Walt Disney: The 3 Major Ways He Changed The World

Born	December 5th, 1901
Died	December 15th, 1966
Famous Quote	“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Known For	Pioneering American animation, changing the entertainment world, inspiring billions of people worldwide.
Region of World	United States, 19th century.
Further Reading	The 7 Greatest Early 20th Century U.S Entrepreneurs

Walt Disney today is one of the most famous people in the entire world. Show a picture of either him or his creations to anybody and often they will know who he is.

Being born in Chicago during the start of the 20th century Disney grew up in a very industrial setting. However, from a very early age, Disney became enthralled by art and design. This nonstop curiosity and talent in the arts would drive Disney to eventually change the entertainment world.

Walt Disney changed the world in 3 major ways. First, he pioneered American animation bringing the art to audiences worldwide. Second, Walt Disney changed the entertainment world to be focused around the guest experience. Third, through his efforts he has inspired millions of people worldwide to dream and build.

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Without further ado, here are the 3 major ways Walt Disney changed the world.

Using American Animation to Change the Entertainment World

The world of entertainment in the 1920s was centered around black-and-white films with little audience interaction. While these films were good, often they would be repetitive.

During the early 1920’s Disney was working as an animator at the Kansas City Film Ad Company making commercial animations using a cutout animation technique.

This technique however produced very bad-quality animations that also gave the animator very limited control over production. Upon noticing this Disney started to immediately experiment with drawing his own animations using the cell animation technique.

While this produced a better animation it still lacked audience engagement. It was not until the late 1920’s that Disney finally was able to add sound to his animations by combining the Cinephone with his animations.

The results shook the animation industry to its core and forever changed the world. Walt Disney successfully created entertaining animations that could be featured in full-length films that also included high-quality sound.

The breakout moment for Walt Disney came with the production of the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney spared no expense in making this movie and as a result, the total budget ballooned up to a staggering $1.5 million dollars ($30 million today).

However, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would forever change the world and go on to make a huge $6.5 million ($128 million today) at the box office.

Walt Disney saw a world where cartoon animations could be captivating and tell a story. He was the world’s first person to see this and worked continuously to bring his vision to life. As a result of this billions of people around the world watch animated shows and movies due to Disney’s work.

Disney Changed the Entertainment World to Be Focused Around Guest Experience

Walt Disney changed the entertainment world in one pivotal way. Previously the entertainment sector as a whole was created to get the most money from the customer in the fastest way possible.

As a result of this most theme parks were dirty and had flashy events and rides. Once the event was over the customer was hastily pushed out of the park or event to make room for the next customer.

For Walt Disney, this was backward. He wanted to create a world where the guest was at the center of the experience, a world where they were encouraged to stay as long as possible.

Not only that but Disney wanted to create a world where both adults and children could have fun. This drastically changed the way in which the entertainment world was run.

In 1954 Walt Disney would build another company called Walt Disney Imagineering. Here Disney would hire engineers to travel to theme parks around the world and document what they did right and wrong.

A year later Walt Disney’s first theme park, Disneyland, would open to resounding success. Within its first year, the new park had attracted over 3.6 million guests.

Overnight this changed the nature of theme parks and entertainment. Walt Disney took a big risk in building a theme park that was centered around making the guest as happy as possible and in the end it paid off.

Today all entertainment, not only theme parks, is centered around the customer experience. This came from the success of Disneyland and Walt Disney’s dream in the 1950s to create a world where both adults and children could relax and have fun.

Today this philosophy of entertainment has forever changed the world. As a result, Disney’s impact can be felt by billions of people worldwide.

Walt Disney Changed the World by Inspiring Billions of People Worldwide to Pursue Their Dreams

Of all the ways Walt Disney changed the world none compare to his tenacious entrepreneurial spirit.

Few people know that Walt Disney failed hundreds of times throughout his career as an entrepreneur. Over the course of his life Walt Disney failed around 300 times on varying projects from Mickey Mouse to his amusement parks.

While many people would call it quits, Disney believed in his vision and products. He would continuously rebuild and come back with an even better product.

Walt Disney’s life was hard. He suffered estrangement from his father, his first cartoon business failing, a nervous breakdown when 300 bankers refused his pilot project of Mickey Mouse, a failed acting career, near total disaster with Disneyland opening, and at one point during his adult life only $40 to his name and nowhere to live.

Over time this morphed Walt Disney’s personality. While everyone has seen the successful images of Walt Disney smiling, few understand that his public personality was made up for his guests.

In reality, Walt Disney was a perfectionist who would work nonstop for his family, employees, and his guests. Disney in private was a shy man who preferred to have himself and his family stay out of the public eye.

Instead, Disney would focus all of his energy on building amazing products and services. Every time he was beaten down he would come back with an even better vision or product.

To millions of people around the world this true Walt Disney is beyond inspiring. Walt Disney came to the world of animation with a dream and spent his entire life pursuing a world where people could forget about the troubles of life and relax.

Because of this entrepreneurial spirit, Walt Disney has inspired millions of people worldwide to pursue their own dreams.

Conclusion

There you have it; an entire article on the 3 ways Walt Disney changed the world. From changing animation, to building the world’s premier theme parks, to inspiring millions of people worldwide to pursue their own dreams.

Here at The History Ace I strive to publish the best history articles on the internet. If you like content like this then feel free to subscribe to the newsletter and share around the internet.

Further, you can check out some of the other articles below.

Until next time,

Nick