Yes, people can and have, I never claimed they couldn't. However if Disney feels your version is too close to theirs, they'll sue. And with their war chest, your version can be a lot further from theirs than theirs can be of yours, because they can out litigate you.
Yes, they take PD works and create their own versions. They then are grossly overprotective of them. They've sued people for creating characters and costumes only vaguely similar to anything Disney specific versions of characters (including suing the Oscars!), as well as heavily lobbied congress for extensions to copyright. To claim Disney is anything other than very aggressive in their "defense" of infringement is to ignore their history.
'and now seek to prevent others from doing the same' certainly reads tome as a claim that they couldn't, and some else in this discussion interpreted as a fact. I'm not endorsing Disney's general copyright policy, just correcting a possible misunderstanding about a specific claim.
Yes, they take PD works and create their own versions. They then are grossly overprotective of them. They've sued people for creating characters and costumes only vaguely similar to anything Disney specific versions of characters (including suing the Oscars!), as well as heavily lobbied congress for extensions to copyright. To claim Disney is anything other than very aggressive in their "defense" of infringement is to ignore their history.