Walt Disney Television

Background
Disney's TV output from 1954 until 1981 (the anthology series, Zorro, Mickey Mouse Club) had no in-credit text for "Walt Disney Productions" at all, only a copyright stamp at the end of the closing credits; also, the company didn't have its own television arm until 1983 as "Walt Disney Pictures Television". The name Disney obviously required no indication, unlike other studios. Syndication of Disney's library was done by SFM Entertainment. The original Mickey Mouse Club, The Mouse Factory, and the 1970s revival of MMC were the only programs made available through syndication; in the days before the Disney Channel, the lesser movies and the short cartoons were seen only on the anthology series, while the animated films and first-tier live-action films were, of course, re-issued to theaters. When the anthology series moved to CBS however, this changed. In 2007, the Walt Disney Television Group (now the "Disney-ABC Television Group", later the Walt Disney Television division) in the U.S. was shut down and reincorporated to its television animation division (currently part of Disney Channel since 2007). The live-action division of the company was already folded into Touchstone Television (now ABC Signature) shortly after Disney reincorporated its TV output to its television animation division. Today, WDT is still active as in-name-only by producing programs internationally.

1st Logo (March 23, 1975, September 26, 1981-February 18, 1985)
Logo: Just in-credit text saying "WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS".

Later Variants:
 * In 1983, the word "PRODUCTIONS" was changed to "PICTURES".
 * On the 1984 CBS special Donald Duck's 50th Birthday, the text was superimposed on a black-red gradient background, with the text "WALT DiSNEY" in the corporate font and the words "PICTURES" and "TELEVISION DIVISION" below.
 * Another variant is an in-credit notice with "WALT DiSNEY" in its corporate font with "PICTURES" and "TELEVISION" above and below each other with a line in between them. This is seen on Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Celebration.
 * On the one-hour NBC version of Mickey's Christmas Carol, first broadcast in 1984, there's an in-credit notice reading "From Walt Disney Pictures Television".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Rare.
 * It's seen on 1981-1983 anthology series episodes (when the show was titled Walt Disney) and on the Disney Channel Valentine's Day compilation of cartoon material entitled From Disney with Love. Since these are no longer on the Disney Channel, one must look for the commercially released (but long out of print) videotapes of the anthology series (the episodes being "The Hunter and the Rock Star" and "The Ranger of Brownstone").
 * It can be seen been used on the few short-lived series the studio produced for CBS in 1982 and 1983 (Herbie the Love Bug, Gun Shy, Small and Frye, Zorro and Son), but these shows are never seen anymore, at least on television.
 * The Bill Cotter website has information on all TV produced by Disney and its subsidiary labels.
 * The text most likely first appeared on The Wonderful World of Disney episode "Welcome to the World".
 * This can be seen on the TV Movie "Sultan and the Rock Star" on Disney+.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 14, 1985-September 28, 2007)
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Nicknames: "The Castle", "Blue Castle", "Magic Kingdom", "Disney", "Disney Castle"

Logo: A shortened version of the Walt Disney Pictures logo, starting with the white ball of light forming the words "WALT DiSNEY", but with the word "Courier" below it instead. A white circular line is drawn over the castle. Two main variants of this are known:
 * 1986-2007: The logo is in the style of the 1985 variant of the then-current movie logo, but the background is royal blue and the castle is in cornflower blue.
 * 1998-2007: The logo is in the style of the 1990 variant of the then-current movie logo, but the background is a grayish aquamarine. The URL "Times New Roman" is seen below, although sometimes this was omitted. Usually there is no ball of light in this variant with the castle and the "WALT DISNEY" name already formed, but in an extremely rare case from 2000, the text and the URL appeared from a flash of light, no longer from a ball of light like the 1986 variant. This was also used with the Buena Vista International Television logo.

Variants:
 * On international prints of their shows from 1998 to 2007, the text (including the URL for the version with it) would crossfade to "Times New Roman".
 * There's a slightly longer variant that starts about a second before the white ball of light appears. This variant can be seen on the Fluppy Dogs pilot movie and on Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration.
 * The very first version of this logo used a shortened version of the 1985 movie logo until 1986, this was retained on Toon Disney (now Disney XD) airings of Disney's Wuzzles in the early 2000s.
 * A variant with "In Association With" appearing above the castle was seen on original airings of the short-lived Sidekicks.
 * On the 1988 TV movie Totally Minnie, the words "DISTRIBUTED BY" are seen chyroned in above the castle.
 * On some episodes of Smart Guy on Disney+ and on season 2 of Brotherly Love, a small copyright note is shown below, this would fade into the 1995 Buena Vista International logo.
 * On the 1994 special Disney's Greatest Hits on Ice 1994, "Produced by", in American Typewriter, is shown above the castle, while "in association with" in the same font, is shown below.
 * One 2001 episode of House of Mouse on Disney Cinemagic in the UK had a slowed down variant of the 2000 logo. This was most likely because the episode was an U.S. print and it was a plastering job turned sloppy. This also happened on an episode of Lloyd in Space on the same network.
 * A still variant exists on the 1986 TV special Disney's Living Seas.
 * On one episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, the arc fades away after it's drawn, just like the movie logo at the end of Fantasia 2000 and The Emperor's New Groove.

FX/SFX: The "flash", and the drawing with the line. For the later years, it's enhanced.

Music/Sounds:
 * September 14, 1985-1988: A light 6-note synth tune, with the 5th note particularly rolled. This logo was played on the Roland Alpha Juno keyboard (which the patch was Bell-Chimes #1).
 * 1987-September 28, 2007: A 6-note orchestral fanfare based on "When You Wish Upon a Star". This piece of music was previously used as a bumper for The Magical World of Disney.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On seasons 3 and 4 of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a short woodwind/string tune based off that season's closing credit theme is heard. This was also heard on later prints of these seasons with the 1986 and 1990 logos. It can also be heard during the end credits of certain episodes of the show's VHS releases due to the credits format used on them.
 * On Disney+ prints of Hercules: The Animated Series, and on Disney Channel and Toon Disney airings of both DuckTales (also on the iTunes airings as well) and some episodes of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, it had a series of pings due to it plastering the 3rd logo (see below).
 * Starting in 1988, a warped variant of the music was introduced. This was also used on a bumper for The Magical World of Disney.
 * On Disney's The Mighty Ducks, it used the 1995 Buena Vista Television theme.
 * Most of the time starting in 1986, the closing theme from any series is played over the logo, generic music when a series was shown on CBS from 1994 to 1996 and ABC starting in 1998 (mainly on TV specials) or the logo can be completely silent.
 * When Herbie Goes Bananas aired on The Disney Sunday Movie, the logo played at the beginning of the film to plaster the Buena Vista logo, with the film's BV music left intact.
 * When Mary Poppins aired on CBC in 1988, the logo played at the end of the film with a different fanfare using "When You Wish Upon a Star" as its basis. Said composition was commonly used as a bumper for The Disney Sunday Movie.
 * On Disney's Christmas Fantasy on Ice, an alternate, more majestic and fast-paced 6-note fanfare, also based on "When You Wish Upon a Star", was used.

Availability: Uncommon.
 * The original version with the 6-note synth tune is extinct, as it has not been heard in years. DVDs do not have it as well, though recent Greek dubbed prints of the season 1 Disney's Adventures of The Gummi Bears episode "A Gummi in a Gilded Cage" leaves the theme intact over the 1995 version of the 3rd logo.
 * The 1987 version used to be very common, as it was seen on many family programs on ABC, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Disney XD, and other Disney-produced shows on any network, but it has grown strongly uncommon due to a lot of them having never been re-aired or reissued on home video over the years. However, it is still available on shows with this logo on Disney+, as well as certain video releases of them, though not all of them retain this logo and either use the black-screen copyright notice or the 1986 logo instead. Among others, it can be seen on episodes of Recess on DVD (only the ones as bonus features on the movies, however; the actual movies themselves don't have this logo), and at the end of the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar, even on Blu-ray copies.
 * This logo plastered over the 1995 or 1997 Buena Vista Television logo on all reruns of 101 Dalmatians: The Series in the U.S., even though when it originally aired in syndication, this logo was used (the BVTV logo or this logo was used when the show was on ABC). Oddly enough, when the logo was aired on the original ABC and syndicated episodes of said show, the end theme would play over it, slightly in-sync with the animation; however in all reruns, the logo plays after the closing theme has ended.
 * It surprisingly appears on the Goof Troop episode "Meanwhile, Back at the Ramp" on the Goof Troop: Volume 1 DVD set.
 * The variant with the URL was debuted in 1998 during the 2nd season of Disney's One Saturday Morning can be found on ABC Kids airings of Recess and early episodes of Kim Possible.
 * The 1998 logo is extremely rare, but was still found internationally on the Disney Cinemagic network, like a few episodes of The Legend of Tarzan as well as Lloyd in Space.
 * It was also seen on Toon Disney prints of TaleSpin (except one episode, because the 3rd logo was retained, though all episodes on the iTunes and Disney+ prints keep this logo intact), Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, DuckTales (retained on the iTunes prints), Bonkers, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Marsupilami, Raw Toonage, The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Disney's Doug, Recess, Pepper Ann, Disney's Wuzzles (retaining the Walt Disney Pictures variant), and Darkwing Duck, among other 1980s/1990s Disney cartoons, either retaining this logo from original prints or plastering the 1995 Buena Vista Television logo or the 3rd or 5th logos.
 * On television, it was last seen to date on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The Series on The Hub (now Discovery Family) and Gargoyles on Disney XD.
 * Starting around the mid-2000's, Disney Channel (U.S.) prints of the first two seasons of Kim Possible and first season episodes of Lilo and Stitch: The Series plastered this logo with the 2003 Walt Disney Television Animation logo.
 * This can be seen for a split second at the end of some early '90s VHS releases of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, at the end of the closing credits for episodes like "The Great Honey Pot Robbery".

Editor's Note: This is a very iconic logo and a favorite of many, especially due to the beautiful music used from 1987 onwards.

3rd Logo (Fall 1986-2007)
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Nicknames: "Abstract Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom", "Disney Castle II", "Rainbow Disney Castle"

Logo: On a shady indigo blue background, we see the familiar Disney stylized, segmented castle (as seen in the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo), but shaded (from top to bottom) red, orange, and yellow. The white arch is already there, as is the "WALT DiSNEY" wordmark below, but with "Times New Roman". The arch sparkles from right to left (in the same vein as said movie logo) as the words cross-fade to "Times New Roman" or "Times New Roman"

Later variant:
 * In this version, the castle and text have been slightly separated, the text is now solid white and the "WALT DiSNEY" wordmark has now taken on its familiar form by becoming a tad bit bolder, the "sparkles" are now smaller and slower, the background is now clearer, and the Buena Vista Television reference has been removed. The background would later change to a purple-black gradient in 1995.

Variants:
 * There is a variant that completely lacks any animation, leaving the text entirely still with no cross-fading. The Winnie the Pooh Learning videos had this still logo, though other shows (such as VHS releases of The Little Mermaid: The Series (plastering the previous logo), several shows on Disney+, overseas airings of Recess, season 3 of Timon & Pumbaa, and iTunes releases of Darkwing Duck) may have animation but no text fading.
 * In both versions of the later variant, for non-U.S. prints and most DVD prints, the text would cross-fade to "Distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc.".
 * Some appearances of this logo have it fade out before the Buena Vista Television text fades in.
 * There is a completely still variation where the background is black, and everything but the text is gone. The text does not cross-fade either. This was used on the 1995 made-for-TV remake of Escape to Witch Mountain.

FX/SFX: The "sparkles", and the text fading. In other cases (mainly VHS tapes or Betamax tapes), it's completely still.

Music/Sounds: A series of ascending pings. There was also a variant where it used different-sounding pings (sounding like a super high-pitched version of the theme), the 1985 synth theme or the 1988 long and warp-speed themes from the previous logo (both likely due to plastering jobs), the closing theme of the show as was the case of most shows (such as Raw Toonage, Marsupilami, and other Disney shows, starting in 1988), or none as was the case with the DVD's and Disney+ prints of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

Availability: Rare, despite being used for 18 years. However, this is also becoming easier to find in more recent years.
 * While the previous logo was used for Disney's network programming, this logo was used for syndication, and debuted in films released to syndication as part of the company's Disney Magic I package, as well as on syndicated broadcasts of The Wonderful World of Disney.
 * It appeared at the end of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (Unusually, as it's a show produced by DIC Entertainment) and Bill Nye the Science Guy when last aired on Univision, and before every Disney movie shown on TV outside the U.S.
 * Most shows on Toon Disney (now "Disney XD") would replace it with the 2nd Walt Disney Television or the 1997 Buena Vista Television logo, sometimes with the original music preserved.
 * However, this logo was found on the Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, DuckTales, Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Dinosaurs, and Darkwing Duck DVDs.
 * This was seen on one episode of TaleSpin on Toon Disney (though it's plastered with the 2nd logo on the iTunes and Disney+ releases).
 * The non-animated version of this logo was found on the first three Winnie the Pooh Learning videos, while the animated version with no text fading appears on the first three Winnie the Pooh Playtime videos.
 * The animated non-fading version of this logo was used on overseas airings of some episodes of Recess, and on most season 3 episodes of Timon & Pumbaa and is intact on several Disney series on Disney+ and the iTunes releases of Darkwing Duck.
 * This logo is seen on Smart Guy on Disney+.
 * It's mostly seen outside the United States, and plasters the last logo on international prints of shows.
 * The variant with the alternate ping tune is extremely rare and appeared on a Russian broadcast of Darkwing Duck.
 * Strangely, this and the Buena Vista International TV logo, followed the Touchstone Television logo on the Home Improvement season 2 episode "I'm Scheming of a White Christmas", and the Boy Meets World season 5 episode "Heartbreak Cory", both can be seen on their DVD releases.
 * TVP1 airings of Sidekicks also used this logo.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1987-December 25, 1988)
Nicknames: "Sixty Years of Mickey with You", "Happy Birthday Mickey!"

Logo: On a yellow background, we see Mickey, in a tuxedo, stand on a blue filmstrip with Steamboat Willie in it, over a pink circle with the words "Times New Roman" in it. A green banner is behind him reading "MICKEY". Underneath is the blue text "WALT DiSNEY Times New Roman", with "WALT DiSNEY" in the corporate "Disney" font. Mickey then winks and then blinks his eyes twice.

Variants:
 * There is a longer version where it zooms out from the filmstrip and Mickey jumps in wearing a top hat. He throws away the hat and goes into his position as "WALT DiSNEY Times New Roman" fades in underneath.
 * A short version (without "WALT DiSNEY Times New Roman") exists that starts with Mickey just about to pose with the text on the circle and banner starting to fade in.
 * An even longer version appeared at the end of the 1988 Disney video Mickey's Magical World. See Mickey: Sixty Years with You for more details.

FX/SFX: Mickey taking his position. The circle and banner zooming out on the long variant.

Music/Sounds: The 1987 theme from the 2nd logo or the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct.
 * It was seen on the 1987 program Disney's Golden Anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when it aired on The Magical World of Disney on December 25, 1988.
 * The full version (with 1987 music) was seen on a 1988 broadcast of Dumbo.
 * The short version (with 1987 music) was spotted on the TV special Disneyland's All-Star Comedy Circus.
 * The logo also (appropriately) appeared on Mickey's 60th Birthday.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (1990-1996, 1998)
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Nicknames: "Abstract Castle II", "Multicolored Kingdom II", "Disney Castle III", "Rainbow Disney Castle II"

Logo: On a black background, we see the castle as in the 3rd logo with the 3-D words "Times New Roman" (now with "Times New Roman" in the same Times New Roman Bold font as "Times New Roman") below it. A spark draws the circular line, but this time from left to right. As the line draws itself, the flags appear one by one on top of the castle. The words below fade to the Buena Vista Television text.

Variant: A still version was used on the 1996-97 season of The Disney Afternoon, this faded into the 1995 Buena Vista Television logo.

FX/SFX: The spark going from left to right, the flags appearing and sometimes a spark going through the circular line. This was all done by Flip Your Lid Animation.

Music/Sounds: Ping music, but in most cases, it's silent or the finishing of the end title theme from any show plays over the logo.

Availability: Very rare.
 * Seen on shows like TaleSpin (including its original pilot) and also used on 1994 re-runs of The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh in syndication.
 * It was also seen on the Christmas episode of Bonkers titled "Miracle at the 34th Precinct", and surprisingly appears on the Goof Troop episode "Calling All Goofs" on the Goof Troop: Volume 2 DVD set.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (September 6, 1991-December 5, 1992)
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Nickname: "Goofy Filmstrip"

Logo: Against a white background, we see Goofy appear upside down from the top-left corner with a quizzical look on his face. As his expression changes from a confused one to an excited one, the logo zooms out to reveal it's on a white filmstrip, superimposed on a shaded blue gradient background decorated with black drawings of the typical castle. The text "WALT DiSNEY Times New Roman" (with "WALT DiSNEY" in its corporate font) can be seen below the white filmstrip, then after a few seconds it changes to the "Times New Roman" text.

FX/SFX: Goofy moving. All good Disney animation.

Variant: There is a longer version where we see Goofy's legs first, then the legs, walk off, and the animation continues as normal.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct. It was originally seen on the 1991-1992 season of The Disney Afternoon and A Goof Troop Christmas: Have Yourself a Goofy Little Christmas. Also seen on The Disney Day Off on WGN.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo (December 17, 2008)
Nicknames: "The CGI Castle", "CGI Magic Kingdom", "Disney Castle IV", "CGI Disney Castle", "Cinderella Castle", "Ultra Majestic Castle", "The Happiest Place on Earth"

Logo: We see the completed 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo, with "Times New Roman" instead of "Times New Roman".

FX/SFX: Same as the movie logo.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Ultra rare. This was only seen on A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.

Editor's Note: None.

Final Note: All Disney-owned live-action shows are currently supplanted by ABC Signature and 20th Television while animated shows owned by Disney are currently supplanted by Disney Television Animation and 20th Television Animation.