Sunday, June 7, 2009

101 Things about Disneyland NOBODY, I Repeat, NOBODY Knows



You might know some of these things... no, trust me, you don't.



General

  1. All of Disneyland is constructed at 4/8 scale.
  2. Former president of Disneyland Resort Cynthia Harris introduced several new concepts to the park, including negative attraction growth and "the maintenance-free decade."
  3. Disneyland employs five people who work full time theming trash cans.
  4. When an audioanimatronic figure dies, it is given an audioanimatronic funeral.
  5. Walt Disney didn't want movie and TV tie-ins to dominate the park, so he banned them, with the exception of the 20,000 Leagues walkthrough, the Matterhorn, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, appearances by the Mouseketeers and Daniel Boon, all of Fantasyland, souvenirs, costumed characters, and a few other items.
  6. The "turkey legs" sold throughout the part are harvested from gigantic, genetically engineered caterpillars.
  7. Several of the park's trees are enormous bonsai.
  8. If you were to take all of the Disney dollars minted in a given year, stack them in groups of 100 bills, and throw the stacks one at a time into a furnace, they would lose most of their value.
  9. The value of the cash in all of the wallets and purses lost in Disneyland every day averages about $10,000.
  10. The value of the cash in all of the wallets and purses returned to Disneyland lost and found every day averages about $34.25.
  11. A frequently unenforced City of Anaheim law requires Disneyland guests to pass a written exam before buying a theme-park ticket.
  12. A Disneyland premium annual pass costs more than the monthly food bill of some third-world villages.
  13. Anyone who dies at Disneyland receives a free lifetime pass.
  14. Captain Nemo's organ from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was broken up for spare parts to build the Main Street fire engine.
  15. Guests can be ejected from the park for infractions as minor as asking to see Captain Nemo's organ.
  16. There is no place in Disneyland to buy gum, tobacco, or firearms.
  17. More photographs are taken at Disneyland each year than are taken at every other Disney park in California combined.
  18. Disneyland fireworks are all hand made by Amish children.
  19. In Disneyland parlance, ATM stands for "a talking mouse."
  20. Pin trading is the third largest economic force in the country.
  21. Cast members who hear parents telling their children that Disneyland characters are just people in suits are required to immediately phone the child-abuse hotline.
  22. "Fantasmic!" was originally going to be named "Fantasmic?"

Main Street

  1. Main Street, U.S.A. is modeled after a turn-of-the-20th-century small town, but Walt Disney had originally conceived it as a turn-of-the-16th-century village.
  2. Disneyland's City Hall is modeled after a real government building, but with actual, coherent, human employees.
  3. The gas lamps along Main Street are a subtle reference to one Imagineer's favorite poet, Sylvia Plath.
  4. Each plain glass window on Main Street is a "moment in silence" tribute to someone who gave their life during the park's construction.
  5. In the Main Street first-aid center, the first limb ever broken in the park is on display.
  6. The Main Street Cinema has to keep showing the same films because it has no budget for new ones.
  7. The Emporium is named for ancient Rome's Emperor Emporium.
  8. If you listen to the old-fashioned telephones in the Market House for long enough, you may hear one of the party-line participants comment that "Knotts Berry Farm bites."
  9. Ironically, a fire always burns in the window above the Main Street Fire Department.
  10. "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" was inspired by Thomas Jefferson.
  11. The wooden Indian on Main Street cries when people litter.
  12. The Disneyland Railroad is one of only two daily-operating railroads in the United States from which dinosaurs can be seen.
  13. The portion of the Grand Canyon Diorama between the backdrop and the canyon wall was imported from the real Grand Canyon.
  14. The Primeval World Diorama was originally created using real dinosaurs.
  15. The Mickey Mouse depicted in the "Partners" statue in the park's hub is not really Mickey Mouse, but a costumed little person.

Toontown

  1. The inflatables in Goofy's Bounce House are filled with hydrogen.
  2. On the second floor of Mickey's house can be found his waterbed and hot tub.
  3. The Toontown mail box talks, has horrible breath, and is usually hung over.

Adventureland

  1. Adventureland was originally going to be called True Life Adventureland and feature attractions built around real events in Walt Disney's life.
  2. Tarzan's Treehouse is a rethemed version of Condorman's Treehouse.
  3. The Jungle Cruise boats originally had striped canopies to remind guests of the circus.
  4. One of the giraffes in the Jungle Cruise has lived on the property since it was an orange grove.
  5. During the period when Jungle Cruise skippers were not allowed to use guns, they would chase away rampaging hippos by throwing rocks, fruit, or small guests.
  6. Water doesn't really have a back side.
  7. One of the Tikis in the Tiki Room was donated by the Brady bunch after their vacation in Hawaii.
  8. Many of the Tiki Room birds appeared in Hitchcock's The Birds.
  9. A crate visible in the Indiana Jones queue has the number "9906753" on it. If you add up the digits, you get 39 -- Walt Disney's age just before his 40th birthday.

Now Orleans Square

  1. New Orleans Square is named for the town of Orleans in France.
  2. New Orleans "Square" is really an irregular hexagon.
  3. There was a one One-of-a-Kind Shop in New Orleans Square, and another in Fantasyland.
  4. When the Haunted Mansion first opened, a woman with a heart condition went on and the ride scared her so much that she started a baseless rumor about it.
  5. Due to budget cuts, the Haunted Mansion now only contains 888 happy haunts.
  6. In a 2004 poll, 47% of Disneyland guests and employees agreed that Michael Eisner's cremated remains should be scattered in the Haunted Mansion as soon as possible.
  7. All of the gold coins in Pirates of the Caribbean are real, but they are more than 100 years past their minting date and therefore have expired.
  8. A recording of a telegraph can be heard from the New Orleans Square Train Station saying, "Help, I'm stuck in the New Orleans Square Train Station."

Critter Country

  1. Guests in bathing attire can ride Splash Mountain in inner tubes.
  2. All of the songs in the Country Bear Jamboree were written specifically for Disneyland, and many continue to be popular to this day.
  3. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is endorsed by the Church of Satan.

Frontierland

  1. At the Frontierland Shootin' Exposition, real ammunition can be had for an extra $5.
  2. The Rainbow Caverns Mine Train would, but for a poor conjugation of a verb, have been the Rainbow Caverns My Train.
  3. The steam engine visible behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is the one that killed John Henry.
  4. On April Fool's Day, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is run backwards.
  5. Disneyland's original Indian Village was financed completely by slot machines and blackjack.
  6. All of the water in the Rivers of America is imported from the Mississippi River.
  7. The petrified sequoia along the banks of the Rivers of America is intended to give some perspective to visitors who feel like they've aged a hundred years while waiting in line.
  8. Disneyland's drydock is named Fowler's Harbor, in honor of what the ducks do to the Rivers of America.
  9. Tom Sawyer Island was originally supposed to be Tom Swift Island.
  10. The Sailing Ship Columbia is a 1/10 scale replica of the first ship to sail around the world without falling off.
  11. Careful observers may notice that the Mark Twain Riverboat is white, except for the parts that are black or red.
  12. Davey Crockett's Explorer Canoes are designed so that they cannot sink unless filled with water or tipped over.
  13. The original Golden Horseshoe Review show holds world records for both the oldest showgirls and the most retellings of a joke without ever getting a laugh.

Tomorrowland

  1. Everything in Tomorrowland is edible.
  2. The Rocket Rods were closed after a lawsuit from he-man porn star Rocket Rodd.
  3. The Monsanto House of the Future was made entirely of asbestos and lead.
  4. Carousel of Progress, a tribute to electricity, was powered by gas.
  5. The name of Innoventions' host Tom Morrow is a tribute to newsman Ed Murrow.
  6. If you look carefully during the opening sequence of Star Tours, you can catch a glimpse of Walt Disney frozen in carbonite.
  7. In an emergency, Monorail seats double as flotation devices.
  8. The Midget Autopia was closed because fewer midgets visited the park than expected.
  9. The Submarine Lagoon once boasted live mermaids and merbutlers.
  10. Mission to Mars was an updated version of Mission to the Moon, which itself was an update of Mission to Orbit, which replaced the Don Knotts Reluctant Astronaut Wacky Reentry Simulator.
  11. Space Mountain isn't really in outer space -- it's in a building.

Fantasyland

  1. Sleeping Beauty Castle is designed and stocked to withstand a siege by a full platoon for up to six months.
  2. At one time, guests could enter Sleeping Beauty Castle and walk up stairs to see dioramas of Sleeping Beauty in the Grand Canyon fighting dinosaurs.
  3. Because the ship-shaped vehicles of Peter Pan's Flight are actually seaworthy, the ride operator must have a ship pilot's license.
  4. If you touch the metal apple outside the Snow White's Scary Adventures attraction you will die.
  5. When scale is considered, the Casey Jr. Circus Train is the fastest ride in Disneyland.
  6. The Skyway attraction was only way to get to the Skyway Restaurant within the Matterhorn.
  7. The letters in "Storybook Land Canal Boats" can be rearranged to spell "Lorrybook Stand Banal Coats." See also "Tad Pea Marty" and "Flumbo the Dying Elephant."
  8. Dumbo the Flying Elephant's ears are being remodeled with earring holes that double as cup holders.
  9. During the cold war, the Soviet Union boycotted "it's a small world."
  10. The United States government considers the "it's a small world" song to be type-3 hazardous waste.
  11. Models for topiary sculptures may have to stay in the same position for months.
  12. Enormous nuclear-powered refrigeration units are needed to keep the Matterhorn's snow from melting.
  13. The Matterhorn is a real mountain that Walt Disney purchased and dismantled.
  14. The Matterhorn's abominable snowman is named Herschel.

Misc.

  1. J. Edgar Hoover once auditioned for a part as a Disneyland walk-around character (Snow White).
  2. Tinker Bell is neither a tinker nor a bell.
  3. There are only 100 things nobody knows about Disneyland.
Hope you liked the last one! It's my favorite! ; )

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