Rev. Samuel Robles Jr.

Everyone who knows me knows that I love Disney. Not only did I work for Walt Disney World for over 7 years, I am also a Disney fan. Perhaps this is largely due to me being a "kid at heart," but I am also captured by the power of imagination, attention to details, and fun!

For over 12 years I have been searching for information, if it existed, about Walt Disney (the person) and whether or not he was a Christian. I wondered if there were any correlations between the two because Disney theme parks, and even popular Disney movies, bring so much joy, happiness, and hope to so many people. Walt was a visionary and a dreamer.

In September of 2003, I got my first lead! Hilda and I were fortunate enough to get a tour of Walt Disney's apartment inside Disneyland in California. This rarely happens. I took the opportunity to ask if Walt Disney had a faith life. I figured that since no one else I asked knew, this person who was showing us his apartment and who knew everything about him would certainly know. Our guide shared that all that they knew was that Walt invited religious leaders to pray for Disneyland the day that it opened in 1955. While this was certainly reveling and satisfactory information, and I was obviously in awe that this happened, it left me with more questions as to Walt's spiritual life, if he had one.

Well, just yesterday, for some reason that I cannot recall, I got curious, and "googled" a bit, and came across an article that made me feel as though I uncovered buried treasure. It is an article entitled, "Walt Disney on Faith, Church, Bible Study, Prayer & God." Walt wrote this article in 1963 for a book entitled "Faith is a star" by Roland Gammon.

What made this "discovery" extremely cool is that at the bottom of this article there is a reference to Walt inviting religious leaders to pray at the opening of Disneyland, just as I had learned a few years ago.

Well, with that said, click here to read the article. Enjoy!