Give answer of the Following questions with detail explanation

1. What did Bob Iger do to rejuvenate Disney? Consider the impact that he has had in terms of the company's business strategy , innovation strategy and corporate strategy
2. Evaluate Walt Disney's Corporate Strategy in terms of the three dimensions

The related Information are below.

A series of shorts starring "Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit" became Disney Brothers' first major hit, but Walt was outmaneuvered by his distributor, who hired away most of Disney's animators. Desperate to create a new character, after discovering that the distributor owned the copyright to Oswald, Walt made some changes to the rabbit's appearance and created Mickey Mouse on a train trip from New York. Failing to find a distributor for this character, Walt added synchronized sound - something that had never been attempted in a cartoon. His gamble paid off handsomely with the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928, and, overnight, Mickey Mouse became an international sensation, known by different names, such as "Topolino" (Italy) and "Musse Pigg" (Sweden), around the world. Despite successfully introducing new characters such as Goofy and Donald Duck, Walt realized that cartoon shorts could not sustain the studio indefinitely. In 1937, Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length, full-color animated feature.' In a move that would later become standard Disney practice, Snow White products were stocked on the shelves of Sears and Woolworth's the day of release. With the success of Snow White, the company scaled up, building a new studio in Burbank and going public in 1940 to finance the expansion and the making of Fantasia. Snow White was rereleased for the first time in 1944, setting the precedent for the reissue of cartoon classics to new generations of children as an important source of profits. After World War II, Disney diversified into live-action movies, music, and TV specials; during the 1950s, One Hour in Wonderland reached 20 million viewers when there were only 10.5 million TV sets in the U.S. This was followed by regular television shows, such as the Mickey Mouse Club, featuring preteen "Mouseketeers" as hosts. In 1953, Disney created Buena Vista Distribution, ending an agreement with RKO, in order to save distribution fees of one-third of a film's gross revenues. By 1965, Disney was averaging three films per year, mostly live-action titles, such as Swiss Family Robinson and Mary Poppins, but including a few animated films like 101 Dalmatians. Disney avoided paying exorbitant salaries by developing the studio's own pool of talent. Observed one writer: "Disney himself became the box office attraction -as a producer of a predictable family style and the father of a family of lovable animals." Disney also expanded by creating Disneyland, a giant outdoor entertainment park in Anaheim, California. The park was a huge risk for the company, as Disney took out millions of dollars in loans. But the bet paid off. The success of Disneyland, which opened in 1955, was a product of both technically advanced attractions and Walt's commitment to excellence in all facets of park operation. His goal had been to build a park for the entire family, since he believed that traditional parks were "neither amusing nor clean, and offered nothing for Daddy."9 Disneyland's success finally put the company on solid financial footing, " and although Walt dreamed of building another theme park- in 1965, he secretly purchased over 27,000 acres of land near Orlando, Florida, on which he planned to build Walt Disney World - he was never able to see his dream come to fruition; he died just before Christmas 1966."1 Walt Disney was a strong believer in the importance of family life, and the company always looked to foster experiences that families could enjoy together. As he said, "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." The huge number of "firsts" that the company could claim was a tribute to the success of this philosophy, but Disney recognized that they were not without risk: "We cannot hit a home run with the bases loaded every time we go to the plate. We also know the only way we can ever get to first base is by constantly going to bat and continuing to swing."Walt Disney attempted to retain control over the complete entertainment experience. Cartoon characters could be perfectly controlled to avoid any negative imagery. Disneyland had been constructed so that once inside, visitors could never see anything but Disneyland. According to Walt, "The one thing I learned from Disneyland [is] to control the environment. Without that we get blamed for things that someone else does. I feel a responsibility to the public that we must control this so-called world and take blame for what goes on." 12 The Disney brothers ran their company as a nonhierarchical organization in which everyone, including Walt, used their first names and no one had titles. "You don't have to have a title," said Walt. "If you're important to the company, you'll know it." Although a taskmaster driven to achieve creativity and quality, Walt emphasized teamwork, communication, and cooperation. The realization of Walt Disney World consumed Roy O. Disney, who succeeded his brother as chairman and lived to open the park in 1971. It almost instantly became the top-grossing theme park in the world, with its two on-site resort hotels being the first hotels operated by Disney. To generate traffic in the park, Disney opened an in-house travel company to work with travel agencies, airlines, and tours. Disney also started bringing live shows, such as "Disney on Parade" and "Disney on Ice," to major cities all over the world. The next major expansion was Tokyo Disneyland, announced in 1976. Although wholly owned by its Japanese partner, it was designed to look just like the U.S. parks. However, film output during these years declined substantially. Creativity in the film division seemed stifled, and rather than push new ideas, managers were heard asking "What would Walt have done?" Michael Eisner, 1984-2004 In 1984, Michael Eisner took over a Walt Disney Company that had fallen into a lull, eerily similar to the one Bob Iger faced in 2005. The company's financial performance had recently deteriorated as Disney incurred heavy costs to finish EPCOT and started its first cable channel, the Disney Channel. Film performance remained erratic and production of animated cartoons languished, with a reliance on sequels and the release of only one new full-length feature about every four years. Disney had no shows under its own name on network TV. Corporate raider Saul Steinberg even launched a takeover bid in 1984,14 as Walt's nephew, Roy E. Disney, left the board, upset at the company's direction. Into this breach came Michael Eisner as CEO, with the support of investors, including Roy E. Disney, who returned to the board. Eisner had been head of programming at ABC before becoming CEO of Paramount and was noted for being the producer of Happy Days. He brought with him a lawyer and ex-head of Warner Bros., Frank Wells, as President and Jeffrey Katzenberg to lead the movie studio. Together, the three rejuvenated Disney, delivering the 11th highest total return to shareholders of the Fortune 500 over the next 10 years (Exhibits 3a and 3b). Initial moves that quintupled net income in three years included raising prices in the theme parks at rates well above inflation, as market research revealed that attendees believed they got good value for money from a day in the park; opening the parks seven days a week by moving maintenance, which had previously been performed when the park was closed on Mondays, to the nighttime; cutting the re-release cycle for classic Disney animated movies from every seven to every five years; extending the licensing of Disney brands to more categories; and committing whatever it took to produce a block- buster animated cartoon for release over the summer every year. Eisner supported Imagineering (theAs Disney Studios released a series of successful animated cartoons, beginning with Roger Rabbit, and continuing with such classics as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991, the first animated cartoon ever to be nominated for an Oscar as best picture), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994, which generated over $1 billion in operating income over the years), Eisner expanded the scope of the company. Euro Disney opened outside Paris in 1992 with support from the French government, enabling Disney to earn 10% of revenues and a 50% share of the profits, having invested $200 million of the park's $4.4 billion cost. Annual throughput of live-action movies increased to more than 14 in order to reach scale in distribution, including from its newly formed adult studios Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures, as well as from the acquisition of the independent art movie company Miramax. Disney reappeared on national television with the Sunday evening Wonderful World of Disney show and Disney cartoons on Saturday mornings. It founded the Anaheim Mighty Ducks ice hockey team, named after the Disney movie, Mighty Ducks, reflecting Eisner's love of the sport. Output of syndicated television shows increased, and the company embraced new ideas, like waterparks and nightlife at Disney World, and opened a chain of Disney retail stores after 1987. The major move Eisner made in 1995 came a year after Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter crash and Jeffrey Katzenberg had left to found his own studio, Dreamworks, with Stephen Spielberg. In a $19 billion deal, financed with $14 billion of debt, Disney acquired CapitalCitiesABC-the first major acquisition Disney had ever made. Assets included the ABC television network-then the third-ranked national network- television and radio stations, and the nascent ESPN cable sports channel (which was reputedly valued at less than ABC during the acquisition process). While Eisner had previously preached that content was king and that distribution and content did not belong in the same company, the merger made Disney "the world's most powerful media and entertainment company." 15 Hiring Michael Ovitz from Creative Artists Agency to be President in late 1995 turned out to be a mistake; Ovitz was fired in 1997 after failing to find a clearly defined role. Disney continued to expand, planning Hong Kong Disney; embracing technology by introducing DVD versions of its movies; buying New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway to host Disney shows, starting in 1997 with a successful theatrical version of The Lion King; investing in two cruise ships at a cost of $1 billion each to bring in- house the previously licensed Disney Cruises; and buying a cable network in 2001 and renaming it ABC Family to extend the array of cable channels offered to an older audience. Yet Eisner and the strategic planning group began to exercise more control over business units. Deals such as the price paid to sports leagues for broadcast rights or programming choices at ABC gradually came more under Eisner's remit, while he became "famous for managing every aspect of Disney' business from approving carpet patterns in hotels to commenting on TV and movie scripts." 16 In the new century, performance of Disney cartoons at the box office deteriorated, with summer releases such as Dinosaur (2000) and Lilo and Stitch (2003) failing to find big audiences. Only Pixar hits, Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), and Finding Nemo (2003), distributed by Disney through a contractual arrangement that generated over half of Disney Studios income, produced good results. Although Eisner remained skeptical of technologies that posed a threat to traditional distribution channels, attempts to capitalize on the emergence of new technologies like video games, personal computers, and the internet led to the creation of a discrete unit, Disney Interactive, in 1994 and an online unit in 1995. This launched Go.com as a destination media portal in 1999, but it was shut down in 2001, with $900 million in write-offs, including for the purchase of search engine Infoseek. 17After Woody and Nemo joined the Disney stable in the Pixar acquisition, Captain America and Thor joined the ranks in 2009 when Disney acquired the comic book and action hero company Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Iger stated that the acquisition was "perfect from a strategic perspective," noting that Disney could sell Marvel's characters across media and consumer product platforms and in additional markets. 2 Although it was not the primary motive, the Marvel acquisition was also attractive because it gave Disney exposure to content for teenage boys, a demographic Disney was eager to develop further. Disney had long had success with marketing blockbuster Princess merchandise that appealed to young girls, but franchises for boys were more challenging to find. 29 In October 2012, Disney announced it would acquire Lucasfilm, the maker of Star Wars, for $4 billion. The deal continued Disney's strategy of purchasing companies that had franchise-worthy characters that could drive revenues for Disney in many different areas. Star Wars, for example, was expected to generate $5 billion in retail revenue from consumer products during the first year, and Disney announced in 2016 that it would build a new land in its theme parks featuring the characters and locations." George Lucas was impressed with how Disney had handled past acquisitions, notably letting Pixar maintain its culture and significant control over filmmaking.31 All Disney's acquisitions were carefully planned; the company had a list of enterprises to buy, and while the timing of the deals was opportunistic, the company was mindful of which brands would fit. Although most purchases were U.S.-based, Disney was open to cross-cultural franchises, either purchasing a foreign brand or developing new products, such as cylindrical plush toys known as Tsum Tsum, in other areas of the world and bringing them back to the U.S.32 Franchises could also be found anywhere within the Disney businesses, not just animated cartoons (Exhibit 7). The classic Disneyland ride "Pirates of the Caribbean" had been turned into a hit movie series. High School Musical, developed as an original movie for the Disney Channel, was turned into four movies, spinoff shows, musical shows that toured as well as being featured in theme parks, records, books, and video games, and also launched the careers of its stars, who then were featured in other Disney shows. Miley Cyrus, of Hannah Montana fame-a Disney Channel show - became a hugely successful pop artist. There were no individual managers for specific franchises; rather, a franchise management committee coordinated by Kevin Mayer, consisting of 20 executives, was responsible for analyzing franchises, identifying future collaborative opportunities, and deciding which franchises should receive priority for investment," while occasionally demoting fallen stars. * Ideas primarily originated with the business unit heads who were part of the committee, and were discussed in the weekly Monday lunchtime meeting with Iger. Anyone could suggest how they wanted to use a franchise in their business -for example, the Theatrical Group proposed that the next Broadway show be based on Aladdin - or which franchise needed investment, perhaps with a straight-to-DVD spinoff of Winnie the Pooh. Disney's collegial culture encouraged friendly debate, but once a decision was made, all business units rallied behind and focused on how to support the company in promoting a selected franchise. 35 A synergy committee, chaired by Iger's chief of staff, also coordinated high-profile Disney events, such as the launch of Shanghai Disney Resort or the release of Star Wars, and facilitated cross-Consumer Products Consumer Products had historically been organized around categories; Disney had rug experts, shoe experts, umbrella experts, etc., who looked over the shoulder of licensees and oversaw development of the products to meet Disney standardsa contract for a single plush toy might reach 100 pagesworking with its licensees on how, for example, Hallmark should use Disney characters on greeting cards or Hasbro should design its toys. In 2011, when Chapek became Head of Consumer Products, he decided to reorganize the division around franchises and created a Primess line, a Toy Story line, a Cars line, etc., managed by different teams [Exhibit 9). Chapel: acknowledged, "Itwe don't trust our dlosen partners to be making their products, they shouldn't be our licensee."7 In order to avoid repetitive conversations, Hasbro, which created Star Wars, Princess, and Marvel products, worked with a Consumer Products ambassador who coordinated the franchise teams. Disney also shifted from a passive to an active licensing strategy, where the company managed the brand relationship all the way to the end consumer. In the past, Hasbro, for example, developed ad campaigns with little input from Disney. However, Disney recognized it needed to scrutinize the campaigns because they inuenced how the company was represented to consumers. This philosophy allowed Disney to reallocate its staff, diverting them more toward the end consumer. Licensees loved the switch Disney was no longer looking over their shoulder at their product but was focusing on brand management."8 As Chapek noted, "[Vlf]hen you have it," licensees who then talk to hundreds of thousands of retailers, your interests get diluted by the time you get to the guests," and the only reason people purchased the products was for the Disney brand." Time Perks Disney used framhise-s to make large investments in new lands (Exhibit 10). There were versions of Toy Story lands at Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney World. and Shanghai Disneyland. In 2012, Cars Land opened as part of a 12-acre, $1.1 billion expansion project of Disney California Adventure. In 2016, Disney began construction of two 14-acre Star Wars lands, at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Each of these themed lands brought the franchises to life, immersing guests in the movie by featuring related characters, attractions, shops, and restaurants. Disney also invested in new technology, spending $1 billion to develop MagicBands and upgrades at its resorts. The wristbands, released in 2013 at the Orlando resort, allowed guests to easily make reservations for rides and meals, enter theme parks, unlock hotel doors, and pay for food and merchandise. As ofjanuary 2016, over 13 million guests had used them. By 2016, Disney owned and operated 13 resort hotels at Walt Disney World, and leased 9 independently operated hotels. There were approximately 31,00] guest rooms in its themed hotels in the (.15., and the company reached an occupancy rate of 92%, despite charging a signicant premium compared to nonatliated hotels in the area ("Exhibit 11]?" Technology When Iger took over in 2005, he deliberately decided not to have a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He himself became increasingly involved in technology-related decisions and appointed CTOs for each of the individual business units, allowing them to experiment and discover their ideal strategy. 52 As he stated, "We had been viewing changes in technology as more threat than opportunity. I reversed that, because I believed that the company should look at technology as a friend. It has been part of the company originally: Walt Disney was a big believer in technology." $3 Disney was relatively platform agnostic, believing that Darwinian evolution would sort out winners, and was open to selling its content to whichever distribution channel was willing to pay, even if it went outside Disney. Despite partially owning Hulu, the popular series How to Get Away With Murder, for example, went to Netflix since it offered a higher price than Hulu. Disney did not necessarily view online channels, such as Netflix, as competition, seeing it as a "complement to traditional television." Indeed, Disney took advantage of Netflix's growth, selling it television shows, and movies beginning in 2016, and even agreeing a deal to create original Marvel content for Netflix. Upheaval in the Pay TV Industry In 2015, nearly half of Disney's revenue came from Disney media networks, while nearly one- quarter of its operating income (estimated at $3.3 billion) came from ESPN alone. However, industry analysts were concerned about this revenue stream as pay TV penetration in the U.S. declined to 83% in 2015-down from a high of 87% in 20105- under pressure from new distribution models. They emphasized the threat of cord-cutting, where subscribers canceled their cable or satellite subscriptions to access content via the internet, and/ or video on demand from services such as Netflix. In addition, although cable subscriptions provided access to a wealth of channels, many users felt they were overpaying since they watched only a small subset of those channels. As an observer noted, "Disney, Viacom and NBC were able to persuade distributors to carry less-popular channels along with their strong networks."Several cable networks began "unbundling," offering their content in "skinny" bundles or a la carte at a cheaper rate than the traditional bundled rate. As the viewing habits of consumers changed, Disney evolved as well. In 2009, Disney joined Fox and NBC as a joint venture partner in Hulu, an ad-supported site that offered television shows free to internet users. Although Hulu proved to be quite successful, by 2012, the industry was shifting toward a model that restricted access to shows, preferring to keep users paying for cable services by tying online viewing to cable subscriptions. Disney signed a 10-year distribution agreement renewing the right for the cable company Comcast to carry Disney-owned TV stations, such as ABC and ESPN, and expanding the selection of Disney-owned videos offered to Comcast subscribers. Disney emphasized that it had the channels people wanted and sought to create a better pay TV product - with a simpler user interface, an optimized bundle, a good price point, and high-quality brands. Nevertheless, in late summer 2015, Disney's stock price fell as it disclosed a drop in subscriber numbers and lowered projections for ESPN. The loss of 3.2 million subscribers, coupled with the rising prices ESPN paid for sports rights, worried investors (Exhibit 12), particularly since "skinny" bundles 10as the market collapsed when Facebook changed its notification and virality rules. Disney established itself on YouTube by acquiring Maker Studios, a multichannel YouTube network, for $675 million in 2014. On its 55,000 channels, Maker featured videos on topics such as video games, sports, and fashion, and generated about 10 billion views per month. Iger believed Maker Studios was an excellent distribution platform and thought it could help promote Disney brands to a mass audience." In addition to cross-promotion, Maker had the potential to provide Disney with new talent and negotiate better ad deals. 65 Disney also explored smart, connected toys, releasing Disney Infinity, its first toy-centric console game, in 2013, including versions based on Marvel Super Heroes and Star Wars. The starter kit came with two collectible toy figures which were placed on the Infinity Base to sync up with the video game and unlock characters within the game. In 2014, Disney Interactive, which combined online and video game divisions, but had lost more than $1.3 billion since 2008, laid off approximately 26% of its workforce and switched to licensing partnerships instead of developing games in-house." There had been expectations that it would develop new franchises, but it ultimately borrowed more intellectual property from Disney than it produced. In June 2015, Disney Interactive was merged into Consumer Products to reach profitability. Global For decades, Disney organized itself around its global lines of business, allowing individual territories limited influence. When Iger was named President of Walt Disney International in 1999, he tried an integrated management approach in Latin America that gave more authority to the territory while still requiring coordination with global heads. After becoming CEO, Iger rolled out the organizational change globally in 2009. Territory heads officially reported to Walt Disney International, but also reported to business unit heads in a matrix organization where everyone collaborated closely. 70 Disney focused on creating localized versions of Disney entertainment in new geographies, such as India, China, and Russia. Its methods included producing local, Disney-branded films; creating ABC programming suitable for both domestic and international distribution; and investing in local content companies around the world. International revenues reached 27% of the total by 2015, with those from outside Europe and North America increasing from 6% in 2005 to 11%." As examples, in 2006, Disney acquired the top Indian children's television channel and 50% of the local media company UTV, which owned one of the most successful movie studios in India, and then bought out shareholders of UTV in 2012 for $454 million. Similarly Disney announced plans to introduce the Disney Channel in Russia in 2011 and acquired a 49% stake in Russia's Seven TV for $300 million. Disney's previous efforts to establish a foothold in Russia had only been moderately successful due to bureaucratic challenges and restrictions on foreign media. The acquisition made Disney the second foreign channel to broadcast nationwide. The company planned to feature Disney classics, such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, in addition to local Russian programming."in 2012, seven years after its opening. Although initially scheduled to open in 2015, Disney delayed the opening of the Shanghai park for one year and spent an additional $800 million to expand the resort, investing a total of $5.5 billion." The theme park was built to be "authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese" and established Disney's presence in mainland China."To achieve this, Disney conducted detailed market research, which guided many decisions. In the Garden of Twelve Friends, Disney blended its storytelling with Chinese culture by associating Chinese zodiac symbols with Disney and Pixar characters. For example, Remy, from the Pixar film Ratatouille, was used to represent the Year of the Rat. The one-child policy in China, along with the tendency to vacation with extended family members, meant there could be as many as four adults per child in the parks. As a result, Disney included lots of seating, local restaurants, live entertainment, and viewing areas for adults. The Chinese also had a tendency to cut lines, using techniques such as "constant walking" moving forward acting oblivious to the line, or using their child to walk ahead and weave through the crowd. Disney took preventative measures and built enclosed single-file lines to minimize cutting." Parks were not the only focus of Disney in China; it also released Disney-branded, Chinese language films. China was predicted to become the world's largest movie market by 2017, but Chinese authorities limited foreign films, allowing only 34 per year. Indeed, in 2016, "with little warning or explanation, Chinese regulators shut down Apple's digital book service and Disney Life, a four month old subscription-based movie streaming service operated by Alibaba."77 Iger's Management Role Iger set the tone for Disney, creating a collegial, collaborative environment. He was extremely versatile, and given his 40 years of experience in the media business, there were plenty of areas in which he could give guidance. Iger met regularly with business unit heads-for example, with Sherwood to discuss the ABC network -always challenging them to be ambitious while ensuring that every action met Disney standards and fit with the strategy. Sherwood welcomed Iger's involvement but emphasized that Iger still gave business units plenty of room to make their own decisions. Iger stated, "I like being direct and I like people knowing what I'm thinking about where the company is going,"79 but he also trusted the people who worked below him, a "group of veteran executives,"80 and allowed them to make 90% of the decisions at the company. $1 While not considering himself an innovator in the class of Walt Disney or Steve Jobs, Iger was effective at "identifying, motivating, and supporting creative leaders," according to Professor Bill George from Harvard Business School. George also observed that "innovation leaders are at the core of every creative company" and "without their leadership, companies begin to manage for short-term earnings and eventually decline." $2 Iger's high expectations for others motivated them to achieve and seek opportunities to improve their businesses. Iger realized that the end of his tenure as CEO in 2018 was approaching quickly and reflected on the lessons he had learned. Although he had successfully rejuvenated Disney Animation, acquired several popular franchises with long-term growth potential, and expanded internationally, Iger knew his successor would face critical questions that were central to Disney's future success against media competitors (Exhibit 17). Could Disney rely on a never-ending series of action hero movie hits? Did it make sense for Disney to own ABC or ESPN? How would the new distribution models and the increasing number of cord-cutters affect Disney's ability to navigate the cable ecosystem? Overall, given its enormous success over the last 10 years, how could Disney maintain the level of profitable growth that investors had come to expect

A series of shorts starring "Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit" became Disney Brothers' first major hit, but Walt was outmaneuvered by his distributor, who hired away most of Disney's animators.3 Desperate to create a new character, after discovering that the distributor owned the copyright to Oswald, Walt made some changes to the rabbit's appearance and created Mickey Mouse on a train trip from New York. Failing to find a distributor for this character, Walt added synchronized sound-something that had never been attempted in a cartoon.4.5 His gamble paid off handsomely with the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928, and, overnight, Mickey Mouse became an international sensation, known by different names, such as "Topolino" (Italy) and "Musse Pigg" (Sweden), around the world. 6 Despite successfully introducing new characters such as Goofy and Donald Duck, Walt realized that cartoon shorts could not sustain the studio indefinitely. In 1937, Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length, full-color animated feature. In a move that would later become standard Disney practice, Snow White products were stocked on the shelves of Sears and Woolworth's the day of release. With the success of Snow White, the company scaled up, building a new studio in Burbank and going public in 1940 to finance the expansion and the making of Fantasia. Snow White was rereleased for the first time in 1944, setting the precedent for the reissue of cartoon classics to new generations of children as an important source of profits. After World War II, Disney diversified into live-action movies, music, and TV specials; during the 1950s, One Hour in Wonderland reached 20 million viewers when there were only 10.5 million TV sets in the U.S.8 This was followed by regular television shows, such as the Mickey Mouse Club, featuring preteen "Mouseketeers" as hosts. In 1953, Disney created Buena Vista Distribution, ending an agreement with RKO, in order to save distribution fees of one-third of a film's gross revenues. By 1965, Disney was averaging three films per year, mostly live-action titles, such as Swiss Family Robinson and Mary Poppins, but including a few animated films like 101 Dalmatians. Disney avoided paying exorbitant salaries by developing the studio's own pool of talent. Observed one writer: "Disney himself became the box office attraction-as a producer of a predictable family style and the father of a family of lovable animals." Disney also expanded by creating Disneyland, a giant outdoor entertainment park in Anaheim, California. The park was a huge risk for the company, as Disney took out millions of dollars in loans. But the bet paid off. The success of Disneyland, which opened in 1955, was a product of both technically advanced attractions and Walt's commitment to excellence in all facets of park operation. His goal had been to build a park for the entire family, since he believed that traditional parks were "neither amusing nor clean, and offered nothing for Daddy."9 Disneyland's success finally put the company on solid financial footing, 10 and although Walt dreamed of building another theme park-in 1965, he secretly purchased over 27,000 acres of land near Orlando, Florida, on which he planned to build Walt Disney World -he was never able to see his dream come to fruition; he died just before Christmas 1966.11 Walt Disney was a strong believer in the importance of family life, and the company always looked to foster experiences that families could enjoy together. As he said, "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." The huge number of "firsts" that the company could claim was a tribute to the success of this philosophy, but Disney recognized that they were not without risk: "We cannot hit a home run with the bases loaded every time we go to the plate. We also know the only way we can ever get to first base is by constantly going to bat and continuing to swing."