Just more Stuff,,,,,

[Born 2 Fish]

Between 1970 and 1992, the Greater Orlando Area population (in Central Florida) grew from 453,270 to 1,143,472 !

Betcha can't guess why ,

Greater Orlando, alternatively known as the Orlando Area or Metro Orlando,
is the third most populated metropolitan region in the state of Florida.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

On Oct.14, 2004 bidding began on e-Bay for the Disneyland Haunted Mansion 1000th Ghost Experience. The winning bidder will have their own personalized "tombstone" immortalized at the classic Anaheim park attraction. The unique gravestone marker will bear the winner's first name and a humorous epitaph (inspired by the winner's interests or hobbies) written and personalized by the team at Walt Disney Imagineering. (A ceremony for the highest bidder will take place October 28.)

How cool would it have been to win that !

 

[Born 2 Fish]

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.
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Oct.15,1923, Walt Disney (now living in California) receives a telegram from Margaret Winkler (a New York cartoon distributor) offering to pay $1500 each for the first six of his Alice Comedies. Also known as M. J. Winkler, she is the first woman to produce and distribute animated films. Walt rushes over to the Veterans Hospital, where his brother Roy is recovering from tuberculosis, to tell him the good news. (Ironically Roy will leave the hospital the next day - a cured man!)

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Bagheera: "You wouldn't marry a panther, would you?"
Baloo: "I don't know. Come to think of it, no panther ever asked me."

King Louie (the orangutan voiced by Louis Prima) was one of the characters created especially for Disney's 1967 The Jungle Book. Louie doesn't appear in Rudyard Kipling's original 1894 story.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Oct.19, 1989:
At EPCOT, Body Wars (the park's first thrill ride) begins sending guests through the human blood stream at the brand new Wonders of Life pavilion. A motion simulator ride featuring a film directed by Leonard Nimoy (best known to Star Trek fans as Mr. Spock), Body Wars can carry 40 passengers in each of four, 26-ton simulators. The cast of the Body Wars film features Tim Matheson as Captain Braddock, Dakin Matthews as Mission Commander and Elisabeth Shue as Dr. Cynthia Lair, who is investigating white cell response time to a splinter penetration.
Also debuting on this day at the MetLife-sponsored pavilion is the theater show Cranium Command (a humorous presentation on the importance of the human brain) and the short films Goofy Over Health (a multimedia show about healthy living hosted by Goofy, using clips from his cartoons) and The Making of Me (about birth and life starring Martin Short).

Some folk thought this ride kinda lame, but I miss it.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

"Ma chère mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now, we invite to relax, let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents... your dinner." -Lumière

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Pirates of the Caribbean was never intended to be part of Disney World out of fear that it would not beexotic 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.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

AIRPORT OF THE FUTURE

Down in Florida, inaugural service to Walt Disney World's own airport STOLport, by both Shawnee and Executive airlines, begin. The occasion is marked by a luncheon ceremony, with the state of Florida presenting Disney with STOLport license No. 1. A group of local and state politicians and officials are on hand, as well as executives from the airlines. Disney announces that STOL service will commence with around 26 flights daily. A single airstrip located not too far from the Contemporary Resort, the Lake Buena Vista STOLport, consists of a 2000-foot runway (and plans for a terminal building). Disney has high hopes for the service. (Unfortunately by December 1972, the idea of affordable short-range air routes became completely impractical and STOLport closed.)

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Oct.23, 1971,,,Day 1 of Walt Disney World's three-day grand opening celebration begins. Celebrities, including Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Walter Brennan, Sebastian Cabot, Fred MacMurray and Annette Funicello, arrive in Orlando, Florida aboard a chartered jet at McCoy Jetport. Nearly 40,000 guests (the biggest crowd yet) jam the Magic Kingdom on this Saturday to mingle among Hollywood royalty.
That evening, the World Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Arthur Fiedler, performs in the forecourt of Cinderella Castle to 2,500 invited guests in black tie and elegant gowns. (Fiedler is entering his 42nd season as the conductor of the popular Boston Pops Orchestra.) The 141 musicians are assembled from 60 countries and 26 states at the request of the Disney Company who wish to bring an international flavor to the event. The orchestra performs Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland, Prelude and Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde, The Pines of Rome by Respighi, an excerpt from Estarcia by Ginastera, and Offenbach’s Gaite Parisienne. For encores, the orchestra plays Little Fugue in G Minor by Bach, a tribute to Walt Disney with It’s a Small World and a stirring rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever which brings the audience to its feet. The symphony lasts roughly an hour and a half and ends with fireworks, (although not official) the first fireworks display ever at Walt Disney World.
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Oct.23, 1982,, the night before the park's official dedication, Disney's television series airs the episode EPCOT Center: The Opening Celebration. Hosted by Danny Kaye, the program also features actress Drew Barrymore, singer-guitarist Roy Clark, author Alex Haley, singer-actress Marie Osmond, newsman Eric Sevareid, and space traveler Alan Shepard.

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Oct.23, 1997,,John Lefante launches his "Save Mr. Toad" website the day after The Orlando Sentinel reports that Walt Disney World is going to replace the classic attraction with one featuring Winnie the Pooh.

He wasn't able to save Mr Toad,,and I do miss that ride !

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Oct.24, 1971 day 2 of Walt Disney World's three-day grand opening celebration takes place.
The formal dedication of the Contemporary Resort takes place at noon on this Sunday with Bob Hope, followed by the dedication of the Polynesian Village Resort at 6 p.m. A special luau takes place at the Polynesian followed
by the debut of Disney World's Electrical Water Pageant (the predecessor to the Main Street Electrical Parade) in the Seven Seas Lagoon. Although opened to the public since October 1, Disney World debuts its very first official
fireworks display called Fantasy in the Sky Spectacular on this evening.
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Oct.24, 1997 the Orlando Sentinel runs an article over the controversy raging in Florida about Disney World closing the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride attraction. Actors Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst, stars of The Wonderful World of Disney's upcoming "Tower of Terror," come out strongly pro-Toad while Darius Rucker, lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish, makes it clear that he's a Pooh man.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

WDW's original monorail track ran in a loop directly through the concourse of the Contemporary Resort, to the Polynesian Resort, the Magic Kingdom gate & the Ticket & Transportation Center. In 1982 the monorail was extended
with a four mile run to Epcot, including a scenic loop through Future World.

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Oct.26, 1997 the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad airs on
The Disney Channel .... 4 days after it has been announced that Disney World is going to close the classic Mr. Toad attraction in Fantasyland.


Seriously, something was WRONG with doing that !

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Oct.27, Wednesday, 1954,,
Walt Disney's very first television series, Walt Disney's Disneyland (named after his yet to be completed park) premieres on ABC with the episode "The Disneyland Story." About 30.8 million American viewers tune into what will be a TV tradition for more than 40 years. First, viewers are given a quick tour of the Walt Disney Studios and then are introduced to Walt Disney's newest venture: a theme park called Disneyland. This episode (directed by Robert Florey) is the public's first real exposure to Disney's plans for a park in Anaheim. The episode also features the song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" (sung by Fess Parker) as a coming attraction for the upcoming Crockett trilogy. (In the first six months of 1955, nearly seven million copies of the song will be sold.) The Disneyland series will go on to air for multiple seasons under some 6 different titles.

Each week as you enter this timeless land, one of these many worlds will open to you -
Frontierland ... tall tales and true from the legendary past
Tomorrowland ... promise of things to come
Adventureland .... the wonder world of nature's own realm
Fantasyland ... the happiest kingdom of them all.

"We hope it will be unlike anything else on this Earth: a fair, an amusement park, an exhibition, a city from Arabian nights, a metropolis of the future. A place of hopes and dreams, facts and fancy, all in one."
-Walt Disney .

 

[Born 2 Fish]

The Haunted Mansion is the only attraction to appear in a different land at 4 of the 5 Disney resorts:
New Orleans Square at Disneyland, Liberty Square at Disney World, Frontierland at Disneyland Paris, and Fantasyland at Tokyo Disneyland.

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Oct.28, 2004

Cary "Jay" Sharp, 37, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, attends his own midnight "burial" at Disneyland to become an honorary resident of the park's famous Haunted Mansion attraction. A doctor and health care attorney, Sharp paid $37,400 on eBay to become immortalized on a Haunted Mansion tombstone (the first member of the public to ever do so). His tombstone reads:

"JAY
Doctor-Lawyer Legal Clerk
Forever Buried In His Work"

(All proceeds from the auction will go to both the Anaheim and Baton Rouge chapters of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.)

What would your tombstone read ?

 

[2goofycampers]

What would your tombstone read ?

"Here lies 2goofycampers, she'd do anything to stay at Disney"

 

[Born 2 Fish]

"Walt Disney World is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to bringing joy and excitement and laughter to children and adults in America and throughout the world ... there is a spirit here everywhere. All of this is Walt -- this is what Walt wanted for all of us: an escape from our aspirin existence into a land of sparkles and lights and rainbows." -Bob Hope


"Walt Disney always believed in the beauty and natural wonders of the world. But he felt as we passed through that we should try to add a little wonder and beauty to it. Maybe you'll understand that Walt's dream was just a beginning. The dream doesn't stop here. This is the start of it. I think you'll want to tell your grandchildren you were there when it happened."
-Bob Hope on NBC's The Grand Opening of Walt Disney World

 

[Born 2 Fish]

The pavement at Epcot
was engineered by Disney and Kodak photography to be painted a specific custom color of pink that makes the grass look greener and pictures look brighter!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

When hinges creak in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight.

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.


Oct.31, 1939, this is the date of the fateful "elevator accident" at the
Tower of Terror, Disney's scary attraction at its Hollywood Studios. This is also the date inscribed on the eviction notice that appears on the entrance gates and on the inspection notice in the elevators.


Happy Halloween , all you friends of the Fort !

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Nov. 1 ,1999 , the Disney Wilderness Preserve opens to the public. It is home to hundreds of
wildlife species and is bordered by one of the last remaining undeveloped lakes in Central Florida. Located south of Orlando at the headwaters of the Everglades ecosystem, the 12,000-acre preserve features a 3-mile hiking trail.

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The demon in Fantasia's "Night on Bald Mountain" is named Chernobog, after the god of evil in Slavonic mythology.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Nov.2, 1966, Walt Disney checks into St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank (across from his studio),
complaining of shortness of breath, and pain in his left leg and neck. Unfortunately x-rays detect a walnut-sized cancerous spot on his left lung. Although immediate surgery is advised, Walt leaves the hospital to attend to studio business for a few days.

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Disney Legend Paul Frees (the voice of the Haunted Mansion's Ghost Host) was often called upon in the 1950s and 1960s to "re-loop" the dialogue of other actors, often to correct for foreign accents, lack of English proficiency, or poor line readings by non- professionals.

Nov.2, 1986, popular voice over actor Paul Frees, known for his Haunted Mansion narration, passes away in California. He also voiced several pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and Disney's Professor Ludwig Von Drake in eighteen episodes of the Disney anthology television series.
Born in 1920, he began his acting career in 1942 and remained active for over 40 years. During that time, Frees was involved in more than 250 films, cartoons and TV appearances; like many voice actors, his appearances were often uncredited. (In TV commercials, Frees voiced the Pillsbury Doughboy and the elf who calls out to the Jolly Green Giant!) He will be named a Disney Legend in 2006.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Tim Allen made his film debut in 1994, playing Santa in Disney's live-action The Santa Clause -
which earned him a People's Choice Award!

A hit grossing over $144million in the United States alone, The Santa Clause is about a father who finds himself contractually bound to become Santa when he unintentionally puts on the previous Santa's suit!

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Nov.3 ,1961 the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" first airs on television. It features actor Bill Mummy as six-year-old Anthony Fremont who has godlike mental powers. Rod Serling's introduction to Walt Disney World's Tower of Terror attraction - as viewed in the library - is taken in part from this very episode. Serling begins the program with the words, "Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction." Imagineers completed the introduction for the attraction with dialogue by sound-alike actor Mark Silverman. Ironically, this episode contains the longest opening narration of the entire series! (On your next trip to Hollywood Studios, look for a small poster dedicated to "Anthony Fremont & and his Orchestra" inside the Hollywood Tower of Terror.

"Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognize, is a map of the United States, and there's a little town there called Peaksville. On a given morning not too long ago, the rest of the world disappeared and Peaksville was left all alone. Its inhabitants were never sure whether the world was destroyed and only Peaksville left untouched or whether the village had somehow been taken away." -Rod Serling's "It's a Good Life" opening narration.