Disney Fun Facts
- Walt Disney once said, “I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.” So he created Main Street, U.S.A. to make sure we could always embrace those wonderful feelings of days gone by. From the decor in the old-time specialty shops to the music in Central Plaza to the taste of the ice cream sundaes, Main Street is pure Americana. pict from hiddenmickeys.org
- My mother’s uncles owned Playland at the Beach in San Francisco California. As most people know, Walt Disney traveled all over the country and employed other amusement park owners as consultants for what would eventually become Disneyland. They were glad to help because they really thought he would need help. They all thought building an amusement park on the site of an old orange grove was crazy and he was so far away from themselves that even if his park did succeed it would never interfere with their own business. Well this of course was right at the start of television and the jet age. Little did they know that Disney would revolutionize the business and take it over. Anyway, in 1954 Walt stayed with Mom’s uncles and visited Playland in San Francisco. The next morning the Whitney Brothers got the idea to take Walt across the San Francisco Bay Bridge to Oakland to a little park called Childerns Fairyland, which is still there. Walt loved the place. They have a walk through attraction based on Alice in Wonderland, which later played a part in influencing the Alice attraction at Disneyland. Walt liked the cartoons that were painted on the wall and he therefore asked permission to contribute one of his own. I am sure that Fairylands owners were thrilled at the idea. So they gave him some paints from the supply room and Walt hand painted this Mickey Mouse directly onto the wall. So, enjoy the photo and if you are ever in Oakland California, go to Childrens Fairyland to see what is probably the oldest Hidden Mickey of them all.
- Walt’s Disneyland opening-day dedication speech (“To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here, age relives fond memories of the past, and here, youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”) WAV Sound
- Among the first guests at Disneyland in 1955 was George Lucas (then 11) and his family.
- Disneyland welcomes up to 65,000 Guests in a single day and welcomes between 10-12 million Guests over the course of a year.
- According to our tour guide, Walt Disney had to sell his beloved ranch in order to complete Disneyland, but later bought it back again. The initals of the ranch (STR) are what appear on his tie on the “Partners” statue in the plaza at the end of Main Street.
- There is a GREAT way to celebrate a birthday at Disneyland. First, tell the ticket-taker that it’s your birthday. S/he will tell you to go to City Hall. Go into City Hall and tell the Cast Members in there that it’s your birthday and the ticket-taker sent you. They will give you a personalized sticker to wear. If other Cast Members see you wearing it they will say “happy birthday!” and be real nice to you. It was only my 13th birthday so I don’t know if this works with grown-ups.
- If it is your birthday, be sure to get a birthday sticker from City Hall. Then go to New Orleans Square and try to see the mime! It is always the same guy whenever we go there, and he is so nice to us! When we went for my friend’s birthday, he gave her a special purple coin that we have never seen in the park before. He also let us take pictures with his parasol, led us around New Orleans a little bit, led us up to the Disney Gallery the back way by taking the stairs which were roped off, and took pictures of us posing in front of the fountain up there. Then for my 18th birthday in December, he led us into one of the shops and gave us pecan turtle pies (two or three of them, if I recall), took pictures of us again, took us into the Disney Gallery again, and I got a special phone call from Goofy! He sung Happy Birthday to me. Then we walked around more and the New Orleans band gave us beads since they saw my sticker, not just ordinary beads, but beads with big plastic charms on them that had an alligator on it!
- Main Street is supposed to be set in 1910, Tomorrowland is set for 1986. These years were picked because they were the years of Hailey’s Comet. I was watching a Disneyland 50th Anniversary Special movie (on Main Street) with Steve Martin as the narrator. This was something I didn’t know, and it was interesting to learn.
- Walt originally designed the park so when you pass from land to land, you don’t see the others. If you where in Liberty Square, you can’t see Fantasyland, trees, buildings and distractions like the water wheel, the noise keeps you from looking to your left and seeing the other lands.
- Most obviously, you can see the Matterhorn from Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. But you can also see Big Thunder and Critter Country from New Orleans Square (stand in front of the Rivers of America). Also that can be seen from one land to the next: Frontierland and New Orleans Square (by the Mark Twain Landing), Adventureland and NOS (by Tarzan’s Treehouse), Frontierland and Adventureland (by Pocahontas/Western-theme shop), Fantasyland and Toontown (by It’s a Small World), etc. Just about all the lands you can see from at least one other land. After all, they do connect.
- Construction at the park offered constant challenges to the city of Anaheim. The Municipal building codes did not anticipate what operating standards should appply to submarines within city limits. Additional considerations had to be made for the Matterhorn, which would become the tallest structure in the city of Anaheim.
- On the 1999-2000 Annual Passports has anyone noticed what the Mouseketeer hat reads? It say’s Walt…just thouht it was real cute!
