Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor, and film producer. Walt Disney and his wife Lillian Bounds lived at The Carolwood Estate, formerly known as Disney Estate. It is located very close to Michael Jackson‘s home where he passed away and the Playboy Mansion.
Walt Disney moved his family to the property with the dream of building a miniature railroad for his kids. He built a one-eighth-scale steam railroad, inspired by the ones his company’s animators (Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston) had implemented on their own properties. He erected a standalone barn housing a control room and carved out a half-mile worth of track including overpasses, a 46-foot-long s-shaped subterranean tunnel, hidden underneath his wife’s flower beds. The train would famously come to be known as the Carolwood Pacific Railroad and it would serve as part of the inspiration to create Disneyland, the first of his eponymous Disney theme parks.
In 1998 Walt Disney’s trust sold the property to investor and pro soccer team owner Gabriel Brener who tore the house down to build his own “two-level limestone mansion” which he and his family used as their main residence. In 2014 the property known as The Carolwood Estate was sold again for $74 million.
To tour celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and the surrounding areas, book one of the Starline Tours of Hollywood or purchase a StarMap Movie Star Homes Map & City Guide for a self-guided tour of Los Angeles.
