Walt Disney had long held an affinity for Sir James M. Barrie’s classic children’s book Peter Pan and worked for years to finally bring it to the big screen. Although he acquired the rights to the story in 1939, it would take until 1953 before his dream was realized with an all-new animated version of the timeless classic.

The Darlings are an affluent family living in turn-of-the century London. Their eldest daughter Wendy is fond of utilizing her colorful imagination to weave tales of a young boy who refused to grow up, stories that she is all to eager to share with her young siblings, John and Michael. Her father disapproves of such fantasy and insists that she move out of the nursery she shares with her brothers.

Spending their last night together in the nursery, the children are visited by Peter Pan, who is searching for his lost shadow. After Wendy helps boy and shadow reunite, a grateful Peter suggests the group all fly with him to Neverland. Peter’s pixie friend, the jealous Tinker Bell isn’t too keen on the idea but with a little sprinkling of magical pixie dust, the group is soon flying over the skyline of London, “towards the second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning.”

Never Neverland just so happens to be the home of the sinister Captain Hook, a nasty pirate fond of terrorizing Peter’s gang, The Lost Boys. Hook has managed to capture Tiger Lily, an Indian princess and Peter dutifully comes to their aid. His traveling companions do their best to assist, but wind up captured by the pirate's men. Peter will have to take the fight to Hook himself and the loser is going to end up as lunch for a hungry alligator.

When Peter Pan was performed as play, it was traditional for a girl to play the title role. Disney took a different approach, using child star Bobby Driscoll to provide the voice of the young hero. To assist the animators, scenes were first shot with real actors so they could be used as a reference to make the fight scenes more realistic. All in all, Disney would pump $4 million into the production of Peter Pan, a huge budget for the time. No matter, it paid off handsomely.

With a collection of memorable songs such as “You Can Fly, You Can Fly” and “Never Smile at a Crocodile”, the film was destined to become an instant classic and remains one of the most beloved animated films that Disney ever produced.  Over fifty years later, the Disney Company released a sequel called Return to Neverland in 2002. And when Walt opened Disneyland in 1955, he made sure to include a ride called “Peter Pan’s Flight” which, for over fifty years, has allowed millions of kids of all ages to take to the skies and fly with Peter over the London Skyline and the treacherous Neverland.