Portal:Disney

Introduction

The Walt Disney Company (TWDC), commonly and globally known as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. 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. Josh D'Amaro became CEO of Disney in 2026.

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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WandaVision is an American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. It is the first television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise, and is set after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019). It follows Wanda Maximoff and Vision as they live an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey, until their reality starts moving through different decades of sitcom homages and television tropes. Schaeffer served as head writer for the series, which was directed by Matt Shakman.

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their respective roles as Maximoff and Vision from the film series, with Debra Jo Rupp, Fred Melamed, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, and Evan Peters also starring. By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a number of limited series for Disney+ centered on supporting characters from the MCU films such as Maximoff and Vision, with Olsen and Bettany returning. Schaeffer was hired in January 2019, with the series officially announced that April, and Shakman joining in August. The production used era-appropriate sets, costumes, and effects to recreate the different sitcom styles that the series pays homage to. Filming began in Atlanta, Georgia, in November 2019, before production halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in Los Angeles in September 2020 and wrapped that November.

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Credit: Coolcaesar

A headquarters of Disney Channel in Burbank, California.

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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 1Bayou Country
(Tiana's Bayou Adventure) (from Disneyland)
Image 2Mickey's Toontown
(Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway) (from Disneyland)
Image 3Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 4Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 5Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 6The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo (from Walt Disney World)
Image 7Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of the Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 8Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) (from Disneyland)
Image 9One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)
Image 10One 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 entered the public domain in 2024. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 11The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 12Hollywood Studios' Park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 13The Sherman Brothers in 2002. They composed many Disney songs in the 1960s. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 14Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 15Adventureland entrance
(from Disneyland)
Image 16Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 17Disney in 1954 with Wernher von Braun (from Walt Disney)
Image 18Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain) (from Disneyland)
Image 19New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion) (from Disneyland)
Image 20Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room was the first attraction to use Audio-Animatronics (from Disneyland)
Image 21An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 22Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 23Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland in 2008. (from Disneyland)
Image 24The original animation building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 25Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 26Disney's childhood home in Chicago (from Walt Disney)
Image 27Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 28Team 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 29Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)
Image 30Disney'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 31Overlay 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 32Disney with film roll and Mickey Mouse on his right arm in 1935 (from Walt Disney)
Image 33Disney Wish docked at the pier at Castaway Cay, August 2022 (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 34A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 35Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 36Disney (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 37Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 38Characters from Disney Animation's Alice in Wonderland host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist in 2005. (from Disneyland)
Image 39Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 40Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 41Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 42Walt (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 43Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 44The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 45Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 46Disney security vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 47The 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 48Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 49Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 50Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run) (from Disneyland)
Image 51View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 52Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 53Disney Magic, the first vessel in the fleet, sailing along Tallinn Bay in 2017 (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 54Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 55Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 56The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 57Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island (from Disneyland)
Image 58alt=The Disney Treasure at Grand Cayman (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 59Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 60Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 61The park's "FriendShip" water taxis can be found providing transportation between Disney's Hollywood Studios (pictured), EPCOT, and the EPCOT resort area. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 62The window of Walt Disney's personal apartment, located on the second-story of the firehouse building (from Disneyland)
Image 63An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)
Image 64Main Street, USA
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 65Disney receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson. (from Walt Disney)

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 Disney+ released a promotional poster for the Doctor Who Christmas special "Joy to the World" with the title spelled incorrectly?
... that the horses pulling the Disneyland Main Street Vehicles' streetcars include Belgians, Brabants, Clydesdales, Percherons, and Shires?
... that Nine Inch Nails wrote the soundtrack to a Walt Disney World 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 pirate anime streaming site HiAnime had more visitors than legal competitors like Crunchyroll or Disney+?
... that a popular song has been used by Apple, the White House, an MLB stadium, and a Disney film?

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

...that Disneyland has only ever had three unscheduled closures: In 1963 due to President Kennedy's Assassination; In August 1970 due to an invasion by Yippies and September 11, 2001.
...that in May 1992, entertainment magazine The Hollywood Reporter reported that about 25% of Euro Disney's workforce — approximately 3,000 men and women — had resigned their jobs because of unacceptable working conditions.
... 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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