There are plenty of awards ceremonies for certain aspects of the Orlando theme parks. The Golden Ticket Awards are just one of the ways parks are honored for achievements like best dark ride, friendliest staff and best rollercoaster. The Disney Company has its own way of honoring the people behind the parks. It takes thousands of people to make sure the Disney theme parks run smoothly for the guests that go through the gates every day, but it takes an even larger crew to create the Disney parks people visit and the movies people see. Those crews are honored by the Disney Legends Awards.

The awards were created in 1987 by Robert Iger and Roy E. Disney at The Walt Disney Studios to honor animators, songwriters, actors, Imagineers and business leaders that help the Disney machine run smoothly year after year. In 1997 Disneyland Paris got its own version of the awards to honor the European Disney leaders. There are three elements to the Disney Legend award’s statue. The spiral represents the imagination and the power of ideas. The hand represents the gifts of skill and the discipline required for good craftsmanship, and the wand and star represent the magic of imagination and skill combined to form a new dream.

There are plenty of Disney legends already inducted into this hall of fame. 2009 brought in a new class of equally talented Disney stars. Two men that voiced classic Disney characters are part of the list this year. Tony Anselmo, the voice of everyone’s favorite cranky bird Donald Duck, was inducted alongside Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy. Inductee Robin Williams, famous for his variety of acting roles in movies like Night at the Museum, Jumanji and The Bird Cage, was also the voice of the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin. America’s Golden Girls were also inducted. We lost Estelle Getty, who played Sophia on the Golden Girls, last year. This year we lost Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy. Rue McClanahan (Blanche) and Betty White (Rose) survived Bea and Estelle, but all four of them still received their Legends award. New people are inducted into the Disney Legends group every year and the list of legends grows. It’s great to see the talented members of the Disney community honored for their achievements, even if a lot of them are behind the scenes!