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 did not 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 2000, Walt Disney Television was folded into Touchstone Television (now ABC Signature) while its name continued to be used on new cartoons from Walt Disney Television Animation (now Disney Television Animation, which is now a unit of Disney Branded Television) until 2003, when it disappeared for good.

1st Logo (November 13, 1984-February 18, 1985)
Visuals: Essentially, it consists of the "WALT DiSNEY" wordmark with

Times New Roman Times New Roman

underneath. The latter two words are split by a thin, vertical bar.

Variants:
 * On the 1984 CBS special Donald Duck's 50th Birthday, the text was superimposed on a black- gradient background, with the words "PICTURES" and "TELEVISION DIVISION" below.
 * A rare version of the logo appears on a 1986 NBC airing of Walt Disney's Dumbo, which has the Disney castle above the text.

Technique: None.

Audio: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: It's seen on 1983-1985 television specials such as Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Celebration and Donald Duck's 50th Birthday, respectively. As this logo was a placeholder, they have not been seen outside of their original airings.

2nd Logo (September 14, 1985-August 17, 2004)
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Visuals: A shortened version of the 1985 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. There are four known versions of this:
 * 1985-1986: Just a shortened version of the 1985 movie logo with "Courier" left intact. This was retained on Toon Disney (now Disney XD) airings of Disney's Wuzzles in the early 2000s; however, VHS releases of said series plaster this logo with the 3rd logo.
 * 1986-2004: 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. The URL "Times New Roman" (in a Garamond font) was later added in 1998.
 * 1998-2004: The logo is in the style of the 1990 variant of the then-current movie logo, but the background is a light navy blue and the castle in an off-cerulean. Here the name is already formed and the URL "Times New Roman" (now in Times New Roman) is seen below, although sometimes this was omitted. This would also be used for the then-new Buena Vista International logo.
 * 2001-2003: Same as the 2nd version, but the castle and background are in off-color versions of the 2001 version of the movie logo. This version combines elements of both the original and 2nd versions. This time, the entire text is formed by a flash of light. Similar to the 1998 version of the 1986 logo, the URL sometimes appears at the same time (albeit extremely rarely).

Variants:
 * On international prints of their shows from 1998 to 2004, the text (including the URL for the version with it) would crossfade to the Buena Vista International logo, although on some later prints, it would instead cut to the 2006 BVIT logo.
 * 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.
 * A variant with "In Association With" appearing above the castle was seen on original airings of the short-lived Sidekicks.
 * A different In Association With variant appears on the 1997 rerun of Disney's Christmas Fantasy on Ice, featuring the text in Times New Roman.
 * Another In Association With variant also appears on Disney's Hercules Takes On Manhattan, where the IAW text is in the font of the movie's logo and placed below.
 * On the 1988 TV movie Totally Minnie, the words "DISTRIBUTED BY" are seen chyroned in above the castle, this was plastered by the 3rd logo in the early 90's on The Disney Channel.
 * 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.
 * On the TV special Disney's Most Unlikely Heroes, the text "The Preceding Program was paid for by Disney Enterprises, Inc." appears below the logo.
 * One episode of House of Mouse on Disney Cinemagic in the UK had a slowed down variant of the 2001 logo. This was most likely because the episode was a 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.
 * On the UK VHS release of The Christmas Star, a weird variant appears at the end, where "Courier" is blanked out.

Technique: The 1985 version is cel-animated, while the 1998 version is digitally animated.

Audio:
 * 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-August 17, 2004: A 6-note orchestral fanfare based on "When You Wish Upon a Star" with high-pitched synth chimes (likely done on the Yamaha DX7) at the end.

Audio Variants:
 * On seasons 1 (1988 episodes only), 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 uses the music from the 3rd logo due to plastering.
 * 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 and the ABC Kids block from 2004 to 2005) 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, which 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:
 * The original version with the 6-note synth tune hasn't been heard in years, and DVD releases of its original appearances do not have it. However, recent Greek-dubbed prints of the Disney's Adventures of The Gummi Bears season 1 episode, "A Gummi in a Gilded Cage", leaves the theme intact over the 1995 version of the 3rd logo. This version is also still intact on VHS releases of Wuzzles and the Australian VHS release of Gummi Bears: Welcome to Gummiglen!.
 * The 1986 logo (most widely the 1987 version) was seen on a wide variety of family programs on ABC, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Disney XD, and other Disney-produced shows on any network, but a lot of these have never been re-aired or reissued on home video over the years. However, many shows added to Disney+ still retain this logo, as well as certain video releases of them, though not all of them do; they either use the black-screen copyright notice or the original 1986 version 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 Gargoyles and 101 Dalmatians: The Series in the U.S., even though when the latter originally aired in syndication, this logo was used (the BVTV logo or this logo was used when the show was on ABC). 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, on all reruns, the logo plays after the closing theme has ended.
 * It appears on the Goof Troop episode "Meanwhile, Back at the Ramp" on the Goof Troop: Volume 1 DVD set.
 * The variant with the URL, debuting 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 variant was last seen on TV internationally on the Disney Cinemagic network (primarily the HD feed), like on some episodes of The Legend of Tarzan as well as Lloyd in Space. In the U.S., it appeared on a few episodes of House of Mouse and The Legend of Tarzan on Toon Disney. This is retained on seasons 1-2 of Kim Possible, season 1 of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and Teacher's Pet on Disney+ (both with and without URL).
 * The 2001 version is extremely rare, and was mainly seen on older Disney Cinemagic UK airings of select episodes of The Legend of Tarzan and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, as well as Lloyd in Space (standard definition channel only; the HD channel uses the 1998 version instead). This may have possibly appeared on other shows on the network. The URL version is just as rare, and the only known sightings of this were on one House of Mouse episode on Disney Channel Russia and Rai 2 in Italy.
 * It was also seen on Toon Disney prints of TaleSpin (except for one episode, because the 3rd logo was retained, though all episodes on iTunes and Disney+ 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, the Disney-era of Doug, Recess, Pepper Ann, The 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-2000s, Disney Channel (U.S.) prints of the first two seasons of Kim Possible and the first season of Lilo and Stitch: The Series plastered this logo with the 2003 Walt Disney Television Animation logo. This was also the case on U.S. Disney XD airings of The Legend of Tarzan.
 * 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".
 * This logo made its final appearance on the final episode of Teamo Supremo, which aired on August 17, 2004, but it made a surprise appearance on the Kim Possible episode "Showdown at the Crooked D" which aired on March 25, 2005.

Legacy; Same as the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo.

3rd Logo (September 13, 1986-2000)
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Visuals: Same as the first Buena Vista Television logo, except underneath the castle, we have the "WALT DiSNEY" wordmark below, slightly thinner than usual, with "Times New Roman" under it. The arch then sparkles.

Later Variant: Starting in 1990, the logo would receive an update. Here, the castle and text are slightly separated, the text is now solid white with the "WALT DiSNEY" wordmark now in the proper thickness, 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:
 * From 1986 to 1990, the words "Produced by WALT DiSNEY" could be seen when the text crossfades. It can be briefly glimpsed here during the crossfade.
 * There is a variant that completely lacks animation, leaving the text entirely still with no cross-fading. In some cases, it may have animation but no text fading.
 * In both versions of the later variant, for some U.S. prints, non-U.S. prints, and most DVD prints, the text would cross-fade to the Buena Vista International logo.
 * 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.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A series of ascending pings. In other cases, it used the 1985 synth theme or the 1987 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 for most shows (such as Raw Toonage, Marsupilami, and other Disney shows, starting in 1988), or none as was the case with both the DVD releases and Disney+ prints of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

Audio Variants:
 * One variant that was spotted on a Russian broadcast of Darkwing Duck used different-sounding pings (sounding like a super high-pitched version of the theme).
 * On the Season 3 DVD print of the DuckTales episode "A DuckTales Valentine (Amour or Less)", only a split second of the ping music can be heard, presumably the result of an editing error.
 * Season 2 and select season 3 episodes of PB&J Otter on Disney+ use a high-toned version of the 1997 Disney Channel Originals xylophone theme, which begins partway through the logo. One episode ("I'll Be Your Best Friend/Otterly Alone") features the theme at its regular pitch.

Availability:
 * 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? (produced by DIC Entertainment, which was owned by Disney at the time) 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 DVD releases.
 * This was also seen on one episode of TaleSpin (the episode "Molly Coddled") on Toon Disney (though it's plastered with the 2nd logo on the iTunes and Disney+ releases), though this logo was still intact on all episodes on The Disney Channel in the mid to late '90s.
 * This was also seen on The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh on The Disney Channel in the mid to late '90s (plastering the 2nd logo) before Toon Disney (now Disney XD) airings began using the 2nd logo again.
 * The non-animated version of this logo was also found on the first three Winnie the Pooh Learning videos as well as one episode of Timon & Pumbaa and some episodes of The Jungle Cubs both airing on Disney Cinemagic in the UK, 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, Dinosaurs, three episodes of The Jungle Cubs and on some episodes of Timon & Pumbaa and is intact on several Disney series on Disney+ and the iTunes releases of Darkwing Duck.
 * This logo is also seen on Smart Guy on Disney+.
 * This was also seen on VHS releases of Disney's Wuzzles (plastering the 2nd logo)
 * It's mostly seen outside the United States and plasters the 2nd logo on international prints of shows.
 * 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.

4th Logo (1987-December 25, 1988)
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Visuals: On a yellow background with pink Mickey silhouette patterns, we see Mickey, in a tuxedo, standing on a 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" being in the "Disney" wordmark. Mickey then winks and 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 the text fades in underneath.
 * A short version (without "WALT DiSNEY Times New Roman") exists that starts with Mickey, in which he is 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.
 * There is a variant with a copyright notice fading in place of the text at the bottom of the logo.

Technique: Same as the Mickey: Sixty Years with You logo.

Audio: The 1987 theme from the 2nd logo or the closing theme of the show.

Audio Variant: An abridged version of the Mickey 60th theme was found on a KRIV airing of a DuckTales episode.

Availability:
 * 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 and (with the ending theme) on original 1988 airings of early season 1 episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on ABC (using the 60-second end credits).
 * 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.

5th Logo (September 7, 1990-1997)


Visuals: Same as the 2nd Buena Vista Television logo, except we have the 3-D words

Times New Roman Times New Roman

(now with "Times New Roman" in the same Times New Roman Bold font as "Times New Roman"). After the arch is formed, it fades 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 and the 1997 versions of the Buena Vista Television logo.

Technique: Same as the 2nd Buena Vista Television logo.

Audio: 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:
 * Seen on 1990 - 1998 airings of The Disney Afternoon, 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.

6th Logo (September 6, 1991-1993)


Visuals: Against a white background, Goofy appears 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 patterns of the typical Disney castle. The text

WALT DiSNEY Times New Roman

(with "WALT DiSNEY" in its usual wordmark) is seen below the filmstrip. Then, after a few seconds it cross-fades to

Times New Roman Times New Roman

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

Technique: Traditional cel animation.

Audio: None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability:
 * 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.

7th Logo (December 17, 2008)


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

Technique: CGI by Wētā Digital and yU + co.

Audio: The ending theme of the special.

Availability: This was only seen on A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa. Despite being used once, this is also currently used as a corporate logo for the main Disney studio.

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