Walt Disney Fake Facts (Fakts?)
Oct. 26th, 2013 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkyI keep getting all these articles forwarded to me with titles like "10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Walt Disney" or "10 Secrets Of Disneyland You Never Knew" and "10 Things Disney Doesn't Want You To Know" that are full of stuff that, to me, is just kind of common knowledge. Stuff like how Walt dropped out of high school to go drive an ambulance for the Red Cross during the war, Disneyland has bajillions of wild cats that only come out at night, Mickey was almost named Mortimer...
*YAAAAWN*
So here's kind of what I want to do. I want to write up an article of Disney "Facts" that has about 40% straight-up LIES that sound kind of credible, just to see how long it takes to get back to me. If you choose to help spread this, please feel free to copy-n-paste these things without this opening bit or any credit coming to me. Just copy, past, tell our friends how you knew most of these things before even reading... see how long it takes to come back :)
(Also for added fun, can you figure which of these things are real and which are fake?)
FUN DISNEY FACTS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW!
-Because Walt Disney Studios had not had a commercial success since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt was especially anxious for Cinderella to succeed, seeing as it was the company’s last hope at the time. To ensure perfect animation, all scenes involving human characters were filmed using live actors before being animated.
-Out of all of the Disney Princesses, official and unofficial, only two of them ever went on to become Queens - Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire became queen by the death of both of her parents, while Ariel’s marriage to Eric in The Little Mermaid made her queen.
-Walt Disney put a lot of money and time towards the development of "Audio Animatronics" in hopes of making a better replacement for the leg he had lost while driving an ambulance for the Red Cross during the War. As a result, the Disney Corporation owns 17 different patents pertaining to prosthetic limbs.
-The Disneyland area "Toon Town" was completed and scheduled to launch in the Summer of 1988 to coincide with the release of the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" but was pushed back five years to a January 1993 opening, due to a copyright claim by Warner Brothers.
-Legendary voice actor Mel Blanc worked for Disney only one time as the voice of Gideon the cat, one of the characters meant to lead Pinocchio astray in the movie "Pinocchio". Somewhere in the process it was decided that, like Dopey, Gideon would be mute, thus cutting all of Blanc's lines except for a hiccup sound. He was still paid full salary, allowing him to hold the record for the most money paid for the fewest words spoken in an animated film.
-Director Tim Burton based the entire "Nightmare Before Christmas" concept off of a few sketches he had found in the Disney Archives while he worked there. The sketches had originally been sent from Walt Disney to Rolly Crump as ideas for his "Museum Of The Weird" which eventually became incorporated in to the final version of The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.
-In 1957, former US President Harry Truman took a trip to Disneyland. During that trip, he refused to ride one ride: Dumbo the Flying Elephant. He refused to ride because of the elephant being the symbol of the Republican party.
-In Lady and the Tramp, the scene at the beginning of the movie where Darling opens a hat box and finds Lady inside was inspired by Walt’s own life. He once forgot a dinner date that he had planned with his wife, but was immediately forgiven when he brought her a hat box with a puppy inside.
-Snow White’s Grotto in Disneyland opened on March 27th, 1961. And due to forced perspective, the statue of Snow white seems taller than all of the others even though they are the same size.
-There is a secret restaurant in Disneyland called "Club 33" that is the only place inside the park that serves alcohol. Walt envisioned it as a retreat to entertain potential business partners when visiting the park.
-Coca Cola has a contract with The Walt Disney Company to sell only Coke products in its parks. Disney receives the products for free and keeps all the profit from the sales.
-Perce Pierce, one of the storymen working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was particularly active in creating the characters of the dwarfs and became the inspiration for naming one of the dwarfs when Walt was called to the Anaheim Police Station in the middle of the night to bail Perce out on a "Narcotics Possession" charge. The 7th Dwarf got his name that night - "Dopey".
-Donald Duck was originally intended to be an insulting Asian stereotype with his angry outbursts and gobbledy-nonsense speech patterns, and would have remained so if not for a direct request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was trying to avoid inflaming International tensions).
-When Disneyland opened in 1955, guests bought "Ticket Books" that contained lettered tickets for the various attractions - An "A-Ticket" would get you on to something small like the Carousel, an "E-Ticket" would get you on to the biggest rides such as the Jungle Cruise. At the request of Walt's wife, Lilly, plans for a Full Alphabet Ticket Book were scrapped because she was uncomfortable with people having to use a "P-Ticket" to use the restrooms.
-When adjusted for inflation over the years, a 3-day vacation at Disneyland today is actually LESS expensive than it was in 1972, unless you plan on driving there and paying for parking, in which case it is approximately 14% more expensive than ever.
-Dumbo is the only Disney animated movie where the title character does not talk.
-Pop star Michael Jackson tried to buy Disneyland several times throughout the 80's and 90's. He was caught repeatedly trying to sneak in to the park (in disguise) and sabotage attractions to help move negotiations along, but we was always discovered by his fans before he could do any real harm.
-Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland has a Missouri zip code. On the day the park opened, then governor of California Goodwin Knight annexed the property to the state of Missouri, where the Mark Twain character had lived.
*YAAAAWN*
So here's kind of what I want to do. I want to write up an article of Disney "Facts" that has about 40% straight-up LIES that sound kind of credible, just to see how long it takes to get back to me. If you choose to help spread this, please feel free to copy-n-paste these things without this opening bit or any credit coming to me. Just copy, past, tell our friends how you knew most of these things before even reading... see how long it takes to come back :)
(Also for added fun, can you figure which of these things are real and which are fake?)
FUN DISNEY FACTS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW!
-Because Walt Disney Studios had not had a commercial success since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt was especially anxious for Cinderella to succeed, seeing as it was the company’s last hope at the time. To ensure perfect animation, all scenes involving human characters were filmed using live actors before being animated.
-Out of all of the Disney Princesses, official and unofficial, only two of them ever went on to become Queens - Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire became queen by the death of both of her parents, while Ariel’s marriage to Eric in The Little Mermaid made her queen.
-Walt Disney put a lot of money and time towards the development of "Audio Animatronics" in hopes of making a better replacement for the leg he had lost while driving an ambulance for the Red Cross during the War. As a result, the Disney Corporation owns 17 different patents pertaining to prosthetic limbs.
-The Disneyland area "Toon Town" was completed and scheduled to launch in the Summer of 1988 to coincide with the release of the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" but was pushed back five years to a January 1993 opening, due to a copyright claim by Warner Brothers.
-Legendary voice actor Mel Blanc worked for Disney only one time as the voice of Gideon the cat, one of the characters meant to lead Pinocchio astray in the movie "Pinocchio". Somewhere in the process it was decided that, like Dopey, Gideon would be mute, thus cutting all of Blanc's lines except for a hiccup sound. He was still paid full salary, allowing him to hold the record for the most money paid for the fewest words spoken in an animated film.
-Director Tim Burton based the entire "Nightmare Before Christmas" concept off of a few sketches he had found in the Disney Archives while he worked there. The sketches had originally been sent from Walt Disney to Rolly Crump as ideas for his "Museum Of The Weird" which eventually became incorporated in to the final version of The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.
-In 1957, former US President Harry Truman took a trip to Disneyland. During that trip, he refused to ride one ride: Dumbo the Flying Elephant. He refused to ride because of the elephant being the symbol of the Republican party.
-In Lady and the Tramp, the scene at the beginning of the movie where Darling opens a hat box and finds Lady inside was inspired by Walt’s own life. He once forgot a dinner date that he had planned with his wife, but was immediately forgiven when he brought her a hat box with a puppy inside.
-Snow White’s Grotto in Disneyland opened on March 27th, 1961. And due to forced perspective, the statue of Snow white seems taller than all of the others even though they are the same size.
-There is a secret restaurant in Disneyland called "Club 33" that is the only place inside the park that serves alcohol. Walt envisioned it as a retreat to entertain potential business partners when visiting the park.
-Coca Cola has a contract with The Walt Disney Company to sell only Coke products in its parks. Disney receives the products for free and keeps all the profit from the sales.
-Perce Pierce, one of the storymen working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was particularly active in creating the characters of the dwarfs and became the inspiration for naming one of the dwarfs when Walt was called to the Anaheim Police Station in the middle of the night to bail Perce out on a "Narcotics Possession" charge. The 7th Dwarf got his name that night - "Dopey".
-Donald Duck was originally intended to be an insulting Asian stereotype with his angry outbursts and gobbledy-nonsense speech patterns, and would have remained so if not for a direct request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was trying to avoid inflaming International tensions).
-When Disneyland opened in 1955, guests bought "Ticket Books" that contained lettered tickets for the various attractions - An "A-Ticket" would get you on to something small like the Carousel, an "E-Ticket" would get you on to the biggest rides such as the Jungle Cruise. At the request of Walt's wife, Lilly, plans for a Full Alphabet Ticket Book were scrapped because she was uncomfortable with people having to use a "P-Ticket" to use the restrooms.
-When adjusted for inflation over the years, a 3-day vacation at Disneyland today is actually LESS expensive than it was in 1972, unless you plan on driving there and paying for parking, in which case it is approximately 14% more expensive than ever.
-Dumbo is the only Disney animated movie where the title character does not talk.
-Pop star Michael Jackson tried to buy Disneyland several times throughout the 80's and 90's. He was caught repeatedly trying to sneak in to the park (in disguise) and sabotage attractions to help move negotiations along, but we was always discovered by his fans before he could do any real harm.
-Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland has a Missouri zip code. On the day the park opened, then governor of California Goodwin Knight annexed the property to the state of Missouri, where the Mark Twain character had lived.
