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Introduction

The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing it to 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 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 Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox. 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, the 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+, 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

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 1A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 2Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 3Team 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 4Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 5Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 6Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run in 2019) (from Disneyland)
Image 7Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 8Disney in 1954 with Wernher von Braun (from Walt Disney)
Image 9The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo (from Walt Disney World)
Image 10Hollywood Studios' park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 11Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 12Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 13Disney receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson. (from Walt Disney)
Image 14Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 15Overlay 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 16Bayou Country
(Tiana's Bayou Adventure) (from Disneyland)
Image 17Adventureland entrance
(2006) (from Disneyland)
Image 18One 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 have all entered the public domain as of January 1, 2024. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 19The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 20Disney security vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 21An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 22View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 23The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 24Disney Magic at Port of Venice (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 25Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 26Disney'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 27Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 28Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in 2008) (from Disneyland)
Image 29A Disney Cruise Line bus which takes guests to and from Terminal 8 from Orlando International Airport; as well as around Walt Disney World. (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 30Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 31Mickey's Toontown
(pictured in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 32An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)
Image 33Walt (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 34Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 35The Sherman Brothers in 2002. They composed many Disney songs in the 1960s. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 36Main Street, U.S.A.
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 37Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 38Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 39The original animation building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 40Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 41Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 42Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 43New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion in the background and Fantasmic! viewing area in the foreground in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 44Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 45Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 46Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 47Disney next to a cat and a drawing of Mickey Mouse (by Harris & Ewing), 1931 (from Walt Disney)
Image 48Walt 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 49Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland in 2008. (from Disneyland)
Image 50Map of the resort as of May 2015 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 51Characters from Alice in Wonderland host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist in 2005. (from Disneyland)
Image 52Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of the Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 53Disney (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 54Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 55The original logo of Walt Disney World from 1971 to the mid-1990s (from Walt Disney World)
Image 56Disney in 1956 (from Walt Disney)
Image 57The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 58Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 59Disney's childhood home (from Walt Disney)
Image 60Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)
Image 61Disney with film roll and Mickey Mouse on his right arm in 1935 (from Walt Disney)
Image 62Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 63Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 64One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)

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 Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging that the release strategy for Black Widow breached her contract?
... that a revival of the comedy series Lizzie McGuire was ordered in 2019, but canceled mid-production after Disney deemed it not family-friendly enough?
... that some TikTokers make videos about whether to smash or pass Disney characters?
... that the ferry General Joe Potter at Walt Disney World is named in honor of Major General William Everett Potter?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?

Selected quote

Well, the guy in the picture is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts; the one you fellas defeated. But, what you guys actually fought was his Heartless. You see, he wasn't really Ansem, he just went around telling everybody that he was!

— Mickey Mouse, Kingdom Hearts II

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More Did you know...

...that the Phineas and Ferb episode "Are You My Mummy?" originally aired as part of "Phineas and Ferb-urary," a special event which showed episodes of the series every night in February 2008 on Disney Channel?

...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 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest set several records in its first three days, with an opening weekend of $136 million.
...that Walt Disney was an ambulance driver during World War One?

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