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Showing posts with label Tuesday Trivia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tuesday Trivia. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Magic Kingdom

After more than seven years of master planning, and 52 months of construction (nearly four and a half years), with more than eight million cubic yards of earth moved - the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971.  It was the largest individual construction project since the Hoover Dam.  



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?  

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.  



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Walt Disney World Under Construction

Polynesian Village under construction
More than 8 million cubic yards of earth were moved to construct the original portions of Walt Disney World, utilizing more than 8,000 workers in every kind of skill and trade.  At the peak of construction in 1970, the Vacation Kingdom was the largest private construction project in the United States, possibly even in the entire world. 
Magic Kingdom under construction







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 7, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland's Design


From the very first steps inside the turnstiles, the guest is transported inside this living, 3D "film" playing out before them. The red concrete between the turnstiles and the Mickey floral planter in front of them, leading to the left or right and the tunnels going under the railroad tracks are the "lobby" of this theatre. The tunnels are the entrance portals into the story playing out within the "theatre" that is the park itself. 

Once inside, the enjoyment truly begins as the stories begin to unfold all around the guests. An earthen berm was built around the park, to shield it from the intrusions of the outside world. The original design of the park included five "scenes" or magical lands to explore and enjoy...

  • Scene One unfolds all around the guests through the wonders of turn-of the-century Americana known as MAIN STREET, U.S.A... American at a crossroads, where the gas lamp is being replaced by electric lamps, and the horseless carriages are overtaking the horse-drawn carriages.
  • Scene Two, based on the then-popular "True-Life Adventure" films of the 1940's and '50's took guests into an exoctic locale known as ADVENTURELAND, celebrating the remote jungles of Africa and Asia.
  • Scene Three recreated the pioneering days of Davy Crockett and the great American frontier - FRONTIERLAND. Walt was extremely proud of, and enamored by those men and women of vision and courage to move across the great central plains of America to help settle the west, he once wrote, "Here you can return to frontier America, from the Revolutionary War era to the final taming of the great Southwest; our adventures are designed to gie you the feeling of having lived, even for a short while, during our country's pioneer days." In the early days of Frontierland guests could ride in a stage coach, or take a ride on pack mules just as those early settlers might have done.
  • Scene Four brought Walt's beloved animated characters to life in a charming array of storybook based attractions in FANTASYLAND. Stepping across the drawbridge and in to Sleeping Beauty Castle and the castle's courtyard, guests are tranported into a charming world where elephants can fly, Peter Pan flys once again to Neverland, the Mad Hatter hosts a dizzying tea party and many other charming fairytales come to life.
  • Scene Five was an opportunity for guests to imagine what the future might hold as America was just beginning to experience the technical marvels of the "Space Age" in TOMORROWLAND. As Walt said, "Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future." (That future, as imagined for opening day was then then-distant 1986... certainly a lot has come and gone since then!)

Each land was designed to fully immerse the guests within that particular theme. Movie-making tricks that had been around for decades were employed to set the scenes and get the story moving. Architecture and aesthetics were key. Attention to detail critical. All done to enhance the show, and give the guests an incredible experience like none they'd ever experienced before. As Walt Disney said, "I don't want the public to see the world they live in while they're in Disneyland. I want them to feel they're in another world."

Walt's inspired design concept has been successfully repeated in four other Magic Kingdoms around the globe:  Orlando, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong, and will soon play out yet again in Shanghai.  

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Aulani

Aulani is situated on 21 acres of oceanfront property, on the leeward coast of the island of Oahu.  Imagineers used landscaping designed to replicate the traditional Hawaiian ahupua'a, or land divisions that allowed the inhabitants of the area to partake in all they needed to sustain themselves from the forests of the uplands to the fish and plants at sea level.  Throughout the resort, astute visitors will notice that the landscaping foliage goes from dry land varieties to more wet and lush plantings as you move from the Makaala to the ocean.  Referencing traditional Polynesian structures, or hale, two 15-story towers flank the main lobby building, called Makaala, which means "the beginning of a path." 






Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Matterhorn Bobsleds

The Matterhorn Bobsleds, which first opened at Disneyland on June 14, 1959 is noteworthy for a number of "firsts" that it can claim.  Those firsts include:

  • first thrill ride designed for Disneyland (and as such it retains the title as first thrill ride for any Disney theme park)
  • first tubular steel roller coaster ever built
  • first fully themed indoor/outdoor roller coaster
  • first Disney attraction to feature two separate track systems in order to increase guest capacity
  • first roller coaster that allowed multiple vehicles to operate on the same track at once.

The Matterhorn has not been duplicated in any other Disney theme park yet.  It was at one time considered for inclusion in Epcot's World Showcase for a proposed Swiss Pavilion, but of course that concept was scrapped later on.

It is the tallest structure inside of Disneyland, coming in at 147 feet tall, and it is a near perfect 1/100th replica of the original mountain in the Swiss Alps.  To build the mountain, the Imagineers used 2,175 individual steel girders, countless tons of concrete, and enough lumber to build approximately 27 1950's era tract homes.


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland's Flying Hostess

Tinker Bell made her in-person debut at Disneyland in 1961, in the body of Tiny Kline, the 71-year old former Ringling Bros. aerialist, who nightly opened the summer nighttime spectacular, Fantasy in the Sky.  The aerialist would awe and amaze guests as she would begin the fireworks show each night flying down a wire from the top of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, over Sleeping Beauty Castle and then on over towards Frontierland before disappearing from view.  Since then, Tinker Bell's opening has been a Disneyland tradition through many different fireworks spectaculars.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - The Enchanted Tiki Room

Did you know that the original concept for The Enchanted Tiki Room was to include a restaurant?  As originally conceived, the audio-animatronic performers would entertain guests in Disneyland's Adventureland following a nice meal in an tropically themed restaurant.  Due to limited capacity and the desire to maximize the use of the beautiful birds, Walt and his imagineers decided it would be best to drop the dinner portion, and simply expand the performance into a full-fledged show featuring the feathered performers.  The first performance was given in 1963, and the show continues to delight guests of all ages at Walt Disney's original Magic Kingdom, nearly 50 years later.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Walt Disney World Horticulture

A big part of the "living backdrop" for the stories being told throughout each of the Disney Parks around the globe - horticulture, or landscaping - plays a tremendous role in the various stories that come to life in such places as Adventureland, Fantasyland and Frontierland.  When Walt Disney World was in the planning stages, one of the first things to be done was to establish a "tree farm."  Disney horticulturalists set aside a 145-acre farm beginning in 1967, where seeds and unrooted cuttings were brought in from destinations around the world, including such far-off locales as Australia and Africa.  Young trees were relocated from California, Texas and other states, as well as surrounding communities.  In doing so quickly, the horticultural team was able to assess which trees and plants not typically grown in Central Florida would or would not adapt to their new home, thereby aiding in the development of suitable "living backdrops" for such highly themed attractions as the "Jungle Cruise", "Tom Sawyer Island" and more.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland Horticulture

A big part of the "living backdrop" for the stories being told throughout each of the Disney Parks around the globe - horticulture, or landscaping - plays a tremendous role in the various stories that come to life in such places as AdventurelandFantasyland and Frontierland.  When Disneyland was under construction in 1954, as Walt's dream was slowly rising from former orange groves in sleepy Anaheim, CA and becoming a reality - landscape architects began filling in the initial tropical jungles and pine forests of the themed lands.  They also had to dress Gay Nineties America with formal floral gardens, medieval countrysides and futuristic landscapes as well.  But the surrounding nurseries and landscape companies simply couldn't provide enough of what was needed, and as Hedda Hopper, noted Hollywood columnist of the day wrote, "Walt Disney depleted our nurseries from Santa Barbara to San Diego."  Not only did the Disney team procure needed plant items from the nurseries, but trees along the then-under construction I-5 freeway route were relocated to the Disneyland job-site as well.  Once in place, the Disney horticulturalists then had the task of providing massive doses of "TLC" in making the plant life look as if it had always been there.  

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Mexico Pavilion, Epcot

The pyramid found at the Mexico Pavilion within the World Showcase at Epcot, was inspired by Mesoamerican pyramids from the 1st to 3rd centuries in Teotihuacan, Mexico, including the famed Temple of Quetzalcoatl, or the Feathered Serpent. 



Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - United Kingdom, Epcot

The castles found within the United Kingdom Pavilion within the World Showcase at Epcot, are replicas of castles that once belonged to King Henry VIII and Sir Walter Scott. 



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

Disneyland opened an all-new adventure in 1962, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, in honor of the 1961 live-action film, "Swiss Family Robinson."  The tree stood over 80 feet high, and was created with over 6 tons of reinforced steel, over 100 cubic yards of concrete, and covered with over 300,000 handmade vinyl leaves and blossoms.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland

In 1957, Walt Disney gave a personal tour of his kingdom, Disneyland, to King Mohammed V of Morocco.  After the King and his entourage arrived back at his hotel, the king slipped past his bodyguards, returning to the Magic Kingdom incognito, wishing to see it again through the eyes of the average tourist.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - China Pavilion

The "Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests" found in World Showcase's China Pavilion at Epcot, is half the size of the original temple it was modeled after in Beijing.  The original is found in the Temple of Heaven complex, and was originally built in 1420.



Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - New Orleans Square

New Orleans Square opened at Disneyland in July 1966 as the park's first new "land" since opening day in July 1955.  The grand opening dedication was given by Walt Disney, with New Orleans Mayor Victor Schiro accompanying him.  This three-acre land cost approximately $18 Million to build - $1 Million more than the park's original construction cost!  This land authentically captures the winding streets, iron-laced balconies, and the intimate shops and courtyards of the city of more than a century ago.  It was the first time Disney Imagineers used one single location - and one real city - as inspiration for the land, instead of using an amalgam of design concepts to create the overall feeling of time and place such as is found in Main Street, USA, Adventureland, Frontierland or Fantasyland - each drawing their inspiration from multiple sources.  

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tuesday Trivia - Mattherhorn

Disneyland's Matterhorn, the first of many Disney mountains, is exactly one-one hundredth the size of the real mountain in Switzerland;  147 ft tall vs. 14,700 ft. It is the equivalent of a 14 story building and was in its' day, the most expensive single attraction addition to the park, costing a then-whopping $1.5 million to build.  (Translated to 2012, that would equally roughly $44 million - relatively small compared to many of the $100million attractions that have been built in the past decade at Disney Parks around the world).