Thomas Edison Square

During the early planning stages of Disneyland, a Thomas A. Edison Square was to be built as an addition to the Main Street area.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor, scientist, and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. His advanced work in these fields was an outgrowth of his early career as a telegraph operator. Edison originated the concept and implementation of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories – a crucial development in the modern industrialized world. His first power station was on Manhattan Island, New York.

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Disney's Dream Makers

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Disney Picture of the Day

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Vinylmation of the Day

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Disney Fun Fact of the Day

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Today's Past in Disney History

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This Day in Disney Parks History

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Disney Tales [5 Weekly tales]

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The Disney History

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Marcio Disney Blog

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Paul McCartney & Lady and the Tramp

Singer-songwriter Paul McCartney (best known as one of The Beatles) names Lady and the Tramp as his all-time Disney favorite!

Peter Pan and Walt's Nine Old Men

Peter Pan was the final Disney animated feature released through RKO and the final Disney film in which all members of Walt's Nine Old Men worked together as directing animators.

The Second Voice of Mickey Mouse

February 01, 1991:
Drummer, sound effects genius, and the second voice of Mickey Mouse, James Macdonald passes away at age 84 in Glendale, California. The original head of Disney's sound effects department, he first voiced Mickey back in 1947. For over 50 years Macdonald created sound effects that have become an integral part of Disney films and theme parks. Recently, Macdonald had been scheduled to contribute sounds to the Splash Mountain attraction at Disney parks in Tokyo and Florida.

He is the silhouetted tympani player in the Disney film Fantasia. Originally a drummer, he was the creator of hundreds of one-of-a-kind gadgets and props used to make sound effects.

Jan 31, 1994 - Epcot's CommuniCore East and West close.

CommuniCore (which is short for Community Core) was an Epcot attraction held in two buildings to the east and west of Spaceship Earth.  Both featured technology exhibits.

High School Musical

High School Musical was Disney Channel's most successful movie at the time it aired (January 20, 2006), with 7.7 million viewers in its first broadcast.

Disney's Wedding Pavilion

Walt Disney World's Wedding Pavilion is located on a private island on The Seven Seas Lagoon between The Grand Floridian and Polynesian Resorts.

Doom Buggy

Doom Buggy is the show name for Disney's OmniMover system (used in their Haunted Mansion attraction). It was initially developed for the "Adventures in Inner Space" attraction. Disney World's Haunted Mansion has 160 cars with a guest capacity of 3,200 guests per hour.

The Omnimover is an amusement ride system used for Disney theme park attractions. Roger Broggie and Bert Brundage developed the system for WED Enterprises, which patented Omnimover in April 1968. The term was coined by Imagineer Bob Gurr and is a portmanteau of OmniRange and PeopleMover. 

Click Here to read an Exclusive Interview with Bob Gurr talking about the creation of the Haunted Mansion Omnimovers, People Mover, Monorail, small world boats and more! 

 Current attraction series using the Omnimover system

    * Haunted Mansion Series
          o Disneyland
          o Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World
          o Tokyo Disneyland
          o Disneyland Paris

    * Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster Series
          o Disneyland
          o Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World
          o Tokyo Disneyland
          o Disneyland Paris
          o Hong Kong Disneyland

    * Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (Kings Island)

    * Hershey's Chocolate World Great American Chocolate Tour

Current individual attractions using the Omnimover system

    * Spaceship Earth

    * The Seas with Nemo & Friends System recycled from a previous attraction
          o EPCOT at Walt Disney World

Omnimover attractions no longer in operation

This list includes all Omnimover attractions that have been permanently removed and not recycled.

    * Disneyland
          o Adventure Thru Inner Space (replaced with Star Tours in 1987)

    * Epcot (Walt Disney World Resort)
          o World of Motion (replaced with Test Track in 1999)
          o Horizons (replaced with Mission: SPACE in 2003. Homages to Horizons can be found in both Mission: SPACE and in the Magic Kingdom's newly refurbished Space Mountain.)

--Two Omnimover systems have been in continuous use since their debut but have featured different attractions.

    * Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom uses the Omnimover ride system of two former attractions. The first attraction to occupy this space was If You Had Wings, which was sponsored by Eastern Airlines from 1972 to 1987, when they dropped sponsorship. The ride then was known as If You Could Fly until closing in January 1989. Six months later, the old ride system was reused as If You Had Wings was transformed into Delta Dreamflight, which was sponsored by Delta Air Lines until 1996. The ride vehicles were reprogrammed in 1989 to alter their viewing direction. In 1996, the ride became known as Take Flight, and closed on January 9, 1998. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin uses the very Omnimover ride system of If You Had Wings/Delta Dreamflight, except for having new third generation vehicles that can be rotated by the riders to any angle to shoot at various targets. Space Ranger Spin also uses two of the speed tunnels from If You Had Wings.

Although Journey Into Imagination with Figment in Epcot is now an Omnimover basis track it was once all Omnimover (this was back when the Dream finder was still part of the attraction).

    * The Seas with Nemo & Friends previously was home to The Living Seas, which utilized a different attraction theme as well as a different Omnimover vehicle design.

 Click Here to read "Limbo: Loading the Doom Buggies" at doombuggies.com

 

The Original Magic Kingdom's "E ticket" Attractions

The original eight "E ticket" attractions at WDW’s Magic Kingdom were Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, Hall of Presidents, Jungle Cruise, It’s a Small World, and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

Dumbo premieres at the Broadway Theater

October 23, 1941

Disney's 4th animated feature film, Dumbo (directed by Ben Sharpsteen) world premieres at the Broadway Theater in New York City. Walt Disney, his wife Lillian, and a handful of his staff are in attendance. The 64-minute film, released by RKO Pictures, will win the Oscar for Best Score for a Musical Film and "Baby Mine" (the song that plays during Dumbo's visit to his mother's cell) will be nominated for Best Song.

"It's like 64 minutes, and it's so concise in its storytelling. I learned a lot from it, as a student at CalArts and a young animator at Disney."
-Pixar's John Lasseter on Dumbo

Like Dopey in Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo never utters a single word!

Animator Bill Tytla, known for his sinister characterization of Pinocchio's Stromboli, was the key animator for Dumbo. He based the character's childlike expressions and earnestness on those of his son, Peter.

"What's the matter with his ears? I don't see nothin' wrong with 'em. I think they're cute."

- Dumbo's Timothy Q. Mouse (voiced by Edward Brophy)

The Western River Expedition

Pirates of the Caribbean was never intended to be part of Disney World out of fear that it would not be exotic enough to Floridians, due to its geographic proximity to the real Caribbean. Instead, planners intended to build a ride called the Western River Expedition. Designed by Marc Davis, it would've featured Audio-Animatronic cowboys, banditos and Native Indians.

Western River Expedition was an Audio-Animatronic delight with dozens of new AA figures, and certainly as many as in Pirates of Caribbean. Just like in POTC Marc Davis designed scenes where humour was always present. Potential scenes included:

A stage coach robbery




Banditos where even their horses had bandanas across their faces!



An Indian (Native American) rain dance that causes it to rain



Other gag scenes with desert animals, cactus, buffaloes, bear...





A western town called Dry Gulch with scenes showing a cowboy on horseback on the roof of the town's saloon - and 10 characters, including a bartender ( who is trying to shoot the cowboy and his mount off the roof ), saloon girls, and other cowboys hooting and hollering, and more...





...And a waterfall-drop finale.

Click Here to read this entire article (How Marc Davis Legendary Attraction was Almost Built at Disneyland Paris) at the amazing Disney & More blog!

Click Here to read "Thunder Mesa & The Western River Expedition" at Widen your World!

DisneyQuest

Florida's Downtown Disney Westside is currently the home to the only DisneyQuest in the world

 DisneyQuest Chicago closed in September 2001

King Louie from The Jungle Book

King Louie (the orangutan voiced by Louis Prima) was one of the characters created especially for Disney's The Jungle Book, for he doesn't appear in Rudyard Kipling's original story.

Direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Walt Disney personally selected Richard Fleischer (son of his old competitor in animation, Max Fleischer) to direct the live-action film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Wilderness Lodge's Geysers

There is a wind gauge installed in Disney World's Wilderness Lodge's marina. The computer that runs the resort's geyser senses the wind speed for each "eruption" and adjusts the height of the water. This prevents blowing water from hitting the balconies of lake view rooms!

The Tree of Life

Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life has hundreds of intricately carved animal images.

Ten artists and three Imagineers worked full-time for 18 months to create the animal carvings on it!

Walt Disney World Wardrobe

Walt Disney World has the largest working wardrobe on Earth with more than 1.5 million operational garments in use and over 7,000 different garment types. In addition there are over 2 million pieces of entertainment costumes. (That's a lot of dry cleaning!)

The Walt Disney World Fleet

About 300 Walt Disney World buses transport guests around the Florida resort, making the Walt Disney World fleet the third largest in Florida behind Miami and Jacksonville!

Golf Resort at Disney World

In 1986, the Golf Resort at Disney World changed its name to the Disney Inn.

Disney's Florida theme park

In the beginning Disney's Florida theme park was to be called simply Disney World. But when Walt past away in December 1966, his brother Roy renamed the project Walt Disney World.

1971 Life Magazine - Walt Disney Opens