Imagine the world without Walt Disney. A world where his beloved characters and songs never shaped your dreams, where magic and visual storytelling never sparked your imagination, and where no whimsical theme parks ever delighted your childhood fantasies. Walt Disney and his works are nothing less than legendary. From pioneering animations to spellbinding theme parks, his unparalleled vision continues to inspire generation after generation. People of all ages all around the world have been touched by Walt Disney’s legacy – which didn’t come easily for this innovative animator and persistent entrepreneur. Walt Disney’s life story shows no traces of dumb luck or free passes. Instead, it begins with a hard-working paperboy and ends with a humble film producer, who marked history once again while daydreaming on a park bench. Top Walt Disney Quotes to Awaken the Dreamer in You All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up. Early life with a love for art On December 5th, 1901, Walter Elias Disney was born in a small neighborhood in Chicago. He was one of five children of Irish, Canadian, German, and American descent. walt-disney-as-a-young-child Image: Walt Disney at the age of 1. Credit: History.com When Walt was four years old, his family moved to Marceline, Missouri, where his artistic talent was sparked by a neighborhood doctor who asked him to draw his horse. Young Walt instantly fell in love with art and intently developed his skills by copying the cartoons in his father’s newspaper. At seven years old, Walt decided to help his struggling family by selling his drawings to neighbors and family friends. At school, Walt Disney was rather inattentive. His teachers would often catch him daydreaming or doodling pictures of animals and nature. As he grew older, he picked up a knack for storytelling and would tell his classmates outlandish tales while illustrating on the chalkboard. At ten years old, Walt and his family moved to Kansas City where his uncle employed him to sell snacks and newspapers along the railroad. Being amongst trains all summer induced Walt with a fascination for them, a passion which can still be seen in his theme parks today. During the rest of the year, Walt would wake up at 4:30 every morning with his brother Roy to deliver the newspaper before school. They would make another paper round after school as well. The job was exhausting and Walt would often fall asleep in class, but he continued his paper route for more than six years to help his family. The Army and a short-lived business Walt Disney attended McKinley High School back in Chicago, where he drew patriotic pictures about WWI for the school newspaper. At night, he took illustration courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts to broaden his skills. At 16, a shy yet determined Walt Disney dropped out of high school and attempted to join the Army in their fight against the Germans. But he was rejected since he was still under the minimum age of 17. Nevertheless, Walt was insistent on joining, and so he tried again – this time enlisting for the Red Cross with a forged birth certificate. He was accepted and soon shipped to France where he spent the following year driving an ambulance. For all the blood and grisly injuries Walt would face on a daily basis, he found comfort in dreaming up new cartoon characters for his future career as an artist. In his downtime, Walt would give life to his unrelenting imagination by drawing on the side of his ambulance, covering it with cartoons from stern to stern. Some of his work was even published in the army newspaper. After his time in the Army had ended, Walt Disney returned to Kansas City at 18 years old with the goal of becoming a newspaper artist. His brother, Roy, got him a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, where he met Ub Iwerks, a fellow cartoonist there. ub-iwerks-and-walt-disney-posing-for-a-photo Image: Walt Disney and