50 free Fantasia trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Fantasia is Walt Disney's 1940 concert film: eight animated segments set to classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, introduced by critic Deems Taylor, and played through Fantasound, the first commercial stereo system in cinemas. It grew out of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a lavish Mickey Mouse short that cost so much the Disneys decided to build a feature around it. This quiz covers the music and the making of it: the Chasen's restaurant meeting where Stokowski offered to conduct for free, the September 1938 story meetings where The Rite of Spring was picked for dinosaurs, Oskar Fischinger's abstract designs, Art Babbitt's Three Stooges mushrooms, Bela Lugosi posing for Chernabog, the Hays Office garlands on the centaurettes, the 33-microphone recording at the Academy of Music, and the Ave Maria shot that had to be filmed four times. It also covers the roadshow release, the wartime losses, the psychedelic 1969 revival, the Irwin Kostal re-recording and Fantasia 2000. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a Disney or classical-music quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many animated segments make up Fantasia?
Eight
Seven are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra; The Sorcerer's Apprentice was recorded earlier with Hollywood session players.
Q 02Who conducts the music in Fantasia?
Leopold Stokowski
He met Walt at Chasen's restaurant in Hollywood, liked the Dukas piece and offered to conduct The Sorcerer's Apprentice for free.
Q 03Which music critic acts as Fantasia's on-screen master of ceremonies?
Deems Taylor
Disney and Stokowski had both heard him doing intermission commentary on New York Philharmonic radio broadcasts.
Q 04Which two newcomers had overtaken Mickey Mouse in popularity by 1936?
Donald Duck and Goofy
Walt's answer was a deluxe Sorcerer's Apprentice short that went beyond the usual Silly Symphony slapstick into sheer fantasy.
Q 05Who composed the music for The Sorcerer's Apprentice?
Paul Dukas
Both the piece and the cartoon draw on Goethe's 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling.
Q 06What is the name of the sorcerer whose apprentice Mickey plays?
Yen Sid
The name is Disney spelled backwards; silent-film actor Nigel De Brulier posed as him for the animators.
Q 07Which Snow White character did Walt briefly consider as the sorcerer's apprentice?
Dopey
He decided against diluting the impact of his debut feature and gave the part to a redesigned Mickey instead.
Q 08What did animator Fred Moore add to Mickey Mouse's design for Fantasia?
Pupils in his eyes
It was the first time Mickey had them, added to allow a greater range of expression.
Q 09At what hour did the recording session for The Sorcerer's Apprentice begin?
Midnight
It ran three hours at Culver Studios on January 9, 1938, with 85 musicians; the conductor felt players would be more alert so late.
Q 10What was Fantasia's working title during development?
The Concert Feature
An RKO publicist suggested Filmharmonic Concert and a studio contest drew 1,800 entries, but the supervisors preferred an early working title, Fantasia.
Q 11Which Stravinsky ballet, considered for the dinosaurs, was held back and used in Fantasia 2000?
The Firebird
Taylor steered the group to Le Sacre du printemps instead, and Walt declared it perfect for prehistoric monsters.
Q 12Why was The Rite of Spring segment stopped short of the age of mammals and early humans?
Walt wanted to avoid trouble from creationists
Art director John Hubley said creationists had promised to make trouble if evolution was connected to humans.
Q 13Which astronomer advised the studio on The Rite of Spring?
Edwin Hubble
Q 21What is the name of the giant devil in Night on Bald Mountain?
Chernabog
His design came from a pencil sketch by Swiss artist Albert Hurter of a demon unfolding its wings atop a mountain.
Q 22Which horror star was brought in to pose for the devil on Bald Mountain?
Bela Lugosi
Animator Bill Tytla disliked the results and instead had director Wilfred Jackson pose shirtless.
Q 23Which composer's Ave Maria closes the film?
Schubert
Rachel Field wrote new English lyrics for the film, of which only one verse is sung.
How many times was the final Ave Maria tracking shot filmed before it was right?
Julian Huxley, Barnum Brown and Roy Chapman Andrews also consulted, and animators studied nebulae at the Mount Wilson Observatory.
Q 14Which piece replaced Pierné's Cydalise for the mythological segment?
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony
Stokowski objected that Disney's idea of mythology was not what the symphony was about; Taylor called the swap stunning.
Q 15What did the Hays Office make the animators hang on the female centaurs?
Garlands
They had originally been drawn bare-breasted; the male centaurs were also toned down to look less intimidating.
Q 16Which Roman god's festival is interrupted by Zeus's storm in The Pastoral Symphony?
Bacchus
Zeus directs Vulcan to forge his lightning bolts before the revelry resumes.
Q 17Who composed Dance of the Hours?
Amilcare Ponchielli
The comic ballet runs through ostriches, hippos, elephants and alligators before their palace collapses.
Q 18What is the name of the prima ballerina in Dance of the Hours?
Hyacinth Hippo
She was modelled on dancers Marge Champion and Tatiana Riabouchinska and on actress Hattie Noel.
Q 19What is the lead alligator in Dance of the Hours called?
Ben Ali Gator
Marge Champion's dance partner Louis Hightower modelled for him.
Q 20What did Walt give animator John Hench when he resisted the Dance of the Hours job?
Season tickets to the Ballet Russe
Hench had resisted the assignment because he knew little about ballet; the tickets came with backstage access.
Four
One attempt used the wrong lens and photographed the crew; another was wrecked by an earthquake; the last finished a day before the premiere.
Q 25Which abstract animator did Disney hire for the Toccata and Fugue, only to reject his designs?
Oskar Fischinger
Walt called his triangles too dinky; the German artist left the studio in apparent despair in October 1939.
Q 26Which comedy act did Art Babbitt cite as a guide for the dancing mushrooms?
The Three Stooges
He drew with the score pinned to his desk so he could match the choreography to the melody and the counterpoint.
Q 27How were the snowflake fairies' snowflakes animated?
Stop-motion cut-outs on revolving spools
Traced from diagrams of real snowflakes, painted translucent white and moved a frame at a time, with the fairies drawn in later.
Q 28Which Debussy piece was recorded for Fantasia but dropped before release?
Clair de Lune
Stokowski's recording of the cut segment finally surfaced on the 2015 Legacy Collection album.
Q 29How many levels could the multiplane camera built for Fantasia handle?
Seven
Three more than the studio's original model; the film has more multiplane footage than Snow White and Pinocchio combined.
Q 30Which ensemble performs most of the Fantasia soundtrack?
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Sessions took place at the Academy of Music in April 1939, with players paid a flat $10 an hour.