Fantasia/Trivia

• Executive Meddling: The Pomp and Circumstance sequence in Fantasia 2000 was inserted at the insistence of Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who had just gone to his son's graduation and wanted a song "everyone can relate to."
  • The pieces themselves are actually mostly excerpts, albeit re-worked to the point where the music still transitions properly. Some parts were cut for repetition (Night on Bald Mountain), or for timing/storytelling purposes(like The Firebird Suite). Still others have parts cut-and-pasted into a different order (like The Dance of the Hours). This was also the same for Rhapsody in Blue.
    
    The most egregious example of Executive Meddling is probably the entire Rite of Spring sequence. The original Rite of Spring, is a full 35 minutes long - nearly half the length of the original film - and the excerpts used in the film play out in noticeably different order than originally intended. The entire final sequence of earthquakes, tsunamis etc., only appears once in the original piece, near the end of its first part (the full version is split into two parts). While it is still a favourite of many people, the whole editing process apparently enraged the composer, Igor Stravinsky, to the point where he nearly sued Disney.
• Hey, It's That Sorcerer!: Kingdom Hearts players may or may not have this reaction upon seeing the "former Keyblade master" Yen Sid in the film he originally came from.
• Missing Episode: Before Fantasia 2000 was released, its promos suggested that it was replacing the original cut of Fantasia. (Assuming you don't consider it already replaced because someone did their best to edit out a black centaur...)
  • To be clear, a 1930's caricature black centaur in blackface.
• Old Shame: Sunflower, the stereotypical black centaurette that tended to the others, edited out of post-1960 prints.
• Saved From Development Hell: Walt Disney's original idea was to keep on adding new segments and switching the order around, such that Fantasia would be a perpetual work in progress. The idea for a Fantasia sequel eventually took almost 60 years to come to fruition.
• What Could Have Been: Walt Disney's original plan for the film, as mentioned above. Some of the segments they had considered for this were worked into the other compilation films Disney made during the '40s.
  • In Fantasia 2000, hostess Bette Midler mentions several abandoned concepts (it's not stated whether these are from the original or later), including a segment based on Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", one based on Jean Sibelius's "The Swan of Tuonela," a "baby ballet", and "Destino", directed by Salvador Dali, and featured alongside Fantasia 2000 in its DVD/Blu-Ray re-release. It was referred to as a "baseball ballet", though it actually has very little to do with baseball, save for a couple of shots towards the end (it's a Salvador Dali piece - it's very random).
  • There was also a rejected pitch for a segment that would have been a hybrid of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and Tolkien's The Hobbit.
  • The flamingos from "Carnival of the Animals" were originally meant to be the ostriches from "Dance of the Hours", however Roy Disney felt that it would too familiar. Also, flamingos look better playing with yo-yos, because they are pink!
  • Fantasia/2000 was originally going to include Dance of the Hours and Nutcracker Suite. A glimpse of Nutcracker can be seen in the original trailer.
  • Can you imagine if the Disney execs had followed through with their original idea for Fantasia and continued to release sequels to it periodically, even yearly, with brand-new music and animation? Unfortunately, the onset of World War 2 and the lack of enough money made at the box office from original film (it made a lot of money, but certainly not enough to justify the cost of making a continuous series) resulted in the idea being dropped in what is considered the most haunting Disney couldabeen of all.
  • Fantasia 2006 (which was to focus on world music) was not only planned, but segments were completed for it before the plug was pulled. They subsequently became standalone shorts: One by One and The Little Match Girl are included as bonus features on the special edition DVDs of The Lion King II and The Little Mermaid, respectively; Lorenzo screened before Raising Helen in theaters, and Destino has appeared at film festivals and, curiously, cruise ship art auctions. They all appeared at a 2008 Los Angeles screening hosted by Roy Disney as well.
  • The original version of Fantasia originally had Clair de Lune.
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice was also different - earlier in production, plans for the Sorcerer's Apprentice had either Dopey or Donald Duck as the Sorcerer's Apprentice.
• Someone with a keen eye for details or a photographic memory can spot some re-used animation in The Black Cauldron from "Night on Bald Mountain". The scene? When Henwen is scrying, you can spot some skeletons-on-horses from Fantasia.