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Showing posts with label Rides & Attractions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rides & Attractions. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - it's a small world holiday


Since 1997, Disneyland has been delighting guests with the super popular seasonal transformation of the quintessential Disney theme park attraction, it's a small world with it's a small world holiday.  The overlay isn't just to the exterior as seen above however - but is completed on the inside as well, including a specially modified soundtrack incorporating "Jingle Bells" and "Deck the Halls" into the traditional it's a small world melody.  Now into it's 16th season, this park tradition is a more than just a fan-favorite, it's definitely a reason to visit the park!  Below enjoy some fun facts and a video that were originally shared & published on the Disney Parks Blog last year on December 7, 2011. 



it's a small world holiday fun facts, 
as originally published and shared on the Disney Parks Blog, Dec. 7, 2011


  • “it’s a small world” Holiday – The holiday version of this Disneyland classic debuted in 1997. The original attraction was inspired by Mary Blair’s storyline: a group of housebound kids on a rainy day create an international art project using all their dolls, toys and decorations.
  • All That Glitters – Each holiday season, an estimated 50,000 Christmas lights are installed on the façade. The breathtaking and intricate lighting design calls for six brilliant colors that interplay with clear twinkling lights. The nighttime splendor comes aglow with more than 300,000 watts of light.
  • Yuletide Treats & Merry Surprises – As you float along the canals of Europe, the scent of freshly cut pine lingers near a 20-foot Christmas tree in a scene that pays homage to “The Nutcracker.” The sweet smell of candy canes will tantalize as you pass by Italy’s hanging candies. (Both are enhanced aromas, added to the attraction.) Merry bubbles float down as you voyage through the South Seas, where a plate of fish has been left out “for Santa” (by Ariel and the mermaids).
  • A Sparkling Seasonal Wish – Wishing you “Happy Holidays” in the attraction’s final scene is a 14-foot sparkling snowman, dressed in his wintery best with a gold top hat, golden scarf, and hundreds of twinkling lights. A frosty snowflake mobile twirls over his head, flickering with an icy translucent glow. The snowman’s “Happy Holidays” sign is a jolly sight, too. It’s sculpted out of ice that changes color.
  • Storage Space – 100 percent of the holiday overlay props and scenic elements used are actually stored inside the attraction all year ‘round!
  • Up On The Housetop – Santa’s reindeer can fly to the top, but the elves that make holiday magic at “it’s a small world” Holiday use four high-reaching lifts, including one that stretches to 80 feet into the air. Riggers repel off the back wall using special safety rope access.
  • Secret Elf Society – It takes 12 Technical Services cast members 5 nights a week for 7 weeks (35 days!) to install the glittering yuletide façade. Inside the attraction it takes more than 20 Technical Services cast members 18 days in a row to decorate the holiday attraction’s dazzling interior!
  • “Fa La La La La” – The attraction’s soundtrack is a merry mix of “Jingle Bells” and “Deck The Halls” in counterpoint with the classic “it’s a small world” tune. Children’s voices sing along in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Scandinavian languages. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the South Seas Mermaids singing their own holiday carol: “Jingle Shells.” Holiday greetings in many other languages – French Canadian, Dutch, Chinese, Asante (of Ghana) and Hawaiian to name a few – can be discovered on banners and signs throughout the entire attraction.
as reprinted from the Disney Parks Blog © Disney

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Walt Disney Passes Away



December 15, 1966 – Burbank, CA

Walter Elias Disney passes away at St. Joseph's Hospital of acute circulatory collapse, as a result of lung cancer, just ten days after his 65th birthday.  The flags on Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland are flown at half-staff, as the park opens at Lillian Disney's request to honor her belief that Walt would have wanted the show to go on.  Walt's 74-year old brother Roy determines to postpone his retirement in order to pursue Walt's last dream, the recently announced construction of Walt Disney World in Florida.



December 15, 1973 – Walt Disney World – Lake Buena Vista, FL

The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction officially opens in Adventureland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Housed in a golden Spanish fort called Castillo Del Morro, it is located in the all-new Caribbean Plaza expansion area of Adventureland.  It is based on the original attraction of the same name which opened 6 years earlier at Disneyland and features 125 Audio-Anamatronics (comprised of 65 pirates & villagers and 60 animals).  Guests ride in batueax through flumes filled with 155,000 gallons of water, and unlike the Disneyland original go down one 14-foot drop instead of two drops, which is due to the higher water table in Florida than Southern California.


December 15, 1989 – Walt Disney World – Lake Buena Vista, FL

Star Tours officially opens at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. It is the first attraction to open in the park's new Backlot Annex area.  Based on the successful Star Wars franchise of movies, it is Disney's 3rd version of the attraction, having first opened at Disneyland in 1986 and Tokyo Disneyland in July 1989.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Featured Foto Friday - It's a Small World Holiday




It's a Small World Holiday at Disneyland.  This seasonal overlay has been delighting guests for 16 years, with hundreds of thousands of sparkling lights and a specially customized revised soundtrack to the Sherman brothers classic song, It's a Small World After All, updated with Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls.  

Friday, December 7, 2012

Flashback Friday - Country Bear Jamboree Christmas Show


As we turn back time on this Flashback Friday, we take a glimpse at the seasonal overlay for the classic bruin show - the Country Bear Jamboree Christmas Show.  This special seasonal overlay appeared at both the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, bringing a bit of holiday cheer to update and refresh an old standby every December.  



Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - A Primary Change for Phantom Manor

Unlike her predecessors in Anaheim, Orlando and Japan, the story of Phantom Manor begins the moment guests enter its' foyer as a faint image of the ill-fated bride appears in an ornately framed mirror and the Ghost Host begins to tell her tale of lost love.  

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean, one of the quintessential Disney theme park attractions, which first opened at Disneyland in 1967, was originally conceived of as a walk-through attraction?  

© Disney
As designed it would have led about 60 guests at a time through a series of 6 or 7 vignettes filled with wax figures.  Thanks to the findings and learnings taken away from the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, Walt had his imagineers completely redesign the attraction to be a ride-through attraction utilizing the bateaux style boats we all know! 


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Pirates of the Caribbean

October 31, 1966
Disneyland - Anaheim, CA

Water is filled for the very first time in the flume of Disneyland's newest (and Walt Disney's last) attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, still under construction in the all-new land, New Orleans Square, personally dedicated by Walt a few months earlier in July. (Walt's untimely death December 15, 1966 precluded him from ever experiencing the finished attraction which opened to the public on March 18, 1967).

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Pirates IN the Caribbean

The original plans for the development of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World did not include a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.  The thought was that Florida was already close enough to the real location that guests would not enjoy the attraction in the same way that guests at Disneyland did.  However as guest demand indicated, the planners and designers of the resort were wrong, and Walt Disney World's version of Pirates of the Caribbean opened in Adventureland in December 1973.  



Monday, October 8, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts - Mickey's Philharmagic

October 8, 2003
Walt Disney World - Orlando, FL

Mickey's Philharmagic officially debuts inside Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Prince Charming Regal Carrousel

Prince Charming Regal Carrousel (originally known as Cinderella's Golden Carrousel) was originally built in 1917 in Maplewood, New Jersey.  This 60 foot diameter carrousel is one of the largest carrousels ever built.  

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Sailing Ship Columbia

Did you know that the Sailing Ship Columbia at Disneyland, which opened in 1958, is a replica of the first U.S. vessel to ever circumnavigate the world?  

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Captain EO and Hong Kong Disneyland


September 12, 1986 – Walt Disney World

Captain EO, an all-new 3-D fantasy sci-fi musical movie attraction opens at EPCOT. The film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, stars Michael Jackson, and was produced by George Lucas.  Set in the future in a far off galaxy, the 17-minute film tells the story of Captain EO and his ragtag crew of space travelers, and features an eclectic cast of characters, including other notable actors and actresses, including Dick Shawn and Angelica Huston.  EPCOT is the first Disney park to present the film – it will open at  Disneyland in California just 6 days later, and later followed by Tokyo Disneyland in 1987).


September 12, 2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland

After nearly 6 years of planning, preparation and construction, Hong Kong Disneyland debuts.  It is the company’s 5th vacation resort, and the 11th Disney theme park in the world.  The park was closely modeled after the original Disneyland in Anaheim, CA which opened 50 years (and 2 months) earlier.  In honor of the original Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle was built to match the Anaheim original.  The theme park and its’ adjoining hotels, retail, dining and entertainment facilities stretch out over 310 acres on Lantau Island – and the park features the largest Adventureland of any Magic Kingdom park around the globe. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - The Great Movie Ride

Did you know that The Great Movie Ride, at Disney's Hollywood Studios (originally known as Disney-MGM Studios), was intended to be the heart of an "entertainment-themed" pavilion at Epcot?  It's true, that as the Imagineers developed the concepts for the attraction and pavilion, it was determined that there were so many good ideas there - too many for just a  pavilion at Epcot, and thus the 45 acre Disney-MGM Studios them park concept was born.  



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Catastrophe Canyon

The water tanks at Catastrophe Canyon on the Backlot Tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios release 70,000 gallons of water, all resetting in less than four minutes to be released all over again.  



Saturday, August 25, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular


August 25, 1989 – Walt Disney World

The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular attraction is dedicated at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. It is the first theme park attraction to use a computer based show control system in conjunction with a programmable logic controller system to trigger, control and sequence complex live events in real time ... in many cases controlled by the actors! The 30-minute stunt show recreates some of the most thrilling and heart-pounding moments from the Indiana Jones films.


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Carousel of Progress

After the very successful run at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, Walt really wanted to bring his beloved Carousel of Progress attraction to Disneyland - but there just wasn't room for it.  He also knew that Tomorrowland was in desperate need of updating in the decade since the park first opened.  It was time to update the land, and bringing the Carousel of Progress to Disneyland was the final catalyst from which was born the plans for New Tomorrowland (which opened in 1967).




Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Alice in Wonderland


August 14, 1958 - Disneyland

The grand opening of Fantasyland's newest dark ride attraction, Alice in Wonderland, is hosted by Walt Disney himself along with Mouseketeer Karen Pendleton - dressed as Alice.  The attraction is the first dark ride to cover two floors, as the queue is located behind the neighboring Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and the majority of the attraction takes place above Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. 


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - The Haunted Mansion


August 9, 1969 – Disneyland

The Haunted Mansion opens in New Orleans Square. The grand opening of the attraction is heralded by a promotional blitz that include the "I Scream" Sundaes sold at Disneyland's Carnation Plaza Gardens.  The attraction's opening has been long-awaited, as the exterior facade was first built in 1963, but sat dormant as Walt and the Imagineers' attentions turned to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, and Walt's untimely death in 1966 brought about further delay.  


Friday, August 3, 2012

Featured Foto Friday - Single Soarin'

Single Rider Pass for Soarin' Over California at Disney California Adventure...
definitely something they ought to have at Soarin' at Epcot.
Soarin' - whether it's Soarin' Over California as at Disney California Adventure - or just plain Soarin' as at Epcot... is one of my all-time favorite attractions.  I have loved it since it first opened up at DCA in 2001.  I loved it when I first heard that news that it would open at Epcot in 2005, and I always want to ride it when in those parks.  


But there's one huge difference between the two parks... I can ride it as a Single Rider at DCA, but not at Epcot.  That is such a wonderful thing, especially when on my various solo treks to the parks.  Epcot did, for a short time, have a Single Rider line, but quickly did away with it.  I sure wish they would bring it back.  

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Casey Jr. Circus Train


July 31, 1955 - Disneyland

Casey Jr. Circus Train (based on the train of the same name from the classic 1941 Disney film "Dumbo") opens in Fantasyland. The attraction is located in the back of the land, next to Dumbo the Flying Elephant, but unfortunately was not ready to open in time when for the park's Grand Opening two weeks earlier.  

Casey Jr. Circus Train at Disneyland - © Disney