The Golden Age

As mentioned in the introduction, the golden Age of Disney animation was while Walt Disney was alive.
The films included in this time span are:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Pinocchio  (1940)
Fantasia (1940)
Dumbo (1941)
Bambi (1942)
Saludos Amigos (1942)
The Three Caballeros  (1944)
Make Mine Music (1946)
Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
Melody Time (1948)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
Cinderella (1950)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Peter Pan (1953)
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
101 Dalmations (1961)
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
The Jungle Book (1967)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
In the years leading up to its release, this film was referrred to as "Disney's Folly".  Up until this point, animation had only been used for short cartoons.  Numerous concerns were propelled towards Walt as work on the film proceeded.  Everything from it being too long to the bright colors causing people to faint were said.  But Walt continued on through it all, konwing it would work.  And it did.  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opened at the Carthay Circle Theater and was an instant sucess.  Everything about it was praised and it remains one of the greatest films, animation or otherwise, of all time.
Trivia:
In the original film there were two other sequences, one where the dwarfs are tought manners by Snow White and a second where they build her a four-poster bed as a thank-you gift.  Both scenes were partially animated, but were pulled from the film due to time constraints. 
This was the first film to have a soundtrack album released with the film.
Walt received a special Oscar award for making the film.  It consisted of the regular statue followed by seven minature staues, representing Snow White and the dwarves.

Pinocchio
Several months before Snow white was released, and when everyone was saying it would fail, Walt was all ready planning his next animated film!  Pinocchio was released in 1940, and although popular, it was not financial success Snow White had been.  This was due to the film not being show in much of Europe due to World War II.  But the film has gone on to become one of Disney's most popular, despite all.
Trivia:
This was the first Disney film to win a regular Ocsar award.  It won for Best Score and Best Song (When You Wish Upon a Star). 
The film is based on the 1883 book by Italian author Carlo Collodi.

Fantasia
Considered by many to be Walt's most ambitious project in anmation, Fantasia is certainly one of the msot beautyiful animated films of all time.  The basic premise of the film is animation and classical music combined.  Several famous pieces of music are set to the stuning visuals only possible with aniamtion.  The centerpiece of the film is "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" sequence.  This shows Mickey using magic to prevent him from having to work.  But he doesn't know how to stop the spell once the work is completed.
Trivia:
In the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence, the sorcerer is named Yen Sid.  Are you wondering what the big deal about that is?  It's Disney spelled backwards.
This film features Chernabog, one of the most evil Disney Villains, in the Night on Bald Mountain sequence.
The entire point of the Sorcerer's Apprentice was to reboost Mickey's career.  Mickey's popularity was starting to fade, being replaced by the public with characters like Goofy and Donald Duck.  This was originally seen as an elaborate short, but then Walt got the idea for Fantasia.

Dumbo
Pinocchio, Fantasia, and the still in production Bambi had cost a lot of money, more than the studio had.  None of them were large financial successes and the profit from Snow White was almost gone.  Dumbo was made as a small low-budget film that could help the studio make money.  It is the shortest of the animated films, clocking in a just a little over an hour.  But it was a large enough profit to let the studio finish Bambi and continue on into the future.
Trivia:
When the circus tent falls after Dumbo's disastrous show, the falling tent looks a bit like a falling elephant. 
If portions of the Pink Elephants On Parade scene look familier, maybe you saw them in Winnie-the-Pooh.  Portions of the animation were repainted and reused for the Heffalumps and Woozles sequence.

Bambi
Released in the middle of World War II, Bambi was ana expensive failure.  It lost money, although it was extremely popular.  The European market was virtually gone and the studio was deep in debt.  On top of everything, the government had comandeered the studios and were using them for things such as war and propaganda films.  All projects, including in-production versions of Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows and Peter Pan were shut down. 
Trivia: Live deer and other animals were brought to the studio for life-action reference.  This would be repeated years later when The Lion King was in production.

The "Package Films"
As te studio continued to lose money, Walt knew there could be no more animated features.  Instead the studio produced several "package features" These consisted of several small shprts combined into a film.  They were relativly easy to animate and made a very small profit.  When the war ended animation continued on the Wind in the Willows and it was combined with "The Tale of Sleepy Hollow" to become The adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.  Even though the war was over and the government no longer controled the stuido, they were still deep in debt and closing the studio seemed sure.

Cinderella
But there was light at the end of the tunnel.  After many years of losing money and debt, the studio finally finished Cinderella.  It was a hit, becoming everything Snow White was over a decade before.  Cinderella allowed the studio to pay off most debts and to finance other projects.
Trivia:
This was the first Disney film to feature Eleanor Audley as a voice for a character.  Even if you've never heard her name before I'm sure you would know what her voice sounds like.  She was Lady Tremaine, the stepmother.  She would go on to voice Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and The ghostly Madame Leota in the disneyland attraction, The Haunted Mansion.
Possibly the most famous animated film of all time, this story inspired Cinderella castle at Walt Disney World and  the Disney logo.

Alice in Wonderland
With the money from Cinderella "rolling in" the studio was able to restart production on Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.  As a profitable sidenote, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bami were playing in the Eupropean markets that had been destroyed by the war. 
Trivia:
One of the greatest Disney "voices" is Verna Felton.  This extremely talented woman had voiced many Disney characters including Cinderella's fairy godmother, The Queen of Hearts, Flora in Sleeping Beauty, Nanny in 101 Dalmations among others.  She died on the same day as Walt Disney.
This film was not as well received as others due to the fact that it was "weirder" than previously animated films. 

Peter Pan
Like Alice in wonderland this film was not as profitable as previous ones, but it still has wonderful animation and songs. 
Trivia:
The film continues the stage tradition of Captain Hook and Mr. Darling being played by the same actor.
This was the first time Peter had been played by a boy.  In all stage versions he was played by a girl due to the fact that they were lighter and easier to "fly" around the stage. 

Lady and the Tramp
The first animated film to not be completely considered a "family" or "kids" movie, Lady and the Tramp came out in 1955, the same year as Disneyland first opened its gates.
Although the film was sucessful, Disneyland was the "big thing" that year.  like Snow White, Disneyland was considered "Disney's Folly", but when it opened it was instantly popular and is to this day.  For the first time in it's history, the company was debt-free and would never have to worry about money again.
Trivia:
The siamese cats names are Si and Am.

Sleeping Beauty
Most assuradly the most beautifully animated film, Sleeping Beauty was also the most expensive, costing in 1959 money, seven million dollars.  That was several million over budget. 
The medeval style backgrounds and designs were made to look like an             old tapestry.
Trivia:
This was the first disney film where a main character directly slayed the villain.
According to many fans (and Disney) Maleficent is the most evil Disney villain.
The characters in this film were animated more rigidly than others.  However some animators thought this made them cold and seemingly heartless.  The three fairies are the exceptions to this.

101 Dalmations
This film was animated in a completely different style than the others to give it a more modern day appearance.  This was also the first animated film to use the Xerox process, which transferred the animators drawings directly from them to the film, eliminating the painters inbetween.  This saved time and money and was also the only way the animators would have been able to draw 101 dogs and still get the job done!
Trivia:
Cruella De Vil was originally going to make a return in The Rescurers, but Disney realized this would make unwanted connections between the films and she weas replaced with Madame Medusa. 
The actress who played Cruella also played another Disney character.  Any guesses who?  The very calm and normal sounding narrator in Cinderella!

The Sword in the Stone
The animation, although heavily influenced by 101 Dalmations, was starting to slip in quality due to the fact that Walt was becoming preoccupied with Disneyland and life-action projects such as Mary Poppins.  This film, although good, was rather uneventful.

The Jungle Book
After The Sword in the Stone's animation slipped, Walt was back in the studio overseeing things.  But this could not last.  Walt died in december 1966, leaving the film half finished and the studio, although it sounds dramatic, in chaos.  The film was completed and it opened at the renowned Chinese theater in Hollywood.
His death led into a new era of animation, one where the animators were on their own, without their driving force to keep quality and morale up. 

One quote by Walt can easily describe these twenty-five years from Snow White to Disneyland.

"If you can dream it, you can do it" -Walt Disney