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 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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Selected article

Phineas and Ferb (also known as Disney's Phineas and Ferb) is an American animated television series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows two suburban stepbrothers on summer vacation. Each day the pair devise ambitious, involved plans and inventions to stave off boredom, often bringing them into conflict with their snoopy sister, Candace. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur every episode, and the B-Plot almost always features the boys' pet platypus acting as a secret agent to fight an evil scientist named Heinz Doofenshmirtz. The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys' project just before Candace can show it to their mother.

Creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh worked together on the Nickelodeon series Rocko's Modern Life. Phineas and Ferb was conceived after Povenmire sketched a triangular boy — the blueprint for the titular Phineas — in a restaurant. Povenmire and Marsh developed the series concept together and pitched to networks for 16 years before securing a run on Disney Channel. The series is also known for its musical numbers, which have appeared in every episode since the first-season "Flop Starz". Disney's managers particularly enjoyed the episode's song, "Gitchee, Gitchee Goo", and requested that a song appear in each subsequent episode. The show's creators write and record each number, and vary musical tempo depending on each song's dramatic use. The music has gotten the series two Emmy nods for songwriting in 2008.

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Credit: Janke

Randy Cartwright at the Disney Studio in 1991.

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

Selected biography

John Alan Lasseter (born January 12, 1957) is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering. Lasseter's first job was with The Walt Disney Company, where he became an animator. Next, he joined Lucasfilm, where he worked on the then-groundbreaking use of CGI animation. After the Graphics Group of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar in 1986, Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer and he directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2. He has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film (Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (Toy Story).

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that some TikTokers make videos about whether to smash or pass Disney characters?
... that Encanto's Mirabel is the first Disney heroine to wear glasses?
... 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 John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging that the release strategy for Black Widow breached her contract?
... that vaccine coverage at schools around the Disneyland Resort was too low for herd immunity when measles broke out in 2014?

Selected quote

Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk — especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going, pioneering and adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity.

— Walt Disney

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More Did you know...

... that Huey, Dewey, and Louie were originally named after two political figures and an animator of the time. Huey was named after Huey Long (1893–1935) of Louisiana. Dewey was named after Admiral George Dewey (1837–1917) of the Spanish–American War. Louie was named after animator Louie Schmitt (1908–1993).
...that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects?

...that Mikey Blumberg's singing was voiced by Robert Goulet, who has starred in Rose-Marie and released more than 15 albums.
...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 Walt Disney was an ambulance driver during World War One?

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