Featured
FROM Divestment to Disneyland
“One decade after Walt Disney opened Disneyland’s gates in 1955, Walt Disney Productions consolidated ownership of his “Project Mickey.” By 1965, the publicly traded animation and film company famous for a talking mouse named Mickey finalized their seven-year purchase plan of the Disney theme park in Anaheim, California. The acquisition closing marked the beginning of a new cornerstone of the parent company’s entertainment business—the Disney Parks and Resorts.”
Chapter 3
“Project Mickey” from Divestment to Disneyland
Jennifer Begakis, Historian of Capitalism & Disney
I am a Ph.D. Candidate at Cornell University. I research histories of corporate financial strategy and focus on the Walt Disney Company’s business and investment activities that, according to Walt Disney, “all started with a mouse.”
LATEST
-
Walt’s Fairyland Project
Ch. 3: “Project Mickey” from Divestment to Disneyland J. Begakis In the summer of 1954, Walt Disney met with the Orange County League of Cities to tour his new Anaheim property. Explaining to local officials that while the men of WED Enterprises were busy drafting construction plans, Walt was eager to begin building what Southern…
-
Consolidating Walt Disney
Ch. 4: – From Consolidation to Failure Jennifer Begakis In 1958, Walt Disney Productions (WDP) began a seven-year corporate consolidation of Disneyland. Between 1958 and 1965, the publicly traded animation and film company acquired Walt Disney’s two startup companies, Disneyland Inc. and Disney Imagineering, which designed and built Walt Disney’s Disneyland Park. Disneyland opened in…
-
Publicly Walt Disney
Ch. 3: “Project Mickey” from Divestment to Disneyland J. Begakis Before Disneyland, Walt Disney tried and failed at a similar, albeit less risky, investment than a owned and operated theme park.[1] In 1938, one year after the successful premiere of Walt Disney Productions (WDP) full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney…
-
ABC’s “Dateline Disneyland”
Ch. 3: “Project Mickey” from Divestment to Disneyland J. Begakis One week before Disneyland opened its gates to the public on July 17, 1955, Walt Disney invited select members of the press to stroll his park grounds and experience firsthand all its wonders. Among this first group of Disneyland guests was one vocal skeptic of…
Jennifer Begakis, Historian of Capitalism & Disney 