Costumed cast members from the four main realms of Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom—Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland—take a lunch break at one of Disneyland Park’s backstage cafeterias in July 1961. The food was undoubtedly tasty but presumably Snow White avoided the apple pie.
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Walt Disney reviews progress on the under-construction Columbia Sailing Ship at the Disney Studios in August of 1957. This seaworthy Disneyland Park attraction had its maiden voyage on the Rivers of America in Frontierland on June 14, 1958.
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Walt Disney and prolific singing group The Mello Men—including Disney Legend Thurl Ravenscroft, second from left— harmonize barbershop style. This nostalgic scene was shot for the lead-in on for the first episode (aired January 24, 1965) of the 1890s-set “Gallegher” on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. The “Gallegher” theme song was composed by the …
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In October 1962, not long before the opening of the Swiss Family Treehouse in Disneyland Park on November 18, Walt Disney gave the famous Mills family a personal tour. Seen here with Walt are Disney Legend—and one of Disney’s biggest stars—Hayley Mills, along with her parents Mary and John, just two years after John had …
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Perhaps the Disneyland Park switchboard was shorthanded on a certain day in 1962, but, for whatever reason, Minnie Mouse has things under control. And why shouldn’t she man—or mouse—the switchboard? If anybody has “a smile in her voice,” it’s Minnie.
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In this 1939 photo, two Disney Legends review storyboards before recording the voices for Pinocchio (1940). Ten-year-old Dickie Jones was already a veteran of dozens of Hollywood films when Walt Disney cast him as the voice of the wooden puppet, and Cliff Edwards had appeared in some100 motion pictures, starting with the earliest “talkies,” before …
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Disney Legend Burny Mattinson, producer-director of Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) and his crew, including future Disney Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, far left. Under Burny’s guidance, this youthful group of artists brought the Mouse back to the big screen after a 30-year absence. Their reward: an Academy Award®-nomination for Best Animated Short Film.
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Soon after the opening of Walt Disney World Resort on October 1, 1971, the new Lake Buena Vista STOLport opened. Though it lasted for only a short while (though the airstrip still exists to this day), the STOLport provided STOL (short takeoff and landing) service to several Florida airports and here, Mickey Mouse personally welcomes …
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Disney Legend Annette Funicello sings and dances in the 1962 “Disneyland After Dark” episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Personally cast by Walt in 1955 as one of the original Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club TV series, Annette became one of Disney’s biggest and most beloved stars.
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Walt Disney combined animation and live action for the first time since the Alice Comedies of the 1920s in The Three Caballeros (1945)—in an innovative, cutting-edge process developed by Walt’s longtime colleague Ub Iwerks—as here, when Donald Duck interacts with Brazilian star Aurora Miranda.
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