Walt Disney was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the founder of Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disney is also the creator of Mickey Mouse. His career as an advertising cartoonist began after he came back from the war and returned to Kansas City. In 1920, he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons, which later he perfected a new method for combining live action and animation. In 1923, Walt Disney left Kansas City to Hollywood with nothing aside from a few drawings and his finished animated and live action film.
Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 and his talents were first used in a silent cartoon called Plane Crazy. Mickey made his first screen debut on Steamboat Willie, which premiered on November 18, 1928 in New York. This was the first cartoons to successfully utilize synchronized sound.
One day...Walt Disney had a vision, a place where children and parents could have fun together. He dreamed of a "magical park," the more imaginative and elaborate it became. After many conversations and planning his dreams finally came true and the construction of Disneyland began on July 1954 in Anaheim, California. Just only 12 months later, the park was finished and the opening day was on July 17, 1955. The park costed a total of $17,000,000 to build.
Just 4 years after Disneyland opened, in 1959 Walt Disney Productions began searching for land to house for a second report to supplement Disneyland in California. In November 1963, Walt Disney flew over to a potential site in Orlando Florida. He later purchased land in central Florida, where they began to build Walt Disney World. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the construction of this magical place. After 7 years of master planning and preparation, including 52 months of actual construction, Walt Disney World opened as scheduled on October 1, 1971. The Epcot Center opened on October 1, 1982.
Sources courtesy from: bio of Walt Disney, creation of Mickey Mouse, history of Disneyland, history of Walt Disney World.