[mickey]

LOS ANGELES, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co.(NYSE: DIS - News) on Monday said it closed its Florida animation studio with 260 employees in the last of several reorganizations shrinking the fabled studio that made the company's artistic reputation.

Disney said the closure of the unit, which produced current film "Brother Bear" and others, was aimed in part at focusing production in Burbank, California, which has about 600 animation employees and also is Disney's corporate base.

A spokeswoman said some Florida employees were being offered work in Burbank, but that most positions would be cut.

Disney animation hit a peak of about 2,200 employees in late 1997 and the unit has cut jobs and salaries steadily since, including shuttering other outlying offices around the world, including Paris, France, Tokyo, Japan and Orlando, Florida.

"This difficult decision was based on what is best strategically for our business in both the short and long term," Feature Animation President David Stainton said in a statement.

Disney's 1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" made the young studio's reputation, but its hand-drawn style has fallen out of fashion with the advent of computer-animated movies.

The Florida studio was responsible for two of Disney's latest hand-drawn movies, "Lilo & Stitch" and "Brother Bear," while Disney's pipeline of new animated movies is focused on computer-animated work.

Disney is also in talks to renew a distribution agreement with Pixar Animation Studios Inc.(NasdaqNM:PIXR -News), the creator of "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo," which helped found the computer animation trend.

[mjs1902]

So what happens to the Disney Animation Tour at MGM and the backstage tour that WDW offered?

[gregc]

Dis/MGM will tell us it was our idea: "You've said you wanted more stores and we listened so Disney and Payless Shoes have teamed up to bring you a new concept in theme park entertainment... open 'seasonally'...

[Dana]

I hate seeing so many people lose their jobs...how horrible for them.

[Rob Parsons]

I think that I speak for many people when I say that this was a fantastic attraction. I really loved it and passionately hope for a number of reasons , not least the jobs of personnel involved , that WDW see this closure as a big mistake.

So come on Mr Eisner et al please re think this decision.

All those in favour say " Aye "

[crystalrp]

Aye