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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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The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United States. Its route is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) long and encircles the majority of the park, with train stations in four different park areas. The rail line, which was constructed by WED Enterprises, operates with two steam locomotives built by WED and three historic steam locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The ride takes roughly 18 minutes to complete a round trip on its main line when three trains are running, and 20 minutes when four trains are running. Two to four trains can be in operation at any time, three on average.

The attraction was conceived by Walt Disney, who drew inspiration from the ridable miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad built in his backyard. The Disneyland Railroad opened to the public at Disneyland's grand opening on July 17, 1955. Since that time, multiple alterations have been made to its route, including the addition of two large dioramas in the late 1950s and mid-1960s. Several changes have been made to its rolling stock, including the conversion of one of its train cars into a parlor car in the mid-1970s, and the switch from diesel oil to biodiesel to fuel its locomotives in the late 2000s.

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Credit: Coolcaesar

Pixar Animation Studios is an American CGI animation film studio based in Emeryville, California, United States. Pixar became a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company in 2006. The studio has earned twenty-four Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammys, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide.

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

Selected biography

Steve Ross Purcell is an American cartoonist, animator and game designer. He is most widely known as the creator of Sam & Max, an independent comic book series about a pair of anthropomorphic animal vigilantes and private investigators, for which Purcell received an Eisner Award in 2007. The series has since grown to incorporate an animated television series and several video games. A graduate of the California College of Arts and Craft, Purcell began his career creating comic strips for the college newsletter. He performed freelance work for Marvel Comics and Fishwrap Productions before publishing his first Sam & Max comic in 1987. Purcell was hired by LucasArts as an artist and animator in 1988, working on several titles within the company's adventure games era. Purcell collaborated with Nelvana to create a Sam & Max television series in 1997, and briefly worked as an animator for Industrial Light & Magic after leaving LucasArts. He is currently employed in the story development department at Pixar. His main work for the animation studio has been with the 2006 film Cars and spin-off materials such as shorts and video games. Despite his employment with Pixar, Purcell has continued to work with comic books and came together with Telltale Games in 2005 to bring about new series of Sam & Max video games.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that the ferry General Joe Potter at Walt Disney World is named in honor of Major General William Everett Potter?
... that before the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Manhattan opened, its workers were sent to Walt Disney World for training?
... 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?
... that vaccine coverage at schools around the Disneyland Resort was too low for herd immunity when measles broke out in 2014?
... that, for the Space 220 Restaurant, Disney reached out to NASA engineers to understand what a space elevator might look like?

Selected quote

Once upon a time, in a cabin in the snow, two cousins who didn't trust each other were trying to steal the bag of money sitting on the floor in front of me. So neither one of them went to sleep because neither one of them could be trusted. The end!

— Mickey Mouse

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More Did you know...

...that the Phineas and Ferb episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together" was nominated for an Emmy award for the song "I Ain't Got Rhythm"?

...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 there is something called a Hidden Mickey, a hidden silhouette of Mickey's ears inserted into many Disney feature films?
... 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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