The Walt Disney Company: Difference between revisions

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The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, it grew from a small animation studio into one of the largest media companies in the world. The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986.

Disney's businesses span film and television studios, television networks, streaming services, consumer products, and theme parks and resorts. Its best-known studio labels include Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios; its networks include ABC and Disney Channel; and its streaming services are led by Disney+. For readers of this wiki, the most relevant part of the company is Disney Experiences, the division that operates Disney's parks, resorts, cruise ships, and vacation businesses around the world.

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History

Walt and Roy Disney founded their studio in Hollywood in 1923 after signing a contract to distribute the Alice Comedies series. The studio established itself as a leader in American animation with the Mickey Mouse cartoons beginning in 1928, starting with Steamboat Willie, and then with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the first full-length animated feature produced in the United States. In June 1960, Walt Disney Productions completed its purchase of its partner's share in Disneyland, making the park, which had opened in Anaheim, California, on July 17, 1955, a fully owned part of the company. Disneyland was a new kind of entertainment venue: a theme park built around the studio's stories and characters, designed and overseen by Walt Disney himself.

Walt Disney died in 1966, before his second park project in Florida was completed. His brother Roy oversaw its opening as Walt Disney World, where the Magic Kingdom welcomed guests on October 1, 1971. Roy died later that year. The Florida resort grew with EPCOT in 1982, and the company expanded internationally when Tokyo Disneyland opened in Japan in 1983, its first park outside the United States.

A new leadership era began in 1984, when Michael Eisner became chief executive, with Frank Wells as president. The years that followed are often called the Disney Renaissance in animation, running roughly from 1989 to 1999, alongside continued parks expansion. Disneyland Paris opened in France in 1992. Disney also moved further into television and sports media in the 1990s through its acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, which brought the ABC network and a controlling interest in ESPN.

Bob Iger succeeded Eisner as chief executive on October 1, 2005, and reshaped the company through a series of major acquisitions. Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for about $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for about $4 billion, and Lucasfilm — the home of Star Wars and Indiana Jones — in 2012 for about $4.1 billion. Each purchase supplied characters and stories that could appear across films, television, consumer products, and the theme parks. The largest deal came in March 2019, when Disney completed its acquisition of 21st Century Fox for about $71 billion, gaining the 20th Century film and television studios and other assets. In November 2019 the company launched Disney+, its direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Bob Chapek, who had led the parks division, succeeded Iger as chief executive in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the temporary closure of Disney parks worldwide. The board dismissed Chapek in November 2022 and brought Iger back as chief executive. Iger reorganized the company in 2023 into three segments — Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, soon renamed Disney Experiences. In March 2026, Josh D'Amaro, the former chairman of Disney Experiences, succeeded Iger as chief executive of the whole company, effective March 18, 2026.

Disney Experiences (parks division)

Disney Experiences is one of the company's three major business segments and the part of Disney that guests visit in person. It encompasses the theme parks and resort hotels, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii, Disney's global consumer products and publishing businesses, and Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative organization that designs the parks, attractions, resorts, and cruise ships.

The division traces its history to April 1, 1971, six months before Walt Disney World opened, and it operated for many years as Walt Disney Parks and Resorts before consumer products was merged into it in March 2018. It was renamed Disney Experiences on November 16, 2023. Disney has announced plans to invest about $60 billion over about ten years in expanding and enhancing its parks and increasing cruise line capacity, and in May 2025 it announced a seventh resort destination, to be built on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi by the Miral Group, with creative design led by Walt Disney Imagineering.

Parks and resorts worldwide

Disney operates six resort destinations containing twelve theme parks on three continents. A seventh destination in Abu Dhabi has been announced but has not opened.

Resort	Location	Theme parks	Resort opened
Disneyland Resort	Anaheim, California, United States	Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure	1955
Walt Disney World	Florida, United States	Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom	1971
Tokyo Disney Resort	Urayasu, Japan	Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea	1983
Disneyland Paris	Marne-la-Vallée, France	Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park	1992
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort	Lantau Island, Hong Kong	Hong Kong Disneyland	2005
Shanghai Disney Resort	Pudong, Shanghai, China	Shanghai Disneyland	2016

Ownership and operation vary by resort. Disney owns and operates the two United States resorts and Disneyland Paris, licenses the Tokyo resort to the Oriental Land Company, and shares ownership of the Hong Kong and Shanghai resorts with local partners. Beyond the theme park resorts, the division also runs Aulani in Hawaii, a resort hotel with no theme park attached, which opened on August 29, 2011.

References

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''The Walt Disney Company''', commonly known as '''Disney''', is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, it grew from a small animation studio into one of the largest media companies in the world.
+'''The Walt Disney Company''', commonly known as '''Disney''', is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers [[Walt Disney]] and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, it grew from a small animation studio into one of the largest media companies in the world. The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986.
-The company first rose to prominence through animated films, beginning with the Mickey Mouse cartoons of 1928 and the feature ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937), the first full-length animated feature produced in the United States. It opened its first theme park, [[Disneyland Park|Disneyland]], in 1955, and today operates parks and resorts on three continents — including the [[Walt Disney World]] and [[Disneyland Resort]] complexes covered throughout this wiki — through its Disney Experiences division.
+Disney's businesses span film and television studios, television networks, streaming services, consumer products, and theme parks and resorts. Its best-known studio labels include Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios; its networks include ABC and Disney Channel; and its streaming services are led by Disney+. For readers of this wiki, the most relevant part of the company is [[Disney Experiences]], the division that operates Disney's parks, resorts, cruise ships, and vacation businesses around the world.
-Disney's businesses span film and television studios (Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and others), television networks including ABC and Disney Channel, streaming services led by Disney+, and consumer products. The parks division began as an extension of the studio's storytelling and remains the part of the company with which the public interacts most directly.
+== History ==
+Walt and Roy Disney founded their studio in Hollywood in 1923 after signing a contract to distribute the ''Alice Comedies'' series. The studio established itself as a leader in American animation with the Mickey Mouse cartoons beginning in 1928, starting with ''Steamboat Willie'', and then with ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937), the first full-length animated feature produced in the United States. In June 1960, Walt Disney Productions completed its purchase of its partner's share in [[Disneyland Park|Disneyland]], making the park, which had opened in Anaheim, California, on July 17, 1955, a fully owned part of the company. Disneyland was a new kind of entertainment venue: a theme park built around the studio's stories and characters, designed and overseen by Walt Disney himself.
+Walt Disney died in 1966, before his second park project in Florida was completed. His brother Roy oversaw its opening as [[Walt Disney World]], where the [[Magic Kingdom]] welcomed guests on October 1, 1971. Roy died later that year. The Florida resort grew with [[EPCOT]] in 1982, and the company expanded internationally when [[Tokyo Disneyland]] opened in Japan in 1983, its first park outside the United States.
+A new leadership era began in 1984, when Michael Eisner became chief executive, with Frank Wells as president. The years that followed are often called the Disney Renaissance in animation, running roughly from 1989 to 1999, alongside continued parks expansion. [[Disneyland Paris]] opened in France in 1992. Disney also moved further into television and sports media in the 1990s through its acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, which brought the ABC network and a controlling interest in ESPN.
+Bob Iger succeeded Eisner as chief executive on October 1, 2005, and reshaped the company through a series of major acquisitions. Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for about $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for about $4 billion, and Lucasfilm — the home of ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' — in 2012 for about $4.1 billion. Each purchase supplied characters and stories that could appear across films, television, consumer products, and the theme parks. The largest deal came in March 2019, when Disney completed its acquisition of 21st Century Fox for about $71 billion, gaining the 20th Century film and television studios and other assets. In November 2019 the company launched Disney+, its direct-to-consumer streaming service.
+Bob Chapek, who had led the parks division, succeeded Iger as chief executive in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the temporary closure of Disney parks worldwide. The board dismissed Chapek in November 2022 and brought Iger back as chief executive. Iger reorganized the company in 2023 into three segments — Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, soon renamed Disney Experiences. In March 2026, [[Josh D'Amaro]], the former chairman of Disney Experiences, succeeded Iger as chief executive of the whole company, effective March 18, 2026.
+== Disney Experiences (parks division) ==
+[[Disney Experiences]] is one of the company's three major business segments and the part of Disney that guests visit in person. It encompasses the theme parks and resort hotels, [[Disney Cruise Line]], [[Disney Vacation Club]], [[Adventures by Disney]], [[Aulani|Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa]] in Hawaii, Disney's global consumer products and publishing businesses, and [[Walt Disney Imagineering]], the creative organization that designs the parks, attractions, resorts, and cruise ships.
+The division traces its history to April 1, 1971, six months before [[Walt Disney World]] opened, and it operated for many years as [[Walt Disney Parks and Resorts]] before consumer products was merged into it in March 2018. It was renamed Disney Experiences on November 16, 2023. Disney has announced plans to invest about $60 billion over about ten years in expanding and enhancing its parks and increasing cruise line capacity, and in May 2025 it announced a seventh resort destination, to be built on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi by the Miral Group, with creative design led by Walt Disney Imagineering.
+== Parks and resorts worldwide ==
+Disney operates six resort destinations containing twelve theme parks on three continents. A seventh destination in Abu Dhabi has been announced but has not opened.
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Resort !! Location !! Theme parks !! Resort opened
+|-
+| [[Disneyland Resort]] || Anaheim, California, United States || [[Disneyland Park]], [[Disney California Adventure]] || 1955
+|-
+| [[Walt Disney World]] || Florida, United States || [[Magic Kingdom]], [[EPCOT]], [[Disney's Hollywood Studios]], [[Disney's Animal Kingdom]] || 1971
+|-
+| [[Tokyo Disney Resort]] || Urayasu, Japan || [[Tokyo Disneyland]], [[Tokyo DisneySea]] || 1983
+|-
+| [[Disneyland Paris]] || Marne-la-Vallée, France || [[Disneyland Park (Paris)|Disneyland Park]], [[Walt Disney Studios Park]] || 1992
+|-
+| [[Hong Kong Disneyland Resort]] || Lantau Island, Hong Kong || [[Hong Kong Disneyland]] || 2005
+|-
+| [[Shanghai Disney Resort]] || Pudong, Shanghai, China || [[Shanghai Disneyland]] || 2016
+|}
+Ownership and operation vary by resort. Disney owns and operates the two United States resorts and Disneyland Paris, licenses the Tokyo resort to the Oriental Land Company, and shares ownership of the Hong Kong and Shanghai resorts with local partners. Beyond the theme park resorts, the division also runs [[Aulani]] in Hawaii, a resort hotel with no theme park attached, which opened on August 29, 2011.
 == See also ==
+* [[Disney Experiences]]
+* [[Walt Disney Parks and Resorts]]
+* [[Walt Disney]]
+* [[Walt Disney Imagineering]]
+* [[Disneyland Resort]]
 * [[Walt Disney World]]
-* [[Disneyland Resort]]
+* [[Disney Cruise Line]]
-* [[Disneyland Park]]
+* [[D23 Expo]]
 == References ==
 <references />
+* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company The Walt Disney Company — Wikipedia]
+* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Parks Disney Experiences — Wikipedia]
+* [https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/experiences-leadership/ Disney Experiences Announces Leadership Changes — The Walt Disney Company]
 [[Category:Companies]]
 [[Category:The Walt Disney Company]]