6 Fascinating Facts About Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as it Turns 75
It can be hard to imagine, but Walt Disney’s animated Alice in Wonderland turns 75 on July 28, 2026. Released in 1951, the film follows a curious young girl named Alice as she chases the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole and tumbles into the strange and colorful world of Wonderland. Along the way, she meets unforgettable characters including the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the Queen of Hearts. The movie was inspired by two of Lewis Carroll’s children’s classics, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, combining characters and scenes from both books. Although it wasn’t an immediate hit, the film eventually became a Disney favorite and inspired attractions, later movies and plenty of merchandise. In honor of its 75th anniversary, here are six fun facts about Alice in Wonderland.
1 Another Disney version came first
You may not realize that the 1951 version was not actually the first Disney version. Walt Disney was inspired by Carroll’s work and created the short Alice’s Wonderland in 1923 which combined live action and animation, something very impressive at the time. It starred four-year-old Virginia Davis as a girl named Alice who visits Disney’s animation studio and later dreams herself into Cartoonland. Walt even made a rare onscreen appearance in the short. The pilot was never released theatrically, but Disney used it to attract distributor Margaret Winkler. Their agreement led to the Alice Comedies, a series of 56 shorts made between 1924 and 1927.
2 30 original songs were created for the film but ultimately scrapped
Walt Disney Pictures/Everett Collection
There was a lot of work that went into Alice in Wonderland that never made the cut including some original songs. More than 30 potential songs were written during the film’s lengthy development. Many appeared in the finished movie, although some lasted only a few seconds, while others were dropped entirely. There was one called “I’m Odd” that was going to be performed by the Cheshire Cat. One of the songs called “Beyond the Laughing Sky” was later changed to become “The Second Star to the Right” in the film Peter Pan.
3 Live actors performed the scenes for animators
In many Disney animated films, the voice actors perform live for animators so that they can get the energy of the characters just right. It is definitely cool to see this in action in the video above!
Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced Alice, according to Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibilia, “They also wanted me to do what they called the live-action, that wasn’t for the audience, that was for the animators. They wanted to make sure they were able to make the human look very realistic with all the motions.”
4 One creepy scene from the book almost made it into the movie
Everett Collection
Readers of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland may remember the “Pig and Pepper” chapter, in which Alice meets the Duchess and her crying baby inside a kitchen filled with pepper. The cook begins throwing pots and pans, and Alice eventually takes the baby away, only to watch it transform into a pig. The entire sequence was included in an early treatment for the Disney film but was removed for pacing. Early artwork from the discarded scene was later included among the film’s home-video bonus features. Maybe for the best…
5 It wasn’t a hit, at first
Walt Disney/Everett Collection
Disney spent a lot of time and money to get the movie just right and when it was finished, Disney executives and audiences didn’t really care for it at first. It wasn’t until about 15 years later, that college-age kids started loving the film, comparing it to “an acid trip.” Disney ran with this and ran ads that said, according to Mental Floss, “Down the rabbit hole and through the talking door lies a world where vibrant colors merge into shapes of fantasy, and music radiates from flowers.”
6 Mary Blair helped create the film’s colorful look
Walt Disney/Everett Collection
Artist Mary Blair played an important role in shaping the distinctive appearance of Wonderland. Her concept paintings used bold colors, dramatic lighting and highly stylized shapes that influenced the movie’s settings, props and even small details such as its leaf patterns. Blair also created concept art for Cinderella and Peter Pan. She later helped develop the colorful design of Disney’s “it’s a small world” attraction.
Do you love Alice in Wonderland? Tell us which character is your favorite in the comments! You can watch it now on Disney+.
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