H.U.N.T. stands for Harness your vision, Underestimate the roadblocks, Network, and Take the first step. These are characteristics that many successful entrepreneurs share, including Walt Disney. Walt harnessed his vision by creating his idea, deciding what he wanted to accomplish with it, and setting out to acquire the resources necessary to make it happen. He did this by creating Mickey Mouse and setting up a small studio with his brother out of his uncle's garage. Slowly, he built upon his idea. Walt underestimated the roadblocks by refusing to allow things like the Great Depression, World War I or the financial difficulties his studio was facing to get in the way. He found ways around it. For example, the only way he kept his studio going during the war was by creating films based on health, education, and propaganda for the U.S. government.
Walt networked with Universal Studios when he first started out to promote his animation work. He worked on a series of black-and-white cartoons for the production company which gained him experience as well as credibility. Walt also networked with his brother, Roy, who stood by his side and made sure his dreams became a reality even after Walt died. Walt took the first step by moving to California, partnering with his brother, and utilizing the resources he had to start a small production studio. Walt Disney was truly an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He had the confidence, the motivation, the courage, the ambition, and the faith to make his dreams come true, and I believed he hoped that his vision would inspire others to do the same.
Not only did Walt Disney ultimately change the world, he also inspired many people to do the same. Walt Disney did so many memorable things and was overall and incredibly memorable person. He was a mover, a visionary--someone who had an dream and never let anything or anyone stop him from making it come true. He produced the first animated film with synchronized sound, and produced the first full-color cartoon, Flowers and Trees, for which he won an Academy Award. In 1937, he released the first full-length animated feature film to be produced with Technicolor, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, nearly risking everything he owned in the process. The film took $1.5 million to make, which was an almost impossible amount during the Great Depression. His company made it through both the Great Depression and World War II. In 1944, it re-released Snow White into theaters which began the common strategy of re-releasing films every 10 years, as well as later changing the availability of Disney films on VHS and DVD.
Not only did Walt Disney completely take Hollywood by storm but he also had an even bigger vision. This new vision began with a TV program in 1954, called Disneyland. Within a few years, Disney founded WED Enterprises and began his planning for Disneyland, the theme park. Disney developed this park in secret, and the park opened in 1955. Soon after the success of Disneyland, plans for an even bigger theme park, Walt Disney World began. Walt Disney World opened in 1971, and was even grander than the first. Today, Walt Disney World as well as the other Disneylands (one in California, one in Tokyo, one in Hong Kong, one in Paris, and one in Shanghai) are the most successful theme parks in the world.
Walt Disney provided positive entertainment through his films and cartoons during a very dark time in American society. Through his work, he influenced Americans to never give up hope that a "Happily ever after" still exists. He also changed America's perception of amusement parks. Before Walt Disney World, amusement parks were dirty, unsanitary and noisy places. Walt Disney effectively created safe, clean places with a positive theme for families and their children. Walt Disney also had an optimistic view of America's future and invested a lot of his time into the advancement of technology. He believed in a great future, and this vision was originally portrayed in his plan for the Experimental Prototype Community of the Future (EPCOT). He envisioned a high-technology, clean, efficient and orderly city which would be a starting ground for multiple advances America's civil services such as garbage disposal, transportation, and utilities. Despite Walt's original plans, EPCOT never became the reality that he envisioned. However, the ideas have been implemented throughout Walt Disney World as well as in the nearby town Celebration. In Celebration, there is a vacuum system that takes away trash to a processing facility, and the city's water treatment includes using plants to clean the water.
Walt Disney has inspired me to live to my highest potential. He achieved the impossible despite his circumstances. I lived in Orlando, and I would go to Disney World every weekend as a kid. I truly had the "Disney life" for a while. Every time I would go to Disney World, I always felt that magic, that wonderful vision that Walt had. It reminds me to keep believing in myself. His beautiful vision as well as his ambition is why he inspires me to keep pursuing my dreams.
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois to Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney. His father was of Irish-Canadian descent, and his mother was of German-American descent. He was one of five children--four boys and one girl. Disney grew up in Marceline, Missouri where he started drawing, painting, and selling pictures to family friends and neighbors. Throughout Walt's childhood, their family experienced financial troubles. After their farm's failure, his family moved to Kansas City in 1911 where Walt developed a love for trains. Walt's uncle, Mike Martin was a train engineer who worked the route between Fort Madison and Marceline, and later on, Walt would eventually work a job with the railroad. Walt went to McKinley High School in Chicago. During his high school years, he took drawing and photography classes and was a cartoonist for the school paper. He took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. Walt dropped out of school at 16 to join the army. However, he was rejected because of his age. Instead, he joined the Red Cross and went to France for a year to drive an ambulance to serve in the war. Soon, he returned to Kansas City to work as an advertising cartoonist, but did not ultimately succeed right away.
Walt moved to California and partnered with his brother, Roy Disney. Roy dealt with business and financial aspects, while Disney dealt with the creative aspects of the partnership. Walt and Roy borrowed some money to set up a small studio in their uncle's garage and created a few black-and-white cartoons about a rabbit named Oswald which they produced for Universal Studios. After this contract ended in 1928, Disney created his own silent cartoon which he called Plane Crazy with a character named Mickey Mouse. He soon produced a second Mickey Mouse cartoon with sound called Steamboat Willie, which was the first animated film to use synchronized sound. Soon Walt got the rights to use Technicolor in animated films for two years and won his first Academy Award in 1932 for the short Flowers and Trees. This was also the first full-color cartoon. Over the span of his career, Walt would earn 26 Oscars, the most awards given to anyone.
Walt created Goofy, Donald Duck, and other characters to join Mickey Mouse. In 1937, he released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated feature-length movie to be filmed in Technicolor. In 1938, tragedy struck. Thanks to the success of Snow White, Walt and Roy were able to purchase a North Hollywood home for their parents. There was a defective furnace in the home that went undetected and ultimately led to Flora Disney's death by asphyxiation (carbon monoxide poisoning) in November 1938. It was reported that Walt was sensitive about the tragedy until the end of his life because he could not help but blame himself. Many believe that this is the reason why there seems to be a noticeable absence of maternal figures in most of his animated feature films.
The Disney brothers soon built a studio in Burbank and employed over 1,000 people. Amazingly, Disney made it through the Great Depression and World War II by producing health and propaganda films for the government. Following many successes including the live-action film Treasure Island and opening an in-house distribution company, Disney began a TV program called Disneyland that revealed that Walt had much larger plans. Disney soon began planning the construction of the Disneyland theme park in secret. It opened in 1955 and was unlike any amusement park the world had seen before. Once Disneyland became a booming success, plans for a second park soon began. This second park became Walt Disney World and was built in Florida in the 1960s. This second park would ultimately complete Walt Disney's vision to create a wonderful place where families could truly enjoy themselves.
Walt Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966 at age 65, five years before Disney World opened and 16 years before Epcot opened. Disney was cremated, and his ashes were placed at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. Roy carried on his brother's vision, and Walt Disney World opened in Florida in 1971. Walt Disney world is recognized as one of the most significant people of the 20th century and one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. His most famous saying is, "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing, that it all started with a mouse."
