Walt's Pilgrimage

Thank you, WMUK Western MI University for the news story about Walt’s Pilgrimage!

Students travel in the footsteps of Walt Disney for the tenth anniversary of a WMU course "Walt's Pilgrimage," a class where students visit Disney-related sites across the country, was first offered at Western Michigan University in 2015. In late April, students made their first stop at the Gilmore Car Museum, which Disney visited in 1964.

Learned about Walt Disney and his friendship with the Gilmore family and got to see and experience the set piece of The Gnomemobile.

Field trip to see Walt’s The GnomeMobile set piece!

Meet the 10th class of Walt’s Pilgrimage!

Walt Disney didn't just inherit a dream; he worked for it as a paperboy and child factory worker after his father’s business failures. From selling sketches to neighbors at age seven to driving an ambulance in post-war Europe, his early life was a masterclass in perseverance and hustle.

Disney leveraged his passion for drawing to land a role as an advertising cartoonist and eventually pioneered new methods in live-action and animation. It's landed him a spot on the list of greatest, historic self-made Americans.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2026/04/10/forbes-250-the-greatest-historic-self-made-americans/?utm_campaign=ForbesMainFB&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_medium=social
Photo: Getty Images

A must watch! Free on YouTube!

Disneyland Handcrafted | Full Documentary The magic of Walt Disney’s dream unfolds in Disneyland Handcrafted, a full-length feature documentary directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iw...

It all started with a mouse…and a bit of IP protection.

On this day in 1930, Walter E. Disney received a design patent for a toy of his character Mickey Mouse. The design patent protected the visual characteristics of the toy for a term of 14 years.

Another intellectual property protection for the character lasted a little longer. The copyright for Steamboat Willie – the black-and-white film that publicly debuted the character – expired in 2024, and the film entered public domain. The copyright was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in 1928 to protect the film.

Steamboat Willie was the first film with sound to feature Mickey Mouse. Together, the design patent for the toy and copyright protection for the film played important roles in shaping the character who has been a symbol for a recognized brand for more than a century.

We just completed interviews for the class of 2026 pilgrims!