Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a traditional, secular figure of Christmas good cheer who is the best known (at least in modern times) mascot of Christmas, developed in the United States as an amalgam of the story of St. Nicholas and various other seasonal folk heroes, with many aspects provided by the classic poem A Visit From St. Nicholas. The Santa Claus myth is based largely on the Dutch holiday of "Sinterklaas" (a hastily pronounced "St. Nicholas", who comes down the chimney on the 5th/6th of December) and the imagery of the Saint in question carried over to his North Pole incarnation. (Note that in several countries in Europe, Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are considered two entirely different characters, each with their own elaborate holiday.)

Santa is traditionally depicted as a festively overweight old man with a beard, who wears a red suit with white trim and a matching cap, black boots and a black belt. He lives at the North Pole in a large workshop staffed by elves which produces toys year round, and every Christmas Eve he sets out in a flying sleigh pulled by eight reindeer and delivers toys and other gifts to the children of the world out of the improbably large sack he carries with him, entering their houses by the chimney, filling their stockings, partaking of whatever food and drink the family left out for him, then leaving how he came in.

As the most prominent figure associated with Christmas, Santa Claus appears in many Christmas specials and movies, including several produced by Disney. His portrayal in them varies in many ways.

TaleSpin
Santa was mentioned in the episode "A Jolly Molly Christmas".

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Santa appears in the episode Holiday Time. He operates out of the planet North Polaris, where utilizing an interstellar sleigh and a time-manipulation device, delivers presents to all the planets within the Galactic Alliance. However, Emperor Zurg manages to steal the time-manipulation device and seeks to use it to ruin the holiday for everyone. Santa enlists the help of Buzz and his crew, though Buzz doubts that Santa is the real deal.

House of Mouse
The version of Santa from the Silly Symphonies shorts made a guest appearance on House of Mouse in the episode "Clarabelle's Christmas List".

Brandy and Mr. Whiskers
In the Christmas special, Santa was accidentally injured by Mr. Whiskers and forced to rest in the jungle while Brandy, Mr. Whiskers and their close friends travel over the world and deliver the gifts instead.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Santa made his first appearance in "Mickey Saves Santa" when Mrs. Claus, Mickey and Donald, journey off to Mistletoe Mountain to rescue a stranded Santa. He became an inconstant recurring character and played a surprise role in "Mickey's Choo-Choo Express".

Phineas and Ferb
He first appears in "I, Brobot", to do an summer run and takes the Phinedroids and Ferbots with his magnet. In Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!, he appeared to look at Phineas Flynn's list and takes the rest stop with him (even though Buford thought it was a clubhouse). In "Wizard of Odd", he is seen walking the The Yellow Sidewalk with aliens, Abraham Lincoln, and Sergei Kushnarov while Isabella (the good witch) was wanting them to take the sidewalk. His most recent appearence was in "Rollercoaster: The Musical!", with Blay'n and Clewn't, his elves, singing Carpe Diem.

Prep & Landing
Santa is an unseen character in the short and will most likely be the same in the short's sequel. The premise revolves around a special group of elves that prepare the homes Santa visit during the Christmas Eve night.

Disney characters who have dressed as Santa Claus

 * Goofy - Appears as Santa in the Magic Kingdom Yuletide Special, and also dresses as him at the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.
 * Scrooge McDuck - Dresses as Santa on the cover of Walt Disney's Holiday Parade #1.
 * King Louie - Pretends to be Santa in the TaleSpin episode "A Jolly Molly Christmas".
 * Pete - Dresses as Santa in the House of Mouse episode "Pete's Christmas Caper".