The Street: When you think of the "happiest place on earth," The Disney Company hopes you think of its theme parks. 

And since the vast majority of Americans have visited a Disney theme park at least once in their lives, there's a good chance you actually do have happy memories of your own.

Whether it's screaming with joy — or is it terror? — on Space Mountain and Tron Lightcycle rollercoasters, watching a live show like Beauty and the Beast or viewing the nightly parade, Disney is synonymous with family fun.

Over the last 70 years (that's when the first theme park opened in California), the company has managed to create immersive experiences that combine fun and escapism with a huge dose of magic. It's safe to say no other company has managed to come even close in packaging nostalgia in quite the same way.

There are also few other companies that can make headlines in the same way. Most recently, Disney has been criticized for two things: raising prices on park tickets and food, and decisions regarding its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies both at a corporate level and in its entertainment. Basically, the company has been denounced for being woke.

Believe it or not, the term "woke" has been around in America for almost 100 years. It was introduced by African Americans in the 1940s to “literally mean becoming woken up or sensitised to issues of justice," linguist and lexicographer Tony Thorne told The Independent.

More recently, the term has been adopted by conservative politicians who use it as an umbrella term to criticize policies related to race, gender, and LGBTQ issues. 

Disney is often mentioned as an example of a woke company but others include Starbucks, Target, Bank of America, Nike, Apple, and Netflix, although some of these have recently backed away from some of their stated DEI policies.