Timeline Description: Walt Disney started with nothing, but he built a world renowned entertainment industry. His movies, merchandise, and toys are still loved today, and his story is truly an inspirational one.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1901 | Walt Disney is born Walt Disney was born in Chicago to parents Elias and Flora. His given name was Walter Elias Disney. |
| 1910 | Life on the farm The Disney family moved to a farm when Walt was very young. He spent lots of his time drawing and imagining, but when his father became ill they had to sell the farm and move to Kansas City, Mo. |
| 1911 | Walt discovers movies While living in Missouri, Walt got a paper route to help the family's financial situation. It was while working this job he first discovered movies, and he fell in love with them. |
| 1917 | Art school Walt continued drawing, and when his family returned to Chicago he enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. It was his dream to work as a newspaper cartoonist. |
| 1918 | World War I Though he was too young to join the army, Walt lied about his age in order to enlist. He fought in France for a year in the American Ambulance Corps. |
| 1920 | Walt's failure Walt joined forces with Ub Iwerks and formed a commercial artist company. However, the company failed after only a month. |
| 1923 | Walt tries again Over a few years, Walt tried a few different ventures which failed, including the Laugh-O-gram Corporation. He eventually founded Disney Brothers Studio in Hollywood, which would later become Hyperion Studio. |
| 1928 | Mickey Mouse is created At the height of the talking-picture revolution, Walt created a film called Steamboat Willie. It featured a talking mouse named Mickey, and it was an instant hit. |
| 1930 | Mickey Mouse merchandising Walt, along with his brother Roy, decided to play up Mickey's growing popularity. They created a merchandise line and the Mickey Mouse Club, which quickly grew to over one million members. |
| 1937 | Disney's first full length film After creating several "short" films, Walt decided to move ahead with full length films. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. |
| 1942 | World War II After Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney released multiple films including Fantasia, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. When WWII began, the US Army took over part of the studio to house troops, but Disney still managed to produce Bambi. |
| 1950 | Cinderella is a hit Disney released Cinderella, and it was an instant hit. It was their biggest success since the release of Snow White. |
| 1955 | Disneyland opens Walt Disney purchased land in California and built the Disneyland theme park. They had over one million visitors in just two months. |
| 1965 | Disney World ideas begin Walt purchased land in Florida to build a theme park called Epcot, which would be a peek into the technology of "tomorrow." It was an idea that eventually grew into Disney World. |
| 1966 | Walt Disney Dies At the age of 66, Walt Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966. In the same year, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree released, and Walt's legacy continued with dozens of films and multiple Disney theme parks around the world. |