Most of you know Walt Disney. You might not know him personally, though many people grew up watching him on television and knew him as good ol' Uncle Walt. I too remember watching him on t.v. when I was a kid, more than twenty years after he died in 1966.

Walt Disney was a man, mythical to some to some, godlike to others, but even still unknown to many people today. Over the past few years I've read four different biographies of his life, and in all honesty he really was extraordinary.

Before I get to my trip, I'd like to give you some background on what Walt Disney World is, how it came to be, and what it was SUPPOSED to be - but it all starts with Walt.


"I just try to keep up with him. I'm afraid if I'd been running this place we would have stopped several times en route because of the problems. Walt has the stick-to-itivess."
-Roy Disney

"I was fortunate. I had an older brother. And he's still with me. And I still love him. I argue with him. Sometimes I think he's the stubbornest so-and-so I ever met in my life. But I don't know what I'd do without him.
-Walt Disney

To quickly recap Walt's life would be too lengthy. I'd really recommend you pick up Bob Thomas's book "WALT DISNEY: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL", which was the best of the four that I read.



I will simply say that he began his work as a cartoonist for a newspaper, then eventually opened a cartoon studio with him brother Roy. Walt was the idea man, and a poor businessman, while his brother Roy risked every penny for Walt (often times going into heavy debt). Contrary to belief, Walt and Roy usually lost more money that they made, and Walt always sought after the 'next best thing'. Walt would spend days to convince Roy, and Roy would have to convince the banks. They might have lost a lot of friends over the years, but they always seemed to find someone else to borrow money from.

They had a few successes along the way: The Three Little Pigs, The Old Mill, and Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (which gave them the money to open a full fledged movie production studio). The popularity of the Walt Disney cartoons spread around the world, and everyone had heard of either Mickey Mouse, Snow White, or Donald Duck (who was popular in South America).

In the 40's, Walt started to think outside of film. The story goes that he was sitting on a bench at a small amusement park watching his daughters on a merry-go-round. He thought about the dingy little park, and looked at the other parents who sat around while the kids played with themselves. Walt claimed that this is where his idea to open a theme park sprang to life.

"What this country really needs is an amusement park that families can take their children to. They've gotten so honky tonk with a lot of questionable characters running around, and they're not too safe. They're not well kept. I want to have a place that's as clean as anything could ever be, and all the people in it are first-class citizens, and treated like guests."



For years he worked on making this idea a reality, and eventually on July 17th 1955, Disneyland opened to an overcrowded capacity. It was the first of it's kind: a theme park, meant to transport you to another place or time.



But like always, Walt eventually craved something more. Disneyland was a nice start, but his dream of having a cozy surrounding was crushed when seedy hotels began to spring up around his fantastical park. It was time that he made a fresh start, but he needed to find an area large enough for something of a bigger scale. He would be sure to buy enough land next time in order to make sure that history wouldn't repeat itself...