59 Fun Facts About Disney Trivia for Seniors

Which 1928 cartoon, one of the first with fully synchronised sound, is regarded as Mickey Mouse's official debut?

Steamboat Willie was actually the third Mickey cartoon made; the arrival of talking pictures prompted Walt to make it with sound, and it reached cinemas before the first two.

In Fantasia (1940), which segment stars Mickey Mouse?

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was planned as a stand-alone Mickey short, but it grew so elaborate and expensive that Walt folded it into a full-length concert film instead.

Mickey Mouse was almost given what name before Walt's wife suggested 'Mickey'?

Mortimer was dropped, the story goes, when Lillian Disney objected and suggested Mickey; the studio later gave the name to a rival for Minnie's affections in the 1936 cartoon Mickey's Rival.

Which animator co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney?

Ub Iwerks met Walt at a Kansas City art studio and animated the very first Mickey cartoon at a furious pace, turning out some 700 drawings a day.

Which character did Walt Disney lose the rights to in 1928, prompting him to create Mickey?

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit only came back to Disney in 2006, in a deal that sent sportscaster Al Michaels to NBC.

Which Disney star made his screen debut in the 1934 cartoon The Wise Little Hen?

Donald Duck arrived as a shirker who fakes a bellyache rather than help the hen plant her corn; two months later he was being heckled by orphans in his first Mickey Mouse cartoon.

What are the names of Donald Duck's three nephews?

Huey, Dewey and Louie were long impossible to tell apart, their colours swapped at random; only in the 1980s was it settled that Huey wears red, Dewey blue and Louie green.

Which Disney character first appeared in Mickey's Revue (1932) and was originally known as Dippy Dawg?

Goofy began as a face in the audience, picked out only by his raucous laugh; that laugh, supplied by Pinto Colvig, so tickled the studio that the character kept coming back.

Which Disney dog made his 1930 debut as a nameless bloodhound on the trail of an escaped convict, Mickey Mouse?

Pluto was a nameless bloodhound in The Chain Gang, turned up next as Minnie's dog Rover, and only became Mickey's pet Pluto in The Moose Hunt the following year.

Which 1933 Silly Symphony short won an Oscar and became a Depression-era hit?

Three Little Pigs won the Academy Award for best cartoon, and audiences worn down by hard times made its song, 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?', their anthem.

Which 1937 film was the first full-length animated feature made in the United States?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs took in about $8 million on its first release and won Walt a one-of-a-kind honorary Oscar: one full-size statuette and seven little ones, presented by Shirley Temple.

Which of these is one of the Seven Dwarfs?

Bashful and his six companions have no names in the Brothers Grimm tale, where they are simply seven little dwarfs; Disney's storymen had to invent a name and a personality for each.

In Disney's Pinocchio (1940), who is appointed the puppet's official conscience by the Blue Fairy?

Jiminy Cricket is largely Disney's invention: in Carlo Collodi's book the talking cricket has no name, and Pinocchio kills him with a hammer early in the story.

Which song from Pinocchio (1940) won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

When You Wish Upon a Star became the company's signature tune: it opened the Disneyland television show for years and has played over the castle logo before Disney films since the 1980s.

Fantasia (1940) set animation to classical music conducted by whom?

Leopold Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra for Fantasia and appears in silhouette shaking Mickey's hand; its Fantasound system made it the first commercial film in stereo.

In Dumbo, what is the name of the little elephant's mouse friend?

Timothy Q. Mouse, voiced by Edward Brophy, becomes Dumbo's manager and gives him the 'magic feather'; the 64-minute film was made cheaply to recoup Pinocchio's losses.

In Bambi, what kind of animal is Thumper?

A rabbit, a pink-nosed cottontail; his friend Flower the skunk got his name because Bambi mistakenly called him that.

Which 1946 film gave the world 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah'?

Song of the South won the Best Song Oscar for it and an honorary Oscar for James Baskett's Uncle Remus; decades later its cartoon critters got a second life in the Splash Mountain log ride.

Which 1950 animated feature was a make-or-break gamble that revived Disney's fortunes after years of cheaper 'package' films?

Cinderella was Disney's first full-length single story since Bambi in 1942; a flop might have finished animation at the studio, but it became one of the year's biggest hits.

In Cinderella, the heroine's mouse friends include Jaq and which other?

Gus and Jaq spend the film dodging Lucifer, the stepmother's cat, and at the end the mice come to the heroine's rescue so that the Grand Duke and his glass slipper can find her.

Which 1950 film was Disney's first completely live-action feature?

Treasure Island was filmed in England because post-war currency rules had frozen Disney's British earnings there, so Walt spent the money making films on the spot.

Which comedian voiced the Mad Hatter in Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland?

Ed Wynn, a veteran vaudeville comedian, came back to Disney in Mary Poppins as Uncle Albert, who laughs so hard that he floats up to the ceiling.

In Peter Pan (1953), what is the name of the island the Darling children fly to with Peter?

Never Land's creator, James Barrie, gave the rights to Peter Pan to London's Great Ormond Street children's hospital; Walt had the film in mind from 1935, but it took until 1953 to reach the screen.

Which actor played Captain Nemo in Disney's 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

James Mason's Captain Nemo fights a giant squid in a scene that had to be shot twice: the first version, on a calm sea at sunset, showed too much of the machinery, so it was redone as a storm at night.

Which actor starred as Davy Crockett in Disney's 1954–55 television serial?

Fess Parker got the part by accident: Walt screened the giant-ant thriller Them! to look at James Arness, and was taken instead with an actor in a small role beside him.

By the end of 1955, roughly how much Davy Crockett merchandise had Americans bought?

$300 million worth of Crockett goods had been sold by the end of 1955, as children emptied the shops of coonskin caps and sent 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett' to number one.

Which television personality helped host Disneyland's opening-day broadcast?

Art Linkletter shared the hosting with Bob Cummings and a Hollywood actor named Ronald Reagan, on a day so plagued by mishaps and forged tickets that staff dubbed it Black Sunday.

Disneyland's railroad grew out of a rideable miniature steam line that Walt Disney laid out where?

In his own backyard in Holmby Hills, Walt ran the Carolwood Pacific, a one-eighth-scale steam line, and he even had his wife sign a mock legal right-of-way through her flower garden.

Which network first aired Walt Disney's weekly Disneyland television series in 1954?

ABC took the weekly show only as part of a deal to invest in the park itself, which made the network a one-third owner of Disneyland until Disney bought it out in 1960.

Under which title did Disney's weekly anthology series move to NBC in 1961?

Wonderful World of Color opened on NBC with a brand-new character, the bumbling Professor Ludwig Von Drake, giving viewers a lecture on colour itself.

Which songwriter hosted the original Mickey Mouse Club and wrote its theme song, the 'Mickey Mouse Club March'?

Jimmie Dodd wrote many of the show's songs and gave its viewers 'Doddisms', gentle little talks on good living meant to make better Mouseketeers of them all.

Which Mouseketeer became a teen pop star with the hit single 'Tall Paul'?

Annette Funicello was chosen for the show by Walt Disney himself, who spotted her dancing at an amateur show at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank.

Which actor played the masked hero in Disney's Zorro series of 1957–59?

Guy Williams played Zorro for 78 episodes, found his most devoted public in Argentina, and eventually retired to Buenos Aires.

In Old Yeller (1957), which disease, caught fighting off a wolf, dooms the faithful dog?

Rabies, which the film calls hydrophobia, infects Old Yeller when he saves the family from a rabid wolf, so young Travis has to shoot the dog he has come to love.

Which 1959 Disney fairy-tale film features the wicked fairy Maleficent and Princess Aurora?

Sleeping Beauty was Walt Disney's most lavish animated film to date, costing over $6 million, with a score drawn from Tchaikovsky's ballet, yet it was not a box-office success at first.

In which 1959 Disney comedy does Tommy Kirk's teenager turn into a sheepdog?

The Shaggy Dog, shot in black and white, has Tommy Kirk's Wilby transformed by a cursed ring while Fred MacMurray plays his dog-hating father; it grossed over $9 million in 1959.

In The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Flubber on the players' shoes helps Medfield College win at which sport?

Basketball: the professor puts Flubber on his puny team's shoes so they can out-jump Rutland, then flies his Flubber-powered Model T all the way to Washington.

In which 1961 Disney comedy did Hayley Mills play both twins, Susan and Sharon?

The Parent Trap put two Hayley Millses on screen at once through split-screen and double-exposure shots, helped by an uncredited body double.

Which Disney adventure was filmed on Tobago?

Swiss Family Robinson made such a star of its island treehouse that Disneyland built a climb-through copy, which opened two years after the film.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) spared its artists from hand-inking every spotted puppy by using which process?

Xerox photocopying put the animators' drawings straight onto cels; until then every drawing was traced in ink by hand, a hopeless job for a film with so many spotted dogs.

Glenn Close and Emma Stone have both played which Disney villainess in live-action films?

Cruella de Vil first reached the screen in the 1961 cartoon, scheming from her country house, Hell Hall, to turn stolen Dalmatian puppies into fur coats.

Which singer co-wrote the songs for Lady and the Tramp (1955) and voiced four characters, including both Siamese cats?

Peggy Lee also voiced Darling and the show dog Peg, and nearly four decades later she sued Disney for a share of the video sales and won.

Who won the Best Actress Oscar for playing the title role in Mary Poppins (1964)?

Julie Andrews won for a London story that never left California: every scene was shot on soundstages at the Disney studio in Burbank.

Who played Bert, the cockney jack-of-all-trades, in Mary Poppins?

Dick Van Dyke also played the bank's ancient chairman, Mr Dawes Senior, under heavy make-up, and came back 54 years later in Mary Poppins Returns as the old banker's son.

Which song from Mary Poppins won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

Chim Chim Cher-ee rests on a real superstition: a chimney sweep was long held to bring good luck to anyone who touched him, which is why Bert sings that his luck rubs off with a handshake.

Which songwriting duo wrote songs for Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book as well as 'It's a Small World'?

The Sherman Brothers wrote 'It's a Small World' to order: Walt asked them for one simple tune that could be repeated endlessly and sung in many languages as the boats drift past.

Disneyland's It's a Small World boat ride was first built for which 1964 event?

The New York World's Fair paid off twice for Walt: he built the ride there for Pepsi's salute to UNICEF and then rebuilt it at Disneyland, so the fair's sponsor had helped pay for a new park attraction.

The Jungle Book (1967), the last animated film Walt personally produced, was based on whose stories?

Rudyard Kipling's stories were given a new set of songs along the way, but one number by the first songwriter survived: 'The Bare Necessities', which earned an Oscar nomination.

Which singer voiced Baloo the bear in The Jungle Book?

Phil Harris was Walt's own surprise choice, made after the two met socially; the bandleader then improvised many of Baloo's lines rather than stick to the script.

Walt Disney died in December 1966 of what illness?

Lung cancer: surgeons removed a tumour in November 1966 and Walt died on 15 December, aged 65, while still busy planning EPCOT, the city of tomorrow he never saw built.

Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle star of The Love Bug (1968), races with which number?

53 stayed on Herbie's bodywork through four big-screen sequels, from Herbie Rides Again to Herbie: Fully Loaded, after The Love Bug became one of 1969's biggest hits.

Which Disney resort did Roy Disney see through to its opening in October 1971, five years after his brother's death?

Walt Disney World cost $400 million, yet Roy, the brothers' money man, opened it without the company owing any debt on it; he died two months later.

Which 1971 Disney musical reunited the makers of Mary Poppins and starred Angela Lansbury?

Bedknobs and Broomsticks brought back Mary Poppins's producer, director and songwriters, and even its Mr Banks, David Tomlinson; its trainee witch routs German raiders with an army of empty armour.

Which Academy Awards record does Walt Disney hold?

Most Oscars won by one person: Walt Disney holds the record by a wide margin, and most of his statuettes came to him as the producer of his studio's films.

Which Disneyland ride was the last Walt oversaw, opening three months after his death?

Pirates of the Caribbean opened in March 1967 and reversed the usual order: instead of being based on a film, the boat ride itself inspired the hit film series that began in 2003.

Which French entertainer came out of retirement to sing the title song of Disney's The Aristocats (1970)?

Maurice Chevalier agreed after hearing a demo on which one of the songwriters imitated his famous voice, and the title song turned out to be the last film work of his career.

In Disney's animated Robin Hood (1973), which actor voiced Prince John, the cowardly, thumb-sucking lion?

Peter Ustinov voiced both royal lions, the cowardly Prince John and his brother King Richard, and then dubbed Prince John himself for the film's German release.

Which veteran actress played the stern Aunt Polly in Disney's Pollyanna (1960)?

Jane Wyman had been named Best Actress for playing a deaf woman in Johnny Belinda without speaking a line; her Aunt Polly rules the whole town until Pollyanna's bad fall changes her heart.

Who sang the title song of Disney's 1965 caper That Darn Cat!?

Bobby Darin's theme sets up a caper in which a Siamese cat comes home wearing a kidnapped bank teller's wristwatch round his neck, so the FBI tails him to the robbers' hideout.