Impact of 9/11 on The Walt Disney Company

:Notice: This page mentions content from former Disney subsidiaries and assets, and as such, are included for legacy purposes. For example, Miramax Films had several films delayed as a result of the attacks. Although Miramax Films is no longer affiliated with Disney, it was, at the time, operated under Disney.
On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four planes within The United States of America and two flow the planes into the tallest building in the world which killed 2,977 victims. The World Trade Center collapsed, parts of The Pentagon was severly damaged, and a fourth hijacked flight believed to be heading for either the White House or the U.S. Capitol crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its passengers fought back. It remains the deadliest attack on American soil, and the day was named Patriot Day in honor to pay respects to the lives lost from the disasters that occurred that day.
Media in the entertainment industry had been significantly affected from the events. Companies mainly reacted by removing or altering scenes in films and television to rid of the scenes that could have been interpreted as being in bad taste.
The following is a list of things that had affected The Walt Disney Company as a result of the attacks:
==People==
*Carolyn Beug - Former Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Records; killed on-board American Airlines Flight 11 upon impact of crashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
*Don DiFranco - WABC-TV (ABC7) engineer and technician; killed while working at the Channel 7 transmitter site on the 110th floor of the North Tower on the World Trade Center; employed under ABC Owned Television Stations, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company through American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.In memory of Don DiFranco, WABC engineer killed on 9/11
==Films==
*Lilo & Stitch - The third act of the movie was edited from a scene where Stitch flew a Boeing 747 jet downtown Honolulu to save Lilo, and eventually then to a scene where Stitch would instead fly Jumba's spaceship through Kauai's mountains. This edit has been done by replacing the CGI models, and only a few scenes had to have been re-animated.
*Armageddon - When it premiered on ABC sometime around April 2002, the scene where the World Trade Center was hit by a meteor and caught on fire was edited out.
*An Extremely Goofy Movie - A scene which revolved around Max and Goofy saving Tank from a tall burning and collapsing replica building of ESPN's X-Games was cut from television broadcasting due to the striking resemblance of the attacks.
*Monsters, Inc. - The film was originally going to feature a scene where a building exploded as part of a decontamination effort against human children, but was instead replaced with a plasma attack.
*Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui - A scene where Vakama encounters a vision and witnesses the coliseum explode, then collapse with smoke, was cut from the final film due to the coliseum looking too reminiscent of a tall tower. In the final film it was instead skipped with a scene that depicts the coliseum still standing with some lightning and a cloudy atmosphere. The movie was released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment under the Miramax Home Entertainment label, but received a Polish-language Walt Disney Home Entertainment co-branded release in the Czech Republic. Footage of this scene is available online and can be found from one of the sound effect tests.Bionicle 2 - SFX Test #2 At the time of its release, Miramax Home Entertainment was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, which continued to be part of such until 2010, when they sold the studio to Filmyard Holdings later that year.
*The Incredibles - An early scene during the development of the film had a frustrated Mr. Incredible take out his emotions on an abandoned building which ended up accidentally damaging a nearby building. The scene was deemed too reminiscent of the collapse of the World Trade Center and was eventually replaced with the scene where Mr. Incredible and Frozone save civilians that were stuck inside a building that had caught on fire.
===Delays===
*View from the Top - Originally scheduled for release on Christmas 2001, but was delayed due to the film centering around a flight attendant on several planes. The movie was released by Miramax Films through Buena Vista Pictures. At the time of its release, Miramax Films was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, which continued to be part of such until 2010, when they sold the studio to Filmyard Holdings later that year.
*Big Trouble - Originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2001, but was delayed due to the film centering around the film's comedic take of smuggling a nuclear device onto an airplane.
*Bad Company - Originally scheduled for release sometime around late 2001, but was delayed due to the film centering around a criminal mastermind who was planning to detonate a bomb within the Grand Central Terminal.
*Gangs of New York - Originally scheduled for release on December 21, 2001, but was delayed due to the film containing shots of the Twin Towers. The film makers had been debating on whether or not to digitally remove them, but in the end, they remained in the final film.
==Television==
*101 Dalmatians: The Series - Originally the first segment of the twenty-third episode in the series "Alive N' Chicken" depicted a scene centering around Spot Chicken flying a contraption into a windmill with the Dalmatians on top with the contraption falling into a sack of flour, which had been banned for many years before the ban was finally lifted when it was made available on Disney+.
**The second segment of the episode "Prima Doggy" had also been banned due to being paired up with the first segment.
*Buzz Lightyear of Star Command - The episodes "Inside Job" and "Conspiracy" were banned due to revolving around terrorism.
*Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers - The episode "A Lean on the Property" was banned due to scenes resembling the 9/11 attacks; however, the episode is available on iTunes and Disney+.
*Darkwing Duck - The episode "Tiff of the Titans" was banned due to the plot revolving around terrorism.
*TaleSpin - The series finale "Flying Dupes" was banned due to the plot revolving around Baloo unsuspectingly delivering a package containing a bomb.
==Theme parks==
On the date of the attacks, Walt Disney World Resort closed its rides and employees held hands forming a human wall to try and get visitors safely out of the park (in a calm manner without touching visitors) while walking towards the center of the park and eventually towards Main Street. Security had also made sure that no one could get past them. Employees were instructed to perform this action without any further explanation upon doing so, likely to avoid more widespread panic over growing fears that terrorists could have also targeted the Disney theme parks.
Because of timezone differences, Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure never opened that day.
===Attractions===
*The Timekeeper - For the New York City scene, the Timekeeper was changed from visiting the city from 2001, to being pushed back to 2000 in an updated version of the attraction due to the appearance of the World Trade Center.
===Hotels===
*Disney's Pop Century Resort was originally planned to open in 2001, but due to the reduction in tourism after 9/11, its opening was delayed to 2002. It was once again delayed until it eventually opened in 2003. Additionally, the original plans for the resort included a "Legendary Years" section themed to the 1900s-1940s, which would have resided across the lake from the "Classic Years" section, but these plans were scrapped following 9/11. As of 2012, the area that would have become the "Legendary Years" section is now home to Disney's Art of Animation Resort.
==Portrayals in Disney media==
*Tiger Cruise - The 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) covered the events of the attacks. Specifically in the plot of the story, the cruise ship goes on high alert and passengers panic when they hear the news of the tragic event. Additionally the character Anthony (who lives in New York) becomes concerned for the safety of some of the people that he personally knew that had worked at the Twin Towers.
*The Man in the Red Bandana - ESPN released a 13 minute special covering Welles Crowther, a Boston College lacrosse player and volunteer firefighter who saved as many as 18 people and died after the collapse of the South Tower. ESPN Radio also released Outside the Lines - The Man in the Red Bandana on the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
* - In 2021, National Geographic released a six-part documentary miniseries based on the events that occurred that day. It was later released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment later that year, and on Disney+ on an unknown date.
==References==
Category:History