Magical Facts About Walt Disney

January 31, 2024 | Rachel Seigel

Magical Facts About Walt Disney


All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”—Walt Disney 

Walter Elias Disney was an American Businessman, animator, voice actor and producer who was a pioneer of the American Animation Industry. He is best-known as the creator of the beloved animated character Mickey Mouse, and as the founder of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme parks. In honor of Disneyworld’s upcoming 46th anniversary, here are 46 magical facts about Walt Disney.


46. Started Young

Walt Disney spent much of his childhood on a farm in Missouri, and he developed his cartooning skills by drawing pictures of his neighbor’s horses.

walt disney

45. Anglicised 

Disney’s family is descended from the Normans who settled in Ireland in the 11th century. His family’s original name was D’Isigny before being anglicised to Disney.

Walt Disney FactsWikipedia

44. Rejected! 

At age 16, Walt Disney dropped out of school in hopes of joining the army. He was rejected for being too young, but did find work as an ambulance driver with the French Red Cross.

Walt Disney 1935Agence de presse Meurisse,  Wikimedia Commons

43. Laugh-o-Graham

Walt Disney’s first animation studio was called “Laugh-o-Gram” and told modernized versions of fairy tales based on Aesop’s Fables. The venture quickly went bankrupt.

Walt Disney FactsWikipedia

42. First to Market

Today Disney is synonymous with Mickey Mouse, but Mickey wasn’t his first animated character. While under contract to Universal Studios, Disney created “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.” When Disney left Universal, he was barred from taking the rabbit with him, and he conceived the iconic mouse while on the train back to California.

Walt Disney FactsFlickr

41. Magical Mortimer

Mickey Mouse was originally named “Mortimer Mouse” until Disney’s wife convinced him to change it. She felt that the name Mortimer sounded too pompous, and suggested he use Mickey instead. Disney later gave the name Mortimer to Mickey’s rival.

Walt Disney with film rollUnknown Author, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

40. Mouse Whispers

From the character’s inception until 1947, Walt Disney voiced the iconic mouse. Eventually, running the studio made him too busy to keep doing the voice, and he handed over the reins to veteran Disney actor Jimmy MacDonald.

Walt Disney FactsWikimedia Commons

39. In a Solar System Not So Far Away…

In 1980, Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina discovered a minor planet and named it after Walt Disney. The planet is called 4017-Disneya.

Walt Disney FactsPicryl

38. Animated Propaganda

In the 1940s, Walt Disney produced a series of animated pro-American conflict propaganda videos for all of the branches of the United States Army and government. Throughout the duration of WWII, he produced the equivalent of 68 hours of continuous film.

Walt Disney FactsWikipedia

37. Custom Cartoon Insignia

Disney also had his artists draw around 1200 insignias for the army, many of which were for naval units. The most requested and used Disney character was Donald Duck, who was featured in roughly 146 designs.

Walt Disney FactsJoint Base San Antonio

36. The “Red Scare.”

In the 1940s, Disney played a big part in the communism hysteria that gripped Hollywood during the U.S./Russian Cold Conflict. He was a founder of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of Americans Ideals, and he gave witness statements condemning the communist influence on the film industry.

Walt Disney FactsWikimedia Commons

35. Dream Big

Walt Disney was initially not interested in television, but changed his mind when he realized its usefulness as a promotional tool. Disney ended up using television to finance his Disneyland theme park, once quipping that he “could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible, because dreams offer too little collateral.”

Walt Disney FactsGetty Images

34. A Little Recognition

Between 1932 and 1969, Walt Disney won 22 Academy awards and was nominated 59 times. This is more than any other person has ever received in the history of the awards.

Disney Oscar 1953UCLA Library Special Collections, CC BY 2.0 , Wikimedia Commons

33. Golden Dwarves

At the 1938 Oscars, Walt Disney’s Snow White won an honorary award for being “a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field.” Disney was presented with one full-sized statuette, and seven miniature ones for each of the Dwarves.

Snow White DisneyWalt Disney,  Wikimedia Commons

32. Technicolor

For two years, Walt Disney held the patent for technicolor, making him the only animator who could make color animated films.

Walt Disney FactsThru The Mirror Walt Disney Animation Studios

31. Planes, Trains, and Mostly Just Trains

Walt Disney was fascinated by trains. His father and uncle had spent time working on railroads, and Disney briefly sold newspapers and snacks on trains. His theme park Disneyland reflects his interest in trains, which has been home to its own railroad since its opening in 1955.

Elias & Flora Disney 1913K10wnsta,  Wikimedia Commons

30. Secret Hideaway

Walt Disney loved spending time at Disneyland. He would visit the park a few times a week, and even had an apartment there. The apartment is still there above the fire station, but typically isn’t open to the public. A lamp in the window that’s visible to outside is always kept on, and signifies that Walt Disney is always in the park.

Tokyo FactsWikimedia Commons

29. Never Grow Up

Walt Disney once played Peter Pan in a school play, and the story took him back to his childhood. In 1953, he turned the story into a hit movie.

The Legend of Zelda FactsPeter Pan, The Walt Disney Company

28. Walt the Vacuum Cleaner Salesman

In 1923, Walt Disney moved to L.A. to pursue a career in animation. His brother Roy was already living in L.A. selling vacuum cleaners, and wanted Walt to do the same. Walt was on the verge of joining him when he received a phone call from a company in New York that wanted him to make shorts for them.

Walt Disney 1946Boy Scouts of America,  Wikimedia Commons

27. Making the Mouse

Walt Disney sketched the design for Mickey Mouse, but he relied on Ub Iwerks and other talented artists to design the final character. He never drew him for any of his films, and in reality, he likely only drew Mickey when requested to for autographs.

Walt Disney FactsFlickr

26. That John Hancock

Walt Disney’s signature also wasn’t “created” by Disney. The well-known signature is a stylized version of the real thing, and the version seen on lawful documents wasn’t that intricate. Disney reportedly couldn’t even reproduce the trademark version.

Walt Disney FactsShutterstock

25. Feed the Birds

Walt Disney’s films have produced a number of hit songs over the years, but Disney’s personal favorite was the ballad “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins. According to songwriter Richard Sherman, Disney used to stop by his and his brother’s office on Friday afternoons and request a personal performance of the song. Sherman said, “He loved that song, and knew it was the heartbeat of the whole movie”.

Walt Disney FactsA Spoonful Of Sugar Walt Disney Records

24. Won’t Find Him on the Golf Course

When his doctor made him give up Polo, Disney tried taking up golf instead. He found the sport so frustrating that he quit and took up lawn bowling instead.

Sukarno And Walt Disney In A CarUnknown AUthor,  Wikimedia Commons

23. In Solemn Memory

After becoming successful, Walt Disney purchased a new house for his parents, and would send repairmen from his studio to fix things around the house. Tragically, his team failed to properly take care of a problem with their furnace, and his mother passed carbon monoxide intake. It affected him so deeply that even years later, his daughter said he still found the subject nearly impossible to talk about.

Walt Disney BirthplaceWaltDisneyBirthplace, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

22. Absentee Mothers

Absentee mothers are a trend in Disney’s animated movies. Many believe that this was a result of his torment over his mother’s untimely passing. The trend has continued with modern films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid, which all lack a mother character.

Disney CharactersThe Little Mermaid (1989) - Walt Disney Pictures

21. Disney’s Folly

When Disney wanted to produce an animated feature-length Snow White film, many people in Hollywood doubted him and some even called it “Disney’s Folly.” The film earned $184.9 million worldwide in 1938, and is still one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time.

Disney Movies FactsFlickr

20. Stock in her Stocking

Walt Disney hired his housekeeper and cook Thelma Howard in 1951, and she worked for his family for three decades. As part of her annual Christmas gift, Disney gave her stock in the company. That stock made her a multi-millionaire by the time she passed in 1994.

Promotional Still For Make Mine MusicWalt Disney Productions, Wikimedia Commons

19. Oswald Returns—80 years Later

In 2006, almost eight decades after Walt Disney’s departure from Universal Studios, the Walt Disney company regained control of the Oswald character. In exchange for returning the character, Disney, who owned ESPN and ABC studios, agreed to let NBC use Sportscaster Al Michaels for Sunday Night Football.

Walt Disney FactsWikipédia

18. Code Red

Man is in the forest” was the code name given to Disney by his animators. They would use the phrase as a warning that Disney was approaching and they had to get back to work.

Walt Disney FactsWikimedia Commons

17. No Women Allowed

Disney did not allow women to apply for spots in his animation training school. He firmly believed that “women do not do creative work.”

Disney With His EmployeesWalt Disney Studios, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

16. Hot Dog Standard

Trash cans at Disney World were placed 25 steps away from hot dog stands. Disney arrived at this measurement because that was how long it took him to eat a hot dog.

On The Road At Night FactsPixabay

15. The Disney Dress Code

Walt Disney enforced a number of strict policies at Disney World. Until 1970, men could get kicked out of the park for beards, mustaches, and long hair. Jim McGuinn, future founder of the Byrds, was refused entry to the park for having a Beatles style mop top.

Walt Disney FactsGetty Images

14. Got Mail

In 1968, the U.S. Postal Service released a commemorative Walt Disney stamp. C. Robert Moore based the stamp on a portrait drawn by one of Disney’s animators. 120 million stamps were printed, and the stamp was worth six cents.

Walt Disney FactsWikimedia Commons

13. Say Cheese

In 2000, Walt Disney was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame for his creation of the multiplane camera. Disney used the camera to film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and it was developed in order to produce more realistic and emotionally affecting animations.

Multiplane CameraHarshLight, Flickr

12. Not Really Frozen

For years, rumours have circulated that Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen. This is entirely false. They myth might have originated with a couple of animators who said that he froze himself as a joke. Two days after his passing, as per his wishes, Disney was cremated. A burial plot with a garden (and probably his ashes) is at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale California.

Walt Disney StarNeelix,  Wikimedia Commons

 

11.The “Third Reich” Filmmaker

In 1938, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl arrived in the U.S. to meet with studio executives and to find an audience for her 1936 film about the Berlin Games called Olympia. While other studios hesitated, Disney took her in and gave her a tour of Disney Studios. She offered him a private showing of the film in exchange, but he refused, fearing others would find out that he’d hosted her. When she returned to Germany, she praised Disney for seeing her.

Walt Disney FactsGetty Images

10. Magical Moving Robots

The World’s Fair was always a place to debut exciting new technologies and inventions, and the 1964 World’s Fair was no exception. That year, Disney debuted his Audio-Animatronics robots with words or pre-recorded audio coming out of their mouths. He set up two exhibits. The first was “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” and the other was the “It’s a Small World” boat ride which promoted international unity. To this date, Lincoln is part of the Disney World attraction “Hall of President’s, and “It’s a Small World” is a featured ride in the park.

Walt Disney FactsWalt Disney Anthology television series

9. Wall-E

The Robot from Wall-E was named for Walt Disney. Wall-E is a modified version of his full name Walter Elias Disney. The character of Wall-E, like Disney himself, is loved and adored by children and families around the world.

Pixar FactsPixabay

8. Don’t Call Him Mr.

Walt Disney disliked being called “Mr.” and insisted that his employees refer to him by his first name. On rare occasions when someone did call him “Mr. Disney,” he’d supposedly say “Please, call me Walt. The only Mr. at the Disney Studios is our lawyer, Mr. Lessing”.

Disney speakingUnknown  Author, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

7. Disney Spelled Backwards

The sorcerer in Fantasia’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” segment was named Yen-Sid by Disney animators as a tribute to Disney. Yen-Sid is Disney spelled backwards. Since then, he has become a recurring character in the Disney cannon ranging from their theme parks to video games.

Mickey and the Magical MapLoren Javier, Flickr

6. A Little Nicotine

Walt Disney smoked three packs of unfiltered smokes a day and never made any effort to quit. When the Surgeon General reported on the dangers of that plant, his daughter Dianne made him promise to smoke filtered smokes. He did, but only after tearing off the filters. He rationalized it by saying “I promised her I'd use them, but I didn't tell her how I would use them." In 1966, Disney passed complications from lung cancer.

Walt Disney Signed Photograph Of Him WalkingWalt Disney, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

5. Disney’s Favorite Princess

Cinderella was Disney’s favorite princess. He told the actress who voiced the character that she was his favorite heroine, and that there was something about the story that he associated with.

Billie Holiday FactsCinderella,Walt Disney Animation Studios

4. Hometown Glory

Main Street U.S.A. in Disneyland is based on Disney’s memory of the small Missouri town where he grew up. A comparison of photographs reveals many similarities between the two.

Walt Disney FactsWikipedia

3. Magnum Opus

Mary Poppins is considered by many to be Walt Disney’s Magnum Opus. The film was a musical fantasy that mixed live-action and animation. Disney spent 14 years trying to convince author P.L. Travers to sign over the film rights to the book, which she finally did, with the provision that she could retain script approval rights.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies FactsMary Poppins, Walt Disney Pictures

2. Famous Last Words

Shortly after his passing, a mysterious note was found in Walt’s desk that simply read “Kurt Russell.” Nobody had any idea what it meant—not even Kurt Russell.

Horror Movies factsThe Thing (1982), Universal Pictures

1. His Revolutionary Vision

Walt Disney had a vision of a theme park where children and parents could have fun together and told a colleague that he wanted it to look “like nothing else in the world.” Originally, the park was to be situated on 8 acres next to the Burbank studios, but as his vision grew, it was clear that this wouldn’t be enough space.

Pixar factsPxHere

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7


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