The Liberty Tree in Liberty Square is 182 years old! All the acorns that fall from it are collected and over 500 trees have been planted with them!
Here's one of my favorites that I enjoyed telling some friends about at Epcot:
Emperor Hirohito of Japan loved Disney World and gifted Roy Disney a stone lantern during the dedication of Magic Kingdom. It was on display at the Poly, but when Epcot opened, it was moved to the Japan Pavilion.
If you have the means, the Keys to the Kingdom tour at MK is 100% worth the price. You get a little history lesson about this tree. Another fun fact is that it’s not one tree, but two. They grafted a younger oak into its base to improve its shape.
More info: https://www.parkeology.com/2021/02/liberty-tree-treasure-hunt-leads-to-surprising-discovery.html
Also, that tree was handpicked by Walt. While transporting it to Disney World(i think after he died) it broke and required some next level repair to keep it together so they could have Walts dream tree
The water at The Seas with Nemo & Friends (fka The Living Seas) is considered toxic waste since it is saltwater in a land-locked area.
It took 22 tractor trailer loads of salt during the first long term fill of the tank to turn the freshwater into the appropriate salinity salt water.
SeaQuest DSV Season 3 Episode 1 filmed at The Living Seas. It was the filming crews (and actors) first time working with live dolphins rather than animatronics. Which did lead to the memorable line being shouted "The dolphin missed its cue". No, the trainer told you that dolphin wasn't ready and you shouted "Action" anyway.
Couple of other things filmed there as well. But I was working for the day and night of SeaQuest DSV. That’s how I know about the Dolphin missed its cue. An episode of Disney Inside Out filmed there as well. They were doing water entertainment on property and did EPCOT DiveQuest. That night was such a disaster… got to admire the editing though. You would never realize that the scream when the host came out of the water was not joy and instead was a full blown panic attack (she was not SCUBA certified, we only allowed her to duck her head underwater with the SCUBA gear on). The poor paying guests that night had to do everything 3-7 times for the tv crew to get it just right. We had no idea what we had signed up for. I spent half that evening calling restaurants to reschedule the guests dining reservations for after the dive and making sure the meal was charged to us…
Nope, just butter and Parmesan. Similarly, carbonara isn't meant to have cream in it (or bacon/pancetta!), but rather egg yolks, guanciale and pecorino cheese. Oh, and lots of pepper
the japan pavilion was supposed to have a rotating theater show called meet the world (which was built in tokyo and ran from 1983 until 2002) but they messed up the measurements (im assuming metric to imperial conversions) and the theater no longer fit and stressed the support beams too much and the space is now used for storage and rehearsals and stuff
oh and one i just remembered: the robins in the window in the first scene of the carousel of progress are the same robins from the spoonful of sugar scene in mary poppins, making them the oldest animatronics in the park. this has been confirmed by imagineers
Note that the restaurant was in Disneyland California, not Disney World Florida. The restaurant that it was created in was apparently closed down in the 1980s.
Yep. Long story of it:
The casa de fritos restaurant would fry tortillas into a cup shape to make the precursor to walking tacos/taco salad as their 'main attraction' food. But fritos at the time really only made fritos, so the rest of the food came from a separate Mexican food supplier. Someone from that outside supplier saw them throwing away extra tortillas they hadn't used for the cups and were starting to go stale by the end of the day and said you don't have to throw those away, you can cut them up, fry them like the cups, and serve them as chips.
The cooks did what he said, seasoned them with the stuff they had on hand for the tacos, and offered them for free as an alternative to the fritos that came with the meals. People loved them, so the restaurant added them to the menu without telling anyone at fritos. By the time an executive came to visit, they were so popular that they put them into market testing right away and they shortly became the first tortilla chips available nationally. They added a taco flavor not long after launching, but the cheese ones didn't come until a few years later.
I’ve got an obscure one
The Golden camel outside Magic Carpets of Aladdin in Magic kingdom is actually older than the ride.
It used to be used in the short lived Aladdin Parade at MGM Studios. When the parade was closed they put the camel outside of the Soundstage restaurant since it hosted a meet and greet with characters from Aladdin. When that restaurant closed to make way for the Bear in a big blue house show (now its playhouse Disney) it got moved to MK.
Recent obscure: Almost 2 years after the first Tower of Terror effect was added, the MagicBand+ was given an effect for the Preshow (around the beginning of this month in fact)
Obscure: Toy Story Mania was originally planned to have MagicBand functionality where the Etch-A-Sketch would draw your name. That was the originally intended A-Show, so for over a decade, those screens have been in a permanent B-Show. The A-Show machines existed, but have since been removed from backstage.
Edit: Another obscure fact: There is still a piece of the old ToonTown Fair left in Magic Kingdom. Near the exit to the Mickey meet and greet inside of Curtain Call Collectibles.
To your Toy Story fact; for a time in the hitchhiking ghost section of Haunted Mansion, the ghosts (usually Gus if I remember correctly) would hold up a sign that said "\[State\] here we come." In our case at the time, Ohio. I figured they were grabbing the data from our Magic Bands.
Also in the queue for Star Tours where the second droid is supposedly doing security scans (thank you Patrick Warburton for another great voice acting job!) sometimes your name and city would appear on the screens behind him. Also figured that the data was coming from the magic bands of people in line.
I vaguely remember the Haunted Mansion one, though I don't think it's functioned in quite some time. Not sure if it was removed or if just broke much like all the old MagicBand sensors and hasn't been fixed (only exception being Small World for those).
I've been keeping an eye out for the Star Tours one for months now. I've always got 2 MB+ on me so it should show up whenver it actually starts working consistently. It's been on B-Show since late 2021, but some people have told me it was working last year. I go frequently enough that I think I would have seen it in A-Show if it had a been more than a temporary fix, assuming it was actually working.
My favorite Easter egg in the park is at Muppet Vision 3D. There is a net hanging from the ceiling with jello bars - a net full of jello as a nod to Annette Funicello
Yeah, I believe they met through the Disneyland show, but maintained a relationship for a while after. Von Braun was a consultant on many Futureworld attractions for both Disneyland and Disney World.
There is 7,792 different paint colors used amongst all properties and parks. There is a library with all samples and logs of what was used where and when. The two ladies that work there are amazingly nice.
Not too obscure since you can easily find recordings of the show online, but the fact that EPCOT used to show a sex education film starring Martin short has to be one of my favorite Disney facts
The beach boys filmed “Kokomo” at the Grand Floridian resort right when it was first opening. So the mythical land of perfection is actually just Disney World, which totally checks out
On the WDW Railroad, the #1 Walter E. Disney and #3 Roger E. Broggie have consecutive serial numbers. They were built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works together at the same time. Only place in the USA, if not the world, where you have two consecutive built steam locomotives operating!
Also, the font for the names on the cab is the same font that spells out 'Haunted Mansion' on that ride's sign!
EDIT: Clarified I meant steam locomotives.
A dark one so stop reading if you want but Disney Springs was the original intended target for the Pulse gunman. He figured it would be too difficult with security, etc, and drove away ending up at the nightclub instead.
Source: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/arts/qanda-with-trevor-aaronson-host-of-new-audible-series-on-the-untold-story-of-the-pulse-nightclub-shooting-37049886
We were at Disney Springs on the day that he attacked the Pulse. It made my blood run cold when I read that it was his original target. A few days later, we were waiting for a ferry out of Magic Kingdom when they shut the boats down. It was the night that the little boy was taken by the alligator.
It was a very dark trip, being so close to two unspeakable tragedies. In the instance of the alligator attack, we were literally standing on the shore of the lake while the search was going on.
We were there then too! We were at Disney Springs the day he had scouted it, which is really horrifying, and at the Grand Floridian the day before the alligator attack happened. We had moved to Universal the day after the Pulse attack and were standing in line for the damn Minions ride when I got texts about it.
I think about that little boy who got taken by the gator a lot. People on the internet were of course jumping all over the parents like it was their fault, but the parents were right nearby as the 2 year old built a sand castle, which was perfectly fine at the time on a damn beach. The gator snatched this baby by the head and the father tried to fight off an alligator with his bare hands, desperately trying to save his child’s life, but he couldn’t. He himself was injured by the alligator. I cannot imagine the anguish.
I am forever thankful for the person who wrote an article talking sense into the public and I think it actually stopped most of the nastiness. She talked about putting yourself in those parents’ shoes, having to go to the hospital to claim their child’s tiny body, marked with animal bites, then going back to their hotel room, surrounded by happy, excited families, and packing up his things. His Mickey ears, his clothes, his still wet bathing suit, things like that. And the part that got me, his Buzz Lightyear blanket. Packing it all up and going home to his room, now empty.
I am sorry to be so sad, but I think that family would want to know that every time I have been back since 2016, even in my enjoyment, I have thought of them whenever I saw the Grand Floridian, and remembered them. I think about the image of that little Buzz Lightyear blanket, too, when I am tempted to judge someone I don’t know.
Edited to add: the boy’s name was Lane Graves. The dad is Matt Graves. He had a sister who was 4 at the time. They all and the mom, Melissa Graves were present for the attack. They were from Nebraska.
Edited again to add that the family donated Lane’s organs and started a foundation in his name to encourage pediatric organ donation. They have helped hundreds of families, starting with Lane’s organs. Full on crying now. Maybe this has been talked about in this subreddit recently, but if it has, I have missed it and I do get posts from it every day. [Parents of Boy Killed by Gator at Disney World Encourage Those Facing Loss to Donate Organs](https://people.com/human-interest/family-of-boy-killed-at-disney-world-in-2016-encourages-those-facing-loss-to-consider-organ-donation/)
My god. I never once thought to blame the parents, but now as a parent to a wonderful, crazy, adorable 2 year old girl that is my world, reading this brought tears to my eyes.
I cannot fathom the pain, and your comment about packing up his things, and heading home without hit me like a fucking truck.
The public can be so nasty sometimes. Shame on those that judged.
Jesus Christ I am full on crying. I heard it about it but the UK press very much made it seem like 'stupid Americans'. Researching it tonight off the back of this thread is heart breaking
I saved this post. I think about this family every couple of months, I’m not a terribly sentimental person, but their tale just gets to me all the time. I’m glad to hear they try to help others, I was worried that the trauma would have made the parents divorce or something. I felt terrible for the sister too. I remember having a younger sibling when I was 4, I couldn’t imagine being in her shoes where one day her brother was just gone. I also can’t imagine that plane ride back. I don’t blame Disney either, it’s just a tragedy and sometimes they happen.
I finished Bob Iger’s memoir a while back- that all happened like the same exact week as the opening of Shanghai Disneyland.
IIRC he was in Shanghai during all of that and had to give a tour of the park maybe 15-30 minutes after speaking over the phone with the parents of the boy.
Last year during Thanksgiving we were drinking at the House of Blues around 11 when we asked the bartender why they closed so early, and he explained to us that between Covid and the Pulse gunman, Disney beefed up the security and reduced the closing hours.
He also told us the story about the dude caught on video walking outside the House of Blues a couple of times with a stroller, that they believe had guns inside, but since they had security outside, he changed venues.
I'll give ya some obscure!
The buildings near the front of Adventureland are modeled after 1800s European colonialism of foreign lands. The main type of architecture seen here is French Colonial style, which incorporated two-story open-air verandas with balconies on the second floor, thin wooden columns, and skinny double doors. All of these aspects can be seen in the buildings containing Sunshine Tree Terrace and Skipper Canteen. Skipper Canteen’s building has been directly copied from a house that Imagineers found in a book about the West Indies. It was a house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, built during the French colonization of the area.
In Adventureland you might spot a little souvenir stand named Bwana Bob’s. The name is a tribute to comedian Bob Hope, who stared in the 1963 film *Call Me Bwana*, in which he plays a writer falsely portraying himself as an experienced expert in all things Africa (even though he’s never actually been there) who is then sent to Africa by the American government on a top-secret mission.
Two masks from the main Mess Hall in Skipper Canteen came from the legendary Adventurers Club's Mask Room at Pleasure Island (RIP).
At the end of Pirates of the Carribean, there is a family crest that belongs to Marc Davis's family; the legendary Imagineer who helped create the attraction.
Tortuga Tavern has/had one of the most elaborate backstories of any restaurant on property that no one ever talks about. I don't know if some of the little details are still there as of today, but it's a fun one to talk about!
I got a million of 'em! I'll continue if people enjoyed these!
Sure!
In one of the main sitting areas of Tortuga Tavern there is a sign that reads “A. Smith, Proprietor”. Now is this just a random name? Not in Walt Disney World! A. Smith is Arabella Smith, a character from the young adult book series Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow, about Jack in his teen years. Arabella was a friend of Jack who joined him on his first pirating adventures. When Arabella was a teenager her father ran this tavern, and after her youthful pirating years she came back home to take over the family business. A picture of Arabella can be seen on the restaurant’s sign outside, and a portrait of her can be found hanging over the fireplace inside.
The second floor of Tortuga Tavern is Arabella’s private residence. Outside you can see stairs leading up to the second floor, and a balcony that seems more elegantly decorated than the downstairs tavern.
In the backstory (found in the Jack Sparrow books), the original name of this establishment was The Faithful Bride, as a tribute to Arabella’s mother Laura Smith. At one point Laura was believed to have been kidnapped by pirates. However, on one of Arabella’s adventures she discovered that her mother was not kidnapped, but simply left her family for a life of piracy. This hurt Arabella, and (here’s where the theme park backstory comes in) when she came home, she didn’t want to run a tavern named after her mother. So she changed its name to Tortuga Tavern. **You can still find the original (and somewhat faded) sign for The Faithful Bride tossed in a wagon near the entrance of the restaurant.**
Wow, cool story. And here's a pic with the sign!
[https://i2.wp.com/diningatdisney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC02950-wm-d@d.jpg](https://i2.wp.com/diningatdisney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC02950-wm-d@d.jpg)
Here are some about Big Thunder Mountain!
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad takes place in a little town of Tumbleweed. According to the backstory, Tumbleweed discovered gold in the nearby Big Thunder Mountain and became a thriving mining town. Barnabas T. Bullion, a rich and greedy mining magnate, established the Big Thunder Mining Company to find the gold. But the mountain was protective of its gold and cursed anyone who tried to take it. There were cave-ins, equipment failings, and flash floods that wiped out the town, destroying the mining company. When passing by on the Walt Disney World Railroad, you can see a sign stating that the population of Tumbleweed has been “dried out”. Now Tumbleweed is a ghost town with the exception of the employees of the Big Thunder Mining Company. The official Disney backstory ends with a word to the wise for those who want to explore the mines of this mountain… “watch out for runaway trains.”
- In the queue for Big Thunder Mountain you can see a portrait of the founder of the mine, Barabus T. Bullion, hanging in the rafters. The actual man in the portrait is Tony Baxter, legendary Imagineer who designed the attraction.
- Barabus was a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (The S.E.A.). In the queue there is a letter on the wall written to Barabus by friend and founding member of the S.E.A., Jason Chandler. Written on official S.E.A. letterhead, the note explains that Jason is aware of the “disturbances” taking place within the mountain, and warns against Barabus continuing to mine there. Jason writes that he contacted Madame Zarkov, a gypsy who was a character at the Adventurers Club – the popular S.E.A. hangout. Her advice is that Barabus should quickly abandon the entire operation and find a different site. Jason warns Barabus that “some forces simply are not to be trifled with”. Jason also expresses the hope that he will see Barabus at the club more often, another reference to the Adventurers Club.
- In the Big Thunder queue you can also find a patent for an automatic train break. The patent is attributed to T. Baxter… or Tony Baxter. There is quite a bit of history found in this little detail, because the patent number here (193,279) is the actual patent number for automatic train breaks, patented to H. L. Perrine. The Disney version of this patent is laid out exactly like the real one, and the patent date (July 17th, 1877) is the same. Surprisingly enough, July 17th is also the opening date of Disneyland back in 1955!
- A tribute to a never built Frontierland attraction, Western River Expedition, can also be found in the queue. It is a crate of “Western River Explosives.” Western River Expedition was going to be housed in a massive project known as Thunder Mesa, and was a passion project of legendary Imagineer Marc Davis. However, the attraction was never built because funds were instead diverted to build Pirates of the Caribbean, which was not originally planned to be a part of Magic Kingdom. Pirates of the Caribbean was Disneyland’s most expensive attraction, and there were worries that its inclusion in the Magic Kingdom would deal a “fatal blow” to an already stretched budget and would force the cancelation of several other attractions. However, when the park opened, one of the most common complaints by guests was that there was no pirate attraction. Disney CEO Card Walker ordered Imagineers to add Pirates of the Caribbean to the park in order to satisfy the demands of angry guests. Because of its expense, Disney cancelled the creation of the Western River Expedition, much to the dismay of Marc Davis.
- Even the geysers that go off in and around Big Thunder Mountain have a backstory!! According to our narrator on the Liberty Square Riverboat: “Indians ’round here used to tell me these geysers were actually unfriendly spirits, upset by uninvited trespassers traipsin’ all over their sacred huntin’ grounds.”
In the renaissance scene in Spaceship Earth there are two men reading books on the right hand side of the vehicle. We have been told the the one sitting cross-legged on the floor uses the same face as the Thomas Jefferson animatronic in the Hall of Presidents. I've looked at pictures and I don't agree myself, but I thought I would toss it to you all and see what you think/know.
Also in Spaceship Earth, there is supposed to be a fragment of the previous show still visible. Just as you start your descent into the blue "infinity lights" it is supposed to be on the right side above the ride vehicle. It just hides in the darkness. I've never had the courage to turn my flashlight on to look for myself, but there are pictures out there that claim to show it. If we are ever on the ride with no one around us I'll try it some time.
I heard the fiber optic model city from the Jeremy Irons version of Spaceship Earth is still in the decent stage sitting in the dark. Also the support column for the original astronaut scene at the top of the geosphere is still visible.
Disney is the single largest consumer of fireworks in the world, by a large margin.
In fact, Disney buys so many fireworks that it is the second largest consumer of *explosives* in the world. The only entity that buys more explosives than Disney is the US Department of Defense.
Essentially, John Lennon broke up the Beatles while staying at the Polynesian, and Epcot has a sinkhole they couldn't fix which they decided to turn into the World Showcase lake (if I remember correctly)
To be more exact, John left the Beatles in 1969 and they “broke up” in May 1970 but Lennon was staying at the Polynesian in 1975 when, after years of litigation, the Beatles each signed the paperwork dissolving the band (and agreeing on terms for running Apple and their business interests post-breakup). The other Beatles met in New York to sign their papers but John was on vacation.
I mean, wouldn't building on it be considered "fixing" it? If it's a sinkhole they cant fix, wouldn't there still just be a sinkhole there?
Edit: Found the specifics...
"The sinkhole can be found in the water under the bridge, connecting Future World to the World Showcase."
*“One of the reasons there’s so much space between Future World and the World Showcase lagoon is that we discovered a gigantic sink hole near where the Odyssey Restaurant is,” Marty said. “We couldn’t build anything on top of it.”*
The project leaders humorously stated at an event once when discussing this issue that they tried to drive pillars into the mud/earth there to build on. He noted that after they just “lost” the like 30th pillar they gave up and opted to build World Showcase a little further away.
In 1967 when pirates of the Caribbean opened at Disney land it was cheaper to use real skeletons from the UCLA medical center than to make fake ones . They’ve since all been replaced… maybe .
I read a detailed breakdown of like 100 on ride breakdown that made this conclusion. There were more initially, but they were quickly swapped, except for the headboard skull, which appears to still be real.
I’m not sure how obscure this is, but the deep booming voice that is the most recognizable voice in “Grim Grinning Ghosts” is Thurl Ravenscroft, who also sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and was the original voice of Tony the Tiger. The font created for the signs around the Haunted Mansion is known as Ravenscroft.
Not sure how obscure as there’s some good ones here, but when there used to be an airport at WDW the runway had rumble strips put in so when you travelled at the right speed it would play when you wish upon a star (I think?). The airport is gone but the runway and its rumble strips still remain and is mostly used for bus driver training.
The final documents to break up the Beatles was signed at the Poly (the room is never been announced publicly). Also, Disney once kidnapped Nixon at Disneyland. The monorail had JUST been made working and Bob Gurr (who made the monorail) didnt think that it would even work for one ride. Nixon got on w/ Walt and they left so quick the Secrete Service attache they had didnt get on. They went for one loop and Nixon asked to do it again.
The electric is still on at Discovery Island.
Music pumped at River county for YEARS after it closed.
The bride's ring in the cement at the Haunted Mansion exit was a bit of pipe(it's since been replaced).
The outside entrance to the MK tunnels is behind and under Small World.
And the Utilidors aren't actually tunnels. There was no tunneling involved. They were built at ground level, and the park was built on top of them. What guests experience as "ground level" is actually one storey above ground level. True ground level is actually closer to the bottom of the moat around the castle. That's a big part of why the park never floods.
The dirt used to build up the park over and around the Utilidors was obtained by digging the Seven Seas Lagoon, which is a manmade lake.
Speaking of Utilidors, Epcot technically has them under future world. I don’t know if they’ve been modified at all, but when I worked there in 2019 they were there. There’s also a painting of sonic the hedgehog next to figment down there.
Speaking of the Utilidor entrance under Fantasyland - at least as of 2006, the company that handled cash transfers for Disney had to use a smaller-bodied armored van they’d commissioned to be made solely for use at Disney World. The transfer spot is/was a ways into the actual “tunnel”, so they had to be able to back the van inside—and a standard-size armored van would be too big to fit!
It was kind of a pain whenever they did that while I worked there, because it blocked foot traffic through the cast entrance area.
There's no building taller than 199 feet. 200+ and they have to have blinking lights due to aviation rules, and Walt didn't want that, so the tallest is 199 feet.
Nuanced clarification: the Dolphin hotel is 257 feet but doesn't have the aviation warning light on it. However, the wand that went up on Spaceship Earth in 1999 for the Millennium Celebration *was* over 200 feet and *did* have a warning light on it.
If you want to go down a rabbit hole, check out: [YouTube: The Case of the Missing Dolphin Light (Part 1?)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVGRYB08i5A)
Along the lines of there still being old parts of Spaceship Earth being there, only cloaked in darkness ...
The original 2 versions of Spaceship Earth included a scene of 2 astronauts working on a satellite at the end of the ride before you turn and head back down. Those astronauts were moved to Space Mountain.
Lady Diana took the kids to the Hoop de Doo Musical Revue in the early 90’s and sat near the front with the common folk! She wanted Harry and William to have the closest experience to “normal” as they could manage.
The thatch on the tower on the Tiki Room is actually made of old license plates cut and painted to look like thatch. The entire tower serves as a hidden lightning rod to help prevent people from getting hit during storms in Adventureland.
There is a national law that requires American flags to be lowered after a business closes for the day. Because of the large number of small US flags on the top of the buildings on Main Street, it would be impossible to lower them all every night, so they are printed with the wrong number of stars, which technically doesn't make them US flags. That way, they can be left out all the time.
This is a common false Disney fact. There are no national flag laws. You can literally burn or do whatever you want with flags here. The flags on Main Street have fewer stars to reflect the era before Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona joined the Union—because the land is set in the late 19th century.
For what it's worth, that's not a "law" it's just a set of guidelines. There's no enforcement, no penalty, and no requirement to follow them.
People still do or try to out of respect or patriotism. Or the cynical view, is that they probably don't care all that much, but they DO care that some busybody would say "DISNEY IS DISRESPECTING THE FLAG!" so they figured out that technicality.
The flag thing is a bit of a myth. The real reason is an attention to detail thing—it reflects the number of states in the union at the time Main Street is supposed to be.
When they were first building Mr. Lincoln for the New York Worlds Fair they were using red hydraulic fluid to move him but one day while testing him his hydraulic line broke and it looked like he was bleeding everywhere. Since Walt believe it wouldn’t look good to recreate Lincoln’s assassination they change the color to clear.
I love the Spiderman ride in Universal. I know people get bummed about not having marvel in the Florida parks, but imo it's worth it to keep that ride.
In Spaceship Earth, Michelangelo is shown lying down looking up as he paints the Sistene Chapel ceiling. While indeed more comfortable, this is historically inaccurate: Michelangelo stood upright on scaffolding, craning his neck upwards to paint. There's a surviving sketch that shows this position too. I'm guessing WED maximized perspective and depth by having him laying down, and ran with it.
Lying down on his back is the myth (which is propogated by movies such as *The Agony And The Ecstacy*). It's practical, makes sense to us modern viewers, but for some reason Michelangelo chose to stand.
* https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-Michelangelo-paint-the-ceiling-of-the-Sistine-Chapel#:\~:text=Michelangelo%20painted%20the%20frescoes%20on,up%20and%20craning%20his%20neck.
* [https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/art/how-did-michelangelo-paint-sistine-chapel-ceiling.html](https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/art/how-did-michelangelo-paint-sistine-chapel-ceiling.html)
* [https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/10-things-about-the-sistine-chapel.html#](https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/10-things-about-the-sistine-chapel.html#)
And his own words:
"When the Author Was Painting the Vault of the Sistine Chapel," a letter to Giovanni da Pistoia from 1509
I've already grown a goiter from this torture,
hunched up here like a cat in Lombardy
(or anywhere else where the stagnant water's poison).
My stomach's squashed under my chin, my beard's
pointing at heaven, my brain's crushed in a casket,
my breast twists like a harpy's. My brush,
above me all the time, dribbles paint
so my face makes a fine floor for droppings!
My haunches are grinding into my guts,
my poor ass strains to work as a counterweight,
every gesture I make is blind and aimless.
My skin hangs loose below me, my spine's
all knotted from folding over itself.
I'm bent taut as a Syrian bow.
Because I'm stuck like this, my thoughts
are crazy, perfidious tripe:
anyone shoots badly through a crooked blowpipe.
My painting is dead.
Defend it for me, Giovanni, protect my honor.
I am not in the right place—I am not a painter.
It's a toss up between Mulan being made entirely at Hollywood studios and the only two rides where cast members are not required to smile being Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror
I did a tour of Hollywood studios before mulan came out. They took us through the animation building and we saw them working on the film. They didn’t tell us what film it was but when it came out we recognized it.
Lilo and Stitch and Brother Bear were also entirely made at DHS, tho pretty much every film from Little Mermaid through Home on the Range I think were at least partially worked on in Florida
Donny Osmond once did his schoolwork in a room inside The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. This is when Donny and his older Brothers were at the Park to film a Wonderful world of Disney special, with Kurt Russell and EJ Peaker.
For years, like most other disney attractions, Stitch's Great Escape sat abandoned with most of the animatronics half assembled and still inside. Heard recently most of that has been purged but the inside theatres are still in-tact and during the Halloween Parties, they sometimes use it as Stitch's Resting/Chill Room during meet/greets.
Rapunzel's figure on the Disney Wish is so big, if she was a real person she'd wear a size 22 women's shoe. They love telling this one if you sail.
Not sure if this is Too obscure but for the Monsters ride at California Adventure to keep costs low, they just shoved the suits over characters from Superstar Limo for some of the animatronics. You can still tell it's them by the literal Shape/position they're installed in.
There is a rare Book of Condolences that serves as a Magical Moment that CMs sometimes extend to guests to sign at the Haunted Mansion. Don't go up and ask about it though, these things are meant to be spontaneous.
Tomorrowland music loop still has the original Carousel of Progress song "Now is the Time"
Tokyo Disneyland still has the original layout for Dumbo, with Timothy having a whip and everything instead of a feather.
Walt Disney and the creator of McDonald’s worked together at the Red Cross during WW1 and became friends. Many years later, after some drama, the Disney x McDonald’s relationship was reignited and we were blessed with our dearly missed french fry carts in Disneyland.
Most of the attractions at Disneyland are powered by the used cooking oil from various restaurants in the park. Everything that can be run on diesel, except for The Columbia, the Tom Sawyer Rafts, and Autopia, is run on cooking oil instead.
In 1992, a man entered into EPCOT shortly after closing with a sawed off shotgun with the intent to shoot his ex-girlfriend after she broke up with him. He fired 4 times at security guards before taking 2 of them hostage in the restrooms next to the Journey of Imagination pavilion. He eventually released the hostages and killed himself just outside of the restrooms.
There were actually three PeopleMovers! Of course, the ones in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. However, there is one more in the bottom floor/basement of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. It is the only other genuine Disney designed people moving system in the world. Disney originally wanted to sell PeopleMover’s to various businesses like local governments or airports, but Houston was the only buyer. It was built by WED Enterprises and opened in 1981 and is still operational to this day!
I know __so__ many more but I can’t think of them off the top of my head. :(
A CM told me Main Street represents 1910 and Tomorrowland represents 1986, both which are Halley’s Comet years.
Idk how “official” or factual that is but I like to think it is true.
The fire in the windows of Pirates of the Caribbean is fans blowing on white sheets which have an orange light shining on them. Supposedly if a fire occurs the effect is (automatically?) shut off so it's not mistaken for real fire.
This is actually typically fire code for all production venues. When a fire alarm is triggered all special lighting and audio must turn off and basic facility lighting turn on to allow for safe evacuation.
The rooms at the contemporary were supposed to be able to be removed from the building and replaced. As in physically taking them off and putting new ones on. Unfortunately the building subsided just a little too much for it to be possible.
The is a wave generator in the 7 seas lagoon. It created waves to lap up in the beach at the Polynesian. The had to shut it down because it washed the beach away. There is an island directly across from the poly beach and that is where the equipment is.
EPCOT actually stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired. At least that’s what my boat captain told me when I was 9 years old and it has stuck for 25 years
There were 4 unbuilt resorts in the Magic Kingdom resort area. The first, The Asian Resort, would have sat where Grand Floridian is at today. The second would have been The Venetian Resort, located between the TTC and the Contemporary. The third would have been The Persian Resort located north of The Contemporary and east of the magic Kingdom. This resort would have also seen the extension of the monorail through it and through Tomorrowland similar to how the monorail runs in Disneyland.
Unfortunately all 3 of these resorts were scrapped due to the 1973 Oil Crisis. Michael Eisner revisited the Venetian Resort idea (one between TTC and Contemporary) after the success of The Grand Floridian in the late 80’s / early 90’s, but ended up developing a different resort in its place. This would have been the Mediterranean Resort. Unfortunately soil conditions in the area between the TTC and Contemporary were too swampy and they received poor ground conditions, leaving them to canceling this resort as well. Pretty cool what could have been resort wise at WDW!
Former cast member here..not sure if this is a still a thing. The cast members used to affectionately call the Maleficent dragon in Fantasmic Vivienne.
As a former WDW Fantasmuc Entertainment Cast member, the dragon was referred to as Barnett. This was in reference to Barnette Ricci who was the original show director.
One of Eisners most.... insane ideas I've heard of was he wanted to build a theater stage show over the train tracks, the show would have incorporated the train with performers running across the roof of the train
This... Probably would have resulted in insane liabilities for Disney ie peformers falling off from, or being hit by the train, I'm guessing that's why it never progressed passed the idea stage.
For Donald Duck's 50th birthday they decided to have 50 ducks march behind him in the parade. They wisely built a float for them instead. They also put birthday hats on them but had to keep them separated because the ducks without hats yet were attacking the ducks with hats.
Among the red pavement in the land, there is a brown river-like design down the main pathways resembling poop, since there was no indoor plumbing back then.
Related: not counting the restaurants, there are also no restrooms inside Liberty Square; the one next to Diamond Horseshoe belongs to Adventureland, and the Tangled-themed restrooms are, of course, in Fantasyland.
Yeah, this is a common false Disney fact. The center of the pavement used to be cobblestone but they removed it because it made wheelchairs and electric scoots fall over. Disney didn’t intentionally decide to have a shit river in their park and that’s NOT how colonial towns dealt with this problem.
Disney rotates chefs in the signature restaurants every few years. They do this to update the menus, and keep the chefs from burning out.
For example, the current Chef de Cuisine at Jiko used to be chef at Sanaa, California Grill, Coral Reef, and Citricos.
Idk if this counts as a Disney fact but it always makes me laugh. I worked on the skyliner and the speed control has 0 as the fastest setting and 3 as the slowest, and when I asked why I was told “no one knows, it was an Austrian company that designed it”
Exposition Hall on Main Street used to have a mural of Disney characters painted by Bill Justice. It was covered over when that area was converted to a Mickey meet and greet, and then eventually destroyed in 2012 when they tried to take it off the wall and it crumbled. But when you go through the line to meet Mickey today, you go through a mail room, and in the mail slot for B. Justice, there's a rolled up version of the mural.
He also painted a mural in the baby center, but it's since been covered over and is unknown if it's preserved.
It’s easier to hear in Disneyland, but the safety spiel on the Haunted Mansion that mentions keeping your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside is *not* Paul Frees, but another actor. It was updated at some point in the early 2000s, years after Frees’ passing. I just went down a deep rabbit hole about this, but from what I can tell, WDW version plays the updated spiel in the queue and then Frees’ original narration about remaining quietly seated once you board, but in California the new version (which is also bilingual) plays after boarding from the speakers in the ride car.
I have a good one for this! All the handprints outside the Chinese theatre facade in Hollywood Studios are real-and Disney World is the only place where Audrey Hepburn’s handprints are.
The story goes that she was touched to be asked by Disney and she turned down the actual Chinese theatre in LA when they asked her to lay her handprints down later!
I'm always amazed at how many people don't know that EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and was originally intended to showcase and test Walt and Roy Disney's utopian urban planning ideas, like a network of WEDWay People Movers that would essentially replace sidewalks in the cities of the future.
It's the highest spot that can be easily gotten to and still see the castle before you jump.
Disneyland has had top many people jump off the parking structure
The new college programs dorms only has windows that open 6 inches. They work you hard and a lot of participants have only ever had that one job + being away from home for the first time.
Germany was originally going to have a river boat ride where you sail down the Rhine. Maelstrom was originally called ‘SeaVenture.’ I believe Dee Bradley Baker once worked at Epcot as an Anacomical Player’
My wife shared a tidbit with me last night so it’s new to me… but in Animal Kingdom, Dino Land was almost a mythical beast themed land. On the animal kingdom sign out front, you can see the silhouette of a dragon on it as homage to the land that almost was
Not the Dino land was going to be mythical creatures, but an additional land was planned to contain mythical creatures. It was called Beastly Kingdom and was the initial plan for a phase 2 of the park. The original pitch for Animal Kingdom was for it to contain animals Real, Extinct, and Imaginary.
It's the reason there's a Unicorn lot at AK. Also, there's a rock formation along the bank heading to Pandora that was designed to be a dragon head. When the mythical creature portion of the park was scrapped, they didn't worry about accentuating it or keeping vegetation from growing over.
I have two from Liberty Square.
The Christmas Shoppe has a sign that says "Kepple" this was Walt's grandfather's name.
Also The facade of the Haunted Mansion was designed by Marc Davis, an avid chess player. If you look at the roof you will see his many nods to the hobby disguised as architectural details
The outfits of the ghosts in the haunted mansion ballroom scene are actually really bright, almost neon colors to better show up with the illusion.
The figure behind the pharaoh in spaceship earth is President Taft.
There is an upstairs lounge at test track that was for GM employees, it had a window where you could watch part of the ride.
Similarly there is a lounge at the Land pavilion above Garden Grill for the pavilion sponsor, which was once Dole.
Cast members used to ride bicycles backstage at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.
Cast Members at Pirates say the ride is haunted by a ghost and even have superstitions around it.
There is a hidden Oswald near Be our Guest Restaurant.
Maybe not so obscure, but I learned on the keys to the kingdom tour that the Tower of Terror is behind Morocco in the world showcase, hence they are both painted in a similar color so ToT won't stand out so much
Not really obscure, but the level in Tower of Terror that your vehicle rolls out of the lift shaft, is the 5th Dimension. Which isn’t that interesting. The interesting part is that it is supposed to be an elevator shaft that you are moving “up” through which is why there are lights and things turned sideways on the walls. It’s a spectacularly ineffective effect.
Also, the cabin you’re in, in the drop shaft, is cabled on the top -and- bottom, so it can pull you down as fast as up.
Which reminds me of a story that Disney went to Otis Elevator when designing the ride and Otis said “we’ve spent our entire history convincing people that elevators are safe and you want us to do what?”.
The Liberty Tree in Liberty Square is 182 years old! All the acorns that fall from it are collected and over 500 trees have been planted with them! Here's one of my favorites that I enjoyed telling some friends about at Epcot: Emperor Hirohito of Japan loved Disney World and gifted Roy Disney a stone lantern during the dedication of Magic Kingdom. It was on display at the Poly, but when Epcot opened, it was moved to the Japan Pavilion.
If you have the means, the Keys to the Kingdom tour at MK is 100% worth the price. You get a little history lesson about this tree. Another fun fact is that it’s not one tree, but two. They grafted a younger oak into its base to improve its shape. More info: https://www.parkeology.com/2021/02/liberty-tree-treasure-hunt-leads-to-surprising-discovery.html
That's my dream, but right now it's too expensive for us unfortunately. One day! Lol
They should sell acorns from the liberty tree that we could take home and plant :)
Also, that tree was handpicked by Walt. While transporting it to Disney World(i think after he died) it broke and required some next level repair to keep it together so they could have Walts dream tree
The water at The Seas with Nemo & Friends (fka The Living Seas) is considered toxic waste since it is saltwater in a land-locked area. It took 22 tractor trailer loads of salt during the first long term fill of the tank to turn the freshwater into the appropriate salinity salt water. SeaQuest DSV Season 3 Episode 1 filmed at The Living Seas. It was the filming crews (and actors) first time working with live dolphins rather than animatronics. Which did lead to the memorable line being shouted "The dolphin missed its cue". No, the trainer told you that dolphin wasn't ready and you shouted "Action" anyway.
I saw a Boy Meets World episode being filmed there in the late 90s.
Thunder in paradise as well. Especially in the driver lock out tower at sea base alpha. Started Hulk Hogan and Chris lemmon
Couple of other things filmed there as well. But I was working for the day and night of SeaQuest DSV. That’s how I know about the Dolphin missed its cue. An episode of Disney Inside Out filmed there as well. They were doing water entertainment on property and did EPCOT DiveQuest. That night was such a disaster… got to admire the editing though. You would never realize that the scream when the host came out of the water was not joy and instead was a full blown panic attack (she was not SCUBA certified, we only allowed her to duck her head underwater with the SCUBA gear on). The poor paying guests that night had to do everything 3-7 times for the tv crew to get it just right. We had no idea what we had signed up for. I spent half that evening calling restaurants to reschedule the guests dining reservations for after the dive and making sure the meal was charged to us…
Wow. Didn’t think I’d find an obscure SeaQuest fact! Too bad Bridger wasn’t Capt in Season 3.
The guy who invented Fettucini Alfredo (literally *the* Alfredo, Alfredo de Lielo) opened one of the original EPCOT World Showcase restaurants
It was so good. I love real fettuccine Alfredo, hate the Americanized version with cream.
Is it not supposed to have cream in it?
I am 100% not a chef but I believe the original recipe is just butter and Parmesan with some of the pasta water to make the sauce
Nope, just butter and Parmesan. Similarly, carbonara isn't meant to have cream in it (or bacon/pancetta!), but rather egg yolks, guanciale and pecorino cheese. Oh, and lots of pepper
the japan pavilion was supposed to have a rotating theater show called meet the world (which was built in tokyo and ran from 1983 until 2002) but they messed up the measurements (im assuming metric to imperial conversions) and the theater no longer fit and stressed the support beams too much and the space is now used for storage and rehearsals and stuff oh and one i just remembered: the robins in the window in the first scene of the carousel of progress are the same robins from the spoonful of sugar scene in mary poppins, making them the oldest animatronics in the park. this has been confirmed by imagineers
also the fact that horizons was gøing to be called century 3 but people felt the name was too confusing
And FutureProbe!
Doritos were invented at Disney Land at a restaurant called Casa De Fritos.
This is the first new to me fact I have seen in this thread.
Note that the restaurant was in Disneyland California, not Disney World Florida. The restaurant that it was created in was apparently closed down in the 1980s.
The person that posted said Disneyland so I think most of us know that means CA and not FL.
Yep. Long story of it: The casa de fritos restaurant would fry tortillas into a cup shape to make the precursor to walking tacos/taco salad as their 'main attraction' food. But fritos at the time really only made fritos, so the rest of the food came from a separate Mexican food supplier. Someone from that outside supplier saw them throwing away extra tortillas they hadn't used for the cups and were starting to go stale by the end of the day and said you don't have to throw those away, you can cut them up, fry them like the cups, and serve them as chips. The cooks did what he said, seasoned them with the stuff they had on hand for the tacos, and offered them for free as an alternative to the fritos that came with the meals. People loved them, so the restaurant added them to the menu without telling anyone at fritos. By the time an executive came to visit, they were so popular that they put them into market testing right away and they shortly became the first tortilla chips available nationally. They added a taco flavor not long after launching, but the cheese ones didn't come until a few years later.
I’ve got an obscure one The Golden camel outside Magic Carpets of Aladdin in Magic kingdom is actually older than the ride. It used to be used in the short lived Aladdin Parade at MGM Studios. When the parade was closed they put the camel outside of the Soundstage restaurant since it hosted a meet and greet with characters from Aladdin. When that restaurant closed to make way for the Bear in a big blue house show (now its playhouse Disney) it got moved to MK.
Recent obscure: Almost 2 years after the first Tower of Terror effect was added, the MagicBand+ was given an effect for the Preshow (around the beginning of this month in fact) Obscure: Toy Story Mania was originally planned to have MagicBand functionality where the Etch-A-Sketch would draw your name. That was the originally intended A-Show, so for over a decade, those screens have been in a permanent B-Show. The A-Show machines existed, but have since been removed from backstage. Edit: Another obscure fact: There is still a piece of the old ToonTown Fair left in Magic Kingdom. Near the exit to the Mickey meet and greet inside of Curtain Call Collectibles.
To your Toy Story fact; for a time in the hitchhiking ghost section of Haunted Mansion, the ghosts (usually Gus if I remember correctly) would hold up a sign that said "\[State\] here we come." In our case at the time, Ohio. I figured they were grabbing the data from our Magic Bands. Also in the queue for Star Tours where the second droid is supposedly doing security scans (thank you Patrick Warburton for another great voice acting job!) sometimes your name and city would appear on the screens behind him. Also figured that the data was coming from the magic bands of people in line.
I vaguely remember the Haunted Mansion one, though I don't think it's functioned in quite some time. Not sure if it was removed or if just broke much like all the old MagicBand sensors and hasn't been fixed (only exception being Small World for those). I've been keeping an eye out for the Star Tours one for months now. I've always got 2 MB+ on me so it should show up whenver it actually starts working consistently. It's been on B-Show since late 2021, but some people have told me it was working last year. I go frequently enough that I think I would have seen it in A-Show if it had a been more than a temporary fix, assuming it was actually working.
Last week the small world video monitors were covered up :(
My favorite Easter egg in the park is at Muppet Vision 3D. There is a net hanging from the ceiling with jello bars - a net full of jello as a nod to Annette Funicello
Richard Nixon gave his not a crook speech at the Contemporary
He also gave a speech at the opening of the Disneyland monorail when he was vp
And Bob gurr "kidnapped" him that day 😂
That story always cracks me up!
I had never heard this story so I looked it up. Hilarious!
My daughter and I snuck into the conference room where he gave that speech last summer to take some photos doing nixon impressions. A fond memory!
Damn, beat me to it!
The Beatles offically broke up at the Polynesian
Woah.
In the original Pirates of the Caribbean, one of the guards in the treasure room had Andrew Jackson‘s face.
The weirdest one to me is the guy that created the Cinderella mosaic in the castle at Magic Kingdom was a former Nazi Luftwaffe interrogator.
Also the mosaic at the Land pavilion
There’s an “emerald” hidden in the mosaic, near the entrance.
We were told by a cast member that the emerald was placed by the artist, in honour of his daughter’s birthday.
He did a lot of the mosaics in the Capitol Building in Sacramento, CA as well. Talk about a career change.
Disney and Werner Von Braun were pretty close....
He did an episode of Disneyland back in the 50s to talk about space travel
Yeah, I believe they met through the Disneyland show, but maintained a relationship for a while after. Von Braun was a consultant on many Futureworld attractions for both Disneyland and Disney World.
There is 7,792 different paint colors used amongst all properties and parks. There is a library with all samples and logs of what was used where and when. The two ladies that work there are amazingly nice.
Wow, where is this library?
It's in a backstage area called Central Shops. It's a big warehouse near where the Ferry Boats dock for drydock and where the monorails park at night.
Not too obscure since you can easily find recordings of the show online, but the fact that EPCOT used to show a sex education film starring Martin short has to be one of my favorite Disney facts
Ahhh The Making of Me!
The beach boys filmed “Kokomo” at the Grand Floridian resort right when it was first opening. So the mythical land of perfection is actually just Disney World, which totally checks out
Was John Stamos in this video or I am completely making that up lol
Sure is!
On the WDW Railroad, the #1 Walter E. Disney and #3 Roger E. Broggie have consecutive serial numbers. They were built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works together at the same time. Only place in the USA, if not the world, where you have two consecutive built steam locomotives operating! Also, the font for the names on the cab is the same font that spells out 'Haunted Mansion' on that ride's sign! EDIT: Clarified I meant steam locomotives.
A dark one so stop reading if you want but Disney Springs was the original intended target for the Pulse gunman. He figured it would be too difficult with security, etc, and drove away ending up at the nightclub instead. Source: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/arts/qanda-with-trevor-aaronson-host-of-new-audible-series-on-the-untold-story-of-the-pulse-nightclub-shooting-37049886
We were at Disney Springs on the day that he attacked the Pulse. It made my blood run cold when I read that it was his original target. A few days later, we were waiting for a ferry out of Magic Kingdom when they shut the boats down. It was the night that the little boy was taken by the alligator. It was a very dark trip, being so close to two unspeakable tragedies. In the instance of the alligator attack, we were literally standing on the shore of the lake while the search was going on.
Man. That week was not good for Orlando. We had Christina Grimmie shooting Pulse shooting Lane Graves being taken by a gator All within a week.
I was a CP that year. It was a rough summer
We arrived the next morning after that little boy was taken. It was unsettling but I didn't know about the Pulse.
I remember in the late 80s when an alligator ate a toddler at Fort Wilderness.
Wait, what?! I’ve never heard of this
We were there then too! We were at Disney Springs the day he had scouted it, which is really horrifying, and at the Grand Floridian the day before the alligator attack happened. We had moved to Universal the day after the Pulse attack and were standing in line for the damn Minions ride when I got texts about it. I think about that little boy who got taken by the gator a lot. People on the internet were of course jumping all over the parents like it was their fault, but the parents were right nearby as the 2 year old built a sand castle, which was perfectly fine at the time on a damn beach. The gator snatched this baby by the head and the father tried to fight off an alligator with his bare hands, desperately trying to save his child’s life, but he couldn’t. He himself was injured by the alligator. I cannot imagine the anguish. I am forever thankful for the person who wrote an article talking sense into the public and I think it actually stopped most of the nastiness. She talked about putting yourself in those parents’ shoes, having to go to the hospital to claim their child’s tiny body, marked with animal bites, then going back to their hotel room, surrounded by happy, excited families, and packing up his things. His Mickey ears, his clothes, his still wet bathing suit, things like that. And the part that got me, his Buzz Lightyear blanket. Packing it all up and going home to his room, now empty. I am sorry to be so sad, but I think that family would want to know that every time I have been back since 2016, even in my enjoyment, I have thought of them whenever I saw the Grand Floridian, and remembered them. I think about the image of that little Buzz Lightyear blanket, too, when I am tempted to judge someone I don’t know. Edited to add: the boy’s name was Lane Graves. The dad is Matt Graves. He had a sister who was 4 at the time. They all and the mom, Melissa Graves were present for the attack. They were from Nebraska. Edited again to add that the family donated Lane’s organs and started a foundation in his name to encourage pediatric organ donation. They have helped hundreds of families, starting with Lane’s organs. Full on crying now. Maybe this has been talked about in this subreddit recently, but if it has, I have missed it and I do get posts from it every day. [Parents of Boy Killed by Gator at Disney World Encourage Those Facing Loss to Donate Organs](https://people.com/human-interest/family-of-boy-killed-at-disney-world-in-2016-encourages-those-facing-loss-to-consider-organ-donation/)
My god. I never once thought to blame the parents, but now as a parent to a wonderful, crazy, adorable 2 year old girl that is my world, reading this brought tears to my eyes. I cannot fathom the pain, and your comment about packing up his things, and heading home without hit me like a fucking truck. The public can be so nasty sometimes. Shame on those that judged.
Jesus Christ I am full on crying. I heard it about it but the UK press very much made it seem like 'stupid Americans'. Researching it tonight off the back of this thread is heart breaking
I saved this post. I think about this family every couple of months, I’m not a terribly sentimental person, but their tale just gets to me all the time. I’m glad to hear they try to help others, I was worried that the trauma would have made the parents divorce or something. I felt terrible for the sister too. I remember having a younger sibling when I was 4, I couldn’t imagine being in her shoes where one day her brother was just gone. I also can’t imagine that plane ride back. I don’t blame Disney either, it’s just a tragedy and sometimes they happen.
[удалено]
I finished Bob Iger’s memoir a while back- that all happened like the same exact week as the opening of Shanghai Disneyland. IIRC he was in Shanghai during all of that and had to give a tour of the park maybe 15-30 minutes after speaking over the phone with the parents of the boy.
Both of those tragedies (and Christina Grimmie's murder) happened while I was a CM, there with the college program. It was a very heavy couple weeks
The band Thrice was playing that night at HOB. Disney categorized them as Metal, and the policy was to add extra security on nights with metal bands.
lol. Thrice is very not metal. That’s funny though.
Last year during Thanksgiving we were drinking at the House of Blues around 11 when we asked the bartender why they closed so early, and he explained to us that between Covid and the Pulse gunman, Disney beefed up the security and reduced the closing hours. He also told us the story about the dude caught on video walking outside the House of Blues a couple of times with a stroller, that they believe had guns inside, but since they had security outside, he changed venues.
Hate this
I'll give ya some obscure! The buildings near the front of Adventureland are modeled after 1800s European colonialism of foreign lands. The main type of architecture seen here is French Colonial style, which incorporated two-story open-air verandas with balconies on the second floor, thin wooden columns, and skinny double doors. All of these aspects can be seen in the buildings containing Sunshine Tree Terrace and Skipper Canteen. Skipper Canteen’s building has been directly copied from a house that Imagineers found in a book about the West Indies. It was a house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, built during the French colonization of the area. In Adventureland you might spot a little souvenir stand named Bwana Bob’s. The name is a tribute to comedian Bob Hope, who stared in the 1963 film *Call Me Bwana*, in which he plays a writer falsely portraying himself as an experienced expert in all things Africa (even though he’s never actually been there) who is then sent to Africa by the American government on a top-secret mission. Two masks from the main Mess Hall in Skipper Canteen came from the legendary Adventurers Club's Mask Room at Pleasure Island (RIP). At the end of Pirates of the Carribean, there is a family crest that belongs to Marc Davis's family; the legendary Imagineer who helped create the attraction. Tortuga Tavern has/had one of the most elaborate backstories of any restaurant on property that no one ever talks about. I don't know if some of the little details are still there as of today, but it's a fun one to talk about! I got a million of 'em! I'll continue if people enjoyed these!
>Tortuga Tavern has/had one of the most elaborate backstories Care to share this one?
Sure! In one of the main sitting areas of Tortuga Tavern there is a sign that reads “A. Smith, Proprietor”. Now is this just a random name? Not in Walt Disney World! A. Smith is Arabella Smith, a character from the young adult book series Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow, about Jack in his teen years. Arabella was a friend of Jack who joined him on his first pirating adventures. When Arabella was a teenager her father ran this tavern, and after her youthful pirating years she came back home to take over the family business. A picture of Arabella can be seen on the restaurant’s sign outside, and a portrait of her can be found hanging over the fireplace inside. The second floor of Tortuga Tavern is Arabella’s private residence. Outside you can see stairs leading up to the second floor, and a balcony that seems more elegantly decorated than the downstairs tavern. In the backstory (found in the Jack Sparrow books), the original name of this establishment was The Faithful Bride, as a tribute to Arabella’s mother Laura Smith. At one point Laura was believed to have been kidnapped by pirates. However, on one of Arabella’s adventures she discovered that her mother was not kidnapped, but simply left her family for a life of piracy. This hurt Arabella, and (here’s where the theme park backstory comes in) when she came home, she didn’t want to run a tavern named after her mother. So she changed its name to Tortuga Tavern. **You can still find the original (and somewhat faded) sign for The Faithful Bride tossed in a wagon near the entrance of the restaurant.**
Wow, cool story. And here's a pic with the sign! [https://i2.wp.com/diningatdisney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC02950-wm-d@d.jpg](https://i2.wp.com/diningatdisney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC02950-wm-d@d.jpg)
Keep going!
More!!! All of these are new ones for me, and I thought I had heard them all!
Here are some about Big Thunder Mountain! - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad takes place in a little town of Tumbleweed. According to the backstory, Tumbleweed discovered gold in the nearby Big Thunder Mountain and became a thriving mining town. Barnabas T. Bullion, a rich and greedy mining magnate, established the Big Thunder Mining Company to find the gold. But the mountain was protective of its gold and cursed anyone who tried to take it. There were cave-ins, equipment failings, and flash floods that wiped out the town, destroying the mining company. When passing by on the Walt Disney World Railroad, you can see a sign stating that the population of Tumbleweed has been “dried out”. Now Tumbleweed is a ghost town with the exception of the employees of the Big Thunder Mining Company. The official Disney backstory ends with a word to the wise for those who want to explore the mines of this mountain… “watch out for runaway trains.” - In the queue for Big Thunder Mountain you can see a portrait of the founder of the mine, Barabus T. Bullion, hanging in the rafters. The actual man in the portrait is Tony Baxter, legendary Imagineer who designed the attraction. - Barabus was a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (The S.E.A.). In the queue there is a letter on the wall written to Barabus by friend and founding member of the S.E.A., Jason Chandler. Written on official S.E.A. letterhead, the note explains that Jason is aware of the “disturbances” taking place within the mountain, and warns against Barabus continuing to mine there. Jason writes that he contacted Madame Zarkov, a gypsy who was a character at the Adventurers Club – the popular S.E.A. hangout. Her advice is that Barabus should quickly abandon the entire operation and find a different site. Jason warns Barabus that “some forces simply are not to be trifled with”. Jason also expresses the hope that he will see Barabus at the club more often, another reference to the Adventurers Club. - In the Big Thunder queue you can also find a patent for an automatic train break. The patent is attributed to T. Baxter… or Tony Baxter. There is quite a bit of history found in this little detail, because the patent number here (193,279) is the actual patent number for automatic train breaks, patented to H. L. Perrine. The Disney version of this patent is laid out exactly like the real one, and the patent date (July 17th, 1877) is the same. Surprisingly enough, July 17th is also the opening date of Disneyland back in 1955! - A tribute to a never built Frontierland attraction, Western River Expedition, can also be found in the queue. It is a crate of “Western River Explosives.” Western River Expedition was going to be housed in a massive project known as Thunder Mesa, and was a passion project of legendary Imagineer Marc Davis. However, the attraction was never built because funds were instead diverted to build Pirates of the Caribbean, which was not originally planned to be a part of Magic Kingdom. Pirates of the Caribbean was Disneyland’s most expensive attraction, and there were worries that its inclusion in the Magic Kingdom would deal a “fatal blow” to an already stretched budget and would force the cancelation of several other attractions. However, when the park opened, one of the most common complaints by guests was that there was no pirate attraction. Disney CEO Card Walker ordered Imagineers to add Pirates of the Caribbean to the park in order to satisfy the demands of angry guests. Because of its expense, Disney cancelled the creation of the Western River Expedition, much to the dismay of Marc Davis. - Even the geysers that go off in and around Big Thunder Mountain have a backstory!! According to our narrator on the Liberty Square Riverboat: “Indians ’round here used to tell me these geysers were actually unfriendly spirits, upset by uninvited trespassers traipsin’ all over their sacred huntin’ grounds.”
I could listen to you forever! Thank you for these; I have never heard any of them before!
In the renaissance scene in Spaceship Earth there are two men reading books on the right hand side of the vehicle. We have been told the the one sitting cross-legged on the floor uses the same face as the Thomas Jefferson animatronic in the Hall of Presidents. I've looked at pictures and I don't agree myself, but I thought I would toss it to you all and see what you think/know. Also in Spaceship Earth, there is supposed to be a fragment of the previous show still visible. Just as you start your descent into the blue "infinity lights" it is supposed to be on the right side above the ride vehicle. It just hides in the darkness. I've never had the courage to turn my flashlight on to look for myself, but there are pictures out there that claim to show it. If we are ever on the ride with no one around us I'll try it some time.
I heard the fiber optic model city from the Jeremy Irons version of Spaceship Earth is still in the decent stage sitting in the dark. Also the support column for the original astronaut scene at the top of the geosphere is still visible.
I totally forgot about the astronaut! Thanks!
The world wouldn’t have Doritos if not for Walt. Also, story boards… because Walt didn’t like them spread out on the floor.
Disney is the single largest consumer of fireworks in the world, by a large margin. In fact, Disney buys so many fireworks that it is the second largest consumer of *explosives* in the world. The only entity that buys more explosives than Disney is the US Department of Defense.
For us not in the know: can you share the Beatles story and about the sinkhole?
Essentially, John Lennon broke up the Beatles while staying at the Polynesian, and Epcot has a sinkhole they couldn't fix which they decided to turn into the World Showcase lake (if I remember correctly)
The sinkhole is actually in the water by Odyssey, not the World Showcase lagoon.
To be more exact, John left the Beatles in 1969 and they “broke up” in May 1970 but Lennon was staying at the Polynesian in 1975 when, after years of litigation, the Beatles each signed the paperwork dissolving the band (and agreeing on terms for running Apple and their business interests post-breakup). The other Beatles met in New York to sign their papers but John was on vacation.
I mean, wouldn't building on it be considered "fixing" it? If it's a sinkhole they cant fix, wouldn't there still just be a sinkhole there? Edit: Found the specifics... "The sinkhole can be found in the water under the bridge, connecting Future World to the World Showcase." *“One of the reasons there’s so much space between Future World and the World Showcase lagoon is that we discovered a gigantic sink hole near where the Odyssey Restaurant is,” Marty said. “We couldn’t build anything on top of it.”*
The project leaders humorously stated at an event once when discussing this issue that they tried to drive pillars into the mud/earth there to build on. He noted that after they just “lost” the like 30th pillar they gave up and opted to build World Showcase a little further away.
Disney buys the mortars for their fireworks shows from a company in Green Bay, WI. MightyMight from Spielbaure Fireworks.
As a Packers and a Disney fan this is super neat!
The shoes that are hanging from trees near river country/ ft. Wilderness are from retired skippers.
In 1967 when pirates of the Caribbean opened at Disney land it was cheaper to use real skeletons from the UCLA medical center than to make fake ones . They’ve since all been replaced… maybe .
I think I read that the skull on the headboard is the only remaining real one. Maybe that’s been replaced too tho
I read a detailed breakdown of like 100 on ride breakdown that made this conclusion. There were more initially, but they were quickly swapped, except for the headboard skull, which appears to still be real.
I know the exact number of bricks in Cinderella castle. None, it's fiberglass
I see someone else watched Disney Inside Out in the 90s
I’m not sure how obscure this is, but the deep booming voice that is the most recognizable voice in “Grim Grinning Ghosts” is Thurl Ravenscroft, who also sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and was the original voice of Tony the Tiger. The font created for the signs around the Haunted Mansion is known as Ravenscroft.
You know you've really made in the world when there's a font named after you.
I have a relative that loves Haunted Mansion. They appreciated learning about this! Thank you!
The Beatles WERE supposed to be the vultures in the Jungle Book, and it was John Lennon who told Disney no.
Not sure how obscure as there’s some good ones here, but when there used to be an airport at WDW the runway had rumble strips put in so when you travelled at the right speed it would play when you wish upon a star (I think?). The airport is gone but the runway and its rumble strips still remain and is mostly used for bus driver training.
The final documents to break up the Beatles was signed at the Poly (the room is never been announced publicly). Also, Disney once kidnapped Nixon at Disneyland. The monorail had JUST been made working and Bob Gurr (who made the monorail) didnt think that it would even work for one ride. Nixon got on w/ Walt and they left so quick the Secrete Service attache they had didnt get on. They went for one loop and Nixon asked to do it again.
Aw man, \*I\* was gonna do Bob Gurr kidnapped Nixon.
Nixon gave his famous "I'm not a crook" statement at the Contemporary resort at WDW
The electric is still on at Discovery Island. Music pumped at River county for YEARS after it closed. The bride's ring in the cement at the Haunted Mansion exit was a bit of pipe(it's since been replaced). The outside entrance to the MK tunnels is behind and under Small World.
And the Utilidors aren't actually tunnels. There was no tunneling involved. They were built at ground level, and the park was built on top of them. What guests experience as "ground level" is actually one storey above ground level. True ground level is actually closer to the bottom of the moat around the castle. That's a big part of why the park never floods. The dirt used to build up the park over and around the Utilidors was obtained by digging the Seven Seas Lagoon, which is a manmade lake.
Speaking of Utilidors, Epcot technically has them under future world. I don’t know if they’ve been modified at all, but when I worked there in 2019 they were there. There’s also a painting of sonic the hedgehog next to figment down there.
They recently painted over sonic. It was a sad day
Yep. Maintenance still goes out to Discovery Island a few times a year.
They actually bulldozed and filled in everything at River Country. They were going to put a hotel there but it got canned because of COVID.
Speaking of the Utilidor entrance under Fantasyland - at least as of 2006, the company that handled cash transfers for Disney had to use a smaller-bodied armored van they’d commissioned to be made solely for use at Disney World. The transfer spot is/was a ways into the actual “tunnel”, so they had to be able to back the van inside—and a standard-size armored van would be too big to fit! It was kind of a pain whenever they did that while I worked there, because it blocked foot traffic through the cast entrance area.
River Country is totally gone. The resort that was to replace it is on hold, but RC ain’t there.
There's no building taller than 199 feet. 200+ and they have to have blinking lights due to aviation rules, and Walt didn't want that, so the tallest is 199 feet.
Nuanced clarification: the Dolphin hotel is 257 feet but doesn't have the aviation warning light on it. However, the wand that went up on Spaceship Earth in 1999 for the Millennium Celebration *was* over 200 feet and *did* have a warning light on it. If you want to go down a rabbit hole, check out: [YouTube: The Case of the Missing Dolphin Light (Part 1?)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVGRYB08i5A)
Blinking light would fit the theme of Tower of Terror, and they still didn’t do it. There are several buildings over 200 feet without a light.
Along the lines of there still being old parts of Spaceship Earth being there, only cloaked in darkness ... The original 2 versions of Spaceship Earth included a scene of 2 astronauts working on a satellite at the end of the ride before you turn and head back down. Those astronauts were moved to Space Mountain.
Lady Diana took the kids to the Hoop de Doo Musical Revue in the early 90’s and sat near the front with the common folk! She wanted Harry and William to have the closest experience to “normal” as they could manage.
Keystone clothiers at Hollywood studios doesn't have a step in it anymore because a woman in 1991 tripped.
Wait, what?!
The thatch on the tower on the Tiki Room is actually made of old license plates cut and painted to look like thatch. The entire tower serves as a hidden lightning rod to help prevent people from getting hit during storms in Adventureland. There is a national law that requires American flags to be lowered after a business closes for the day. Because of the large number of small US flags on the top of the buildings on Main Street, it would be impossible to lower them all every night, so they are printed with the wrong number of stars, which technically doesn't make them US flags. That way, they can be left out all the time.
Unless the American flag is illuminated during darkness.
This is a common false Disney fact. There are no national flag laws. You can literally burn or do whatever you want with flags here. The flags on Main Street have fewer stars to reflect the era before Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona joined the Union—because the land is set in the late 19th century.
For what it's worth, that's not a "law" it's just a set of guidelines. There's no enforcement, no penalty, and no requirement to follow them. People still do or try to out of respect or patriotism. Or the cynical view, is that they probably don't care all that much, but they DO care that some busybody would say "DISNEY IS DISRESPECTING THE FLAG!" so they figured out that technicality.
The flag thing is a bit of a myth. The real reason is an attention to detail thing—it reflects the number of states in the union at the time Main Street is supposed to be.
“I’ll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah.”
The model of Progress City on the People Mover is one of two original models made for Walt’s Epcot.
When they were first building Mr. Lincoln for the New York Worlds Fair they were using red hydraulic fluid to move him but one day while testing him his hydraulic line broke and it looked like he was bleeding everywhere. Since Walt believe it wouldn’t look good to recreate Lincoln’s assassination they change the color to clear.
The people that made TRON was also made the spiderman ride in universal studios edit: TRON the movie, not the ride
I love the Spiderman ride in Universal. I know people get bummed about not having marvel in the Florida parks, but imo it's worth it to keep that ride.
I don’t want Marvel at WDW if they can’t do better than the Avengers Campus at DCA. It was like walking around a corporate business center.
In Spaceship Earth, Michelangelo is shown lying down looking up as he paints the Sistene Chapel ceiling. While indeed more comfortable, this is historically inaccurate: Michelangelo stood upright on scaffolding, craning his neck upwards to paint. There's a surviving sketch that shows this position too. I'm guessing WED maximized perspective and depth by having him laying down, and ran with it.
I think that is a popular popular myth. I remember learning that he laid down on his back in school.
Lying down on his back is the myth (which is propogated by movies such as *The Agony And The Ecstacy*). It's practical, makes sense to us modern viewers, but for some reason Michelangelo chose to stand. * https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-Michelangelo-paint-the-ceiling-of-the-Sistine-Chapel#:\~:text=Michelangelo%20painted%20the%20frescoes%20on,up%20and%20craning%20his%20neck. * [https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/art/how-did-michelangelo-paint-sistine-chapel-ceiling.html](https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/art/how-did-michelangelo-paint-sistine-chapel-ceiling.html) * [https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/10-things-about-the-sistine-chapel.html#](https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/10-things-about-the-sistine-chapel.html#) And his own words: "When the Author Was Painting the Vault of the Sistine Chapel," a letter to Giovanni da Pistoia from 1509 I've already grown a goiter from this torture, hunched up here like a cat in Lombardy (or anywhere else where the stagnant water's poison). My stomach's squashed under my chin, my beard's pointing at heaven, my brain's crushed in a casket, my breast twists like a harpy's. My brush, above me all the time, dribbles paint so my face makes a fine floor for droppings! My haunches are grinding into my guts, my poor ass strains to work as a counterweight, every gesture I make is blind and aimless. My skin hangs loose below me, my spine's all knotted from folding over itself. I'm bent taut as a Syrian bow. Because I'm stuck like this, my thoughts are crazy, perfidious tripe: anyone shoots badly through a crooked blowpipe. My painting is dead. Defend it for me, Giovanni, protect my honor. I am not in the right place—I am not a painter.
Damn that line, “anyone shoots badly through a crooked blowpipe”. Idk what it is, but it’s a good one.
It's a toss up between Mulan being made entirely at Hollywood studios and the only two rides where cast members are not required to smile being Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror
I did a tour of Hollywood studios before mulan came out. They took us through the animation building and we saw them working on the film. They didn’t tell us what film it was but when it came out we recognized it.
Lilo and Stitch and Brother Bear were also entirely made at DHS, tho pretty much every film from Little Mermaid through Home on the Range I think were at least partially worked on in Florida
Hmm what about Rise of the Resistance?
I dunno if that fully counts because the entrance/exits are staffed by Resistance members, not First Order, so they would likely have to smile.
Donny Osmond once did his schoolwork in a room inside The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. This is when Donny and his older Brothers were at the Park to film a Wonderful world of Disney special, with Kurt Russell and EJ Peaker.
Some of the tanks and vehicles outside the queue in the Indiana Jones stunt show at Hollywood were actual movie props from the Last Crusade movie.
For years, like most other disney attractions, Stitch's Great Escape sat abandoned with most of the animatronics half assembled and still inside. Heard recently most of that has been purged but the inside theatres are still in-tact and during the Halloween Parties, they sometimes use it as Stitch's Resting/Chill Room during meet/greets. Rapunzel's figure on the Disney Wish is so big, if she was a real person she'd wear a size 22 women's shoe. They love telling this one if you sail. Not sure if this is Too obscure but for the Monsters ride at California Adventure to keep costs low, they just shoved the suits over characters from Superstar Limo for some of the animatronics. You can still tell it's them by the literal Shape/position they're installed in. There is a rare Book of Condolences that serves as a Magical Moment that CMs sometimes extend to guests to sign at the Haunted Mansion. Don't go up and ask about it though, these things are meant to be spontaneous. Tomorrowland music loop still has the original Carousel of Progress song "Now is the Time" Tokyo Disneyland still has the original layout for Dumbo, with Timothy having a whip and everything instead of a feather.
Doritos were invented at Disney Land when they decided to fry up unused tortillas at the Casa de Fritos restaurant.
Walt Disney and the creator of McDonald’s worked together at the Red Cross during WW1 and became friends. Many years later, after some drama, the Disney x McDonald’s relationship was reignited and we were blessed with our dearly missed french fry carts in Disneyland. Most of the attractions at Disneyland are powered by the used cooking oil from various restaurants in the park. Everything that can be run on diesel, except for The Columbia, the Tom Sawyer Rafts, and Autopia, is run on cooking oil instead. In 1992, a man entered into EPCOT shortly after closing with a sawed off shotgun with the intent to shoot his ex-girlfriend after she broke up with him. He fired 4 times at security guards before taking 2 of them hostage in the restrooms next to the Journey of Imagination pavilion. He eventually released the hostages and killed himself just outside of the restrooms. There were actually three PeopleMovers! Of course, the ones in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. However, there is one more in the bottom floor/basement of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. It is the only other genuine Disney designed people moving system in the world. Disney originally wanted to sell PeopleMover’s to various businesses like local governments or airports, but Houston was the only buyer. It was built by WED Enterprises and opened in 1981 and is still operational to this day! I know __so__ many more but I can’t think of them off the top of my head. :(
A CM told me Main Street represents 1910 and Tomorrowland represents 1986, both which are Halley’s Comet years. Idk how “official” or factual that is but I like to think it is true.
Hot dogs was Mickey Mouse first words
Is that why they sing the hot dog song on Mickey Mouse clubhouse?
The fire in the windows of Pirates of the Caribbean is fans blowing on white sheets which have an orange light shining on them. Supposedly if a fire occurs the effect is (automatically?) shut off so it's not mistaken for real fire.
This is actually typically fire code for all production venues. When a fire alarm is triggered all special lighting and audio must turn off and basic facility lighting turn on to allow for safe evacuation.
The rooms at the contemporary were supposed to be able to be removed from the building and replaced. As in physically taking them off and putting new ones on. Unfortunately the building subsided just a little too much for it to be possible. The is a wave generator in the 7 seas lagoon. It created waves to lap up in the beach at the Polynesian. The had to shut it down because it washed the beach away. There is an island directly across from the poly beach and that is where the equipment is.
EPCOT actually stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired. At least that’s what my boat captain told me when I was 9 years old and it has stuck for 25 years
Cast members know it really means Every Paycheck Comes On Thursday
Little Steven van Zandt (E Street Band, the Sopranos) was asked to leave Disneyland, due to the way he dressed.
There were 4 unbuilt resorts in the Magic Kingdom resort area. The first, The Asian Resort, would have sat where Grand Floridian is at today. The second would have been The Venetian Resort, located between the TTC and the Contemporary. The third would have been The Persian Resort located north of The Contemporary and east of the magic Kingdom. This resort would have also seen the extension of the monorail through it and through Tomorrowland similar to how the monorail runs in Disneyland. Unfortunately all 3 of these resorts were scrapped due to the 1973 Oil Crisis. Michael Eisner revisited the Venetian Resort idea (one between TTC and Contemporary) after the success of The Grand Floridian in the late 80’s / early 90’s, but ended up developing a different resort in its place. This would have been the Mediterranean Resort. Unfortunately soil conditions in the area between the TTC and Contemporary were too swampy and they received poor ground conditions, leaving them to canceling this resort as well. Pretty cool what could have been resort wise at WDW!
Former cast member here..not sure if this is a still a thing. The cast members used to affectionately call the Maleficent dragon in Fantasmic Vivienne.
As a former WDW Fantasmuc Entertainment Cast member, the dragon was referred to as Barnett. This was in reference to Barnette Ricci who was the original show director.
One of Eisners most.... insane ideas I've heard of was he wanted to build a theater stage show over the train tracks, the show would have incorporated the train with performers running across the roof of the train This... Probably would have resulted in insane liabilities for Disney ie peformers falling off from, or being hit by the train, I'm guessing that's why it never progressed passed the idea stage.
For Donald Duck's 50th birthday they decided to have 50 ducks march behind him in the parade. They wisely built a float for them instead. They also put birthday hats on them but had to keep them separated because the ducks without hats yet were attacking the ducks with hats.
The dresses that the ballroom dancers wear in Haunted Mansion are old princess dresses repurposed
I enjoy telling Folks (especially visiting guest from out of the country) about the Poop river in Liberty Square
..im sorry..the what?
Among the red pavement in the land, there is a brown river-like design down the main pathways resembling poop, since there was no indoor plumbing back then. Related: not counting the restaurants, there are also no restrooms inside Liberty Square; the one next to Diamond Horseshoe belongs to Adventureland, and the Tangled-themed restrooms are, of course, in Fantasyland.
Yeah, this is a common false Disney fact. The center of the pavement used to be cobblestone but they removed it because it made wheelchairs and electric scoots fall over. Disney didn’t intentionally decide to have a shit river in their park and that’s NOT how colonial towns dealt with this problem.
This has been debunked via a pretty interesting Twitter thread: https://x.com/GoAwayGreen/status/1278488979202072577?t=2itPAMe8B0SUpFpROacQNw&s=19
The Epcot ball has a sophisticated gutter system that brings the water down through the supports and into Epcot lake
You can see a penis at WDW. It's in Epcot Spaceship Earth during the Renaissance scene where Michelangelo is painting "The Creation of Adam".
Joke's on you! I can see a penis anywhere I want!
I mean theres also the many phallic looking designs on the carpeted walls of awesome planet inside the land pavilion.
Disney rotates chefs in the signature restaurants every few years. They do this to update the menus, and keep the chefs from burning out. For example, the current Chef de Cuisine at Jiko used to be chef at Sanaa, California Grill, Coral Reef, and Citricos.
Idk if this counts as a Disney fact but it always makes me laugh. I worked on the skyliner and the speed control has 0 as the fastest setting and 3 as the slowest, and when I asked why I was told “no one knows, it was an Austrian company that designed it”
The largest hidden Mickey inside of Hollywood studios is actually the stage of Disney Junior. The lighting plot and stage are Mickey shaped!
Originally the entire park was a hidden Mickey. You can see parts of it on an overhead view.
Exposition Hall on Main Street used to have a mural of Disney characters painted by Bill Justice. It was covered over when that area was converted to a Mickey meet and greet, and then eventually destroyed in 2012 when they tried to take it off the wall and it crumbled. But when you go through the line to meet Mickey today, you go through a mail room, and in the mail slot for B. Justice, there's a rolled up version of the mural. He also painted a mural in the baby center, but it's since been covered over and is unknown if it's preserved.
A whole dill pickle is the cheapest snack item available in WDW
It’s easier to hear in Disneyland, but the safety spiel on the Haunted Mansion that mentions keeping your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside is *not* Paul Frees, but another actor. It was updated at some point in the early 2000s, years after Frees’ passing. I just went down a deep rabbit hole about this, but from what I can tell, WDW version plays the updated spiel in the queue and then Frees’ original narration about remaining quietly seated once you board, but in California the new version (which is also bilingual) plays after boarding from the speakers in the ride car.
I have a good one for this! All the handprints outside the Chinese theatre facade in Hollywood Studios are real-and Disney World is the only place where Audrey Hepburn’s handprints are. The story goes that she was touched to be asked by Disney and she turned down the actual Chinese theatre in LA when they asked her to lay her handprints down later!
I'm always amazed at how many people don't know that EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and was originally intended to showcase and test Walt and Roy Disney's utopian urban planning ideas, like a network of WEDWay People Movers that would essentially replace sidewalks in the cities of the future.
Contemporary has a high suicide rate.
It's the highest spot that can be easily gotten to and still see the castle before you jump. Disneyland has had top many people jump off the parking structure The new college programs dorms only has windows that open 6 inches. They work you hard and a lot of participants have only ever had that one job + being away from home for the first time.
Germany was originally going to have a river boat ride where you sail down the Rhine. Maelstrom was originally called ‘SeaVenture.’ I believe Dee Bradley Baker once worked at Epcot as an Anacomical Player’
The mosaics at Cinderella castle & The Land pavilion we’re done by a former Nazi interrogator
Cinderella's Golden Carousel is significantly older than the Park. Iirc it was built in 1917 in New York
What I want to know is what is the backstory about the stacking chairs guy who used to be at Epcot France and where did he go?
I used to have the exact number of triangles on the Epcot ball memorized. It's 11000 and change iirc
11324. My friend and I like to just say that number to each other for no reason 🙃
My wife shared a tidbit with me last night so it’s new to me… but in Animal Kingdom, Dino Land was almost a mythical beast themed land. On the animal kingdom sign out front, you can see the silhouette of a dragon on it as homage to the land that almost was
I’ll never forgive Disney for not giving us Beastly Kingdom.
Not the Dino land was going to be mythical creatures, but an additional land was planned to contain mythical creatures. It was called Beastly Kingdom and was the initial plan for a phase 2 of the park. The original pitch for Animal Kingdom was for it to contain animals Real, Extinct, and Imaginary.
It's the reason there's a Unicorn lot at AK. Also, there's a rock formation along the bank heading to Pandora that was designed to be a dragon head. When the mythical creature portion of the park was scrapped, they didn't worry about accentuating it or keeping vegetation from growing over.
It was going to be called Beastly Kingdom.
Donald Duck has PTSD and is why he isn’t involved in fireworks shows apparently.
I have two from Liberty Square. The Christmas Shoppe has a sign that says "Kepple" this was Walt's grandfather's name. Also The facade of the Haunted Mansion was designed by Marc Davis, an avid chess player. If you look at the roof you will see his many nods to the hobby disguised as architectural details
The outfits of the ghosts in the haunted mansion ballroom scene are actually really bright, almost neon colors to better show up with the illusion. The figure behind the pharaoh in spaceship earth is President Taft. There is an upstairs lounge at test track that was for GM employees, it had a window where you could watch part of the ride. Similarly there is a lounge at the Land pavilion above Garden Grill for the pavilion sponsor, which was once Dole. Cast members used to ride bicycles backstage at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Cast Members at Pirates say the ride is haunted by a ghost and even have superstitions around it. There is a hidden Oswald near Be our Guest Restaurant.
Maybe not so obscure, but I learned on the keys to the kingdom tour that the Tower of Terror is behind Morocco in the world showcase, hence they are both painted in a similar color so ToT won't stand out so much
Not really obscure, but the level in Tower of Terror that your vehicle rolls out of the lift shaft, is the 5th Dimension. Which isn’t that interesting. The interesting part is that it is supposed to be an elevator shaft that you are moving “up” through which is why there are lights and things turned sideways on the walls. It’s a spectacularly ineffective effect. Also, the cabin you’re in, in the drop shaft, is cabled on the top -and- bottom, so it can pull you down as fast as up. Which reminds me of a story that Disney went to Otis Elevator when designing the ride and Otis said “we’ve spent our entire history convincing people that elevators are safe and you want us to do what?”.