Portal:Disney

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Introduction

The Walt Disney Company is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to The Walt Disney Company 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 major 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 division, 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 in the 1990s. In 2005, under new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios. 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.

The company is known for its film studio division Walt Disney Studios, which 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 in television, broadcasting, streaming media, theme park resorts, consumer products, publishing, and international operations. Through these divisions, Disney owns and operates 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+, Star+, 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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Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears was an animated series set in medieval England relating the adventures of a community of humanoid bears who call themselves "the Gummies." (In their language, the word simply means "our people.") The bears live in the forest, where they have appointed themselves the secret defenders of the human kingdom of Dunwyn. The eccentric and intensely loyal Gummi Bears have a special power that helps them in dangerous situations. Many of their adventures involve two human friends, Calvin and Princess Calla, the only humans aware of the bears' existence. The show was created by The Walt Disney Company, and loosely inspired by the gummi bear candies; Disney CEO Michael Eisner was struck with inspiration for the show when his son requested the candies one day. The series premiered on NBC on September 14, 1985, and continued to air on ABC, running for 65 half-hour installments over six seasons, concluding on December 7, 1991, as part of the Disney Afternoon television syndication package.

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Credit: JeffChristiansen

Minnie Mouse in the Disney Dreams Come True parade at Magic Kingdom.

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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 1Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 2Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 3Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 4The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 5Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 6Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 7Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 8A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 9Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 10Disney security vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 11Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 12Mickey's Toontown
(pictured in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 13Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 14Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 15Disney in 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 16Adventureland entrance
(2006) (from Disneyland)
Image 17Walt 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 18Map of the resort as of May 2015 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 19One of Disney's first animated characters Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Disney lost the rights to until 2006. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 20Critter Country
(Splash Mountain; 1989–2023) (from Disneyland)
Image 21Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 22Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in 2008) (from Disneyland)
Image 23Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 24Overlay 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 25Disney Magic at Port of Venice (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 26Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 27Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 28Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland. (from Disneyland)
Image 29Disney'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 30Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 31The original animation building at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 32Team 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 33A Disney Cruise Line bus which takes guest to and from Terminal 8 from Orlando International Airport; as well as around Walt Disney World. (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 34One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)
Image 35Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)
Image 36The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 37Walt (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 38The original logo of Walt Disney World from 1971 to the mid-1990s (from Walt Disney World)
Image 39Alice and characters from her movie host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist. (from Disneyland)
Image 40Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 41Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 42The Sherman Brothers, who composed many of the Disney songs throughout the 1960s (pictured in 2002) (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 43Main Street, U.S.A.
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 44Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 45The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 46Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 47An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)
Image 48The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 49Hollywood Studios' park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 50Disney's childhood home (from Walt Disney)
Image 51New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion in the background and Fantasmic! viewing area in the foreground in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 52View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 53Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 54Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 55Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 56Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 57Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 58Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run in 2019) (from Disneyland)
Image 59An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)

Selected biography

Walter Elias Disney (/ˈdɪzni/; December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned and nominations by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Disney was the first person to be nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories, a record he shares with Alfonso Cuaron and George Clooney (although Kenneth Branagh later surpassed all three with nominations in seven categories).

Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy. With Ub Iwerks, he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950) and Mary Poppins (1964), the latter of which received five Academy Awards.

In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT). Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer in December 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that in response to Disney's stance on Florida's House Bill 1557, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, Pixar employees stated that Disney removes LGBT references from the studio's films?
... that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging that the release strategy for Black Widow breached her contract?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that before the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Manhattan opened, its workers were sent to Walt Disney World for training?
... that Encanto's Mirabel is the first Disney heroine to wear glasses?
... that a revival of the comedy series Lizzie McGuire was ordered in 2019, but canceled mid-production after Disney deemed it not family-friendly enough?

Selected quote

Mickey Mouse is the most famous mouse in the whole world and an icon for the whole family.

— VH1

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More Did you know...

...that producers hope to use Good Luck Charlie "to debunk the myth that Disney never has the mom in the picture"?

...that Tomorrow's Pioneers is a television program for children produced by Hamas?

...that the creator of Disney Series Doug and 101 Dalmatians, Jim Jinkins, has created an independent company, Cartoon Pizza.
... that Elsa the Snow Queen, a protagonist in Walt Disney's Frozen, was originally written as a villain?
... that Disney CEO Michael Eisner was struck with inspiration for the show, Adventures of the Gummi Bears when his son requested gummi bear candies one day.

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