An important distinction made by Roy O. Disney!
The Walt Daily
Not “Disney World,” but “Walt Disney World”
Hi everyone! When Walt Disney passed in 1966, his brother Roy made sure to do right by Walt and see the Florida project through, but he wanted to be sure everyone knew that Walt was still at the heart of the process. A week after Walt Disney's death, Roy Disney, who was still president of Walt Disney Productions at the time, gathered the staff for a pep talk and said, "We're going to finish this park and we're going to do it just the way Walt wanted it." Roy delayed his retirement and stepped down from the role of president at the production company so he could concentrate on securing finances and planning for the Florida project. Roy was the person who really made it happen, and he was proud that they were seeing through the vision that Walt had, right down to creating the cleanest park around. In the 1967 company annual report, Roy was already making the distinction to not call the new project Disney World, but instead Walt Disney World. He did not want to create any misunderstanding about whose project this really was. So insistent on the resort name including Walt, he clashed with some in the company on the issue who felt that simply Disney World would be better for marketing. But successive Walt Disney Productions president, Card Walker, interpreted the move as an act of complete unselfishness to make sure that nobody thought any other Disney was involved. All the way to the dedication of Walt Disney World delivered by Roy. He wanted to make sure the world knew everything they saw was because of Walt. Immediately before he delivered his speech, Roy asked for Mickey to stand by his side so that he would represent the spirit of Walt standing by his side. [Music]