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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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Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American film produced by Amblin Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company (released on its Touchstone Pictures banner), which blends traditional animation and live action. The film takes place in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles set in 1947, where animated characters (always referred to as "Toons") are real beings who live and work alongside humans in the real world, most of them as actors in animated cartoons.

At $70 million, Roger Rabbit was one of the most expensive films to date at the time of its release. The film proved a sound investment, earning over $150 million during its original theatrical release. The film is notable for offering a unique chance to see many cartoon characters from different studios interacting in a single film and for being one of the last appearances by voice artists Mel Blanc and Mae Questel from animation's Golden Era. In addition, Who Framed Roger Rabbit won four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards ceremony in 1989.

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Credit: Bdesham

Epcot Center at night

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

Selected biography

Alan Cyril Wagner (October 1, 1931 — December 18, 2007) was an American television executive, radio personality, writer, and opera historian and critic. He served as the East Coast vice president of programming at CBS from 1976 until 1982, when he became the first president of the Disney Channel. Born in Harlem, New York City, Wagner grew up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia University. He served in the United States Navy during the mid 1950s, notably appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 performing a stand-up comedy bit with a group of fellow seamen. A passionate advocate for opera, Wagner became the host of the WNYC radio program Living Opera in 1957 after his contract with the Navy came to an end. The program aired for two-hours every Sunday morning, featuring excerpts from opera recordings and interviews with performers and other personalities from the opera world. Wagner would also often relate humorous and interesting backstage stories that he had experienced or had heard about. He left Living Opera in 1968 after hosting the program for eleven years.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... 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 some TikTokers make videos about whether to smash or pass Disney characters?
... that, for the Space 220 Restaurant, Disney reached out to NASA engineers to understand what a space elevator might look like?
... 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?

Selected quote

I have a feeling that Zurg is planning his most diabolical scheme yet.

— Buzz Lightyear

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More Did you know...

...that Joyce Carlson, designer of the Disney theme park attraction "It's a Small World", was the first female employee to achieve a fifty-year service record with Disney?

...that when Sonny with a Chance actor Demi Lovato bowed out of season three, show-within-a-show So Random! was spun-off into its own sketch comedy series?

...that Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland was inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Southern Germany.
...that The Reedy Creek Improvement District in Florida is the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land on the Walt Disney World Resort.
... 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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