How many years did it take to make the Disney masterpiece 'Bambi'?

I literally cried when I saw this movie as a young child

I still tear up but as a child I wept.

Bambi was a great film, I actually read the book before I saw the film, my granddaughter watched it for the first time last week and came in and did an amazing impression of the skunk “you can call me Flower if you like” 👍

I know a vast amount of useless trivia, but not this useless.