38 facts you didn't know about Disney
Some of these might surprise you!
Last updated 25th Nov 2021
Aah... The wonderful world of Disney! From childhood films, to modern-day live-action remakes, it's hard to go wrong with a good old Disney classic. But with it being originally founded back in October 1923, there's plenty of things that you may not know about Disney!
Take a look through our list of interesting facts about Disney, including facts about the company's founder Walt, to classic films' original names! Did you know all of these?
38 interesting facts about Disney you may not have known:
1) Walter Disney's original name
Walter Disney's original moniker was d'Isigny, showing his French roots. While d'Isignyland might not have such a ring to it, Walt d'Isigny might have lent Paris-set animations like The Aristocats and Ratatouille a certain je ne sais quoi.
2) Wall-E was named after Walt
Everyone's favourite rubbish-compactor, Wall-E, was named after Walter Elias Disney.
3) Yen Sid's name is also familiar...
The sorcerer in Fantasia is called 'Yen Sid', which may ring a bell if read backwards.
4) Ariel and Belle were modelled off a real-life person
If you thought Ariel and Belle's perfect proportions were too good to be true, think again, because they're based on real-life model Sherri Stoner, a writer and producer for animations including Animaniacs and Caspar the Friendly Ghost.
5) Does the voice from Lilo and Stitch sound familiar?
The voice of Lilo, from Lilo and Stitch, is Daveigh Chase - the same girl who haunts our dreams as Samara Morgan in The Ring.
6) Lilo and Stitch love Elvis
Lilo and Stitch also features more Elvis Presley songs than any of his own films. Talk about treading on his blue suede shoes!
7) Disney held the patent for Technicolor
For a couple of years Disney held the patent for Technicolor, making him the only animator allowed to make colour films
8) Disney love to hide classic characters in new films
Those Disney animators are tricksy folk, and love to hide classic characters in the background for newer films. For example, in the opening scenes of the Little Mermaid the eagle-eyed may spot Goofy, Mickey and Donald Duck in the audience at King Triton's concert.
9) Joss Whedon came up with Rex from Toy Story
Joss Whedon was part of a team of writers brought in to perk up the Toy Story script, and came up with the character of Rex, the cowardly dinosaur.
10) Aladdin's trousers took inspo from M.C. Hammer
To capture the movement of Aladdin's low-cut baggy pants, animator Glen Keane watched M.C. Hammer videos. That was his excuse, anyway.
11) Sulley has LOTS of hair
Sulley from Monsters Inc. has more than 2.3 million individual hairs, which are all carefully animated. This explains why a single frame of the big blue fella took an average of 12 hours to produce.
12) Clarence Nash did more than just voice Donald Duck
Clarence Nash, aka the voice of Donald Duck, created the dog barks for 101 Dalmatians. While we're on the subject of animal noise, tiger roars were used for the Lion King, as lions weren't deemed loud enough.
13) Did you spot these cameos?
The Hunchback of Notre Dame features tiny 'cameos' from Belle, Aladdin's magic carpet and even Pumbaa, who is trussed up ready for cooking.
14) Prince Charming's name is not actually revealed...
While we know him as Prince Charming, the dapper chap who steals Cinderella's heart (and slipper) is never actually named during the film.
15) The Lion King's Simba and Bhalu
Simba is Swahili for 'lion', while Bhalu (Baloo) is Hindi for 'bear'.
16) Dumbo is Disney's quietest central character
Dumbo is an elephant of few words - none, in fact - which makes him the quietest central character of them all. Hot on his heels is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, who gets a mere 18 whole lines of dialogue, and just 18 minutes of screen time in her own film.
17) It's rumoured that Walt Disney had a phobia of mice
While this is hard to prove, it is a fact that his big-eared creation was named 'Mortimer', until his wife persuaded him that 'Mickey' had a better ring to it…
18) Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Oscars
Walt Disney was presented with one normal-sized honorary Oscar and seven little Oscars for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1938.
19) Walt Disney's last written words were 'Kurt Russell'
Walt's final words - written rather than spoken - were, rather cryptically 'Kurt Russell'. No-one, including the actor himself, has any idea why.
20) Mickey's Hollywood Star was a first!
Mickey Mouse was the first animated character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We imagine he'd rather have had a cheese wheel, but you can't always get what you want.
21) Monsters Inc.'s Boo's real name is Mary
Adorable Monsters Inc. character Boo's real name in the film is Mary - named after her voice actress Mary Gibbs. You can see it written on a drawing in her room during the movie!
22) The Little Mermaid storm took a LOT of work
The two-minute storm in The Little Mermaid took 10 special effects artists over a year to finish.
23) Walt Disney once played Peter Pan in a school play
The decision to create an animated version of Peter Pan stemmed from Walt's own childhood!
24) Mickey Mouse was the first animated character to talk
His first words, in 1929 cartoon The Karnival Kid, were 'Hot dog!'
25) The Beast is made up of loads of different animals
Tasked with creating the Beast, supervising animator Glen Keane took inspiration from the zoo, blending the mane of a lion, the horns and head of a buffalo, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the tusks of a wild boar, the upper body of a bear, and the legs and tail of a wolf to create the rather likeable Beast.
26) Walt's favourite character
Walt Disney's personal favourite character was tie-wearing dog Goofy.
27) Bruce was not a random name
Bruce, the 'vegetarian' great white shark of Finding Nemo, was named after the mechanical shark used in Jaws, which, in turn, was named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer!
28) Walt Disney's final film
The final film Walt personally oversaw was The Jungle Book, before his death from lung cancer in 1966.
29) Billy Crystal turned down a previous role
Billy Crystal may be immortalised in the Disney cannon as Mike Wazowski, but prior to that he turned down the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, a role that eventually went to Tim Allen. After watching the finished film, he described his decision as one of his biggest regrets, but has said that Mike is his favourite ever role.
30) More cameos!
Several doggy characters from Lady and the Tramp appear in a pet shop window in 101 Dalmatians. According to someone with waaay too much time on their hands, the film also contains 6,469,952 black spots.
31) A productive lunchtime resulted in four HUGE films
The ideas for Wall-E, Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo came from a single lunchtime brainstorming session in 1994, before the first Toy Story film was even finished. What did you accomplish over sandwiches today?
32) Snow White changed its spelling
Though commonly referred to as seven 'dwarves', the films actual title is Snow White and the Seven 'Dwarfs'. This is because in 1938 when the film was released, 'dwarfs' was the accepted plural. Blame JRR Tolkien for the change.
33) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was make-or-break for Disney
Costing his studios $1.4m to make, it was widely derided as Disney's Ruin, by people subsequently proved non-psychic. Adjusted for inflation, it's one of the ten highest-grossing films of all time. To achieve a natural skin tone for Snow White, real rouge was applied to the animated cells.
34) Mickey's four fingers
Mickey only has four fingers on each hand because animators thought he looked strange with five. The fact that he's a clothed mouse apparently didn't seem strange to them at all.
35) Did you recognise Sid's carpet in Toy Story?
Bully boy Sid from Toy Story has a hallway carpet which has the same design as the nightmarish corridors of The Shining. Chalk this one up to Toy Story editor (and Toy Story 3 director) Lee Unkrich, who adores the Kubrick film.
36) Disney recycled a lot of film
If sections of classic films give you a sense of dèjá vu, you're not alone. The company recycled much of its early animation in a technique called rotoscoping, invented in 1915, in order to cut costs. Large parts of the 1973 film Robin Hood were taken from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970).
37) Mickey and Minnie were really married!
Wayne Anthony Allwine, who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years, got hitched to Russi Taylor, who played Minnie, in 1991. The two remained happily married until his death in 2009.
38) The Lion King had a name change...
The Lion King was originally called 'King of the Jungle', before some bright spark noted that lions don't tend to inhabit jungles.
Now read:
All the details we know so far about Disney's upcoming live-action remakes
Meet the actors behind the ICONIC Disney lead characters