Disneyland Scuba Diving

Scuba diving plays a major role for 54 employees at the Disneyland Resort. Divers are responsible for maintaining and fixing rides and equipment in the waterways, such as the lagoon for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

Anaheim

February 10, 1870

The California city of Anaheim is incorporated. Its name is a blend of "Ana" (after the Santa Ana River) and "heim" (which means home in German). First founded in 1857 by grape farmers and wine makers from Franconia in Bavaria, Anaheim will become world famous in 1955 as the home of Disneyland.

Walt Disney's First Pet

Young Walt Disney's first pet was a Maltese terrier, on his family's farm in Marceline, Missouri.

Young Walt Disney

A young Walt Disney (born 1901) and his family lived in Marceline, Missouri from 1906 - 1911.

"Four-year-old Walt Disney arrived by train in Marceline, Missouri from Chicago in April 1906. Then, four years later, his family moved to Kansas City. Despite his relatively short time in Marceline, Walt Disney thought of Marceline as his hometown."

by Yesterland

The Disney World's Asian Resort

In the early 1970s, Disney World had plans to build a Thai style hotel called the Asian Resort. It was to be built about midway between the Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian Resort on the monorail line ... in a spot now occupied by the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa!

Click Here to read an amazing and very complete article about the Asian Resort at Widen your World

Disney's Asian Resort was to be a Disney-owned Deluxe resort to be located at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida that originally would have began operation in 1974. It was going to be themed after Thialand and located on Seven Seas Lagoon. Due to the 1973 Oil Embargo, the resort, along with Disney's Venetian Resort and Disney's Persian Resort  were never built. Since the opening of Walt Disney World, there has been an empty square plot of land available for its use. There was even a road created, Asian Way, which later became Floridian Way.

Jack Wagner - The Voice in the Monorails

Most of Jack Wagner's Disney recordings were made at his own house where he had a recording studio (which was installed by Disney in the 1970s).

A voice-over booth in his home was connected to Studio D at Disneyland in Anaheim.

At the time, Jack's home in Southern California was one of the first to use a direct audio link from a remote recording studio!

CLICK HERE TO SEE HIS BIO AT THE DISNEY LEGENDS PAGE

You can hear Jack Wagner's Disney Monorail voice recordings here.

Statement made by Jack Bohannan on Hidden Mickeys

"I would like to set the record straight on the voice. Throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's the voice heard on all Disney monorails, as well as most all the voiceover work for all the parks was the legendary "Voice of Disney", Jack Wagner.

I have had the privilege of working with him many times through the years.

One interesting side note is that Jack's home in Southern California was one of the first uses for a direct audio link from a remote recording studio. It was put in by Disney in the 70's and connected a voiceover booth in his home to Studio D at Disneyland in Anaheim. He frequently would receive last minute calls for special events and was able to just walk over to the booth and "beam" it directly to the park. Anyhow, with the amount of work that Florida was generating after Epcot and the Studios opened, plus the fact that Jack wanted to head towards retiring sometime, other voice talent was sought out locally in Florida. 

There have been several people used in voiceover work since then, one of them being Kevin Miles, who is one of the original members of the Voices of Liberty at Epcot, and can still be heard there daily. Kevin recorded the monorail voiceovers after the Grand Floridian was built, and his voice was still there until the 25th Anniversary rolled around, when it was updated by one of the new voiceover talents.

The amount of voiceover work at the parks now is astronomical, and it is shared by a couple of people who have "the voice", including Kevin. Interestingly enough, though, Jack's voice can still be heard welcoming everyone to Orlando on the monorails at the airport terminals."

Tom Bohannan, quote from the HiddenMickeys.org site, added July 25, 1997.

Jack died 1995 on his way to Palm Springs at a rest area. His voice is still being used in the Disney Theme Parks like the WDW monorail and still welcomes guests in the Orlando airport monorail.

Mickey Mouse Ears

Mickey Mouse's ears are always turned to the front, no matter which direction his head is pointing!

The Disney Symphonic Legacy

Today, back in 2009, the Walt Disney Concert Hall hosts an event called The Disney Symphonic Legacy - a program featuring, for the first time ever at the Hall, Disney music. It also marks the Disney Hall debut of longtime Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conductor John Mauceri.

Here is a glimpse of the WD Concert Hall:

The Only Movie for which Walt Received Story Credit

Lt. Robin Crusoe is the only movie for which Walt Disney received a story credit (as Retlaw Yensid - Walter Disney spelled backward).

Lt. Robin Crusoe USN is a 1966 comedy film released and scripted by Walt Disney. The film stars Dick Van Dyke as a U.S. Navy pilot who becomes a castaway on a tropical island.

The film was based on Daniel Defoe's classic novel Robinson Crusoe. The US Navy cooperated in the film by allowing the producers to film on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. Walt Disney arranged the world premiere of the film to be shown on the ship to its crew.

The Owners of Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are not owned by The Walt Disney Company. They are owned by The Oriental Land Company - a Japanese leisure and tourism corporation. The Oriental Land Company pays a very large sum of money each month to Disney in character and likeness licenses, and Disney in turn has leased their Imagineers to the company to build the parks.

La Nouba Milestone

La Nouba comes from the French "faire la nouba," which means "to party" or "to live it up."

On This Day in Disney History (march 14,2003), at 6 p.m., Cirque du Soleil celebrates a milestone at Walt Disney World, as the cast of La Nouba marks its 2000th performance at the Cirque du Soleil theater at Downtown Disney West Side.

Castaway Cay & Tom Hanks

Castaway Cay, a private island in the Bahamas purchased by Disney to use as a stopover for its cruise line ships, was originally known as Gorda Cay. Gorda Cay was used for filming - the beach scene where Tom Hanks first encounters Daryl Hannah in Splash was shot on the island.

Amateur Photographs taken at Disney

According to Kodak (one time sponsor of Journey Into Imagination) 6% of all amateur photographs are taken at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

From the Earth to the Moon

The HBO series From the Earth to the Moon (Tom Hank's 13-part drama about space exploration) was in production at the Disney-MGM Studios in 2 soundstages in 1997.

Spaceship Earth

Epcot's iconic Spaceship Earth weighs 16 million pounds!

One of the most recognizable structures at Disney World, it is not only the centerpiece and main focal point of Epcot, but also the name of the attraction housed within the 18-story geodesic sphere.

Staying in every Disney's Guestroom

If you wanted to stay in every guestroom in all of the hotels & resorts currently open on Walt Disney World property (at a rate of one per night) it would take you about 75 years!

Pianist Richard Carpenter and guitarist John Bettis performed music at Coke Corner on Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. during the summer of 1967

Pianist Richard Carpenter and guitarist John Bettis performed music at Coke Corner on Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. during the summer of 1967. Because they routinely deviated from the selections of turn- of-the-century tunes they were asked to perform ... the pair were sacked after four months. Richard went on to have great success with his sister Karen - as The Carpenters. Many of their biggest hits were written by Richard and John Bettis.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs nearly bankrupt the company

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cost Disney over $1.5 million and nearly bankrupt the company!

Yet, the film grossed over eight million dollars internationally when originally released.

First Audio-Animatronics featuring an Human Figure

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was the first Disney-created attraction to feature an Audio-Animatronics human figure.

The attraction made its debut at the 1964 World's Fair.

The only People to ever live at Disneyland

Disneyland's only residents were Owen and Dolly Pope. They were hired in 1951 to put together some livestock for Walt's future park. They first lived in a trailer at the Disney Studio where they raised and trained horses. Three days before Disneyland opened, they moved into the park to run the Disneyland Pony Farm

 Located on the side of the Car Barn

"In 1951, Walt hired Harper Goff to begin drawing up plans for the little park he was visualizing being built on the Studio grounds in Burbank. Walt also hired horse trainer Owen Pope and his wife Dolly. He wanted the couple to begin training horses for the western section of his new park. Being close to the livestock was necessary for the amount of training that was to ensue so the Pope’s moved into a trailer on the Studio lot. Besides teaching horses and mules how to behave, they also helped build wagons and coaches for the new park. 

As plans for Walt’s dream changed and grew, the location of his park moved from the Studio to Anaheim. Eventually the Popes needed to move to Anaheim as well to be near the horses. 

Before construction began on Disneyland, something had to be done with the houses that belonged to the former owners of the land. Walt told the Popes they could choose any one of them to live in. Their selection was soon moved to a ten acre area behind what would eventually become Fantasyland. This area was known as the Pony Farm and at one time, the Pope’s cared for as many as 220 animals. The Popes are also the only people to actually ever live at Disneyland. Walt may have had an apartment above the Fire Station, but he never lived there. This honor belongs to the Popes alone. 

The Popes continued working and living at Disneyland until 1971. It was at this time that they moved to Florida to help open the Magic Kingdom. They created the Tri Circle D Ranch at Fort Wilderness where it still stands today. They retired in 1975 and it’s due to their efforts here in Florida that they earned a window at the Magic Kingdom – and it is appropriately located on the Car Barn."

- Posted by Jack Spence on April 17, 2009 5:00 AM

 Click Here to read the entire post at allears.net