Your best Disney fact or insider story...

[jaz0308]

I took the Keys to the Kingdom Tour in the MK and the guide told us that the Walt/Mickey statue and the Roy/Minnie statue are purposely placed in their spots as if Walt is pointing to Roy and telling his buddy Mickey that he can look to his brother when he is gone. Brought a little tear to my eye!

 

[jwwi]

I love all the interesting information, great thread. I have one, the only 3D hidden Mickey is in the lobby of the Villa section of the WL. Found that out on a WL tour, free and worth the time if you stay there.

 

[LiveYourLife]

I do remember reading about that, BUT I have never seen it. That will be fun to find. I am definitely taking my father to the Contemporary for visit. Thanks for pointing that out. Is it easy to see?

Fairly easy. I don't want to ruin the finding it for you and I'm trying to think of a hint, but I can't without spoiling it! Lol! Have fun!

 

[bcrook]

Fairly easy. I don't want to ruin the finding it for you and I'm trying to think of a hint, but I can't without spoiling it! Lol! Have fun!

Thanks we are on it! It will be fun.

 

[amypetecar]

I heard this story when i did lunch with an imagineer


The imagineer that came up with the idea to add mr. Toad to the pet cemetery still works for disney
He pitched the idea to his boss, and the idea sat on a shelf for a few years
When he pitched it again, we was given approval but no budget
Since he couldnt pay for a custom made statue in his budget, he instead found an old mr. Toad garden gnome from disneyland that was discontinued for sale from a gift shop a few years prior
He snuck in at night after the park closed and personally dug the hole and built the foundation for the statue without telling anyone about his plan
He waited until the night before halloween to install the statue
"Mysteriously...." The toad statue appeared the morning of halloween
He said the cast members on the mansion thought someone was going to get fired for messing with the cemetery!
He also said that morning one of the trainers that worked on the mansion for years gave a tour to new cast members and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it! She thought it had been covered by bushes and just hadnt seen it!
After letting rumors fly for a while (few hours or days, i forget), he finally came clean and wrote it into the attraction's back story

 

[bcrook]

I heard this story when i did lunch with an imagineer


The imagineer that came up with the idea to add mr. Toad to the pet cemetery still works for disney
He pitched the idea to his boss, and the idea sat on a shelf for a few years
When he pitched it again, we was given approval but no budget
Since he couldnt pay for a custom made statue in his budget, he instead found an old mr. Toad garden gnome from disneyland that was discontinued for sale from a gift shop a few years prior
He snuck in at night after the park closed and personally dug the hole and built the foundation for the statue without telling anyone about his plan
He waited until the night before halloween to install the statue
"Mysteriously...." The toad statue appeared the morning of halloween
He said the cast members on the mansion thought someone was going to get fired for messing with the cemetery!
He also said that morning one of the trainers that worked on the mansion for years gave a tour to new cast members and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it! She thought it had been covered by bushes and just hadnt seen it!
After letting rumors fly for a while (few hours or days, i forget), he finally came clean and wrote it into the attraction's back story

Thanks for taking the time to share that one. It is a keeper. I have pictures of Mr. Toad in the cemetery. Everything about this is fun.

 

[Chuckers]

I have never read that!

I learned that on the KTTK tour.

 

[bcrook]

I learned that on the KTTK tour.

. Very good story.

 

[mousiemom]

learning a lot of new ones here, we always look for tot from across the lake and it truly blends with morraco. i just can't seem to stop crying about walt pointing to his brother, that is the sweetest story, i will always think about that now when walking past it. love that!

 

[amandals2007]

learning a lot of new ones here, we always look for tot from across the lake and it truly blends with morraco. i just can't seem to stop crying about walt pointing to his brother, that is the sweetest story, i will always think about that now when walking past it. love that!

missed this one about walt pointing, what is the story?

 

[goofy_joe]

Here are some of my favorites, from KTTK, UnDISCOVERED Future World, Keep Moving Forward, and other sources.

• If you did one load of laundry every day for 44 years, you'd do the amount of laundry that WDW does in one day.
• Trash cans are located about every 25 paces. This is because they once handed out pieces of candy to incoming Guests and counted how many steps Guests took on average before dropping the wrapper on the ground.
• You always go uphill into a Theme Park. (This is most noticeable at Epcot and DAK.) This is because at the beginning of the day, you've got tons of energy and can climb uphill. At the end of the day, when you're tired, you get a little vertical / horizonal assist out of the park.
• The elevated ride track at Test Track is flexible and moves! When we were backstage, our tour guide had us put our hands on one of the supports as cars roared overhead at 65mph. Sure enough, we could feel it move an inch or two.
• Don't walk between the two big columns at the entrance to the Italy pavilion. It's bad luck, as traditionally, that was where condemned prisoners were taken to be executed. (Not at WDW, of course.)
• On the Tomb Warriors building at the China pavilion, the corner of the roof shows a man riding a chicken. This represents an early Chinese emperor who was so cruel to his subjects, they overthrew and killed him. Traditionally, the Chinese use this symbol of an emperor riding a chicken as a warning to their rulers.
• Disney CMs never point with one finger - they always point either with two fingers or their entire hands.

 

[lstylr]

You can not buy a night in the fantasy suite in Cinderella's castle. It must be won.

I'm not saying I don't believe this, but I just can't imagine Disney saying no to someone willing to pay thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands (there are billionaires out there who might!) for one night in this teeny tiny suite.

Cinderella's Royal Table was originally called King Stefan's Banquet hall. This was because in medieval times, the castle's banquet hall was named in honor of a neighboring kingdom. The closest kingdom would have been Disneyland - Sleeping Beauty's castle - which was King Stefan. However, this caused confusion among tourists, so it was renamed to Cinderella's Royal Table.

This is so cool!

 

[ARAITHEL]

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Thanks for the cool facts!

 

[lstylr]

You all probably know most (if not all) of these...

When you're in the stretching room of the Haunted Mansion and the door opens to move into the queue area, hang back and let others go ahead of you. If you stay in the room long enough, you will hear whispers telling you to GET OUT among other things.

In the Pirates of the Caribbean queue the two skeletons playing chess have reached a stalemate.

On Splash Mountain, in the cave room right before you start ascending before the final drop, there's a critter who pops out of the ceiling and says "FSU!" An Imagineer who graduated from Florida State put him up there.

In Liberty Square the building's shutters aren't straight, they droop. This is because during the Revolution they took off all the lead hinges and made them into bullets for the war, so they secured the shutters with leather straps, which eventually stretch causing the shutters to droop.

The Rod Sterling footage from Tower of Terror is from an actual episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Good Life." In the show, he says "this, as you may recognize, is a map of the United States" but in the ride he says "this, as you may recognize, is a maintenance service elevator" and the camera cuts away right before he can finish the word beginning with "m".

In the queue for Muppet Vision 3D, there is a sign that says "Be back in 5 minutes. Key under mat." There is actually a key under the mat.

 

[Chuckers]

I'm not saying I don't believe this, but I just can't imagine Disney saying no to someone willing to pay thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands (there are billionaires out there who might!) for one night in this teeny tiny suite.

It's because Disney does not want any child to feel superior to another child because their parents bought them a night in Cinderella's castle and conversely, they don't want any child to feel less special because their parents CAN'T afford the suite. (At least, that's what we were told by our Tour Guide)

Also, if you do get to stay in the Cinderella Suite, you will not be able to leave the suite during the night without an escort. So, a full time concierge is assigned to the family/guests staying in the suite. (They don't want guests seeing the night time maintenance activities in the park)

 

[Chuckers]

While this is Disneyland trivia, I still think it's pretty awesome and funny...

The first Tinkerbell to appear during the night time fireworks was a Russian woman. For years, she ended her flight down the wire by slamming into a mattress tied to a tree.

ouch.

 

[MellinMickey4333]

Walt Disney designed the entrance to the Magic Kingdom to reveal itself as if you were walking into the opening of a Disney movie. *As you pass under the Main Street Railroad Station, you'll notice movie posters on the walls, just as you would if you were walking into the entrance of a theater. *The curtain "rises" as you emerge from the tunnels and take in the "opening act" of the Town Square and Main Street, U.S.A. Music fills the air as you smell fresh popped theater popcorn from the old-fashioned popcorn cart, which Disney Imagineers ensure*is always stationed nearby. *Next, as you begin to walk down Main Street, U.S.A., you'll see the "opening credits" displayed on the windows of the second and third stories of the buildings lining the street. *These credits are the names of the Cast Members who played a major role in the creation of Walt Disney World. Fittingly, Walt Disney's name is the first and last one you'll see on Main Street, U.S.A., just as the Director of a movie is listed at both the opening and ending of the credits. Guests are greeted by a window at the Main Street Railroad Station which reads, "Walt Disney World Railroad Office - Keeping Dreams on Track - Walter E. Disney - Chief Engineer -" A second window for Walt Disney can be found at the far end of Main Street, U.S.A. on the second floor of the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor, facing Cinderella Castle.

I liked this. I always thought it was interesting. it's taken from the WDW Secrets app by Notescast.

That is SO cool!!!

 

[surferdude]

The pathway leading to tomorrowland on the right side (when walking into MK) is wider than the left because people naturally (I think the reasoning having to do with people being right handed) prefer going to the right when having to choose a direction.

 

[ZoZo]

On the backstage safari tour at AK, the guide told us that they were having trouble enticing the lions to stay on "Pride Rock" because of the heat when it was first built. There was no shade and it was too hot, so the lions kept going under the trees, and you couldn't see them from the trams. So they drilled holes up through the rock and pumped cold air up through the holes - problem solved!

 

[Lizziejane]

While this is Disneyland trivia, I still think it's pretty awesome and funny...

The first Tinkerbell to appear during the night time fireworks was a Russian woman. For years, she ended her flight down the wire by slamming into a mattress tied to a tree.

ouch.

oh I don't know why, but this one cracks me up!!!!