by Greg Ehrbar One sunny day back in high school, just as your humble author finished presenting his report about Walt Disney, a classmate offered this comment: “That was so interesting! I didn’t even know Walt Disney was a real guy.” Hopefully, this is an isolated case. Nonetheless, it’s good to know that Disney’s Hollywood …
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By D23 Team Fifty years ago on December 15, the world lost its master showman, but Walt’s legacy has lived on in the hearts of Disney fans around the world. As a tribute to the magic Walt has brought into our world, D23 invites you to celebrate “Walt Week: Celebrating a Legacy of Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation.” Starting …
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By D23 Team Chilly weather makes for the perfect excuse for cozying up by the fireplace with a book, or two—or in this case…23! We’ve rounded up 23 recent releases that are perfect for any Disney fan––you could even start your own Disney book club! Can we come? Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia …
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By Nicole Nalty Earlier this year, D23 took a closer look at the efforts to restore the Disney Family home in Chicago. Roy Oliver, Walter Elias, and Ruth Disney were born (in 1893, 1901, and 1903, respectively) in this very special house before the family moved to Marceline, Missouri in 1906. D23 Gold Members were …
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Walt Disney’s hand-drawn greeting to his first mentor is reproduced as one of the 23 treasures “From The Office of Walt Disney” for the 2016 D23 Gold Member Gift. By Stacia Martin Walt Disney was proud to hail from America’s heartland. Even as achievement and fame made him a citizen of the world, he never …
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By Courtney Potter “Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can achieve,” said Walt Disney. One of the 20th century’s most prolific—and successful—innovators, Disney created entire worlds through his use of state-of-the-art technology and imaginative storytelling. The animated films created under his tenure (until his passing in 1966) are classics in every sense of …
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By Steven Vagnini This story was originally published in the Summer 2010 issue of Disney twenty-three. If you like what you read, become a D23 Gold Member to receive the Disney twenty-three quarterly publication for more fascinating stories about all the worlds of Disney. Imagine living at Walt Disney World years before construction on the …
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By Steven Vagnini Many have likened this mystery to a James Bond thriller. Or, as Disney Legend Joe Potter put it, “a real Perry Mason.” While the “secret agent” of the mid-1960s land acquisition of parcels that would one day comprise the Walt Disney World Resort may not be the star of a popular film …
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By Greg Ehrbar On September 24, 1961, TV viewers watched the fireworks burst over Sleeping Beauty Castle as Tinker Bell pixie-dusted their screens to launch a new kind of Disney anthology series. The show they knew as Disneyland and then Walt Disney Presents had changed from black-and-white to color, moved from ABC to NBC, and …
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By Beth Deitchman A “swinging safari that will amuse the young and old.” That was how Disney’s 1967 animated musical, The Jungle Book—the last animated feature to be personally supervised by Walt Disney—was described by Mrs. Reese Hale Taylor, president of the Los Angeles Zoo Association, in a letter inviting friends and zoo supporters to …
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