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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Ollie Johnston in his home workshop in 1989.

Credit: Janke

Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

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

Selected biography

Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Duff appeared in local theatre plays and television commercials before coming to prominence in the title role of the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. Established as a teen idol, Duff reprised that role in the The Lizzie McGuire Movie and subsequently ventured into motion pictures, appearing in a string of successful films that include Agent Cody Banks, Cheaper by the Dozen, A Cinderella Story and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Most recently, she has performed in a legion of television dramas and independent films. Duff expanded her repertoire to include pop music and has released three RIAA-certified platinum albums including Metamorphosis (2002), her debut studio album which was certified triple platinum, Hilary Duff (2004) and Most Wanted (2005), which were both certified platinum. Her most recent studio album Dignity (2007) was certified gold and spawned her highest charting US single to date "With Love". Followed by Best of Hilary Duff (2008), a compilation of her greatest hits, Duff has since sold thirteen million records worldwide. Branching into the fashion industry, Duff has launched her own clothing lines Stuff by Hilary Duff and Femme for DKNY Jeans in addition to being signed with IMG Models and releasing two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden. Her other business ventures include writing a series of young adult novel, including Elixir (2010) and Devoted (2011), while working as an executive producer for According to Greta and as a producer for Material Girls and Beauty & the Briefcase.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that vaccine coverage at schools around the Disneyland Resort was too low for herd immunity when measles broke out in 2014?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that Disney once created a political advertisement for Dwight D. Eisenhower (featured)?
... that before Foster City was built on Brewer Island, unsuccessful proposals included a hog farm, two military air bases, two civilian airports, and an entertainment complex larger than Disneyland?
... that the ferry General Joe Potter at Walt Disney World is named in honor of Major General William Everett Potter?
... that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging that the release strategy for Black Widow breached her contract?

Selected quote

Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America; with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.

— Walt Disney, 1955

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More Did you know...

...that the Phineas and Ferb episode "Are You My Mummy?" originally aired as part of "Phineas and Ferb-urary," a special event which showed episodes of the series every night in February 2008 on Disney Channel?

...that the Phineas and Ferb season two premiere was the most watched cable telecast on Friday, March 13, 2009?

...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 Donald và bạn hữu (Vietnamese for "Donald and friends") is a bilingual weekly Disney comics magazine in Vietnamese and English published by Tre Publishing House in co-operation with The Saigon Times under license from the Walt Disney Company.
...that Walt Disney was an ambulance driver during World War One?

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