Fun Facts and Secrets About Disney Parks

Walt wanted the park to be like a "show", so the Walt Disney Railroad Station acts like the curtain hiding all the contents of the "show".
REPORTED: anon 29 APR 98
Walt designed the parks so when you pass from land to land, you don't see the others. If you where in Liberty Square, you can't see Fantasyland, trees, buildings and distractions like the water wheel, the noise keeps you from looking to your left and seeing the other lands.
REPORTED: PMBM290 23 APR 98
Did you know that the original plans for Disneyland were to be in the shape of a Mickey head, but Disney thought it would cost too much and also said that if they wantede to expand the park, it would ruin their plans so they decided not to.
REPORTED: Neal 28 FEB 00
Although McDonalds is showing up on property, the employees are not McDonalds employees but Dinsy Cast Members. Disney didn't believe that McDonalds employees could provide the level of service and civility to its guests!
REPORTED: TR Shaw 18 FEB 98

Disney's Magic Kingdom in central Florida has regained its crown as North America's

'96's most-visited parks
Park	visitors
1 *Disneyland*	15 million
2 Magic Kingdom	13.8 million
3 Epcot	11.2 million
4 Disney-MGM Studios	10 million
5 Universal Studios Florida	8.4 million
6 Universal Studios Hollywood	5.4 million
7 Sea World of Florida	5.1 million
8 Busch Gardens Tampa	4.2 million
9 Six Flags Great Adventure	6 million
10 Sea World of California	3.9 million
Source: Amusement Business

most-visited theme park for 1997. The aging grande dame, which struggled with attendance as recently as the early 1990s, has completed an astounding turnaround and is now on pace for a record 17 million visitors this year, up 23% from 1996, according to year-end estimates from Amusement Business magazine. Park officials bet big on the year-long 25th anniversary celebration, making such major changes as turning the trademark Cinderella's Castle into a giant birthday cake and revamping the daily parade. Amusement Business' Tim O'Brien says the moves paid off, generating buzz that helped the park breeze past sister Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., which has held the top spot for several years. The flood of people heading to the Magic Kingdom also spilled over into other Orlando area parks, boosting attendance at Disney/MGM Studios and Universal Studios Florida 5% and 6%, respectively. Attendance at nearby Epcot also jumped 5% to a record 11.8 million despite delays for its much-heralded Test Track ride, now nearly a year late.

From 1972 until 1994, the Walt Disney World resort was the number one tourist vacation destination in the world. Since 1995, it has been in second place, with the city of Las Vegas being the current top destination.
REPORTED: Cris 14 SEP 00
If you have a young child here is what you do. Stay in line together until you get to the first Cast Member. Tell him that you are a family with a young one. The Cast Member will give you a slip of paper. One of you stays in the queue and the other with the child leaves the queue and goes to the ride exit. When your spouse exits, your spouse takes control of your child. You walk directly to the Cast Member watching the line, hand him the slip of paper and the Cast Member will allow you to bypass the line to take in the ride.
REPORTED: TR Shaw 24 SEP 97
Not all attractions run their child swaps the same way. Please check with the cast member at the enterance to see how a child swap is done at that particular attraction. Beacause on some attractions, Space Mountain for instance, the hole group has to wait in the que and when at the loading dock the waiting party will be instructed where to go.
UPDATE: DSNYCASTBR 23 AUG 98
McDonalds signed with Disney, first they will have a simple stand that it will be near the indycar stadium. Then they will be in charge of all Disney`s park food.
REPORTED: Adrian Ofman 17 SEP 97
Disney has signed on with McDonalds. They will open 2 McDonalds restaraunts at Walt Disney World and 1 at Disneyland Paris. They will start selling McDonalds french fries at the WDW parks, first at a restaraunt in Frontierland.
UPDATE: nancy 15 OCT 97
As of April 1997, the flag of Spain worn by Cast Members to indicate they are fluent in Spanish was wrong!!! The flag they wear is yellow-red-yellow. The real flag of Spain is red-yellow-red.
REPORTED: Alexander T. Sanjenis 03 MAY 97
Disney is home to the worlds largest working costume shop. As well as the costumes for stage and film production, all Cast Members are wearing Disney costumes, not street clothes.
REPORTED: Matt James 19 MAR 97
For that every topiary that they have in place there are at least seven that can replace it in case something happens to it
REPORTED: uher 08 FEB JAN 97
Ever wonder why the Disney lakes or waters don't rise when it rains or lessens during a long time without rain? It's all computer controlled. You will never see the waters above or below their desired mark. NEVER!
REPORTED: Rob Warden 26 JAN 97
I used to drive the various boats on Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. It is not difficult to see how the water level has changed. Especially of note is near the water bridge. where wodden bumpers prevent boats from hitting the sides of the bridge. It is easy to see different water lines.
UPDATE: John Langas 09 MAR 98
The second and third floor facades are built to 5/8 and 1/2 scale to create what set designers call "forced perspective," giving the illusion they are taller than they are. The Matterhorn and Sleeping Beauty's Castle also use forced perspective.
REPORTED: R W Lipp 07 JUN 96
CONFIRMED: Eric Basaker 22 AUG 96
The buildings size at Disneyland is not unlike that at Disney World. The buildings are constructed to look smaller coming in so that you want to hurry to get to all of the attractions. This also has the opposite effect while guest are leaving the park. Because the buildings appear closer, the guests are made to think they have plenty of time to get out. This way the guests will slow down and do some shopping. Going along with this is the placement of the shops on Main Street. Since research shows that most people walk to the right, the shops on the right on the way into the park are food shops. On the way out, the shops on the right are retail.
CONFIRMED: Cary Kirby 09 DEC 96
Though the Cinderella Castle marking the end of Main Street, U.S.A. appears to be very tall, it really is not tall at all. A method called forced perspective was used to create the tall effect (forced perspective is used MANY times in Walt Disney World, you can even interact with it in the Wonders of Life in Epcot!). As the castle gets taller, its proportions get smaller. So the very top "piece" of the castle is close to 1/2 the size it "appears".
CONFIRMED: Peter Bleickardt 27 JAN 97
There are only three buildings on Main Street that are full scale. Welcome Center, Train Station and City Hall. The others are gradually done to a smaller scale as you work you way up Main Street to the Castle. This is done to make it look like the Castle is bigger than it is as you go in to the park and as you leave dead tired the Train Station looks closer than it really is. At first City Hall was to be the only "full size" building but as construction began Mr. Disney noticed you could see the Contemporary from Main Street and it did not fit in, so The Welcome Center also became full size. The Train Station is also full size because they do not want you to see the Castle from the outside. The Train Station acts as the curtain which rises as you pass under it and enter Main Street!
UPDATE: Dawn 18 MAY 97
I just got out of a class known as "Once Upon A Time Is Now..." and on one of the "secrets" someone had written that the second and third floors on Main Street were scalde to 5/8. This staement is wrong the actual figure is 7/8 for the seconf floor and the third floor would be 7/8 the size of the secong floor. Also, everything that you would see (i.e. benches, chairs, tables...) is also scaled down to 7/8 ! Thank you !
UPDATE: Meredith 27 JUN 97
Next time you take a walk down Main Street, U.S.A. take a close look at the castle. You will notice that the "bricks" get smaller the higher up the castle goes. This technique is called forced perspective. The castle looks a little taller than it would if all the "bricks" were the same size.
UPDATE: Danny 11 JAN 98
CONFIRMED: Maddison 17 JAN 02
CONFIRMED: andy 30 MAR 02
In the construction of many of their rides, Disney builds a scale model. Once finished and approved this scale model is scan (digitized) and is transfered into a wireframe design. This wireframe design is sent out to a "rebar bending" machine which automatic bends the steel frame structure. The actual "ride" is usually in a plain square or rectanglar building, built not unlike a parking garage. These rebar serve as the framework for the decorative outside structure, whether it be Splash Mountain, or Big Thunder Mountain. The Rebar is transported to site and assembled to complete the framework. The rebar "cage" is then covered with a chicken wire-like mesh, and this is topped of with Expoy-crete which is colored and blended to appear as rock or landscape.
REPORTED: Kenneth Klingensmith 09 JUL 98
Disney is always changing plants and flowers. This picture illustrates how workers switch damaged plants. In this picture, you can see the outline of the biodegradable pot used.
REPORTED: Peter Stepniewicz 11 JAN 98
Not only do they change damaged plants periodically, but they also change entire sections of plants for a new look every three to four weeks... especially in the holidays. I am a cast member there and most of the time I am surprised to find entirely new plants and flowers in places that were not there the day before.
REPORTED: Dan 30 JUL 98
Most Attractions Cast Members know of the Hidden Mickeys in and around their attraction - just ask someone!!
REPORTED: Michelle Kramer 07 JAN 97
You can ask to be put in any seat in any ride. The only exception is Splash mountin, where if you have a group of three guys and you don't want to lap-sit, you have to go one a car instead of getting a whole car.
REPORTED: Joe Gullo 08 AUG 98
While Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland does look similar in many ways to Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria, actually a number of medieval European castles provided a model for this one. For Cinderella's Castle in Walt Disney World, teams of designers studied famous European palaces and castles, including Fontainebleau, Versailles, and the chateaus of Chenonceau, Chambord, and Chaumont...
REPORTED: anon 16 DEC 96
A recent WDW "Inside Out" interview with the Thurl Ravenscroft confirms he is the voice of many characters at WDW and DL (including Fritz the parrot in the Tiki Room and one of the grinning ghosts), as well as Tony the Tiger.
REPORTED: Rod Truesdell 30 NOV 96
Thurl Ravenscroft has worked with Disney for many years. He has been:
1. A singing bust in the Haunted Mansion
2. The voice of the Narrator on the Disneyland record album "The Haunted Mansion."
3. The voice of the conductor on the Disneyland Railroad
4. A voice of the Russian Cat in the "Aristocats"
  
  Buy Movie
5. The voice of "Kirby," the vacuum from "The Brave Little Toaster"
6. The voice of Paul Bunyan in the Disney produced cartoon "The Legend of Paul Bunyan"
7. One of the birds (I'm not sure of who) in the Tiki Room
8. The voice of Buff in the Country Bear Show
9. Sang on the Disney Sing-a-long video tape called Disneyland Fun
10. The voice in the song "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch"
11. The voice of Captain in "One Hundred and One Dalmatians"
12. The voice of the Ace of Clubs in "Alice In Wonderland"
13. A member of the Mellomen
14. Voice of Tony the Tiger (1961) (voice) .... The Captain
CONFIRMED: Veronica Platt 05 APR 97
CONFIRMED: Justin Jasper 09 JUN 97
CONFIRMED: TR Shaw 02 JAN 98
The Mello-Men from the Haunted Mansion were also the voices of the three cards who were "painting the roses red" in Alice In Wonderland. Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger, is easily recognized as the Ace of Clubs who says "in fact they'll soon be dead". To take a look for yourself, they are last in the line of credits at the end of Alice in Wonderland.
CONFIRMED: Chris Berndt 12 JUL 98
For more information see Thurl Ravenscroft's life's work
CONFIRMED: Brian Jacob 26 JUL 98
They are also the voices of the Singing Dogs in the "He's a Tramp" song sung by Peggy Lee in "Lady and the Tramp"
CONFIRMED: Duane Cook 07 DEC 98
Regarding the Mellomen barbershop quartet from Disneyland. My older brother actually had an old LP record by the Mellomen. At that time, barbershop was often accompanied by guitar, banjo, or even ukelele. It was not quite the type of barbershop practiced today, which has evolved into a quite distinct musical form of its own. Growing up familiar with the more "current" style of barbershop, I found the album somewhat disappointing, I have to admit! It sounded so different! The kind of barbershop sung back then is similar to that of the music of the vultures from Disney's animated film The Jungle Book. They were a singing group, yes, with some of harmonies we associate with barbershop today, but also with jazz-like arranging as well, and insturmental accompaniment. Mostly I remember the incredible bass voice of Thurl Ravenscroft. He could shake the foundation.
REPORTED: anon 02 OCT 97
You can tell when you enter a new Land because the ground changes (Fantasyland has a smooth green asphalt; New Orleans Square has a kind of cobblestone; Frontierland has bricks or something to that effect, etc.)
REPORTED: Meg 29 JUL 96
This is true, but it should be noted that the color is what changes to set the next land apart from the other. This is part of each land's theme.
CONFIRMED: Dan 09 AUG 96
CONFIRMED: Eric Basaker 22 AUG 96
As you travel to a different land notice the ground. It slowly changes from bricks to pebbles, stones to bricks, etc. to suit the land you're going to. This is done to subliminly enhance the park experience.
REPORTED: falor 15 APR 99
Each theme in every land applies to every part of the land. from the color of the ground to the music played and even to the color and shapes of the trash cans.
CONFIRMED: Terry! 01 MAY 00
Did you know that you can identify which "land" you are in by the garbage cans? I recently visited WDW, and a Cast Member informed us that if you ever want to know which land you are in, pay attention to the garbage cans. They change from land to land!
REPORTED: Dan 09 JUL 01
At any Disney park you'll always find that some drinking fountains come in pairs, one high and one low. The heights are just right for an adult and a child. Next time you visit, notice how the drinking spouts are so directed that when a parent and child drink together, they naturally look at each other. Thus, they can share a drink and a smile. This is just one small detail among many that makes Disney such a special place.
REPORTED: TR Shaw 30 JUN 96
CLARIFIED: Andrew S 13 JUL 96
I regret to inform you that I was unable to locate any fountains where the parent and child could smile at each other over here at Disneyland. This may have been an idea that came later on.
CLARIFIED: Benjamin Rockwell 20 JAN 97
I found two driking fountains at Walt Disney World where adult and child can "share a smile." One is inside Pirates of the Carribean, against the tile wall to the right of where the waiting line begins. The other is in front of Thunder Mountain.
CONFIRMED: Anna K. 02 SEP 97
The man who did the music for Main Street at Disneyland Paris also keeps one of Imagineering's largest CD collection. His music is now used in all the Parks.
REPORTED: W. Todd Stephenson 11 JAN 96
Tokyo Disneyland is the only park that still has an "E" ticket. However, Disney World has institued an "after the park closes" pass called and E-Ticket.
REPORTED: TR Shaw 30 JUN 96
There are a set of numbered tags on hooks at Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. Any time someone needs to "walk the track," a tag is taken. If all tags are not returned, the ride does not start in the morning. A Cast Member who forgot was actually called at home once when no one could find the tag.
REPORTED: Michael Littell 04 OCT 95
If you need to enter the attraction before startup you do have to "tag-out." I worked on the mountain several times and tags are to be worn and signed for, listing name, department number, and purpose for being there. Mr. Littell is right. There is a "tag-out" board behind the train operators. To work inside the ride before opening you need to sign for a tag with your name, dept. number, and reason for being there. There are also different tags for different Cast Members, i.e. maintenance, cleanup, etc.
UPDATE: anon 09 NOV 95
Tags are also used at the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland Paris.
UPDATE: Hedy 08 JAN 96
When Indy Jones breaks down (usually because of hydraulic fluid), any cast member who enters the ride area has to be "tagged out". The tag is silver and resembles a very thick smart card.
REPORTED: Andrew Stern
As we exited Catastrophe Canyon, I saw a sign on the gate saying something to the effect of "You must be tagged out to enter this area." So it is common to other attractions and other Walt Disney World parks.
CONFIRMED: John & Melanie Emmons 24 AUG 96
From emails from others, I believe that this is SOP on all "high impact" rides.
CONFIRMED: TR Shaw 25 SEP 96
The "tag-out" that's mentioned on BTMRR is not a specific Disney thing at all. It's a standard developed by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) - officially 29 CFR 1910.147 - The Control Of Hazardous Energy (Lock Out/Tag Out). The Lock Out/Tag Out standard applies to all employees servicing and maintaining machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment or release of stored energy could cause injury to the employee.
CONFIRMED: Chris Twedt 13 NOV 97
I was on the Indiana Jones ride recently when the entire ride shut down. The car I was in stopped just before entering one of the doors. Flood lights were immediately turned on and cast members grabbed step-stools and ran into the attraction to begin evacuating guests. I looked to the left and saw an interesting system for tracking the cast members who entered the ride. There is a large board with approximately 50 metal looking tags (about 4 x6 inches each). Each tag had a number on it and was hanging on a hook. As each cast member prepared to enter the ride, they took a certain tag/number and used chalk to write their name and the time (I believe) in the space where the tag hangs. There was a sign above the tag board which basically warned cast members that entering the attraction without a tag would be reason for dismissal. Of course, the entire board was designed to fit quite well with the theme of the attraction. Those of us who were removed from the ride were taken through a passageway where we waited to re-board the ride. After about a 1/2 hour, they decided the ride wouldn't be operating again for at least an hour and a 1/2 and gave every party a ticket to bypass the line at Indiana Jones or any other ride on that day only. I was on my way home at the time, so the cast member was kind enough to leave the date line blank so I can use it on my next visit.
CONFIRMED: Kathi Kramer 30 DEC 97
The Tag Out system is used on all attractions where a false start can cause injury. Such as Test Track at Epcot.
CONFIRMED: Tom & Renée Shaw 26 DEC 98
You'll never hear a "fire" being reported on any Cast Member's walkie talkie. A fire will be reported as a 904, based on the "don't yell 'fire' in a crowded theater" rule.
REPORTED: Scott Mackay 14 MAR 96
UPDATED: Greg Wilson 21 APR 97
You will never hear a castmember ask for someone to get and ambulance or call 911, instead they will call for an Alpha Unit. Disney was the one of the first to implement a 911 system.
REPORTED: Eric Berry 25 AUG 98
I was talking to my Grandma today and she told me this. A while ago she had heard that no where in Disney parks was chewing gum sold. She said the reason for this was to try and prevent gum from getting all over the park. Pretty smart....
REPORTED: marcy moran 08 SEP 95
Disney does not sell gum in any of its theme parks. This is because it is a total nightmare to scrape up every night.... which is done, by the way.
CONFIRMED: Michael Littell 04 OCT 95
CONFIRMED: Benjamin Rockwell 15 JAN 97
CONFIRMED: Racdon 19 APR 97
CONFIRMED: Brion Burcham 27 JUL 97
CONFIRMED: Paul Wiland 06 NOV 98
Cigarettes are no longer sold in the parks or on property. Starting on 1/30/00 there will olny be certain areas in each park that is designated for smoking. This is the plan for WDW and DL.
Disney does not sell newspapers in any of its theme parks. You came here to get away from it all... remember?
REPORTED: Michael Littell 04 OCT 95
That is incorrect. I visited Blizzard Beach on May 5, 1996 and the gift shop had the Orlando paper for sale.
UPDATE: Alex Riggins 13 MAY 96
Actually, I never have seen a newspaper in a Disney "theme" park. Papers are in the resorts and obviously, from the report above, the water parks.
UPDATE: TR Shaw 13 MAY 96
In regards to the "no newspaper rule," I learned this during my Disney orientation. At the entrance to Disneyland on the left hand side is a Newstand that sells souvineers and does package express. There is also a window that guests outside the park can walk up to and buy something at. It is at this window, and not the window that is inside the park, that guests can buy a newspaper.
CONFIRMED: David Petlin 14 JAN 97
Disney's decoration department is absolutely amazing. One day its just a park and the next its Christmas! During the holidays, we saw the beautiful hoiday displays at Walt Disney World. Went to the Studios for our last day and everything was gone overnight!
REPORTED: TR Shaw 05 JAN 97
After hearing of the construction of the Contemporary and other early Disney hotels, I started to look into the construction of Disney rides and attractions. Most of the rides are built in square or rectangle shaped "main" buildings. These resemble large multi-floor parking garages. These building are then divided into the different parts of the rides the "scenes", and also built supports to hold the tracks of the vehicles. This "Parking Garage" or Warehouse concept maximizes the cost effectiness of the ride. It ensures a strong structure that can support the ride's workings. This relatively ordinary square/rectangle building is then tranformed into a extraordinary structure when it is covered with a decorative outer shell. SpaceShip Earth is a cube like structure within a rounded body. The track is connected to a supported base which is turn connected to the support pilings. This is an example of transforming the average into the above average. Example, Splash Mountain is a multi-level ride, consisting of several scenes in several square rooms. These rooms are molded into psuedo enviorments (eg. sky is painted blue, ground green and Audio Animatronics are placed). The reason why this square concept is important is that it means that the rides can be easily updated and changed. It would be simple to modify a ride such as Horizons or Take Flight. After renovation the ride would be housed in the same building with perhaps the exterior changed a little bit. The ride would follow the same ride path but the scenes would different.
REPORTED: Kenneth Klingensmith 30 DEC 96
The Disney "darkride" attractions are built in big, square rooms; the "sets" are then built up from there. The real reason they're like that, though, is because that's how movie sets are built in soundstage buildings (which are big and square). The important thing is to have adequate maneuvering room _behind_ the sets for necessary technical equipment. I worked for Disney for 12 years (as a piano player and musical arranger, at DL, WDW, and TDL). I remember the fun of walking around with friends in the Operations Division, "backstage" in such attractions as Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. It was amazing to see how every scene was built in big, plain, square rooms... or rather, I should say "suspended in," for most everything is up off the ground several feet, too (for access to pipes, cables, transportation mechanisms, etc.). Amazing stuff, all right!
CONFIRMED: Andy 21 JAN 97
The moving conveyer belt that transport you in and out of rides such as the TTA, Horizons, and Pirates are made by Goodyear, they are called Speed Ramp. They operate on a simple conveyer principle and were designed to operate high crowd capicity without slowing down loading/unload. They are however being threatened by the Disablities Act because it is very difficult for handicapped people to board them. This is why most of the Handicapped loading/unloading bypasses them.
REPORTED: Kenneth Klingensmith 21 JAN 97
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.
REPORTED: Robert Lucas 04 FEB 97
In regards to It's a Small World...this ride actually was planned as a water ride (as now known to be)...it got it's debut performance at the NY World's Fair in the 1960's before debuting in California. My parents rode on this masterpiece when Bank of america debuted it in NY.
UPDATE: Tinkerbell 27 AUG 99
The Disneyland Paris park seems to be now the reference for all the other Disney parks. For instance, since Pirates of the Caribbean has been refurbished, they have completely changed the water ride system, using the one in the French park (ie booster pumps to create a stream that makes the boats move, and boat stops along the ride to make them stop at indicated locations). Disneyland Tomorrowland is now being redesigned as Disneyland Paris' Discoveryland (you can even see pictures of Discoveryland on the boardings, and hear the music of "Le Visionarium" throughout the land. (Le Visionarium is the circle-vision showing a film about a travel though time in Europe with Jules Verne). The on-board audio system in Disneyland Space Mountain is directly imported from its French counterpart, although it's not the same music ! And etc... !
REPORTED: Song 13 SEP 97
In general, Disney places the majority of the film stands on the right as you enter a park and the majority of the souvenir shops on the right as you leave.
REPORTED: Tom & Renée Shaw 29 MAR 98
Disney does not want guests to take pictures backstage
I went to Disneyland 8 years ago for Magic Music Days to perform at the Carnation restraunt outdoor area. While we were escorted through the backstage, the cast members with us were very careful that we did not take photographs of anything we saw "backstage".
REPORTED: Traci Green 16 MAR 99
When ever you take a tour that takes you back stage your Cast Member guide makes sure you don't take any pictures. When I was on the Disney by Design Tour when we went back stage at Epoct our guide made sure that I had stopped taping.
CONFIRMED: Arthur Sanders 23 SEP 99
If you have the receipt for the stroller that you rented that day, you can leave the park and the stroller and then when you return later that day, show the reciept to a Stroller Cast Member and they'll give you a new stroller.
REPORTED: Letty 15 AUG 01
The money people throw into the wishing wells is all given to charity, as is the money thrown any-/everywhere in the park.
REPORTED: Becky Richards 05 AUG 01

Where to next?

Go on the Fun Facts about Cast Members
Go back to the Fun Facts of Disney,
Go back to the Spacecoast Hidden Mickeys Home Page,
Submit a new or confirm a Hidden Mickey,
or just send me EMail.