1924 - Disney's Alice Comedy Alice and the Three Bears - featuring Virginia Davis - is released. Alice and Julius comes across 3 bears operating a still, and must fight their way free!

1925 - Composer-conductor Jaime Mendoza-Nava is born in La Paz, Bolivia. A child prodigy, he will later arrive in the U.S. in the early 1950s and work on Disney television shows and develop Disney's copyright department. Mendoza-Nava will score music for both The Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro series.

1937 - Final photography for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs takes place.

1945 - Singer-actress Bette Midler, who hosted a segment of Disney's Fantasia/2000, and supplied the voice of Georgette in the 1988 Oliver & Company (for which she also co-produced) is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1950 - Walt Disney writes his annual birthday letter to his younger sister Ruth (who will turn a year older on December 6). He writes of childhood memories and his upcoming television show to be released on Christmas Day. As he can never figure out what to get Ruth for her birthday ... he encloses his traditonal check.

1952 - Walt's brother Herb Disney retires from the Post Office after more than 37 years. (In his younger days Walt had too worked for the Post Office, in Chicago.)

1954 - The ABC-TV Disneyland series airs "A Story of Dogs." Walt Disney and his animators give a behind-the-scenes look at their latest animated feature Lady and the Tramp. The second half of the show is dedicated to Disney's first canine hero, Pluto.

1954 - An article titled "Fairyland of Yesterday and Tomorrow" appears in the publication Popular Mechanics. It tells of Disney's new Anaheim park (which will open the following July) and its attractions.

1955 - At Disneyland, the Maxwell House Coffee House opens on Main Street. (It will close less than 2 years later.)

1955 - The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Circus Day.

1956 - The third of eight installments titled "My Dad, Walt Disney," by Diane Disney Miller as told to Pete Martin (a "celebrity friendly" writer) appears in the Saturday Evening Post.

1958 - Construction of Florida's Interstate 4 begins. The final link of the highway will be completed in February 1965. (The route will provide access to all of Orlando's theme parks including Disney World.)

1960 - Sunset magazine features the article "Christmas in Disneyland." Readers are informed of all the special holiday events planned for the Anaheim park.

1963 - Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs part 1 of "Pollyanna" on NBC-TV.

1966 - Disney's live-action feature film Follow Me, Boys! - starring Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish, Charles Ruggles, and Kurt Russell - is generally released. The plot centers around musician Lem Siddons (played by MacMurray) who has decided to put down roots in Hickory, a small Midwestern town, by taking a job as a clerk in a general store.

1971 - The Roy O. Disney (the 4th engine of the Walt Disney World Railroad) goes into service. Like the park's 3 other engines (all in service since opening day - October 1, 1971), this engine was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Pennsylvania.

1973 - By winning the Walt Disney World Open golf tournament in Florida, Jack Nicklaus becomes the first player in golfing history to pass $2 million in career earnings.

1982 - The Future Corps, a group of musicians who play high energy instrumental music in the drum and bugle corps style, first perform at Epcot. This will be the start of an almost 18 year run as a full-time atmosphere group. (The name Future Corps is a word combination of Epcot's Future World and Drum Corps.)

1993 - Disney World's Fantasyland Theater in the Magic Kingdom shows the 3D film Magic Journeys for the last time. Originally an opening day EPCOT attraction, Magic Journeys was moved into the Fantasyland Theater in 1987.

1997 - It is announced, on the plaza of the Music Center of Los Angeles on whose campus the Walt Disney Concert Hall will be built, that The Walt Disney Company will make a "challenge gift" of $25 million toward construction of the Disney Concert Hall and Roy E. and Patty Disney will donate the first $5 million toward meeting the challenge. (The venue will open in 2003.)

2000 - The Disney Channel Original Movie The Ultimate Christmas Present, about two teen girls who find a weather machine and make it snow in Los Angeles, debuts.

2001 - The Triceratops Spin ride opens at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom.

2002 - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party kicks off for the first time this season at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

2003 - It is reported that Stanley P. Gold has resigned from Disney's Board of Directors (following the resignation of Roy E. Disney the day before). Like Mr. Disney, Gold too calls for the removal of CEO Michael Eisner.

2003 - A new website called SaveDisney.com is registered. It will be devoted to those concerned about the welfare of The Walt Disney Company and its future direction. (Roy E. Disney and Stan Gold will use this site as a central information location as they hope to restore Disney to its position as the preeminent entertainment company in the world.)

2004 - Tickets go on sale for the Disneyland Resort's Indiana Jones Adventure 10th Anniversary Event (to be held March 3, 2005).

2004 - Disney's PhotoPass, debuts in all four Walt Disney World theme parks. When guests have pictures taken by theme park photographers, instead of receiving a paper claim, they will now be given a Disney PhotoPass that links all of their vacation photos together into one online account for easy online viewing and sharing.

2006 - Epcot's Candlelight Processional kicks off for the holiday season. Guest narrator Rita Morena performs the first of a 2-night engagement.

2006 - Disney Channel airs the Hannah Montana episode "Debit it Be" for the first time.

2006 - Atlantic Monthly magazine announces the top 100 most influential figures in American history. At number 26 ... is Walt Disney!

2007 - A promotional tour for High School Musical 2, featuring Lucas Grabeel (Ryan Evans) and Monique Coleman (Taylor McKessie), stops at Castle Towers Shopping Centre in Sydney, Australia. High School Musical 2 premieres in the evening on Australia's Channel Seven.

2007 - The Jonas Brothers tape segments for the "Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade" at Disney World. The 24th annual "Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade" is scheduled to air December 25.

2008 - Annie Award nominations are announced. Walt Disney Animation Studio's current hit Bolt receives nine nominations, and Pixar Animation Studio's summer blockbuster Wall-E earns eight. Nominees in the best animated TV production include Disney Television Animation's Phineas and Ferb. Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park are announced as the recipients of the Winsor McCay special award for career contributions to the art of animation. The winners will be announced January 30 at the gala award ceremony at UCLA's Royce Hall.

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