Walter Elias Disney (Walt Disney) was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois, in the U.S.  In 1906 he moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri. He developed his interest in drawing. In addition, he began to develop an ability to work with crayons and watercolors. Walt Disney also became enamored with trains. In 1911, him and his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He met Walter Pfeiffer. Walter Pfeiffer came from a family of theatre fans and introduced Walt Disney to vaudeville and motion pictures. Shortly after, Disney was spending more time at the Pfeiffers' house than at his house. Walt Disney attended Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute. He also took a correspondence course in cartooning. In 1928, he developed Mickey Mouse, a well known character. He started creating movies and cartoons. Then, in the 1950's, he expanded into theme park industry, and opened the Disney park in Anaheim, California in July of 1955. Later, in 1965, he began to develop the theme park called Disney World.  However, before the Disney Park or the Epcot project had finished, he died of lung cancer in 1966 due to being a heavy smoker throughout his life. 12/12.5

Interesting facts about Walt Disney:

• In his lifetime, he won more Oscar awards than any one else

• He was the first person that was nominated in 6 different categories for an academy award

• His favorite food was chili!

• He was a big fan of baseball

• His favorite Disney princess was Cinderella

• His favorite song was from Mary Poppins and was called "feed the birds"

• His favorite land within Disneyland was fantasy land