California Adventure parkgoers celebrate Walt Disney Company's 100th Anniversary
ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) -- The Walt Disney Company celebrated a milestone anniversary on Monday, 100 years to the day after Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the company.
Many guests at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim planned special visits this week to honor the Walt Disney Company's platinum anniversary.
"There's no better place to celebrate the 100 years," said Debbie May, who extended her trip from Florida an extra day to celebrate the anniversary. "I mean, how many companies are 100 years old?"
It didn't start out easy for Walt Disney. When his Laugh-O-Gram Studio based in Kansas City, Missouri went bankrupt in 1923, Disney moved to Hollywood later that summer.
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Three months later, he and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Studio, what would later become The Walt Disney Company.
The Walt Disney Company would go on to produce hundreds of animated features and live action films and entertain millions of guests at theme parks around the world.
"It was 100 years ago today that Walt and his brother Roy founded what would become The Walt Disney Company, changing entertainment forever," said Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "For the past century, Disney has been entertaining, thrilling, and touching the hearts of people around the world through stories that transcend generations and geographies."
At California Adventure on Monday, Disney fan Debbie May recalled a memorable moment involving her family.
"My father was close to 50, and we were driving down the street and he saw the Matterhorn -- and he was excited as a 5-year-old," she said.
Nataly Guzman Garcia, a Disney ambassador, said she was "so excited to see what's to come in the next weeks, months, even years. Here's to another 100 years of Disney magic and storytelling."
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of this station.
