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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"Be Our Guest" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Walt Disney Pictures' 30th animated feature film Beauty and the Beast (1991). Recorded by American actor Jerry Orbach and English actress Angela Lansbury as Lumière and Mrs. Potts, respectively, "Be Our Guest" is a large-scale Broadway-inspired musical number that takes place during the first half of Beauty and the Beast, performed by the castle's staff of enchanted objects in an elaborate attempt to welcome Belle. Menken initially intended for the melody of "Be Our Guest" to be temporary but was ultimately unable to compose a satisfying one with which to replace it. The song had originally been intended for Belle's father Maurice. However, "Be Our Guest" had to be entirely re-written as the story evolved in order to return its focus to Belle.

"Be Our Guest" has garnered universal acclaim from both film and music critics who, in addition to dubbing the song a show-stopper, praised its catchiness and Orbach's vocal performance while applauding the scene's unprecedented use of computer-generated imagery. "Be Our Guest" has since been extolled as one of Disney's most celebrated and popular songs, establishing itself as one of the studio's greatest and most iconic. "Be Our Guest" received nominations for both the Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Original Song, being performed by Orbach live at the 64th Academy Awards, ultimately losing both to the film's title song. "Be Our Guest" has been ranked highly on several "best Disney song" countdown lists, garnering recognition from IGN, M and the American Film Institute. Disney has further used the song in the Broadway musical adaptation and the 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. The song's title has been used for the Be Our Guest Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom, and as a tagline for promoting the 2017 film. The song has been parodied in an episode of The Simpsons and the film South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

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Credit: Protostar

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

Selected quote

Hmm... I wonder what's causin' this tail to fail? Maybe, just doesn't have what it takes.

— Tigger

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More Did you know...

...that Go.com partnered with Goto.com in 2001, even though a judge had ordered Go.com to pay Goto.com $21.5 million earlier for having a similar logo?

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

...that Walt Disney's grandson Walter Elias Disney Miller produced a film about his grandfather called Walt - The Man Behind the Myth?
... that Elsa the Snow Queen, a protagonist in Walt Disney's Frozen, was originally written as a villain?
... that the most valuable cartoon movie poster was a poster for the Walt Disney short, Alice's Day at the Sea (USA 1924), was sold in London England at $36534.00 in 1994.

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