Management
From 1985 until his resignation in November 2003, Walt Disney Feature Animation was officially headed by Chairman Roy E. Disney, who exercised much influence within the division. Most decisions, however, were made by the WDFA President, who officially reported to Disney but who in practice also reported to the Disney's studio chairman as well as its corporate chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner. From 1985 to 1999, the President of WDFA was Peter Schneider.
As of 2007, Ed Catmull serves as president of the combined Disney-Pixar animation studios, and John Lasseter serves as the studios' Chief Creative Officer. Catmull reports to Walt Disney Company President & CEO Bob Iger as well as Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook. Lasseter, who has greenlight authority, reports directly to Disney's President & CEO Bob Iger and Vice Chairman Emeritus Roy E. Disney.
Andrew Millstein has been named general manager of Walt Disney Animation Studios. In this new position, Millstein is in charge of the day-to-day running of the studio facilities and products.
Locations
Walt Disney Animation Studios is headquartered in Burbank, California, across the street from the original Walt Disney Studios in a specialized building completed in 1995. Satellite studios once existed at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (1989–2003) and at Paris, France (1995–2002), but those studios were closed in an effort to revive lagging profits by restructuring and recentralizing the division to produce fully computer-animated features solely in Burbank.
Collaborations
Walt Disney Feature Animation has occasionally joined forces with Walt Disney Imagineering to create attractions for various Disney theme parks around the world that requires the expertise of Disney animators. Among this select number of attractions are:
* Mickey's PhilharMagic at the Magic Kingdom and Hong Kong Disneyland
* Stitch's Great Escape at the Magic Kingdom
* Stitch Encounter at Hong Kong Disneyland
* Stitch Live! at Walt Disney Studios Park
* WDFA and WDI also collaborated with the in-house entertainment studios at Disneyland and the Disney-MGM Studios to develop the nighttime Fantasmic! show.
In the 1980s, WDFA collaborated with director Robert Zemeckis to create Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a film that combined traditional hand-drawn animation with live action footage.
WDFA did the Sprites and backgrounds for the Sega Genesis, Commodore Amiga and PC Video Game Disney's Aladdin (video game) and the SNES, PC, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis & Amiga video game The Lion King (video game)
