Walt Disney Changed Lives After The War

There are many people in this world that work hard for what they believe in and have become one of the most successful today. It takes talent, dedication, patience, and the perseverance to be able to do what most of these specific people have done. These people are known as entrepreneurs and have been well-known for a long time. With this in mind, there is one entrepreneur that has seemed to amaze many over the years, especially children and parents of all ages with his “magic”. This person is known to have came up with the character, Mickey Mouse, and the wonderful world of Disneyland. This worldwide known entrepreneur is none other than the amazing Walt Disney.

Walt Disney is a name that every child knows and dreams about that one day, attending the land full of dreams and animations, Disneyland. According to Biography.com, Disney “…became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world.” It all started when Disney fell in love with painting and drawing. Once he attended high school, Disney took drawing and photography classes and was a cartoonist for the school newspaper. Disney dropped out of high school and tried to be reinforced in the Army but was rejected for being underage. After being rejected, Disney joined the Red Cross and pursued this career until 1919. After that, Disney began to create Laugh-O-Grams and worked on series of stories such as fantasies as well as fairy tales. He created many animations throughout his life and started the amusement park franchise, Disneyland. In the year of 1966, Disney died due to lung cancer.

The innovation that Walt Disney brought to the creation of the many characters and amusement parks include the help of the many people in his franchise. At first, it was all Walt Disney that started to create the ideas of the characters and started to draw and animate them on his own. However, when many were amazed at what Disney could do and how much joy it brought people, especially children, his line of projects and ideas started to boom. It all started out with a backdrop with several drawings of different actions to animations going into movies to amusement parks where families could go and explore the magic. According to Silive.com, “Walt Disney dreamed of creating an entertainment enterprise where children and parents could have fun together.” Disney created the world’s most magical place on the planet where many can make the most memorable memories ever. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955 and has remained open to this day and many can enjoy the fun rides and the fantastic shows day and night (Schmidt, 2012).

This man affected American history by changing the way animations were made and how Americans viewed these animations. With Disney’s ideas coming to life, the production of his animations were starting to show in color, even with sound, and were quite lengthy so people could enjoy the film longer. Before Disney started making his animations, all of the cartoons were in black and white, with no sound, and were very short when showing. According to Disney’s Vision for America, “Walt Disney was one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century, especially for the ways in which his films, animation, comic strips, documentaries, songs, business and theme parks impacted American culture.” During World War II, there was a strike that happened at the studios and this made Disney furious. Soon after the strike, the studios became a supply base for American troops. Disney was a very big part in the political aspect of American history with being very frustrated with anything that had to do with Communism. Anyone who was a communist was un-American, according to Walt Disney in the article, Disney’s Vision for America.

Disney had a very important philosophy towards his employees and the amusement park guests. According to Lindsay Griffiths of the ILN, “Part of Disney’s philosophy is to change the language that they use for everything they do – so “customers” are “guests”, “employees” are “cast members”, and they can be “onstage” or “offstage”. They have a “chain of excellence” with four parts: leadership excellence, cast excellence, guest satisfaction, and financial results/repeat business.” By Disney keeping his word on his philosophy, many saw him as a great man who worked hard and maintained his respect for his employees and park guests. Disney had many investments in human capital such as the Disney franchise and the making of the amusement park, Disneyland and Disneyworld. According to PBS.org, “Walt Disney nurtured the idea of Disneyland for years.

Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s he visited other amusement parks and carnivals with an eye towards creating his own. He began to envision a cleaner theme-based park where families could become a part of the magical world that his films depicted on the big screen.” After the building of the theme park, soon came movies that included many of Disney’s characters such as his well known films from the earliest movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to his last movie before he died, The Jungle Book. Even though Walt Disney passed away, his legacy and animations still live on and new ones are created everyday and his employees and customers couldn’t be more happier with what Disney has created.

Walt Disney was a very special man who has changed the lives of many with his magic of animations and amusement parks where many children and parents can make memories. With the way he invested in human capital, the innovations that he created, and the effects that he made on American history is truly amazing. If it wasn’t for Disney and his ideas and animations, there would be no movies to watch, a place to go to have fun and make memories, and no Disney+ to watch on the long weekends. There is one thing that is for certain, Walt Disney has changed our lives forever and he was one of the best entrepreneurs out there.

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