Disney Shareholders’ Yearly Meeting Today : Investors: They will elect directors, ratify the appointment of an accounting firm and consider a proposal the company opposes.

With Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse on hand to greet them, Walt Disney Co.’s shareholders will gather today for the entertainment company’s annual meeting.

Only three items of business are on the agenda for the meeting, which is alternately held at the company’s U.S. theme parks in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla. Shareholders are to elect directors, ratify the appointment of Price Waterhouse as Disney’s accounting firm and consider one stockholder’s proposal that the company resume sending quarterly reports to stockholders whose shares are not directly registered.

The company recommends against the last proposal, saying that the number of such “street-name” shareholders has almost tripled to 465,000 in the past three years and that such a mailing would be prohibitively expensive.

The only other scheduled event is a demonstration planned by a group of animal rights protesters who say they will dress as turtles and stand outside the meeting holding a banner that reads “Disney Is Hell if You Wear a Shell.” The group, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, object to Disney’s plan to build a wild animal theme park on its vast acreage in Florida. That project, they say, would kill thousands of turtles.

When Disney shareholders met in Anaheim two years ago, Chairman Michael Eisner and President Frank Wells spoke from twin lecterns with a multimedia presentation and film clips on a screen behind them. Both executives will be on hand again this year to address the meeting and answer investors’ questions.

Eisner could catch some flak about his salary. He cashed in $197.5 million in stock options in December to avoid personal and corporate tax increases that could be implemented under President Clinton’s economic recovery plan. That income was in addition to his salary and other compensation of $7.4 million for Disney’s latest fiscal year, according to the company’s proxy.

The company has defended its executives’ generous pay in the past by pointing out that compensation is based on performance--and Disney continues to be one of the most successful U.S. corporations. For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the company posted earnings of $816.7 million, a 28% increase from the previous year, on revenue of $7.5 billion, up 23%. Among factors contributing to the gains were an increased number of theme park visitors, hit movies like “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” and “Beauty and the Beast” from the company’s filmed entertainment division, and higher merchandise sales.

The major disappointment last year was the Euro Disneyland theme park outside Paris, which has not met Disney’s expectations. But company officials as well as analysts say that the park’s long-term prospects are good.

Today’s meeting, which several hundred shareholders are expected to attend, begins at 10 a.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center.