You are right about Fantasia, it's one of the great 20th century works of capital "A" Art, in any form. While I'm skeptical about it's value as an introduction to classical music, I don't regard that as a flaw. It's simply a stunning piece of imaginative work. Where else can you get such a range of well, stuff, phenomena, human experience, the cosmos, in only 2 hours? No where else. That makes it unique and indispensable. Here's a longish argument about that one:

http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/disneysfantasia_as_master_work/

Here's an analysis of "Dance of the Hours":

http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/slapstick_onto_logic_in_dance_of_the_hours/

And, yes, to Dumbo as well. I wish Disney had used that as his model for later feature animation. It's a darker and more various film than it's given credit for. BTW, did you know that the head crow was voiced by the (white) man who sang "When You Wish Upon a Star" in Pinocchio? (The other crows were voiced by black men.) Here's an essay:

http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Essays/Dumbo/Dumbo.htm

I certainly don't know what really happened at the end, but there were many hesitations in the ceremony that indicated that this event was not planned and rehearsed down to the tenth of a second. Some things just happened. I'm willing to believe that Paris's little speech was one of those things.

I will note, however, that just as Paris worked her way to the microphone I was beginning to worry that we were going to see all the Jackson's step up to the microphone in a competition to see who could publicly miss Michael the most. Once Paris started speaking – which I found quite moving – I hoped she would be the last to speak. And she was. My nascent worry was unjustified.

On the whole, I thought the ceremony was well-done. Giving adequate public rememberance to such a complex figure is not easy. It would have been very easy for this memorial to go tastelessly over-the-top. It didn't.