Walt Disney
By: Madeline Burke
Walt's Early Life
- born on December 5th 1901
- spent most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri
- started painting, drawing, and selling his pictures to family and friends at a young age
- took drawing/photography classes and was a cartoonist for the McKinley High School's paper in Chicago
- at 16 he attempted to join the army but was rejected for being too young
- decided to join Red Cross to be an ambulance driver for a year in France
How Walt Started His Business
- moved back from France to Kansas City, became newspaper artist
- got a job at Kansas City Film Ad Company
- began drawing again, opened his own animation business, hired employees, made a deal with the Kansas City theatre to screen his cartoons know as Laugh-O-Grams
- bought his own studio, soon in debt, became bankrupt
- next his brother Roy, and Iwerks (cartoonist), and him opened studio in Hollywood called the Disney Brothers' Studio, sold previous cartoons there
- the cartoon Flowers and Trees won his first Oscar
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered in LA, made $1.499 million (a lot back then), won 8 Oscars
- Walt later opened his own studio, Walt Disney Studios
Creativity
- animated many different characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, etc...
- created many animation productions in which he had to think of plots and characters for
Action-Oriented
- when his studios were going bankrupt he kept on trying
- when many of his workers quit he kept on going as well
Enthusiastic
- he was excited and welcoming in his parks
- always wanted to make his customers to have the best time there
Goal-Oriented
- never giving upon getting a solid business going
- kept on finding new opportunities to advance his success
Risk-Taking
opening a new studio after his other one became bankrupt
not knowing if his new studio in Hollywood would burn and crash
Persistent
- didn't back down after loosing employees
- didn't give up after company became bankrupt
Inquisitive
- couldn't join the army at the age of 16 because he was too young, leading him to join the Red Cross instead
- instead of staying with his brother and his business, he built his own
Independent
- opened his own Walt Disney Studios without his brother
- not influence by the fact he was going into it alone
Responsible
- taking control of a company at the young age of 22
Restless
- building one theme park, then planning to build another in a different location
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs $1.499 Million (a lot of money then)
- made Mary Poppins just 2 years before he past being his last major success
Self-Confident
- believing in himself that he could make a mark where friends and families could share fun and laughter
"All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them," Walt Disney.
Self-Demanding
- never giving up
- always looking for new/better opportunities
In Conclusion...
These characteristics Walt has contributes to where he got, and where his company is still growing to. He built the company with all those qualities, setting it up for success in the future. Even thought he passed away, the company Disney still getting larger. Disney owns Disneyland located in California, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and are currently building on in Shanghai due to open Spring of 2016. Before Walt died he had plans to open Walt Disney World in Florida but never got to it. His brother Roy finished the job for him. They used shows to promote the theme parks. They own sister company California Adventure, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, followed by a wide range of other brands, franchises, etc... such as ESPN, Star Wars, ABC, Fox, part of Hulu, Comcast, The History Channel, A&E, etc...