Your Disney Story (Introductions Thread)

[stlewis75]

I only signed up on this site so I could vote for the top live-action movies (unfortunately I missed the animation one), and then I voted for my favorite songs. It wasn't until yesterday that I started browsing some of the topics. I guess I have a Disney story of my own... so here's the short version.

As a kid I loved Looney Tunes and Disney's cartoons and movies. My sister and I about wore out our record player listening to the soundtracks from the Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Snow White, and the Country Bear Jamboree. With so much of my attention going toward Disney's movies and Disneyland, it was no wonder that I took up drawing... and I drew a lot. I discovered Bill Peet's books at the school library and sketched the characters in them (this was before I found out he had been a Disney story artist for years).

For my 11th or 12th birthday I asked for "The Illusion of Life." I never really read from it, but I studied the pictures all the time. Around that time I also rediscovered my love for the music of Disney. I bought a box set of classic Disney songs and listened to it all the time. I also covered my walls with posters from Disney films and encouraged my parents to take my sisters and I to Disneyland as often as possible... even if we had to skip meals to do it.

As the years passed, I found that my love of animation could be more than a hobby. I majored in illustration in college because there was no animation major there, but three years later I helped start an animation major, and I was the first graduate from that program. Unfortunately, animation is in the middle of a slump, so I'm not working at a major studio yet, but I hope to get to Disney about the time they figure out that 2D isn't dead. I would also love to work in Pixar's story department... they're doing the stories Disney used to do.

I'm currently developing stories for feature animation at a smaller company. I love it. I'm so glad I was inspired when I was young by the artists at Disney (and also Chuck Jones and Bill Peet). Disney's given me a lot of happiness in my life, and I hope I can pass some of it on... I'll let you know if I ever get anywhere with it. At least I'm enjoying the road.

Pinocchio is my favorite animated film, but I love most of them. Mary Poppins is my favorite of Disney's live action films. I've never lost a game of Disney Trivia, but I've never won a game of any other kind of trivia. I wish the Disney Channel would show more of their classic cartoons and TV specials... I miss Vault Disney. How many times a day can you show Lizzie MaGuire? Answer: 14. The idea of sequels to Bambi and Pinocchio makes me sad. I miss musicals and fairy tales and creative ideas from Disney animation. I'm very sad that they shut down 2D. I love Disneyland, and even though I don't live in California, I still have an annual pass to Disneyland. I'm actually going there this weekend... gotta see the west coast's Tower of Terror. Check out Billy Hill and the Hillbillies when you're there - they're well worth the time. I love Splash Mountain and the Pirates of the Caribbean. I also love Monte Cristo sandwiches at the Blue Bayou.

I doubt anyone cares about any of this, but it was nice to think about it for a minute. Hooray for the magic of cartoons! I love classic Disney!

[catNC]

Welcome to the forum stlewis75!

You'd be surprised, more people read the "Disney Story" thread than you might think.

BTW, I love your avatar!

[Joe Carioca]

Welcome to the boards, stlewis75! By the way, great avatar.

[AwallaceUNC]

Great story! Glad to see you've decided to start posting. Good luck in your animation career... that's awesome that you actually started and completed your animation major!

-Aaron

[Glen_J]

Hello stlewis75

Welcome to the boards. It's great to see another person the loves Fank and Ollie's "Illusion of Life".

Now If I could only draw anything above the level of a stick figure I could put it to some practical use!

Oh well....

I have to ask this of you now stlewis75....what's your favorite animation sequence?

For me without a doubt it would be Chernabog in "Night On Bald Mountain" animated by Bill Tytla.

Anyyone else feel free to mention thier favorite scene.

Ciao

[stlewis75]

I hadn't really put much thought into it before - that's a hard question to answer. I'd have to think about it longer to come up with an answer of just one. Here's a list of some I thought of... hope I'm not forgetting something:

Dumbo - "Baby Mine."
The Lion King - "Circle of Life" opening.
The Little Mermaid - "Kiss the Girl."
Pecos Bill - Song montage (before they chopped it up).
Sword in the Stone - the Wizard's Duel.
Sleeping Beauty - "Once Upon a Dream" dance with animals.
Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Ichabod runs from the Headless Horseman.

[WOLFie]

Hello all, I registerd to put my input on something else and saw this so thought I would post here first.

First up I am glad to see I am not the only one who is a huge Disney fan and past 20 (I am 24). In anycase my love for Disney animation and animation in general began when I was very young when I was in about 3rd grade. I loved watching DuckTales, Gummie Bears, Winnie-the-Pooh, Rescue Rangers, Tail Spin, DarkWing Duck etc. and probaly have seen every episode of each, basically anything Disney was platinum to me. I use to feel kind of embarrassed to love those Disney animations as much as I did Voltron, Transformers, Thunder Cats, Silver Hawks, Bionic Six etc., but I have come realization in most case most of Disney's gave me more enjoyment than those. I cant wait for the day if ever those cartoons end up in box sets.

I also love Disney live action movies, my favorite being Swiss Family Robinson. Sadly I dont think there movies now match the quality they use to be. Pirates of the Caribbean however showed me that they may still have the touch.

I would like to say this also. I know many probaly disapprove of Disney for taking there disks off the market and or producing limited amounts of certain DVD's but I dont and infact praise them for doing it (even though I am pissed I cant find the Toy Story DVDs cheap) and it makes me buy them sooner rather than later like I use to. And I much prefer this over them releasing 5 differenent versions of the same movie like these other companies. They most times go all out with there first print. With a Disney DVD I dont have that feeling, "should I hold out for a better version/super/duper/special edition?" and thus why I know now shy away from picking up certain movies from other companies.

Disney is going through some trying times with another company trying to take them over which has thankfully passed and losing Pixar. I really wished they they resolve this and come back to Disney after seeing the grass on the other side is not greener but if they dont I am confident Disney will pull through. Pixar brought some great movies in the fold but I most remember and admire Disney for what they did before Pixar and will continue to do after.


Damn, my post is getting too long so in anycase great site and hopefully one of you is selling the Toy Story set cheap.

[Luke]

Welcome to the forum, WOLFie! It's great to have you as part of our little community. I can tell from your first post that you're able to speak with knowledge and skill about Disney, and we can never have enough people like that. I hope you are pleased with the site and forum.

[indianajdp]

Haven't been around much the last few months so I wanted to collectively welcome all of you that have joined recently. So nice to see this community of ours keep growing

[AwallaceUNC]

Welcome aboard, WOLFie. Ditto to what Luke said. You successfully touched on nearly every thread that's being discussed in-depth in this forum right now. Good job. I look forward to posting with you.

-Aaron

[TheZue]

I guess I'll post my disney history here too:)

The first movie I remember seeing in the theatre was The Fox and The Hound with my aunt. Then it was Dumbo on Beta lol. My mom always had a thing for disneys and passed it on to me. Beauty and the Beast, Alladin and Lion King all came out while I was in high school so I got to see them in theatres with all my high school friends; those movies still bring back a lot of memories:) I got out of the habit of seeing disney's in the theatre after Pocahontas and Hercules, but luckily got to see Lilo and Stich on the the big screen. My favorite disney movie would probably be Beauty and The Beast, but I'm really partial to some of the ones that came out in the 70's that are considered sub par like Robin Hood and Sword in the Stone.

We first went to Disneyland when I was seven and I got so wound up that all I remember is walking through the Parking lot hahahaha. I went again with my parents in 1995 and loved it! Got to go on Captain Eo (sp?) before they shut it down which was kinda cool cause I remember wanting to go on that ride in the 80's I've been three times with my husband since 1999 and am dying to go again now that my son is a little older. Last time we went he was seven months old, but he LOVED it which really surprised me.

[Maerj]

Cool story, welcome!

Just one question... WHY DOES THAT EVIL MONKEY KEEP POINTING AT ME?????

[TheZue]

cause it lives in your closet

[Maerj]

cause it lives in your closet

I need an adult! I need an adult!!!

[deathie mouse]

Well, since awallaceunc sugested I post this, here's my disney story:


When i was little i went to see Fantasia

The end












errr.. i mean, Hi all!


I was lucky enough that in the twilight zone where I live, films and tv shows always arrived years late and there seemed to be a pattern of heavy re-releases of classic movies so I got to see many of Disney's animated and hollywood widescreen and 70mm classics and also b/w Universal monsters and foreign films on the theater screen (I remember particulary laughing a lot along the movie audience (zillions of other kids?) while watching the Aristocats). Since i was little, movies fascinated me and my family had an 8mm camera (later Super-8mm). We also had an ancient RCA tv set that apparently had one of the best picture tubes as colour phosphours go, and this warped my mind as I used to watch original Technicolor-like early-NTSC fare like Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Star Trek, both NTSC's inventor's RCA owned NBC shows. I obssesively used to adjust the color and hue (tint) controls till I got it perfect: Kirk's shirt was green, Spock's blue and Scotty's crimsom red, as they were originally designed (Nowadays modern monitors (and video transfers!) seem to've altered this look to red blue and weird goldish ). I became the official color tv adjuster everywhere I went, including TV stores (which didn't seem to please the managers there )
On a trip to Europe I found among some Asterix, Tintin, and Mortadelo & Filemon graphic albums several compendiums of classic Carl Barks and other Disney comics and brought all I could in my luggage since I've never seen those in my area. To me it felt like I was carrying a heavy treasure chest with my puny arms but well worth it.
When film re-releases dried up I discovered CAV Laserdiscs which i loved cus you could see each frame individually with full clarity and incredible (at the time) quality and many in widescreen, but couldn't watch movies on VHS for some reason so I started reading and learning more about the technical aspects of film, photography, and video (Because I realized the quality of the content was greatly enhanced when the quality of the presentation was excellent). Going to college I started in engineering but changed midway to Telecommunications (as in media: film tv photography radio etc). I've worked in production of TV commercials, some independent films, as head projectionist (the first Disney movie I projected was The Lion King!) (Can I say: "I've held the Lion King in my arms"?) and was in charge of a (modest) photographic laboratory for a while. This might explain why I tend to write long posts full of interminable technical information . I was planning to relocate to Los Angeles to further continue my film preservation education there but that has been put on hold for now, for I'm taking care of an ederly relative. My dream is to one day work in making sure films are preserved and presented the best way possible

Looking for information about out of print Disney DVD's I stumbled into this web site and was like discovering gold!. At last a place where I could know beforehand or be warned about titles i might miss. Cus all through this years of collecting i've missed a few titles I used to see on the store and say, "mmm i'll buy that one later" cus it looked plentiful, and you all know how that story goes. Exploring the site was like being a kid in a candy store and of course i discovered the forums, infinite source of info from all the members altho I particulary like posts from 2099net and Loomis (they are my source about PAL releases) and Joe Carioca with his R4 Iberoamerican conection plus the way Luke tends to clear some things up my making an authorative statement , but almost everybody has at some time said something interesting informative and helpful. Maybe those long post are my way of repaying the long hours of joy I've spent reading the forums and finding other people who love Disney movies.

And the shorts! Even tho my local tv stations played lots of Looney Tunes and others (including early anime) the Disney shorts (at least in my lifetime) weren't seen (apart from the Dysneyland tv show ones) so The Walt Disney Treasure series have been a godsend and for the first time in my life i'm seeing the 90% I've missed! (My Cotsco treasure chest was hand delivered to me this weekend by a visiting childhood friend who managed to get me one in San Antonio after i've been looking for four missing treasures for a year and a half!) In fact all this Disney DVD talk i've had with him this past few months has re-strenghtened our frienship a lot more )

I would like to thank awallaceunc and Luke for being the first persons that welcomed me here ,
and awallaceunc again for liking my avatar. I also like yours (in fact, I like all your previous ones! ).(rodis' recent blue mermaid looks beautiful too.)
I changed mine to version 2 because the first version looked too similar to JimmyJackJunior's and he might not like that (if he doesn't mind I might use it again sometime). Blue magic mouse vs dark magic mouse time!.

My favorite Disney movie is Fantasia.


Well, that's deathie mouse's Disney story for now. I think.

[Luke]

Another welcome seems in order, deathie mouse. Thanks for sharing your most interesting and thorough story. I'm really glad we have you among this community!

[Starion]

Hi, I finally got a chance to write a long bio.
I'm Sim B. I am a 25 year old guy.

I don't have a job.

Guess what movies I like. hehe. I saw part of The Lion King at a friends house in 1995. I only saw the second half of the movie where Timon and Pumbaa find Simba in the desert / dessert. My favourite part is the Can You Feel the Love tonight sequence. That is so romantic! Simba and Nala are so cute. Elton John and the whole team did a great job with the movie. The bath scene was funny too. Ever since then, I've been hooked on The Lion King and its sequels. I also like Brother Bear and Lilo and Stitch.

I currently attend Strayer University. The campus consists of only one building. Hehe. I thought the campus had a larger campus and a sports stadum / track and field. Since the campus is near the Arlington County police station hedquarders and a detention center, I see lots of police and sherrifs cars driving around.

My hobbies include amateur radio. I am a member of the Vienna Virginia (not Austria) radio club. Two people in the radio club call me Simba. Eh... When I was in highschool I used to roar like young Simba.

Incidently, I'm going to a park to practice emergency operations. Joy. I like listening to shortwave radio. I have two radio scanners that I use to monitor aircraft and railroad communications. I haven't heard anything exciting on the fire/EMS and police channels. Then again, I can't monitor the public safety and military frequencies anyways.

I got started in shortwave radio and linguistics / phonetics because of the Lion King.

Here's the short version of the story: Since I wanted to know what musical pitch everyone was singing, I recorded the music onto my computer and analyzed it with a spectrum analyzer / graph. The spectrum analyzer shows me what audio frequencies the voices and instruments are. In order for me to graphical representation of speech on the graph, I need to learn phonetics.
Now that I found some international soundtracks of the Lion King in different languages, I need to learn new languages to understand what is being said. Here's the short list of languages that I'm trying to learn: Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Dutch, German, Swedish and Norwegian.

I have fun watching my Disney Movies in French and Spanish.

I'm going to read everyone else's posts now. If I think of something to add, I will. I love Nala.. yeah.

I can't think of anything else to add other than that I can easily go to two Disney Stores. There is one at Tysons Corner mall and one at Ronald Regan Washington National Airport (DCA).

I gotta go because it's almost 2 AM. Take care everyone.

[AwallaceUNC]

Nice to read your story, Starion, even if you are one of the older members here (in terms of length of membership, not age, lol). Thanks for sharing.

-Aaron

[DisneyGirl]

I grew up as an only child, and with no one to play with on rainy days, which were often since we live in a very wet area of Hawaii surrounded by lush mountains, I spent many-a-days watching TV. As a very young child 2 or 3 years, my mom and I would watch cartoons. I distinctly remember watching Mickey Mouse, Donand and Pluto cartoons all the time. I was never very fond of Warner Brothers cartoons. Except for the occasional one here and there...Disney cartoons were my entertainment of choice.
Born in 1982, I'm now 21 (to be 22 in October), and though I'm sure I've seen many Disney movies in theaters, the first Disney movie I remember seeing was The Little Mermaid. My memory of this is very limited, and all I can recall is her singing "Part of Your World" while I sat in awe. I remember Beauty and the Beast coming out in theaters but I don't recall seeing it until it came out on video (though my mom swears she took me to the theater). I remember the big hoop-la that was made when it was nominated for awards. The same goes for Aladdin-vauge memory of seeing it on video, other than that, not much.
However, when The Lion King came out, I sing a new tune. I was in the 11 or 12 at the time and a friend of mine and I caught the bus to the mall to go see it. We ended up going back three more times to cry each time Mufasa died and bawl tears when the movie ended. It was also during this year when my mother took me to Disneyland for the first time since I was four. (And being so young, I don't remember ever going.) So I went, claiming it was my 'First time' to going to Disneyland. I nearly cried when I entered the gates that lead to Main street. It was so wonderful!...years later when we went to the Magic Kingdom, I caught strep throat when I was on the plane. A two week trip reduced to a hospital trip and bedridden. I refused to stay put though and went to Disneyworld, Busch Gardens and MGM anyway. I missed Epcot though since I couldn't stop *ahem* throwing up that day. I also missed the trip to Blizzard Bay because my fever was making me hallucinate. I haven't been able to go back to Florida since then, but it was still one of the best trips I ever had. As an adult, my friends go on trips to Las Vegas and New Orleans...heck, I'd rather go to Orange County any time!
From then on, (after The Lion King) as soon as a Disney movie was released in theaters, I went to see it. (Except for Brother Bear, Treasure Planet and Home on the Range, though this is because my school and work schedule don't allow me time to go). I've spent a long time (and as most of you have, a lot of money) collecting my DVDs, and I cannot wait till the day when I can share the magic of Disney with my own children.

[AwallaceUNC]

Great intro post! I'm pleased to be the first in this forum to welcome you to UltimateDisney.com . The story of you nearly crying when you first (well, second ) entered Disneyland is really touching- I almost feel like that everytime. I also identify with two other things you said- always wanting to vacation there, and anticipating sharing Disney with future children. It's too bad that your last vacation was cut short. Like you, I would have been a trooper as well, but being sick would put a damper on it, so it's really unfortunate. Hopefully you'll be able to return soon. Anyways, it looks like you've got a lot of input to provide to the forum, so I look forward to posting with you.

-Aaron