Portal:Disney

Introduction

The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California, with Disney’s New York operations, including ABC, are headquartered at 7 Hudson Square. Founded on October 16, 1923, as an animation studio by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Disney operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.

After becoming a success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation from 1989 to 1999. In 2005, under the new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.

Disney operates the largest television and film studio in Hollywood. Walt Disney Studios includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, and Searchlight Pictures. Disney's other main business units include divisions operating the ABC television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, and Hotstar; and Disney Experiences, which includes several theme parks, resort hotels, and cruise lines around the world. (Full article...)

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The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United States. Its route is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) long and encircles the majority of the park, with train stations in four different park areas. The rail line, which was constructed by WED Enterprises, operates with two steam locomotives built by WED and three historic steam locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The ride takes roughly 18 minutes to complete a round trip on its main line when three trains are running, and 20 minutes when four trains are running. Two to four trains can be in operation at any time, three on average.

The attraction was conceived by Walt Disney, who drew inspiration from the ridable miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad built in his backyard. The Disneyland Railroad opened to the public at Disneyland's grand opening on July 17, 1955. Since that time, multiple alterations have been made to its route, including the addition of two large dioramas in the late 1950s and mid-1960s. Several changes have been made to its rolling stock, including the conversion of one of its train cars into a parlor car in the mid-1970s, and the switch from diesel oil to biodiesel to fuel its locomotives in the late 2000s.

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Credit: J-E Nyström

Carl Barks visiting Finland in June, 1994.

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These are images of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, The Walt Disney Company, and Walt Disney in their respective articles.

Image 1An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)
Image 2Adventureland entrance
(from Disneyland)
Image 3Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 4Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)
Image 5Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 6Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 7Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 8Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 9Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 10Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 11Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 12Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of the Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 13Disney Magic at Port of Venice (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 14Disney in 1954 with Wernher von Braun (from Walt Disney)
Image 15Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run) (from Disneyland)
Image 16Walt Disney (left) with his brother Roy O. Disney (right) and then Governor of Florida W. Haydon Burns (center) on November 15, 1965, publicly announcing the creation of Disney World (from Walt Disney World)
Image 17Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 18Disney with film roll and Mickey Mouse on his right arm in 1935 (from Walt Disney)
Image 19The original animation building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 20Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 21Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 22Disney receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson. (from Walt Disney)
Image 23Bayou Country
(Tiana's Bayou Adventure) (from Disneyland)
Image 24Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 25Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland in 2008. (from Disneyland)
Image 26The Sherman Brothers in 2002. They composed many Disney songs in the 1960s. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 27View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 28Disney (left) with his brother Roy O. Disney (right) and then Governor of Florida W. Haydon Burns (center) on November 15, 1965, publicly announcing the creation of Disney World (from Walt Disney)
Image 29Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 30Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 31Main Street, USA
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 32Disney's childhood home (from Walt Disney)
Image 33Disney security vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 34Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 35Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 36The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 37Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 38The original logo of Walt Disney World from 1971 to the mid-1990s. This logo is still used on retro merchandise. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 39A Disney Cruise Line bus which takes guests to and from Terminal 8 from Orlando International Airport; as well as around Walt Disney World. (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 40Overlay of Walt Disney's original 1966 plans for Disney World and the proposed EPCOT city (orange) and contemporary situation (blue) (from Walt Disney World)
Image 41Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 42A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 43Disney's video streaming subscription service Disney+ was launched in 2019, which has a total of over 135 million subscriptions as of June 2022. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 44An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 45Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 46Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) (from Disneyland)
Image 47Mickey's Toontown
(Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway) (from Disneyland)
Image 48The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 49Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 50The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo (from Walt Disney World)
Image 51Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 52Walt (right) dressed as a gaucho next to Donald Duck in Argentina while on the company's South American goodwill trip in 1941. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 53Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 54Characters from Alice in Wonderland host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist in 2005. (from Disneyland)
Image 55Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building, the main building at the Walt Disney Studios, which houses the offices of Disney's CEO and several other senior corporate officials. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 56One of Disney's first animated characters Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Disney regained the rights to in 2006. The initial run of Oswald shorts by Disney has entered the public domain as of January 1, 2024. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 57One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)
Image 58New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion) (from Disneyland)
Image 59Hollywood Studios' Park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 60The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 61Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)

Selected biography

Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks (/ˈʌb ˈaɪwɜːrks/), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious relationship with his father, who abandoned him as a child. Iwerks met fellow artist Walt Disney while working at a Kansas City art studio in 1919. After briefly working as illustrators for a local newspaper company, Disney and Iwerks ventured into animation together. Iwerks joined Disney as chief animator on the Laugh-O-Gram shorts series beginning in 1922, but a studio bankruptcy would cause Disney to relocate to Los Angeles in 1923. In the new studio, Iwerks continued to work with Disney on the Alice Comedies as well as the creation of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character. Following the first Oswald short, both Universal Pictures and the Winkler Pictures production company insisted that the Oswald character be redesigned. At the insistence of Disney, Iwerks designed a number of new characters for the studio, including designs that would be used for Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.

One of Iwerks' most long-lasting contributions to animation was a refined version of a sketch drawn by Disney that would later go on to become Mickey Mouse. Iwerks went on to do much of the animation for the early Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies cartoons, including Steamboat Willie, The Skeleton Dance and The Haunted House, before a fallout with Disney led to Iwerks' resignation from the studio in January 1930. Iwerks' final Mickey Mouse cartoon would be 1930's The Cactus Kid. Following his separation with Disney, Iwerks, operating under Iwerks Studio, would go on to create the characters Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper along with the ComiColor Cartoons series as part of a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but the new studio failed to rival its competitors. Iwerks would go on to direct two Looney Tunes cartoon shorts for Leon Schlesinger Productions and several Color Rhapsody cartoons for Screen Gems before joining Disney again in 1940, after which he worked with special visual effects on productions such as 1946's Song of the South.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that cyclist Mike Allen compared participating in the Olympics to Disneyland?
... that a reviewer for Rolling Stone said that a 2024 concert tour by Weezer resembled a cross between an Iron Maiden concert and the Disneyland attraction Star Tours?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that the Miller House in Indiana opened to the public in 2011, drawing high visitor numbers that were likened to the opening of a new Disney ride?
... that the art of Villains Are Destined to Die was said to be "almost in-between the Disney happy-ending fairy tales and the original Grimm's stories"?
... that the horses pulling the Disneyland Main Street Vehicles' streetcars include Belgians, Brabants, Clydesdales, Percherons, and Shires?

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Once upon a time, in a cabin in the snow, two cousins who didn't trust each other were trying to steal the bag of money sitting on the floor in front of me. So neither one of them went to sleep because neither one of them could be trusted. The end!

— Mickey Mouse

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More Did you know...

...that for scenes in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Jerk De Soleil" where the character Candace had a deep voice, co-creator Dan Povenmire had to step in for the normal voice actress?

...that child actor Joey Pollari was 15 years old when he appeared in the Disney XD film, Skyrunners?

...that Walt Disney had long wanted to make a film based on the Uncle Remus storybook, but it wasn't until the mid-1940s that he had found a way to give the stories an adequate film equivalent, in scope and fidelity.
...that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest set several records in its first three days, with an opening weekend of $136 million.
...that Walt Disney was an ambulance driver during World War One?

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