COUNTDOWN TO NOVEMBER 18TH

November 18th

Mickey and Minnie Mouse's official birthday — plus a new standard of time, a canal treaty and Latvia's independence.

--Days
--Hours
--Minutes
--Seconds

Next: Wednesday, November 18, 2026.

What Makes This Day Special

November 18th
Significance

🐭

Mickey and Minnie Mouse's Official Birthday

Disney celebrates November 18 as the birthday of both Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. The date is the premiere of Steamboat Willie at Universal's Colony Theater in New York on November 18, 1928. In the 1970s, Disney's first archivist, Dave Smith, settled on this premiere as Mickey's official birth date after checking correspondence, newspaper reviews and a Colony Theater program. Minnie appears in the film too, running to catch the boat, so she shares the birthday.

🎉

Mickey's 100th Birthday: November 18, 2028

Mickey Mouse turns 100 on November 18, 2028, a century after Steamboat Willie's premiere. Disney has long marked the date: the studio celebrated the 50th birthday in 1978 and the 90th in 2018. The original 1928 version of Steamboat Willie entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024, but later versions of Mickey and Disney's trademarks are still protected.

🎬

Steamboat Willie and Synchronized Sound

Steamboat Willie was not the first sound cartoon, but it was one of the first with fully synchronized sound, and the first Mickey cartoon to be distributed. Mickey and Minnie had already appeared earlier in 1928 in a test screening of the silent short Plane Crazy. Directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, the roughly eight-minute film used a click track to match music and action, and Walt Disney supplied Mickey's few sounds, mostly grunts, laughs and squeaks.

Historical Events

This Day
in History

1928

Steamboat Willie Premieres

Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie premiered at the Colony Theater in New York City. The title likely parodies Buster Keaton's film Steamboat Bill, Jr., released earlier that year. The soundtrack was recorded with the Cinephone system, and the cartoon's success helped make Mickey Mouse a star and secured the future of Disney's young studio.

1883

The "Day of Two Noons": Standard Time in North America

American and Canadian railroads switched from hundreds of local sun times to standard time zones on November 18, 1883. The plan was organized by railway official William F. Allen, and a telegraph time signal coordinated the change. Clocks in many cities were reset at noon, so some places experienced noon twice. The railroads adopted four zones; Sandford Fleming had earlier promoted the idea of worldwide standard time.

1903

Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty Signed

The United States and Panama signed a treaty giving the U.S. control of a 10-mile-wide Panama Canal Zone, just 15 days after Panama declared independence from Colombia with U.S. support. The U.S. paid $10 million plus an annual fee of $250,000. The canal opened in 1914, and the U.S. handed full control to Panama on December 31, 1999.

1918

Latvia Declares Independence

The People's Council of Latvia proclaimed the independent Republic of Latvia in Riga on November 18, 1918. Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and regained its independence in 1991. November 18 is Latvia's Proclamation Day, a public holiday.