Magical Cartoonist

Without the creativity of one exceptional man, there would be no “happiest place on earth,” also
known as Disneyland. Walt Disney was an innovative genius who was always thinking of new
ideas. As he looked out on a huge orange grove, he imagined building a “magic kingdom.”
Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. As a child, he took a lot of enjoyment from drawing
and even sold his pictures to neighbors. When he was in high school, he wanted to be a
physicist. Instead, at 16 he joined the Red Cross and drove an ambulance in France during
World War One. After the war ended, Disney, and an acquaintance, Ubbe Iwerks, started
making short cartoons in Kansas City, but they were unsuccessful and soon ran out of money.
However, with a positive attitude, he decided to give it a shot elsewhere and seek his fortune in
Hollywood. He came to California with a suitcase and $20 in his pocket. It took a while, but
Disney began to enjoy success as a cartoonist. He created Mickey Mouse, a mouse with human
characteristics, which would become the most famous cartoon character ever. In 1934, Walt
Disney began his most ambitious project to date. He wished to make a full-length animated
feature film of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ It would cost an arm and a leg, but
scrounging together every dollar he had, he started filming. It took nearly three years to film –
but finally, in 1937, just after Disney had run out of money, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
premiered. It was the first full-length animated movie and a roaring success. Disney made many
more profitable movies that we still watch today, such as Pinocchio and Bambi. In the following
decade, Walt Disney had his brainstorm about a fun park for families. His idea grew bigger and
bigger, and he realized he needed a lot of space for such a huge enterprise. He wanted it to
have everything—a mountain, rockets, spinning teacups, and a fairy castle! One of the first
sketches of Mickey Mouse. Years after Walt Disney had started the undertaking, Disneyland
opened in 1955 in a former orange grove in California. Admission cost a dollar. Right off the bat,
it grabbed people’s attention and has proved popular for generations. The business flourished,
and by its tenth anniversary, a nearly unbelievable 50 million visitors had been attracted to the
Magic Kingdom, many people revisiting several times. Disney died from a chronic illness in
1966, five years before the opening of his next dazzling project, Disney World. If you ever visit
that bright and splendid theme park to let off steam or go to a Disney movie, you can think of the
man with extraordinary ideas who brought to life so many now-familiar characters.