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Disneyland Little Known Facts

Disneyland: Share your Disneyland knowledge

From Jacque Doubleyou
Posted January 29, 2009 at 12:58 PM
There are lots of AMAZING Disneyland fun facts and urban legends. I love Disney trivia. Anyone care to venture a tidbit I haven't yet learned of?

Things like...there is an apartment in Disneyland above the fire station where Walt used to stay. To this day there is always a light left on for him. True story


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Anthony Murphy
Posted January 29, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Somebody actually paid (rather donated) to get their name in the Haunted Mansion. Its on one of the tombstones. So, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion now has 1000

There is a basketball Court for the Cast Members in the Matterhorn

The Haunted Mansion streching room is actually an elevator and the entire ride portion takes place OUTSIDE the park.

The names above Main Street USA are all the people who helped create the park.

Disney used to have a "land" that's only function was for special events. Its where Indy is!

The Water on the Jungle Cruise is dirty on purpose to hide the relative shallow water (at most 8 feet)

California Screamin is one of the longest roller coasters in the world

From matt klein
Posted January 29, 2009 at 8:08 PM
there is a poker table at the bottom of space mtn for the CMs (rumor)

From Nick Markham
Posted January 30, 2009 at 7:53 AM
There is a golden spike in the ground just after walking through Sleeping Beauty Castle that marks the very center of the entire park.

After an old Disneyland worker died building POTC, you have to say good night to his ghost, or the next day, something bad might happen!

From Corey Romberg
Posted January 31, 2009 at 1:46 AM
When you enter the cavern in the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, you are actually entering a show building...all the animation and animatronics in the bulk of the ride are housed in the ride building

In the boulder scene of the Indiana Jones Adventure, the truck is not actually moving backwards, nor is the boulder moving forward...The boulder rolls in place on an axis, the vehicle rocks while staying in place, and the room itself moves backwards, giving the illusion that the car is "running away" from the oncoming boulder

Also from Indy, there is only one door in the opening scene..The room rotates and the light shines on a different door, and lighting and other special effects change the theming of the hallway leading to Mara

Casey Jr Circus Train was originally meant to be a roller coaster

From Corey Romberg
Posted January 31, 2009 at 1:52 AM
The Disneyland Dream Suite above PotC was originally going to be an expanded version of Walt's Fire Station apt, and the designs for the current suite mirror those original plans

All of the AAs from America Sings are a part of Splash Mountain, except for the two hosts of the show, due to their iconic stature, and a couple of birds that are now droids in the Star Tours queue

While a Little Mermaid ride is being built at DCA, a Little Mermaid ride was in the planning stages for Disneyland around 1994

Also planned for Disneyland but never built were Alien Encounter, the Great Movie Ride, and Superstar Television

The original idea for DCA was Westcot, as West Coast version of Epcot...in the planning stages for Westcot, the idea of a Sea Port themed park (much like Tokyo Disney Sea) was floated around, to be built in Long Beach

Disneyland was originally going to be built in Griffith Park in Riverside, across from the Disney Studio, but when the plans got bigger, a bigger site was needed, and the Anaheim site was chosen

Disneyland was built in just one year

The idea for Space Mountain was first suggested by Walt Disney, even though the WDW version didn't open until 1975, 8 years after his death, when Walt decided he wanted an indoor Matterhorn...Space Mountain was the world's first computer-controlled roller coaster and the first ever indoor coaster

The Matterhorn was the first ever steel coaster, and the world's first dual-track coaster

The Autopia originally did not have guard rails, but the rails were instituted when crashes became too frequent and too dangerous

The land that has undergone the most change is Critter Country, which started off as the Indian Village in Frontierland, then became Bear Country, and then Critter Country

The Enchanted Tiki Room was Disney's first Audio-Animatronic show, and was originally intended to be a dinner theater show

When the submarine voyage underwent the Nemo retheming, the subs were repainted Yellow and changed from diesel gas to electric, to be more enviornmentally friendly....the coral reefs in the ride are painted using crushed up painted glass, to avoid the wearing down the water would cause on real paint...Alexander Gould does not voice Nemo in the ride (even though he does in The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot), because Imagineers felt he had grown up and he no longer had that distinctive innocence in his voice characteristic of Nemo

From Nick Markham
Posted January 31, 2009 at 9:47 AM
You can ask me about any Disney attraction, and I will be able to tell you a secret about it! For example

Pirates of the Caribbean- was originally going to be a walk through ride substantiated in "Disneyland Inside Story" by Randy Bright. Walt originally wanted to make it a walk through attraction but everyone advised against it because no one would want to walk through the attraction. Also "It's a Small World" was also planned this way. Walt finally made It's a Small World a boat ride. And, when they built Pirates, they used the same flat bottom boats as Small World.

Big Thunder Mountain-
If the train travels too slow/fast through an area it will cause the computers to initiate an Automatic Emergency Stop (AES).

From Jacque Doubleyou
Posted February 2, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Corey and Nick, you are awesome! I have a hard time digging up trivia, but you guys had a few things to share that I wasn't aware of. I'm fascinated. Tell me more!

From Nick Markham
Posted February 2, 2009 at 7:32 AM
Like I said before, just ask about anything Disney and I can give you some secret about it!

From Allyson Pascua
Posted February 5, 2009 at 12:19 AM
This one I actually heard from a friend:

If it's your birthday (no, I'm not talking about the free admission thing), you should go into the City Hall building and tell a Cast Member it's your birthday. They'll give you a sticker or button (forgot) that has Happy Birthday on it with your name written below. As you walk around the park, cast members will sometimes come up to you and sing happy birthday or even let you cut into the front of the line. I still haven't confirmed this one, but I hope to do so on my friend's upcoming birthday.

From Michael Donahue
Posted November 24, 2010 at 1:06 PM
Mark, is it true about the "center brass" point being NOT the center of Disneyland, but just a survey spike which moved more north with the addition of Toon Town? Meaning there is actuall two (2) of them.

Also, what is behind the "Biological Clock"? in Sleeping Beauty's Castle. I hear that the time is set to the exact hour and minute in which Walt died.

Thanks

From Rob P
Posted November 25, 2010 at 4:05 AM
Disneyland's opening day was nearly a disaster. It was such a hot day that the tarmac began to melt and ladies high heels, began to get stuck.

Walt's personal favourite was the Disney railroad.

From Gary Knackstedt
Posted November 26, 2010 at 2:38 PM
Common sense would tell you that the brass spike in the castle courtyard is not or ever was the center of Disneyland. However if you look toward the entrance from the spike you will see that it marks a center line down Main Street. Center of the original park should be somewhere close to the hub.

As far as the stopped clock hanging in the castle being the time of Walt's death--do a Google search for Walt Disney's death certificate and you will find he died at 9:30 a.m. I do wonder why the stopped clock is set to 5:05.

From M. Ryan Traylor
Posted November 26, 2010 at 9:34 PM
There is a story that Walt purchased a ice cream bar from a shop, started walking and eating. When finished, he said "Place a trash can here" for the stick, thus setting up the greatest distance between trash containers.

From Victoria Jurkowski
Posted November 27, 2010 at 7:56 AM
Haunted Mansion was also originally going to be a walk through attraction. And the crow was going to be the ghost host, if you notice every time there is a voice over there is a crow nearby except in the stretching room. The stretching room is an elevator in Disneyland but not Disneyworld.

If you bought the special edition Little Mermaid DVD when it came out it had a concept ride through of the ride planned in 1994.

The Dumbo elephants were originally planned to be pink, and a concept for the Storybook Canal boats had the boat fall out of Monstro's mouth on a flume slide.

From Aly W
Posted May 14, 2011 at 11:02 AM
if u board the train on main st u can ask to ride the lilly belle- walts wife's personal enclosed train caboose- it even comes with its own personal tour guide!

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