By Melissa Gomez and Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writers

Today would have been Walt Disney's 116th birthday.

Even today, it's difficult to escape the draw of his movies, the lure of his theme parks and the morals laid into some of the films he helped produce.

So, in honor of what would have been his birthday, here are seven facts about him. Seven, because the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated movie he produced. Unless otherwise noted, the facts come from Richard Foglesong's book, Married to the Mouse.

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1. Disney won more Academy Awards than anyone. Even this long after his death in 1966, he holds the record for an individual honored with the most Oscars, at 26, according to the academy.

2. He selected the Florida site that is now Walt Disney World by flying over central Florida's swamplands in a small plane on an important date — Nov. 22, 1963 — the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy died. He found out about Kennedy's death when he landed.

3. A Florida reporter figured out Disney's secret about his plan to build Walt Disney World in central Florida, and she got him to all but admit what he was doing. Not even the governor knew Disney was moving into Florida. Disney and his brother later held a press conference to announce their purchase of 47 square miles of land.

4. Disney's dream for the Florida site was focused on building his Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, or EPCOT for short. He died before construction began, and his brother, Roy, insisted on building the theme park first. Disney's EPCOT never functioned as a real city the way he envisioned, but people still like it for the wine and "culture."

5. Disney tried to keep his Disney World plans quiet by hiring an attorney who had worked for a precursor to the CIA to create shell companies to buy land for his Florida site. Yeah, the man was that dedicated to his work. If you walk down Main Street USA in Walt Disney World today, you can see the names of those shell companies on the business fronts there.

6. His company, Walt Disney, was worth an estimated $178 billion as of May 2017, according to Forbes magazine. That puts the company at No. 7 on the list of the World's Most Valuable Brands.

7. The last movie Disney was involved directly in producing was The Happiest Millionaire, based on the true story of a Philadelphia millionaire. In the movie, the man has pet alligators roaming around his mansion. Disney died during production of the movie.

Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@tampabay.com. Follow @melissagomez004.