Walt Disney gave the world happiness in bundles! 

Kids all around the globe have grown up watching Disney cartoons and movies. From Mickey Mouse to The Lion King, our personal favourites changed every week. Disney opened up a world of imagination and creativity for kids of every generation. 

However, while we know all about our beloved cartoons, there’s not much that we know of their creator.

Here are 17 lesser-known facts about the man who created our most favourite mouse of all times:

1. Walt Disney had to convince his father that he would convert his new film studio into a hospital if the animation business failed.

2. Mickey Mouse was originally called Mortimer Mouse. Walt’s wife changed it to Mickey, since the former name sounded very pompous. 

3. Walt’s famous signature was not his own. It was created by an animator who worked for him. His original signature was nowhere close to this one.

4.  ‘The lack of creativity” got Walt Disney fired from a news publication.

5. It is said that Walt was afraid of mice. 

6. Walt was the voice of Mickey Mouse from its birth in 1928 till 1947.

7. One of the first visitors to Disneyland, when it opened in 1955, was the 11-year-old George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. 

8. Walt got one regular (honorary) Academy Award and seven miniature statues for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 

9. It is believed that Disney films like Pinocchio, The Jungle Book and others have absentee mothers because of Walt’s anguish over his mother’s death. 

Walt bought his parents a new house and a faulty heating system resulted in her death due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

10. Before Mickey, Walt’s first iconic character was Oswald- The Lucky Rabbit. Oswald‘s rights stayed with Universal Pictures, after Walt decided to walk out.

11. There’s an asteroid that’s named after Disney. It was discovered by a Soviet astronomer and is called 4017 Disneya.

12. Walt Disney produced propaganda films for the American government during the 2nd World War.

13. The man who dubbed for Mickey and the woman who dubbed for Minnie actually got married in real life. 

14. Walt gave his housekeeper Disney shares as holiday bonuses. When she died, her estate was more that $9 million.

15. As per a popular legend, Walt’s corpse was frozen and kept under the Pirates of Caribbean ride in Disneyland. 

But this isn’t true. He was cremated and his ashes are buried in Glendale, California.

16.  At a time when women were looked down upon as second class citizens, Walt appointed them as animators, concept artists, story artists and in various positions of authority.

17. MGM Studios refused to distribute Mickey Mouse in 1927 because they thought that a giant mouse on the screen would terrify women.

We can’t thank Walt Disney enough for making our childhood awesome!