Yesterday at the 2023 Disney Destinations EarMarked Program Owners Summit at
@WaltDisneyWorld, Kevin M. Kern from the Walt Disney Archives joined Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, on stage to showcase a special artifact that symbolizes the importance and legacy of connections at The Walt Disney Company.
Kevin presented a reproduction of
@Disneyland Park Employee Badge No. 1, issued to Walt Disney in 1955. Back then, the badges, worn by Park hosts and hostesses (as Cast Members were called then), were made of bronze-like brass and imprinted with an identification number instead of a name. In 1959, a lighter-weight aluminum badge was introduced, still imprinted with numbers, and in 1962, the badges became true name tags, featuring each Cast Member’s first name.
Walt Disney’s original badge (second image) is one of hundreds of historic objects now on tour with Disney100: The Exhibition, which will open at the Exhibition Hub Art Center in Chicago–Walt’s birthplace–on November 18, 2023. We’ll see you there!
#boundlessmagic #disney100exhibit #disneycastlife #disneyhistory #waltdisneyarchives