ENG-361

The Disney Company

Final Written Project
Amber Dean
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Table of Contents

Abstract 2

Introduction 3

The Beginning of Walter Elias Disney 3

The Start of Disney Animations 4

The Start of Disneyland 4

The Start of Disneyworld 5

The Growth of Disneyworld 5

The Start of Television 6

The Future for Disney 6

Conclusion 7
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Abstract

This essay contains information on the Walt Disney Company. This essay will

outline: how Disney was started, who was the creator, and also how much as

Disney increased their business. The object of this essay is to inform you on

information about the company. This is things you might not have known, or

you already knew.

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Introduction

The Disney Company is known by many people. Some know it as a theme park, a

movie making company, and even relate it to Mickey Mouse. However, everyone knows

about Disney and the magic it brings. The question is how well do you know Disney?

This essay is about things you might have not known about, or just a refresher for you.

The Beginning of Walter Elias Disney

Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, and all the magic the Disney name now has.

But exactly who is Walt Disney? Walt Disney grew up in Kansas City on a farm (Walt

Disney). Since he was a boy he always loved to draw. When he grew older, his brother

and himself moved to Hollywood and started the Disney Brothers Studio (Walt Disney).

They continued to work on their studio with their Alice cartoons and also created Oswald

the Lucky Rabbit. The New York Distributor they were working with, Margaret Winkler,

ended up betraying the studio and took Alice, the cartoon, from the company. Walt had

to think of a new cartoon and then created Mickey Mouse. Even though, he was
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originally going to be called Mortimer Mouse. The first cartoon to hit the market with

sound and also very well known, Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney).

The Start of Disney Animations

From their first short film to short cartoons with sound, Disney has climbed the ladder to

success. They continue to have such success with their cartoons and now everyone is

enjoying Mickey Mouse. To increase the

evolution of Mickey they added addition

cartoon characters, including Minnie Mouse,

Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto (Walt Disney).

They continued to grow their animations

studio every day. Walt soon decided to make

a full length animation movie, which took

three years to make. Him and his team

created Snow White and The Seven

Dwarfs. At the time, it was the highest grossing movie (Disney History). The Walt

Disney Studio continued to make movies, which they came out with Pinocchio and

Fantasia. These movies were not much of a hit because at the time it was the start of

World War Two (Disney History). The studio success made it through the tough time,

and created more movies.

The Start of Disneyland

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With all the success from his animation studio, Walt was still not satisfied. He wanted to

branch out from just the movies and television. Walt always dreamt about someday

opening an amusement park, and now was the time. He created an amusement park

that adults and kids could both enjoy together (Disney History). Disneyland opened on

July 17, 1955 (Disney History). It was a great success for the company, and millions of

people would visit each year. Walt new the park would never be completed as long as

there was imagination (Disney History).

The Start of Disneyworld

With the success of Disneyland, Walt wanted to open another amusement park. When

Walt was picking out land, he wanted to a large amount so he could continue to expand

the amusement park over time. Disneyland had many companies open around them so

they couldnt expand. He ended up finding land in Orlando, Florida. He purchased 43

square miles for $5 million, or about $185 an acre (Conception). Before construction

even began, Walt dies on December 15, 1966 of lung cancer. His brother Roy takes

over as CEO and continues Walts legacy. In honor of his brother, Roy renamed

Disneyworld as Walt Disney World (Walt Disney). The theme park opened in October of

1971 (Disney History). As Walt already knew when planning it, the theme park would be

a success. Unfortunately, on the opening day only 10,000 people visited (Disney

History). Walt purposely opened in the off season so everything can be fixed before the

summer season came. Once something went wrong, they would be able to fix it while
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attendance was low. Even though Walt wasnt around to see the theme park, he had

everything planned for when it would finally open.

The Growth of Disney World

As Disneyworld continued to be the family destination of the United States, there was

always talk of expansion. The last plan Walt Disney had was Experimental Prototype

Community of Tomorrow, or as everyone knows it as Epcot (Disney History). Epcot was

a representation of the future and also the different places around the world. As Walt

Disney explained, "EPCOT will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies

that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a

community of tomorrow that will never be completed but will always be introducing and

testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And EPCOT will always be

a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise

(Plan for Epcot). Epcot certainly keeps this idea alive. They host the Food and Wine

Festival every year. This festival attractions many people to the park and especially to

Epcot. This festival allows you to eat around the world all in one place. They have

smaller portions you can purchase to try the different cuisines. Walts idea of having it a

showcase of the world shows it with this festival.

The Start of Television

In 1983, the Disney Company prepared for the start of cable television, The Disney

Channel (Disney History). It officially started in 1988 with The Magical World of Disney.

It was a television show that featured some episodes with Walt Disney. Even though
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Walt wasnt alive, the incorporated him into the show (Disney Channel History). It later

became known for airing movies on Sunday at 7pm, almost like family movie night

(Disney Channel History). Disney channel eventually started to create original movies. It

boosted their ratings even more, and changed from more of a childish channel to a pre-

teen/teenager channel. Some top original movies include High School Musical, Camp

Rock, Teen Beach Movie, and Cadet Kelly (Top 10 Disney Channel Movies).

The Future for Disney

From the very beginning to today, Disney has always been a growing company. The

plans for the future include: 1) creating innovations to attract visitors to its theme parks;

2) driving revenues for its resorts; and, 3) increasing viewership and subscription fees

for ESPN and streaming services (Three Things Which Are Key To Disney's Growth In

Future). The future continues to grow with technology advances. Disney plans to take

control of the video consumption of handheld devices. They want to launch more video

games and possibly gaming devices to take the next step forward. They also plan to

revenues in their theme parks. More than 30% in revenues is from the parks and resorts

(Three Things Which Are Key To Disney's Growth In Future). To continue the growth,

they plan to create more attractions and rides in the park. They have already opened

the Star Wars Park in Hollywood Studios, and will be opening Avatar Land in May of

2017. Their projected growth is 2% each year (Three Things Which Are Key To Disney's

Growth In Future). Increasing the subscriptions for ESPN will allow Disney to keep

growing. ESPN took a fall in subscribers in 2014, but is trying to increase it again (Three

Things Which Are Key To Disney's Growth In Future). People want to watch sports, and
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they like to watch it live. ESPN has the advantages, compared to Time Warner, because

it is live and not on demand. They project that it will increase over the years because of

their high quality broadcasting, and also having it live.

Conclusion

From the very beginning of one mans dream, to the huge success of a company, Walt

Disney had a vision. He wanted to create magic and happiness to families all around.

Getting to the success the company has now was not easy. Walt started the company

as just a cartoon studio, selling the cartoons to be featured before movies. He ended up

creating much more than that. Iconic characters, animation movies, television shows,

theme parks, and much more. Walt was an innovator, and also wanted to create

anything that a family would enjoy. Even though he wasnt around to see it all, the magic

he felt for Disney never died.

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Work Cited

"Walt Disney." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 03 Dec. 2015. Web. 12 Apr.
2017.

"Disney History." D23. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

"Walt Disney World." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Apr. 2017. Web. 12 Apr.
2017.

"Walt Disney's plan for EPCOT". YouTube.com.

"List of Disney Channel Original Films." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Mar.

2017. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.

Speculations, Great. "Three Things Which Are Key To Disney's Growth In

Future." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.

Michalko, Michael. "Walt Disneys Creative Thinking Technique." Creative Thinking

Articles and Techniques by Michael Michalko. N.p., 03 Mar. 2017. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.