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How Walt Disney Really Turned His Dreams Into A Reality And Launched The World’s First Amusement Park

satur73 - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purpose only, not the actual person

Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” And the man himself undoubtedly lived up to this motto.

The world-renowned producer, showman, and entrepreneur was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois.

But, he spent much of his adolescent life in Missouri– where he worked as a newspaper route boy, began studying the art of cartooning, and would later draw inspiration for Main Street, USA, in Disneyland.

Then, in 1917, the Disney family moved back to Chicago, and Walt entered McKinley High School.

There, as a teen, he continued cultivating his eye for the arts by delving into photography, drawing for the school newspaper, and studying cartooning.

Walt’s initial dream was to be hired as a newspaper cartoonist. But, World War I delayed his plans after he had to work as an ambulance driver in France and Germany for the American Red Cross.

Nonetheless, once Walt returned to the states in 1919, he began taking on part-time gigs as a draftsman and inker for commercial art studios and met another young artist named Ub Iwerks.

Walt’s collaboration with Ub was instrumental to his early career success.

The pair launched their own studio in 1922, created two-minute advertising films using animations, and distributed the shorts to local movie theaters.

satur73 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person

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