Blog Entry Three - The Disney Renaissance

“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things….” 

- Walt Disney 

  After the deaths of Walt and Roy Disney (1966 & 1971) the company was left to three other Disney executives. Donn Tatum, Ron Miller and Card Walker had control of the studio at the most vital time in its history, the Disney Renaissance. Before the renaissance took place there was a key exodus within the company. Long time animator Don Bluth started his own animation company (Don Bluth Productions) taking 11 other Disney employees with him. With 17% of creators gone the Fox and the Hound, the main movie in production took a big hit. The Black Cauldron (one of my favorite underrated Disney movies) was the twenty fifth animated feature film that premiered in 1985 after the exodus of some of its best designers and animators. The film brought in around twenty one million dollars at the box office but cost nearly forty four million dollars to create, it is still seen today as a complete box office fail. However this let down was one that put Disney’s future in jeopardy. With one trick left up Disney's sleeve the company teamed up with director Stephen Spielberg to create Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. The collaboration turned things around for Disney, winning 3 Academy Awards. In the success of this film the company made enough money to set the Disney Renaissance into motion.

  The Disney Renaissance was from 1989-1999. During this time Walt Disney Feature Animation was re-named Walt Disney Animation Studios, they would then come out with ten films that put the company on the map. To kick off Disney's creative spark The Little Mermaid was produced as one of Disney's first broadway style musicals, making $84 million dollars in its initial release. Along with being a huge box office success the new princess film won 2 Academy Awards, one for Best Score and another Best Original Song. Disney brought in composer Alan Menkin, the mastermind behind the two awards, stepped in and wrote the tunes that get stuck in our heads today, songs like “Under the Sea” (winner of best original song). The Little Mermaid broke the record of Highest Grossing Animated Film previously held by The Land Before Time. Created by none other than Don Bluth of Don Bluth Productions. **On a side note I personally I love the fact that The Little Mermaid knocked The Land Before Time into next week (although I loved Littlefoot and the movie itself) it showed Don Bluth Productions that Disney is the best and ultimately more awesome!! (Shows him that leaving Disney was probably the worst mistake of his entire life) But I love Disney so I’m completely biased.** 

  The Little Mermaid was followed by the other nine movies that contributed to making the Disney Renaissance a turning point in the companies history. The Rescuers: Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan were a part of the magical ten (as I like to call them). All together the Disney Renaissance raked in $3,823,472,974 worldwide (to date). Together they have received 24 Academy Award nominations (six of them for Beauty and the Beast alone) and eleven Oscars to take home. Six out of the ten films won and helped shape the future of Disney Animation, the kind we still love today. Though Disney faced many trying times before finding their groove (and no one could throw them off), they kept moving forward.

“I never look back darling! It distracts from the now.” - Edna Mode, The Incredibles

P.S. I really hope you got the groove pun in the last sentence, if not do yourself a favor and watch the Emperors New Groove, you won't regret it! 

Blog Entry Two - The Beginning

“When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.”

 -Walter E. Disney 

In 1955 the doors to Disneyland in Anaheim, California opened. Walt Disney envisioned making a park that families could come to and enjoy after having a dull afternoon out with his daughters. Walt realized that day that there wasn't a safe entertaining place for families to go and spend time together. The solution Walt came up with was to build a place of his own, somewhere magical. He came up with many ideas all circling back around to a park that resembled a circus, which Disney desperately wanted to avoid. Together Walt and his brother Roy created The Walt Disney Company, from cartoons to theme parks this dynamic duo did it all.

 Before becoming the empire it is today, the Walt Disney Company nearly disappeared. In 1920 the corporation filed for bankruptcy and almost went out of business. The brother’s and their employees weren’t making as much money as they needed to be to make the animated films they promised the community. It was around this time that Walt Disney lost the rights to his very first cartoon creation, Oswald the Rabbit. After this loss Walt thought there was no hope left for his dream. 

 Fortunately Walt and Roy Disney found another investor later that same year who believed in the Disney name and what it could become. In 1928 Walt Disney created his most famous character, Mickey Mouse. Though Mickey brought in more revenue than the family had seen in years, times were still hard and the company almost went bankrupt again due to not producing movies, a byproduct of Walt’s creative block. 

 In 1937, one of Disney’s most famous films was in the final sages of production. With the company nearly out of funding, not nearly enough to finish, Walt threw out a life line. Walt approached a bank and asked for one final loan to help finish one of Disney’s first Princess movies, one that launched the company into fame and fortune. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was finished with the money Walt received and in turn the Walt Disney Company would flourish. In the end the film brought 3.5 million dollars to the company, making Walt Disney a household name in the process. 

The Walt Disney Company has come so far, from working in a studio in Burbank, California to having 11 parks to over 100 resorts all over the world. You could say that the brothers never gave up and created one of the most magical places on earth. After being told that Disneyland was an idea too far out of reach and that they would fail, the Disney brothers proved to everyone that dreams really do come true. 

"We did it Disneyland, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within a year" 

- Walt Disney 

Blog Entry One - Why I Chose Disney

“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing…. That it was all started by a mouse.”  - Walt Disney 

 For Walt Disney it all started with a mouse, for me it all started with at trip to the happiest place on earth when I was 5 months old. Since then I have been to Walt Disney World in Florida a few handfuls of times, loving each time more than the last. I chose to write about Disney because it has always been something that makes me truly happy. Whether it’s listening to the music, watching the movies or physically being there it takes me to a whole new world. 

Disney is hugely known for it's spectacular animation in children movies like The Little Mermaid and The Jungle Book. Classic Disney movies like Cinderella, Tarzan and Mulan are instantly recognized as Disney cinematic masterpieces. However more scarcely known Disney movies like my personal favorite, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (one of the first movies to combine live action and animation) and The Black Cauldron remain diamonds in the rough. There are over 500 Disney movies (some cartoons and some live action) and that number will only continue to grow. Movies from before the Disney Renaissance are still watched my millions of people, and new movies such as Frozen are also extremely popular. 

With four parks in Disney World there is something for everyone to enjoy. Aspiring film stars can walk Hollywood Blvd. and experience the great movie ride which feature classic movie set pieces (such as munchkinland from the Wizard of Oz). Pirates and Princesses can spend their time in Magic Kingdom riding magic carpets or finding captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Travel gurus can experience 11 cultures in an afternoon in EPCOT's world showcase, and countless adventures await you at Disney's Animal Kingdom. No matter what kind of person you are or what kind of things you like there's something for everyone. 

Disney is so much more than animated children's movies and theme parks. It's the amazing feeling you get when you walk into the Magic Kingdom and see Cinderella's castle for the first time, and dropping 13 stories on the Tower of Terror in Holywood Studios. The feeling you have when you stay for light’s out and you are the only visitor left in the park is undescribable.  The goal of my blog is to show you all more than what is on the surface of the Walt Disney Corporation, and to spark interest and your imaginations.