How Did You Fall in Love With Disney? 

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Valentine’s Day is first and foremost a celebration of love, including (of course) our love of all things Disney. And it inspired us to reach out to people Disney fans are very familiar with (filmmakers, actors, and designers), to ask them how

Eric Tan is one of our favorite illustrators, period. (If you saw his contribution to the Art Awakens Show, then you know just how cool his pieces can be.) His bold, graphic aesthetic captures the imagination instantly, which is why he is given such huge tasks like coming up with the packaging for the entire line of

toys. And he is, of course, a huge Disney fan. When we asked him how he fell in love with Disney, he gave us a really great, succinct answer. “When I was about 3, my parents took me to a theater to watch

. I had no idea at the time what I was looking at or how it was even created, but I knew that I was hooked!” Tan told us, before adding: “That’s my first

If you’re a fan of Disney•Pixar films, then you’re a fan of Peter Sohn. Sohn voiced Emile in

 (the resemblance is uncanny). He is also a terrific filmmaker, having directed the heart-tugging short “Partly Cloudy” and last year’s gorgeous feature, 

. “For me, it’s been the family experience, but going to the theater,” Sohn explained. “

was the film I remember seeing with my mother and her crying through. It was very emotional to connect with her through that experience, because most of the movies she saw didn’t make that impact because she didn’t understand English. It was the start of a love affair. There was one sequence where Dumbo’s mother is caged and her trunk comes out of this cell, looking for contact with her kid, and all of the creative concepts like using the trunk as a swing. It’s just beautiful.”

For the past few years Jason Ritter has voiced Dipper Pines, the intrepid young adventurer who, with his twin sister Mabel (Kristen Schaal), set about uncovering the many mysteries of Gravity Falls, Oregon. And he loves the gig. Earlier this week he attended a press event where he was more or less dressed as Dipper, complete with the pine tree hat. You can tell that his love of Disney runs deep and true. “Disney was always around for me,” he said. “I grew up in Los Angeles so I have really early memories of Disneyland, but I also watched all of the movies—Snow

terrified me and also made me laugh and I just loved the songs. I also generally loved the idea of it. As I’ve grown older and gone to Disneyland, I’ve realized how much effort goes into it. You go to Disneyland and you go,

. But how much effort they put into preserving that magic idea and that you can be whatever you want to be and dreams come true. We need that idealism. I think it’s important. And you go to Disneyland and their eyes light up and you see them believe in more than what they just see. It’s beautiful and I think it’s important. As you grow older, it becomes your responsibility to make the next generation believe.” And with his involvement in

How did you fall in love with Disney? Tell us in the comments!

Tagged as: Dumbo (1941), Gravity Falls, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Good Dinosaur (2015), The Jungle Book (1967)

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