WALT DISNEY STUDIOS (BURBANK)

The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serves as the corporate

headquarters for The Walt Disney Company media conglomerate. Besides housing offices

for the company's many divisions, the Walt Disney Studios' 51-acre (20.6 ha) studio lot

also contains several sound stages, a backlot and other production facilities for Walt Disney

Studios' motion picture production.

The Studios are one of two major film studios that do not currently offer backlot tours to

the general public, the other being 20th Century Fox. For several years, Adventures by

Disney has offered tours of the studio, but only as an integral component of their six-day,

five-night Southern California tour package. The other way to tour the studio is to join the

official Disney D23 fan club, which offers tours to members every few months. The studio

used to open to the public once a year in November on the Saturday

before Thanksgiving for its annual Magical Holiday Faire craft sale, but stopped hosting

the Faire around 2003.

The Studio is a part of the Walt Disney Studios' Disney Studio Services unit along

with Golden Oak Ranch, The Prospect Studios and KABC7 Studio B

HISTORY

Prior to the official opening of the Burbank lot in 1940, the Walt Disney Studios was

located at several different locations in Los Angeles. During summer 1923, Walt

Disney created "The Disney Bros. Cartoon Studio" in his uncle Robert Disney's garage,

which was located at 4406 Kingswell Avenue, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los

Angeles (just east of Hollywood). His brother Roy O. Disney was also in Los Angeles at

the time. During October 1923, the brothers leased office space on the rear side of a real

estate agency's office at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney

accepted an offer from Margaret Winkler of Universal Studios to distribute the new Alice

Comedies starring Virginia Davis. It was also at this site where on January 14, 1924, Walt

Disney met his future wife Lillian Bounds, an "ink and paint" girl whom he personally hired.

In February 1924, the studio moved next door to an office of its own at 4649 Kingswell

Avenue. The late Robert Disney's residence and the small office building that is home to

4649 and 4651 Kingswell Avenue have survived to the present and are still in use.

In 1925, Walt Disney placed a deposit on a new, considerably larger lot at 2719 Hyperion

Avenue, and the studio moved there in January 1926. It was here where, after a train

journey with his wife Lillian, Walt fully created the character of Mickey Mouse in 1928.

The first color animated film, the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees and the first animated

cartoon using the multiplane camera, The Old Mill was created. In 1937, the Hyperion

studio produced the world's first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the

Seven Dwarfs. Disney's staff began to grow to a substantial size at the Hyperion studio,

and Disney Legends such as Disney's Nine Old Men began their careers there. The Hyperion

studio site was sold in 1940 and divided between two different industrial manufacturers,

and in 1966 a subsequent owner demolished what was left of the studio complex and

replaced it with the supermarket and shopping center that stand there today. To honor

the company's former headquarters from 1926 to 1940, the name 'Hyperion' has been

reused over the years by the Walt Disney Company for multiple divisions and attractions,

including Hyperion Books and the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park.

The entrance gate to Walt Disney Studios at 500 South Buena Vista Street in Burbank,

California.

The current Walt Disney Studios, located at 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, was

made possible by the revenue from the 1937 release of Snow White and the Seven

Dwarfs. Walt Disney and his staff began the move from the old studio at Hyperion Avenue

in Silver Lake on December 24, 1939, and was completed on May 6, 1940. Designed

primarily by Kem Weber under the supervision of Walt Disney and his brother Roy, the

Burbank Disney Studio buildings are the only studios that have been owned by The Walt

Disney Company to survive from the Golden Age of filming. A bungalow and other small

buildings that were located at the Hyperion Avenue location were moved to Burbank.

The Walt Disney Studios was originally designed around the animation process, with the

large animation building in the center of the campus, and adjacent outlying buildings were

built for the story department, the music department, the ink-and-paint departments, and

the other various functions of the studio. Both above-ground walkways and tunnels

connected the buildings, and the campus also included a movie theatre and a number

of soundstages. The Disney feature The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley, served

as a tour of the then-new studio, which was also frequently seen and toured on the

various Walt Disney television programs.

In the late 1940s, the studio began regular work on live-action features, as they needed the

money. Though their first films were shot in England, the necessity to build live-action

facilities still arose. Lacking the capital to do it themselves, Jack Webb offered to put up

some of the money to build live-action soundstages in exchange for the right to use them

(Webb used them to shoot much of the Dragnet TV series). During this time, backlots for

exterior shots were also built and remained standing at the studios until after a major

change in management in 1984.

In 1986, after the corporate restructuring of Walt Disney Productions into The Walt Disney

Company, the studio lot was remodeled to accommodate more live-action production

space and administrative offices. The studio lot is now home to multiple office and

administration buildings and 10 soundstages. It is bounded by South Buena Vista Street on

the west, West Alameda Street on the north, South Keystone Street on the east, and West

Riverside Drive on the south. It sits in an area of Burbank where the street grid is offset at

a diagonal, but most of the original buildings and roads within the campus itself were laid

out in alignment with the cardinal directions.

FACILITIES

Team Disney - The Michael D. Eisner Building

Formerly known as the Team Disney Burbank building, Team Disney - The Michael D.

Eisner Building is the main building located at The Walt Disney Studios. Completed in 1990

and designed by Michael Graves, the Team Disney Burbank building contains the office of

President and CEO Robert A. Iger, as well as the boardroom for the Board of Directors. It

also houses offices for members of Senior Management, such as Alan Horn, Chairman of

The Walt Disney Studios and Andy Bird, Chairman of Walt Disney International. Prior to

the opening of the Team Disney Burbank building in 1990, Disney executives were located

in the old Animation building and the Roy O. Disney Building; the animators had been

forced to relocate in 1985 into a series of warehouses, trailers, and hangars in nearby

Glendale.

The building is sometimes called the "Seven Dwarfs Building"; it has a stunning fascia of the

seven dwarfs holding up the roof of the building, an homage to the animated film Snow

White and the Seven Dwarfs, which provided Walt Disney with the revenue to purchase

the Burbank lot. The building is located opposite the Frank G. Wells building, Eisner's

former colleague, and President of The Walt Disney Company from 19841994. In 1996

the building was featured in Hollywood Pictures film Spy Hard. On January 23, 2006, in

honor of Michael Eisner's 21-year leadership of the company, the Team Disney building

was rededicated as Team Disney - The Michael D. Eisner Building.

The Disney Legends Plaza

The Disney Legends plaza, located between

the Team Disney: The Michael D. Eisner building

and the Frank G. Wells building, is the central hub

for the Disney Legends award and pays homage

to its recipients. The plaza features the Partners

statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse,

designed by Imagineer Blaine Gibson, along with

a replica statue of Roy O. Disney and Minnie

Mouse which can also be found at the Magic

Kingdom park.

Located on the pillars in the plaza are bronze plaques featuring receivers of the Disney

Legends award. The plaques feature the recipient's name, reason for gaining the award,

and the person's hand prints and signature if they were alive at the time they received the

award. Most famously, Legendary Animator and Imagineer, Ward Kimball's plaque

features an extra finger, a reminder of Kimball's sense of humor. If, however, the award

was presented posthumously, an image of the Disney Legends statue is engraved instead

of the traditional hand prints and signature.

The plaza formerly featured a small fountain to honor the Legends, but that was since

removed due to water leakage.

The Frank G. Wells Building

This building is dedicated to the former President of The Walt Disney Company from 1984

1994, Frank G. Wells. The building opened in 1998 and was dedicated by Wells' widow

Luanne Wells, and company CEO Michael Eisner. The five-story building has a usable area

of 240,518 square feet (22,344.9 m2) with three underground parking levels,

accommodating 600 parking spaces. The construction was completed in two phases: phase

I in August 1997 and phase II in July 1998. The Frank G. Wells building was specifically

designed for Walt Disney Television Animation, and the division formerly had offices

located on the third floor. It is distinctly recognizable through its giant movie reel and film

strip on the building's exterior. The building is currently home to the Walt Disney Archives,

studio mail center, the Disney Music Group, a screening room, various multipurpose

rooms, and one of the three extant multiplane cameras (which is on display in the lobby).

It was formerly home to Walt Disney Television, various management offices, and the

human resources department. The Archives are located on the ground floor and are open

to all cast members; they also have additional storage and restricted areas on other floors.

The Studio's Starbucks Coffee shop is also located on the ground floor.

Animation Building

The original Animation Building

The former main building for Walt Disney Animation Studios was built and completed in

1940, based on a design by Kem Weber. It is considered the jewel of the original studio

buildings. Walt Disney personally supervised the "double H" design, ensuring as many

rooms as possible had windows, which allowed natural light into the building to help the

animators while working. Many of the classic Disney animated features

including Dumbo, Peter Pan, Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp were created and drawn

here. Walt Disney had two offices within the building, known as his "formal" and "working

offices". Walt's rooms continued to be used after his death in 1966, and personal items

were archived in 1970, as it is believed that Walt would have wanted his offices to be

reused. The rooms still include some original features and are still currently used by

company officials.

Disney's Nine Old Men worked at the Animation Building, along with legendary animators

and artists such as Eyvind Earle, Mary Blair, Andreas Deja, Floyd Norman, John

Lasseter, Glen Keane, John Musker and Ron Clements. In 1985, production was moved

from the Animation Building into a cluster of old hangars, warehouses, and trailers located

about two miles east (3.2 km) in Glendale, at the former site of the Grand Central Airport.

Prior to the opening of theTeam Disney Burbank building in 1990, Disney executives used

the Animation Building as corporate offices. In 1995, animation production moved back

to Burbank across the street from the main studios with the opening of the Walt Disney

Feature Animation Building. Today, the Animation Building is used primarily to house

offices for various film and television producers who have distribution deals with Disney.

The Roy O. Disney Building

The Roy O. Disney building is located next to the animation building and held the office

of Roy O. Disney to whom the building is dedicated. The building used to be the main

administration building on the studio lot prior to the opening of the Team Disney - The

Michael D. Eisner building. Today, it is home to Disney's legal department.

The Annette Funicello Stage, Stage 1

Stage 1 was completed between 1939 and 1940 and is the original Disney soundstage on

the Burbank lot. The soundstage was designed to replace a smaller stage at the former

Hyperion Avenue Studio. Although The Walt Disney Studios predominantly made

animated films, the soundstage was built in order to film Leopold Stokowski's segments in

the 1940 film Fantasia. During World War II, the stage was used for repairing army vehicles.

The soundstage was formerly dedicated to Fantasia, for it being the first motion picture that

was filmed in the building. The stage is the smallest on the lot at 11,000 sq ft. It features a

2400 sq ft underwater tank and is still in active use. On June 24, 2013, it was dedicated

to Mousketeer Annette Funicello as it was the original shooting stage for The Mickey

Mouse Club.

The Julie Andrews Stage, Stage 2

Constructed from 1947 and opening in April 1949, Stage 2 is the second oldest soundstage

on the Walt Disney Studios lot, and at 31,000 feet (9,400 m), one of the largest in Los

Angeles. It was built and financed between a joint agreement between Walt Disney and

director Jack Webb, who used the stage for the filming of the television series Dragnet. In

October 1955, Stage 2 began production on the first series of The Mickey Mouse Club.

From 1954-1955 and prior to the opening of the facilities at Glendale California, WED

Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) occupied soundstage 2 to build multiple

attractions for Disneyland, including the Mark Twain Riverboat. Since then Stage 2 has

been used for filming of multiple attractions for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. In 2001

the stage is dedicated to English actress and Disney Legend Julie Andrews, due to the filming

of Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries, which took place inside the soundstage. During

the filming of Armageddon the filmmakers discovered the 40 feet high tall stage was not

tall enough to hold one of the "asteroid" seen in the film. The floor was removed and an

additional 20 feet was dug down to accommodate the 360 degree set for the scene.

Stage 3

Stage 3 was completed in 1953 and designed especially for the film 20,000 Leagues Under

the Sea. The stage is 19,000 sq ft and contains an operational 3600 sq ft water tank that is

divided into two parts for underwater and special effects filming.

The tank area was also used heavily beginning in the 1960s as Disney pioneered the use of

the sodium screen process. In the 1970s stage 3 was equipped with the first computerized

motion control system. The ACES (Animated Camera Effects System) was designed by

Disney engineers and broke new ground with technology which has become one of the

foundations of current special effects photography.

Stages 4 & 5

Stage 4, which was completed in 1958, was first used for Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

Upon completing 30 years of service in 1998, Stage 4 was divided into two new television

studios, creating the new Stage 4 and Stage 5. Stage 4 is known as the Home Improvement

stage which was filmed here from 1991 to 1999.

Stages 6 & 7

Stages 6 and 7, built in 1997 are the newest soundstages at the Walt Disney Studios. These

audience-rated stages provide comprehensive production support with computer-

controlled access, high-volume air-conditioning, and adjoining production support

building. They are built on the former back-lot and are located behind the Frank G. Wells

Building. Both stages are 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) each and are in frequent use at the

studios. Popular productions hare have included, My Wife and Kids, 8 Simple Rules For

Dating My Teenage Daughter, Geena, and Brothers and Sisters.

The Hyperion Bungalow

The Bungalow was built in 1935 as the original home of the Disney Publicity and Comic

Strip Departments. It was constructed at the Disney Studios on Hyperion Avenue in

Hollywood and moved to the Burbank location as part of the construction process in 1939-

1940. At the Disney Burbank lot, the building housed many support services over the years.

Payroll, Publicity Support, Traffic and finally the Post Office were located in the building.

The structure is the last remaining example of the "California Bungalow" type architecture

that remains from the Hyperion studio facility. Its attractive style and utility, dating back

to the early years of the company, give it a special place in the history of the Disney lot.

Ink and Paint Building

The Ink and Paint Building is where animators' drawings were inked onto transparent cels

and then the cels were painted. It was built with a sophisticated central ventilation system

to efficiently carry away toxic paint fumes and bring in fresh air so that "ink and paint" staff

members would not be overcome by the fumes.

Camera Building

The Camera Building is where animation backgrounds and cels were traditionally

photographed onto film.

CUTTING BUILDING

SHORTS BUILDING

The Roy E. Disney Animation Building

Formerly known as the Walt Disney Feature Animation Building, the Roy E.

Disney building is the current home of Walt Disney Animation Studios, which sits to the

south across Riverside Drive.

As noted above, in 1985, Disney Animation was moved out of the studio lot and into a

cluster of old buildings in Glendale. During Michael Eisner's 1986 restructuring of The Walt

Disney Company, the studio's animation division was spun off to officially create Walt

Disney Feature Animation as a separate subsidiary of the company, and in 1995 it came

back to Burbank when its new home opened.

The new studio is a colorful architectural landmark, adorned by a giant version of the

Fantasia Sorcerer's hat, which once housed of the office of Roy Disney, former head of

Walt Disney Animation Studios. It also displays the word "ANIMATION" on giant letters

on its south side to passersby on the Ventura Freeway.

In 2009, following the death of Roy Disney, the building was renamed and rededicated in

his honor by Disney president and CEO, Bob Iger.

ABC Studios Building

The ABC Studios building on the Walt Disney Studios Riverside Drive property in Burbank,

California. The blue pedestrian overpass seen in the lower left connects it to the larger

Buena Vista lot.

After Disney's purchase of ABC in 1996, a new headquarters for the television network was

constructed across Riverside Drive next to the Walt Disney Feature Animation Building.

The ABC building was designed by Aldo Rossi and is connected to the lot by a blue

serpentine bridge that crosses over Riverside Drive. The ABC building also houses the

offices of other subsidiaries such as ABC Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Digital Studio Center

A two-story 17,000 square foot facility dedicated to post-production utilities and other,

similar technical services. Opened in December 2012, the center is the home of Disney

Digital Studio Services.