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.