Walt Disney wanted a new Fantasia every year. Disney made one sequel, 60 years later, then shelved a third. See the segments that never happened and the shorts that survived.
Walt Disney never meant for “Fantasia” to be a one-time thing.
“It is our intention to make a new version of Fantasia every year,” Walt said in 1940, according to John Culhane’s book “Fantasia 2000: Visions of Hope,” as Cartoon Research reported.
That’s not how it went. Disney made one sequel, and it took 60 years. A third Fantasia got started after that, then got shelved, and all that’s left are a few finished shorts.
So here’s the story of every Fantasia that never happened.
What was Walt Disney’s plan for Fantasia?
Keep it going, more or less forever.
“Fantasia” premiered Nov. 13, 1940, at the Broadway Theater in New York, according to D23, Disney’s official fan club.
Walt’s idea was to keep the movie in release and swap in new segments over the years, Animated Views reported in its 2002 look back. Some pieces would stay. Others would rotate out.
Why didn’t Walt make more Fantasias?
Money, mostly.
The movie didn’t do as well as Disney hoped at the box office, Animated Views noted. And it was expensive to show. “Fantasia” played in Fantasound, an early stereo system that needed specially equipped theaters, so it first opened in only 14 theaters, D23 says.
The plan for new segments got dropped, Animated Views reported.
What happened to the Fantasia segments Walt planned?
Some found other homes. Some never got made at all.
“Clair de Lune”: Animation set to Debussy’s piece was originally meant for “Fantasia,” D23 says. It ended up as “Blue Bayou,” with a new song, in 1946’s “Make Mine Music.”
“Peter and the Wolf”: It also landed in “Make Mine Music,” Animated Views noted.
Never made: “Invitation to the Waltz,” “Humoresque,” “Swan of Tuonela” and “Ride of the Valkyries,” according to Animated Views.
Then there’s “Destino.” Walt and Salvador Dali worked on it together in 1946, but it wasn’t finished, D23 says. Hold that thought.
How did Fantasia 2000 happen?
A VHS tape helped. “Fantasia” came out on home video in 1991 and sold 8 million copies worldwide, Cartoon Research reported.
That gave Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew and then the head of Disney’s feature animation, what he needed to talk CEO Michael Eisner into a sequel, Cartoon Research noted. D23 calls the film “a longtime pet project” of Roy’s.
“Fantasia 2000” premiered at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 17, 1999, and opened in IMAX theaters on Jan. 1, 2000, according to D23. It had seven new segments, plus “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from the original.
Here’s the trailer, from a fan upload:
What was Fantasia 2006?
The third Fantasia, which Disney started after “Fantasia 2000.”
Fans call it “Fantasia 2006.” Dave Bossert, who co-directed one of its shorts, prefers “Fantasia World,” because each segment was built around the music and culture of a different part of the world, he said at the CTN Expo in 2024, as Laughing Place reported.
Four shorts tied to it got finished, Laughing Place reported in 2015:
“Destino”: The Walt and Dali project, finally completed in 2003. It premiered at the Annecy animation festival in France on June 2, 2003, and was nominated for an Oscar, D23 says.
“Lorenzo”: A cat whose own tail drives him into a ballroom dance. Mike Gabriel directed it from an idea by Joe Grant. It played in theaters with “Raising Helen” on May 28, 2004, and got an Oscar nomination, according to D23.
“One by One”: Kids in a South African township build kites, set to music by Lebo M. Pixote Hunt and Bossert directed it, and it came out on a “Lion King 2” DVD on Aug. 31, 2004, D23 says.
“The Little Matchgirl”: Roger Allers’ wordless take on the Hans Christian Andersen story, set to Borodin. It came out on “The Little Mermaid” DVD on Oct. 3, 2006, and was nominated for an Oscar, according to D23.
Why was Fantasia 2006 canceled?
Studio politics, at least partly.
Bossert called the project “a political hot potato,” Laughing Place reported. It was in the works while Roy E. Disney and Eisner were at odds.
Disney was also moving toward computer animation in those years, Laughing Place noted, pointing to “Chicken Little” and the canceled hybrid movie “My Peoples.”
So why finish the shorts at all? There’s no official answer. One explanation shared at Bossert’s panel was that the studio still had contracts with hand-drawn animators, and the shorts gave them work until those ran out, Laughing Place reported.
Where can you watch Fantasia and the shorts?
“Fantasia” and “Fantasia 2000” are both on Disney+, according to JustWatch. So are “Destino” and “The Little Matchgirl.”
“Lorenzo” isn’t streaming in the U.S. right now, according to JustWatch. A fan uploaded it:
“Make Mine Music,” home of “Blue Bayou,” isn’t on Disney+ either, according to JustWatch.
What are some fun facts about the Fantasia sequels?
Mickey made both cuts. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is the only segment that’s in both “Fantasia” and “Fantasia 2000,” D23 says.
Destino took 57 years. Walt and Dali started it in 1946, and it didn’t premiere until 2003, according to D23.
One by One borrowed a Broadway song. Its music by Lebo M is a song from the stage version of “The Lion King,” D23 says.
Fantasia turned 85 last fall. The original hit that milestone on Nov. 13, 2025.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Cartoon Research, Nov. 2025: The 85th Anniversary of Fantasia (citing John Culhane’s Fantasia 2000: Visions of Hope)
Animated Views, 2002: Fantasia 2000 review
Laughing Place, Nov. 27, 2024: 20th Anniversary of Rarely Seen Disney Animated Short “One by One” Celebrated at CTN Expo 2024 (Dave Bossert’s panel)
Laughing Place, Nov. 16, 2015: Fantasia 2006: What Could Have Been
D23 Disney A to Z: Fantasia (film), Fantasia/2000 (film), Blue Bayou (film), Make Mine Music (film), Destino (film), Lorenzo (film), One by One (film) and The Little Matchgirl (film) entries
JustWatch: U.S. listings, checked Oct. 11, 2026
TrailerHome on YouTube: Fantasia 2000 trailer; Cartoon Storehouse on YouTube: Lorenzo (2004)
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