Mickey. This was an instant success and more successful animations followed.
Following this success, he then began producing full-length animated cartoons and cartoons in color. He produced well-known productions including Dumbo, Peter Pan, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, and many others. In total, he created over 100 productions in his lifetime. Many of these productions, won Academy Awards and broke record sales numbers.
In the 1950’s Disney came up with the idea of building a park where children can meet the animated characters they see in films. He wanted children and families to have a fun and safe place to enjoy train rides and other amusement park rides.
Idea of an Amusement Park
Walt Disney then began to buy thousands of acres of land to begin the creation of the “Happiest Place on Earth.” Disney wanted the amusement park to tell a story. So he created WED Enterprises, in which he hired all the best carpenters, engineers, scientists, and utilized technology to turn his imagination into a reality.
The grand opening of the theme park took place after it took five years to develop. The Disney World theme park in Florida was opened by his brother Roy, as Walt had passed away in 1966 at the age of 65.
Disneyland Revenue
Today, Disneyland remains as California’s favorite and most popular theme park. It brings millions of people from all over the world to experience the magical world of Disney for themselves. It is estimated that the Walt Disney Company produced revenue of approximately 59.43 billion U.S. dollars. 45 billion dollars of it being generated here both in the U.S. and Canada.
There are currently six Disneyland resorts totaling for a number of 12 theme parks around the world. There is approximately at least 146 Disney movies produced. Even with Walt Disney gone, there are multiple Disney movies still being produced today, making his vision come to life to this day.
Disneyland Tickets
The Disneyland tickets today, range from $109-$169 dollars a day. The price of the tickets vary by the date chosen to attend the theme park and the popularity of the day (peak day). They sell one-day tickets and they also sell multi-day tickets if you want to spend more than one day at the park. The multi-day tickets give you access to both theme parks.
They also give visitors the option to buy a one-day park hopper ticket which allows you to visit both theme parks throughout the day. For the frequent Disneyland visitors, they also sell Annual Disneyland passes.
Disney Annual Passes
They offer five different annual passes. They have the Disneyland Southern California Select Passport ($399), Disney Flex Passport ($599), Disney Deluxe Passport ($799), Disney Signature Passport ($1,149), and the Disney Signature Plus Passport ($1,399).
This gives the visitor admission to one or both theme parks during select days of the year, depending on which pass you choose. It also gives you a percentage off of select dining and select merchandise in store or online. Depending on the annual pass selected, there are blocked out dates.
Walt Disney Legacy
Walt Disney made a long-lasting impact in the world and left behind a legacy that will last a lifetime. He has emphasized the importance of creativity and imagination and has created a new world with characters everyone has grown to love. He started this multi-billion dollar company with only a dream. He had the dream as a child to do character animation.
Overall
No matter how many people had rejected him or told him that character animation was not a career, he pursued his dream and made it into a reality. Now he will forever be known as a long-lasting legacy that has created the World of Disney with so many movies and characters that bring smiles to everyone’s faces.
