Only True Fans Know This Fun And Interesting Disney Trivia!

Are you a Disney fanatic? I’ve rounded up some cool Disney trivia that any Disney fan is sure to enjoy reading!

15 Fun And Interesting Walt Disney History Facts

1. Snow White was Walt Disney’s first full-length animated film. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was originally released in 1937 and was 83 minutes long. By today’s standard, that’s actually pretty short. Snow White was voiced by Adriana Caselotti, who also appeared as Juliet in The Wizard of Oz two years later.
2. Disney was first founded in October 1923. Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago in the year of 1901. He found a love of drawing from a very early age. His ambitions included being a cartoonist for a newspaper. He had been drawing and making animations for a few years and wanted to see what he could do so he went to Hollywood and the rest is… as they say… history.
3. Disneyland opened in 1955. Walt Disney had the idea to open his own theme park, sparked by a visit to Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California was opened first. Originally called Mickey Mouse Park, at least during the planning stages, it opened to the public on July 17, 1955. Back then, a ticket cost just $2.50!
4. Mickey Mouse first appeared in 1928. Mickey was introduced to the world in a short silent film titled Plane Crazy.
5. Disney was given seven tiny Oscars for Snow White! In February 1929, a famous little actress named Shirley Temple presented Walt Disney with an honorary Academy Award for the Snow White movie. This movie was the first full-length cel-animated feature film ever!
6. There’s something known as ‘Disney Renaissance’. This specific period, which lasted from 1989 to 1999, we saw a huge boom in popular Disney musical films which won lots of awards. The films released during this exciting time were: 
   • The Little Mermaid (1989)
   • The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
   • Beauty and the Beast (1991)
   • Aladdin (1992)
   • The Lion King (1994)
   • Pocahontas (1995)
   • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
   • Hercules (1997)
   • Mulan (1998)
   • Tarzan (1999)
7. We first met Donald Duck in 1934! We met Donald in a cartoon titled The Wise Little Hen.
8. Mary Poppins was the first Disney film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar! Previously, children’s films weren’t usually considered for such prestigious awards! While it didn’t win Best Picture, it did earn 13 nominations.
9. Disneyland Tokyo entered the scene and opened in 1983! The official opening date is April 15, 1983. This theme park was the first Disney park to be constructed outside of the USA and is spread out over 114 glorious acres.
10. Mickey Mouse wasn’t the only cartoon animal Disney created. There was also Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He was created in 1927 and appeared in a few cartoons until 1938.
11. The first Technicolour cartoon was created by Disney. Very costly to product, Flowers and Trees was released in 1932 and was part of Disney’s ‘Silly Symphonies’ cartoon series and was made utilizing a special process using a three-strip color camera. 
12. Disney made propaganda films during WW2. Animators were encouraged to make films during the second world war time frame that would make Americans feel patriotic and confident in the war effort. So between 1941 and 1945, Disney created animated sections for films used by the army and navy for training purposes. One film was titled Donald Gets Drafted and sees the duck join the army!
13. Disney World opened in 1971. On 1st October 1971, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida admitted its first visitors. Unfortunately, Walt Disney passed away in 1966, and never had the chance to see his vision for this specific park come to fruition.
14. The last hand-drawn Disney movie was ‘Winnie the Pooh’ in 2011. Since then, Disney moved to digital animation which delivers results much quicker and is a more efficient way to create animated movies.
15. Disney was actually founded by TWO brothers! We are all familiar with the popular name ‘Walt Disney’ but his lesser-known older brother Roy was a co-founder of the company! Walt looked after the animation part of Disney while Roy took care of the business aspect. When Walt passed away in 1966, it is said that Roy changed the name of Disney World to Walt Disney World in honor of his brother.
    
    After the opening of Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971, Roy finally retired and died on December 20, 1971 from a stroke, five days after his younger brother’s fifth death anniversary. He was 78. 

Who Were The First 5 Disney Characters?

Lovingly called Disney’s Fab Five, the first characters were: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. They’ve all seen changes throughout the years before they became the iconic characters we know today. They even had different names and appearances when they first joined the Disney film scene!

Top 15 Characters In The History Of Disney

I’m sure most of these will come at no surprise to Disney fans. Think you can name them before taking a peek at the list?

1. Mickey Mouse: He’s so popular that he’s been mentioned in over 10 million posts on Instagram! When visiting Disney, you’ll see tons of mouse ears in the house of mouse.
2. Aladdin’s Genie or “Genie of Aladdin”
3. Donald Duck
4. Goofy
5. Sebastian from The Little Mermaid
6. Simba from The Lion King
7. Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmations
8. Timon and Pumba from The Lion King
9. Olaf, the lovable snowman from Frozen
10. Stitch from Lilo and Stitch
11. Tinker Bell from Peter Pan
12. Woody from the Toy Story Franchise
13. Baloo from The Jungle Book
14. Dory from Finding Nemo
15. Jiminy Cricket from The Adventures of Pinocchio

Top 17 Least Known Disney Characters

No doubt you’re familiar with the uber-popular Mickey and Minnie Mouse, best friend Donald Duck, and their posse of pen-and-ink pals. But have you ever heard of these 17 little-known characters?

1. Dumbella Duck: According to a 1938 Donald Duck cartoon called “Donald’s Nephews,” Donald actually has a sister named Dumbella – later shortened to ‘Della’.
2. Marcus Mouse: Did you know that Minnie’s dad is named Marcus Mouse? He appeared in one comic strip called “Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers” and was depicted as a farmer. Minnie’s mom was also there, but she wasn’t given a name.
3. Pluto Jr.: Meet Plutos son, Pluto Jr.! Despite his obvious cuteness, the little tyke never made another film appearance and hasn’t been heard from since the 1942 cartoon “Pluto, Junior.
4. Amelia Fieldmouse: She’s the rarely-seen mother of Mickey’s two rambunctious nephews Morty and Ferdie.
5. Penny or ‘Glory-Bee’ Goof: We all know Goofy’s son Max. Although we never see her face, Penny is Max’s mother.
6. Madeline Mouse: While only introduced for a short time in 1941, Madeline is Mickey’s city-slicker cousin.
7. Trudy Van Tubb: Created for the Italian Disney comics, Trudy is Peg-Leg Pete’s wife.
8. Humphrey the Bear:  Long ago, Humphrey was once popular enough to have his own series of cartoons. He actually lived in Brownstone National Park and was always trying to steal food from tourists. Sound familiar? That’s because Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi was based on Humphrey. Though Humphrey was a pretty short-lived character, Disney artists seem to have a soft spot for him and often sneak him into other projects such as Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He’s even a mascot for the Wilderness Lodge Resort at Walt Disney World.
9. K.B.: Pluto not only has a son, he also had a kid brother named K.B.
10. Donna Duck: Scandal! Before Daisy entered the picture in 1940, Donald’s love interest was a duck who was basically Donald with a hair bow. Both Don and Donna were even both voiced by Clarence Nash.
11. Ortensia: Most people may have never heard of Ortensia but she was featured as Oswald the Rabbit’s girlfriend in six shorts produced between 1927 and 1928.
12. Thunderbolt: Appearing just once in 1933, he’s a prize horse and Mickey Mouse is his jockey.
13. Peter Pig: Making just two film appearances, Peter Pig was too lazy to help his neighbor plant corn.
14. Goldie: You’ll catch him in “The Golden Touch” from 1935. He’s a sprite named Goldie that gifts King Midas with a magical touch. Complications ensue. The short film entertains but never did well.
15. Pedro: Featured in the 1942 omnibus, “Saludos Amigos”, he’s a Chilean mail plane who carries his mail bags in a dangerous flight over the Andes.
16. Foxy Loxy: “If you tell ’em a lie, don’t tell a little one, tell a BIG one.”  So says Foxy Loxy in this 1943 World War II propaganda short, “Chicken Little,” about a fox armed with a psychology book trying to sway poultry into becoming his unsuspecting dinner.
17. Professor Owl: This music teacher character was featured in just two Disney shorts, “Melody” (1953), and the Oscar-winning “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” (1954).

More Disney Fun

Who Is The Cutest Disney Character? Can you beat Chip from Beauty & The Beast?
Who Was Walt Disney’s Favorite Character? Goofy is considered Walt Disney’s favorite character. He is a clumsy and gangly dog that first appeared in the 1932 film, Mickey’s Revue.
Who Was Walt’s Favorite Princess? Most consider Cinderella to take that prize.
What Character Was The First To Fart/Pass Gas? That honor goes to Pumba, the Wart Hog in all his hilarious glory!
Who Was The First Disney Villain? The Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was the first Disney villain character.
Who Is The Most Beautiful Disney Character? This award would go to Princess Jasmine.

20 Best Non-Princess Female Disney Characters

We all know the classic princesses from your favorite movies… Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty / Aurora, Tiana, Belle / Beauty, Rapunzel, Jasmine, Merida, Pocahontas, Raya, Moana, and Ariel. But Disney also has some fantastic female characters that aren’t ‘princesses’.

• Minnie Mouse
• Mirabel from Encanto
• Nala from The Lion King
• Dot from A Bug’s Life
• Alice from Alice In Wonderland
• Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph
• Megara from Hercules
• Jessie from the Toy Story franchise
• Lilo from Lilo and Stitch
• Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Edna Mode from The Incredibles
• Colette from Ratatouille
• Joy from Inside Out
• Tinker Bell from Peter Pan
• Bo Peep from Toy Story 4
• Mulan from Mulan
• Jane from Tarzan
• Giselle from Enchanted
• Wendy from Peter Pan
• Dory from Finding Nemo

The runner-up award would go to Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians. She’s simply evil but such a great female character! I’m also a big fan of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.

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