Welcome to my first post, fellow Disney fans! For this post, I thought we would start out with some Disney history. In the beginning, specifically in 1923, Walt Disney, along with his brother, Roy Disney, created the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. It was located in the back half of a real estate office in Hollywood as the brothers had very little money. The first character Walt came up with for his cartoons was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Unfortunately, Walt lost the right to Oswald when his distributor went behind his back. Walt learned his lesson to be careful, and, thus, Mickey Mouse was created. You know, that little guy with the famous ears that people wear around Disney that I happen to have 10 pairs of? Yeah, that guy. Little did Walt know that Mickey Mouse would become the face of his brand for generations to come. 

Fast forward to 1937, Walt created the ICONIC movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Whistle while we work anyone? Well, this movie really did WORK. It held the title of highest grossing movie until Gone with the Wind came out. Walt really made a name for himself through his cartoons, but the big moneymaker came later—Disneyland and Disney World.  

Now we get to the good stuff, in my unbiased opinion, of course. Only July 17, 1955, Disneyland in Anaheim, California was born. Walt’s vision was to create a place where adults and children alike could have fun and enjoy themselves. Unfortunately, opening day was not all that. Sunday, July 17, 1955 was filled with disaster after disaster. It was so hot that the pavement was turning to a sticky tar, there was no water coming out of the water fountains, there were a multitude of weeds growing on the Canal Boats of the World ride, many of the attractions were not ready on opening day, and much more. Due to the disaster of this day, it was christened “Black Sunday.” While this opening day was not what Walt had hoped, the coming months proved to be much better for Disneyland as it “surpassed the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park in popularity” (Klein).   

Of course, just one theme park was not enough. Walt then began planning to open Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Tragically, Walt died before the opening of WDW, but left the company to his brother, Roy, to take over. Upon its opening on October 1, 1971, WDW was not just a theme park, but an entire destination. It has four theme parks, two water parks, countless resorts, campgrounds, shopping, golf courses, and so much more. Upon its opening, Walt Disney World was a HUGE hit. In 2019, there was an estimated 20.96 million visitors to WDW (Lange). Around the world today, there are nine Disney locations in places such as France, Hawaii, Tokyo, and more.  

Now, I have a little confession to make. If you were thinking, “Wow Ainsley! How do you know so much Disney history?!” I really didn’t until I thought of the idea for the post. In full disclosure, I knew the majority of it, but I had some help from AMAZING sources such as History, the Walt Disney Archives, and Statista.  

Whew, that was a lot! Thanks for sticking with me on this one. Like in any class, you need through the boring stuff first (although I’d hardly call this boring) before diving into everything else. For next week’s post, we’re going to be looking at some random, and sometimes really weird, Disney facts. In the words of Mickey Mouse, see ya real soon!