68 years ago this week, the heartfelt tale of Dumbo was released in theatres. Dumbo was Walt Disneys 4th animated film, and although it was his shortest (only 64 minutes) it has long been considered one of Walt Disney’s most legendary pieces of animation. After the studios did poorly with Pinocchio and Fantasia, in which Disney was accused of being too complicated with his animation, Dumbo saw a return to a more simple style of animation. Dumbo is based off of a children’s book written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl.

The movie featured the voice talents of Sterling Holloway (the voice of Winnie the Pooh), Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket) and Verna Felton (the voice of Cinderella’s fairy godmother, Alice’s Queen of Hearts and Flora the Fairy from Sleeping Beauty.) But their voice work was not credited in the film. That doesn’t mean that the film went unnoticed by the movie community. Dumbo won the Oscar for Original Musical Score and received a nomination for “Baby Mine,” the sad song we hear when Dumbo goes to meet his real mother. Although “Baby Mine” did not win, Dumbo was considered a hit and helped the Disney studios regain some of their financial losses.

Fans of the floppy-eared elephant will love the upcoming Fantasyland expansion at the Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom. While Dumbo only has one ride at the moment, he will soon have a circus of his own. As part of the planned Fantasyland additions, which will feature brand new meet and greet spots for the princesses, Tinkerbell’s Pixie Hollow and even a dark ride based on The Little Mermaid, Dumbo will also get his own spot. To go with the theme of the movie there will now be a beautiful circus tent environment featuring all sorts of games and not one, but two Dumbo rides. Instead of waiting in line to go on the flying elephant attraction you will be able to play games until it’s your turn to get on and go for a spin. The new additions won’t be done until 2013, but you can get to the store and pick up Dumbo on DVD and Blu-ray to help you get your dose of Dumbo until 2013.