50 Interesting Facts about Disney Movies

Disney's Aladdin is based off the 1940's 3 times Academy Award-winning film The Thief of Bagdad.

27. November 18 is Micky Mouse's birthday. Steamboat Willie was released in 1928 and is considered by Disney to be his official birthday.

28. There is an alternate ending to The Lion King, where Scar defeats Simba by throwing him off Pride Rock to his apparent death. A fire then consumes Scar who stands there, laughing manically, while he burns to death. It was deemed "too dark" for a Disney film.

29. Mulan is currently the only official member of the Disney Princess franchise who is technically not a legitimate princess "in the traditional sense," as she was neither born the daughter of a king or queen nor does she become princess consort by marrying a prince.

30. Beast, from Beauty and the Beast, is a chimera with the head of a buffalo, eyebrows of a gorilla, body of a bear, jaws, and mane of a lion, tusks of a boar, and legs and tail of a wolf.

Disney's "Pocahontas" (1995) was originally supposed to feature a talking turkey named Redfeather voiced by John Candy. After Candy's death, Redfeather was dropped from the film and it was decided the animals shouldn't speak.

32. A Bug's Life, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc. were all conceived on a napkin during a lunch.

33. When making 'The Incredibles', director Brad Bird intentionally used artists who were likely to either quit or be fired from Pixar; because he believed only they could create everything that he needed.

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs won Walt Disney a special kind of Oscar: It consisted of one full-size Oscar and seven miniature ones.

35. Before "Let It Go" was written, Elsa was the main villain in ‘Frozen’, however, the song was so uplifting that her character was changed instead of the song.

Disney's 'Big Hero 6' has the biggest cast of any Disney animated film with 15 main characters and 701 unique characters which were all animated.

37. Lots-o'-Huggin bear from Toy Story 3 was originally meant to appear in the first film but the technology needed to animate his fur did not yet exist.

38. The Hamsterdance song is a sped up version of the intro to the Disney Robin Hood movie (1973).

39. To create cars suitable for animals to drive in Zootopia, Disney enlisted the former head of design at Ford.

40. All of the 90's Disney movies are from a period called the Disney Renaissance, which was considered to have started with The Little Mermaid (1989), and ended with Tarzan (1999), wherein Disney made $3.9 billion worldwide.

Disney released a movie during World War 2 called "Der Fuehrer's Face", which depicted Donald Duck having a nightmarish time in the Nazi Regime. It is the only Donald Duck film to win an Academy Award.

42. Pixar animators working to finish 'Toy Story 2' had such a heavy workload that many chose to work long hours even though Pixar discouraged it. Animators developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and one even forgot he had left his baby in the backseat of his car all day.

43. Disney never sought legal action against 'Escape From Tomorrow' (a movie shot illegally inside Disneyland featuring among other things Disney princesses as prostitutes) in order to avoid giving it extra publicity. The movie ended up only making $171,962 theatrically.

44. In 1985, Disney released Return to OZ a sequel to 'The Wizard of OZ'. While being more true to the original novels, it was considered not friendly for children. At the beginning of the movie, Dorothy is receiving electroshock therapy. One reviewer said: “It's bleak, creepy, and occasionally terrifying.”

45. The Disney film "The Emperor's New Groove", was originally supposed to be a more dramatic, Lion King-style movie called "Kingdom of the Sun."

After Disney released "Princess and the Frog", over 50 children were hospitalized with salmonella from kissing frogs.

47. The development of the Disney animated film Wreck-it-Ralph started in the late 1980's, spanning nearly three decades and four working titles.

48. Pocahontas was only 11 when she met the 28-year-old John Smith.

49. To help illustrate the hippo ballerina scene in 'Fantasia,' Disney animators hired a 200-pound woman to move about on a soundstage, studying how her flesh quivered and which parts were under the greatest strain.

50. Pumbaa was the first Disney character to fart.