Happy Birthday Mr. Disney!!

On this day 112 years ago, December 5th 1901 to be exact, a little boy was born in Chicago and was named Walter Elias Disney.

The small child's greatness would not be seen for years to come, but in the end Walt Disney would change forever the way we are entertained. He would form many of our ideas of right and wrong, warm our hearts, and make us smile through animated characters that would stay with us for a lifetime.

Walt would grow into adulthood by joining the military at 16, and after his service to his country would pack up all of his belongings in a suitcase and with 40 dollars in his pocket head to a town known as Hollywood.

Walter Elias Disney

He was a man that was driven by perfection, demanded only the best from his team, worked many long hours and was generous sometimes to a fault.  He created a lucky rabbit named Oswald to which he lost the rights, and then on a train ride home created a cartoon mouse named Mortimer who, at the request of his wife, would later be renamed to a little mouse known to the world as Mickey.

Walt Disney driving his children to school

He was a man that drove his children to school every day, cherished the family dog and loved the meals his wife would cook for him. Once while sitting on a park bench watching his children and other families reactions to different rides at a small dirty carnival, Walt envisioned a place that would exist where parents and children could enjoy time together,  a place that was always clean and the staff was always smiling, this place would be called Disneyland.

Disneyland 1957 Park Map

Mr. Disney would start an entertainment mammoth that would change the face of one city called Anaheim, and on the other side of the country be the backbone to make another city, Orlando, the number one tourist destination on planet Earth.

Disney comes to Florida

Walt Disney would continue in life winning more academy awards and nominations than any other person in history, walking home 22 Academy Awards and 59 nominations. He was a die hard American, creating most of the animated war propaganda films for the U.S. Government during his career, and he aided a small government operation known as NASA develop documentaries about space programs.

Walt Disney was a visionary, an innovator, and a catalyst for virtually all projects of the Disney company even to this day. His legacy is one that still brings joy, amazement, and memories to this little rock we call home.

Happy Birthday Walt!