Disney's Best Kept Secrets (Posted)

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BUSES—(1) More than 230 buses transport guests, making Disney the 3rd largest in
Florida, behind Miami and Jacksonville.

CHRISTMAS—(1) Each Christmas season, Walt Disney World Resort is decked with more
than 11 miles of garland, 3,000 wreaths, and 1,500 Christmas trees. The tallest is a 70.
tree in Disney's Contemporary Resort. In addition, trees, which range in height from 45
to 70 feet, are placed in prominent positions in the theme parks.

EMPLOYMENT—(1) Disney employs more than 54,000 CMs . Disney is the largest single-
site employer in the United States.

GOLF COURSES—(1) With the addition of the Pete Dye-designed Eagle Pines course and
Tom Fazio's Osprey Ridge, Walt Disney World Resort now boasts 99 holes of golf. That
makes this one of Florida's largest golf resorts.

HIDDEN MICKEYS (“HM”) —The first HMs began as inside jokes of the “Imagineers.”
In designing, constructing, or adding the finishing touches to an attraction, Imagineers
would subtly “hide” MICKEY MOUSE silhouettes in plain sight. Word spread of these
images, and co-workers and friends sought to find them all. That search continues to
this day Unofficially, a HM is defined as an image of Mickey Mouse concealed by
Imagineers or Disney Artists to blend in with the design of something in the theme parks
or resorts. It is not just the traditional "three circle" image that is considered a HM.
In addition, just because three circles appear together, does not necessarily make them
a HM. Unfortunately, there is no official way of tracking down every HM. Imagineers
have never kept track of where they are, and since attractions change or are enhanced
throughout the years, HMs can disappear. Others have been created by a new generation
of Imagineers. There are countless places at the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort for a
HM to hide. Where the next one will appear is anyone.s guess. MICKEY MOUSE.S image
has also been incorporated into many designs as a decorative enhancement to new and
refurbished areas. You might say they are “Deliberate Mickeys” because they are
specifically intended to make MICKEY MOUSE a visual addition to the surrounding
artwork or as an identifying logo. A Mickey head on a manhole cover is an example of a
deliberate or a decor Mickey.

INFORMATION—(1) Go into any Park store--the CMs have stickers behind the desk.
Ask them for the "I Made Magic Today" sticker. They will give you 10 Mickey stickers
and 1 "I Made Magic Today" sticker. Your job is to pass out the 10 Mickey heads to
people that aren.t looking so happy and make them smile w/the sticker or people that are
having a great time and telling them it.s because they are so HAPPY. At the end of the
10 stickers, you end up w/your sticker, and you know that every time you look at that
sticker YOU MADE MAGIC!!! (2) Ask the bus drivers if they have any of the tradable
bus cards! (3) WDW has over 2,000 acres of grass to mow! That's 18 miles around the
Earth's equator! (...and Disney mows THREE times a week!) (4) In some attractions,
there are VIP lounges. If there are celebrities visiting WDW (or politicians, etc.), they

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can be taken into the VIP lounges. There are drinks and snacks available in the lounge,
photo albums of different celebrities and people who have been in the lounge, and they
get taken on to the front of the line when they are ready to ride. (If you look at
Spaceship Earth from the back, there is a building attached to it with some window
looking things. That's the lounge in SE!) (5) IF YOU ASK FOR A LARGE CUP OF ICE
WATER THEY WILL GIVE IT TO YOU AT NO COST, AND YOU CAN GET AS
MANY AS YOU WANT AT A TIME. (Get two when you get food or when you need
something wet and cold. Drink one right way and use one to carry around so you can stay
hydrated longer.) Disney won.t tell you this, but they won't turn down your request.)
(6) When leaving MK at closing time, hop on the Resort monorail and skip the massive
lines heading to the TTC via the direct Monorail. The resort monorail stops at TTC but is
not express. It is more relaxing as you can usually get a car to yourself and can sit. Also,
no standing in line on tired feet waiting and waiting, and once you get to the TTC, it is
usually between arrivals of the express monorail and there is a lull in the crowds trying to
get to the trams. (Additional note: Have one person in your party drive to the Park you
are going to [if you are a Resort Guest] and park for free. The rest of your party can
ride the bus, boat, etc. [for the fun part of it]. Then, at the end of the night, no waiting
in long lines on tired feet. Just hop in your car and go back to your resort!) (7) If you
have a special needs child with a disorder that falls under the autistic spectrum or is
hypersensitive, you can get a note from their doctor and take it to guest services. They
will give you a special assistance card. When you get to an attraction, show it to the CM
working there. It doesn't mean that you don't have to wait in line, but they will try to
take you into a quieter area for your wait. You can get a sample note from
www.allearsnet.com. (8) A bottle strap that you buy at the parks for cokes/water
bottles works great for carrying around Pal Mickey. (Put it around his neck.) (9) Disney
World bought about 150,000 gallons of paint -- enough to cover nearly 7,500 average
sized homes in 2004. (10) If you were to stack all of the buttons used by the Costuming
Plant Seam Team in one year, you would have a stack 96 times taller than the height of
Cinderella's Castle. (11) Number of trees, shrubs and flowers: more than 7 million!
(12) Daily water usage: 15 million gallons! (13) Largest working wardrobe in the world with
more than 1.5 million operational garments in use and over 7,000 different garment types.
In addition, there are over 2 million pieces of entertainment costumes. Each day, the
costuming plant processes between 27,000 and 31,000 garments. (14) More than 50
million soft drinks sold annually. (15) 10 million hamburgers, 7 million hot dogs, 9 million
pounds of french fries, and 300,000 pounds of popcorn sold annually. (16) Uses 194,871
miles of toilet tissue, 24,409 miles of paper towels, uses 319,353 lbs. of chocolate, 1.2
million pounds of watermelon, 741,150 pounds of sugar, 1.8 million pounds of flour,
245,000 pounds of fruit filling, 38,000 pounds of white icing glaze, 2.9 million pounds of
eggs, 606,000 pounds of bananas, and 510,000 of grapes. (17) Serves more than 1.5
million soft pretzels, more than 639,000 pounds of macaroni and cheese, and more than
3.8 million ballpoint pens annually. (18) Uses more than 337,000 pencils annually, nearly
148 million sheets of recycled copier paper annually, and 730,102 gallons of bleach
annually. (19) 214,000 bandages were provided to guests during the year 2004. (20) In
2004, Walt Disney World recycled 18,322,000 pounds of paper products. (21) WDW

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uses human waste as fertilizer! They treat the waste on-property and put it to good use.
(22) In the morning (usually from around 8am-12pm) when the lines are really long to get
on the monorail from TTC to MK, take the boat! The TTC boat offers wonderful views
and a great breeze in about the same amount of time that the monorail would have taken
to get you to MK. A great added bonus: If you get on the TTC boat at those times, Chip,
Dale, and Pluto love to hang out on it! Perfect opportunity for your kids to see their first
characters at DW-before they even enter the park! Not too many people on the boat
either, so there are great opportunities for pictures with the characters. (23) If you
are the first family of the day to request the photo that they take of you on the ride,
they will give it to you free!! (24) Did you know that Disney merchandise that is exclusive
to Disney World has a gold castle logo on the package somewhere? It's kind of nice to
know that you're buying something that isn't sold anywhere else.

LAUNDRY—(1) CMs launder an average of 240,000 pounds each day. In addition,
between 30,000 and 32,000 garments are dry-cleaned daily.

LOST & FOUND—(1) Lost and Found is one busy place. Every day, an average of 100
pairs of sunglasses are turned in at the MK alone. Enough shades come in each year to
outfit every resident of Sun City, Arizona; Sun City, California; and Sun City, Florida.
Since 1971, an estimated 1.5 million pairs of glasses have found their way into the lost
bin. According to long-time lost and found staffers, the most unusual items turned in
have been a glass eye and a potty trainer. Both, incidentally, were claimed (but not by
the same person).

MERCHANDISE—(1) There are enough of the famous "Mouse Ear" hats sold each year to
cover the head of every man, woman, and child in Pittsburgh and enough Disney character
t-shirts to put Mickey Mouse's smiling face on the chest of every Chicagoan. (2) More
than a half-million character watches (mainly Mickey) are slipped onto wrists from Walt
Disney World gift shops each year. At any given time, there are more than 200
different varieties of character watches. The most popular timepiece is a gold-tone
relief of Mickey Mouse.

MICKEY MOUSE—(1) What the Mouse will be wearing depends entirely on the occasion.
Mickey Mouse himself has 175 different sets of duds ranging from a scuba suit to a
tuxedo. Minnie Mouse.s wardrobe contains some 200 outfits including everything from a
cheerleader ensemble to evening gowns.

MONORAILS—(1) Backstage at the MK (on the far northeast side of the park), there is
a monorail barn. Ten of the twelve monorails spend the night in there. Why only ten?
Because when the barn was built, WDW was only supposed to have a total of ten monorail
trains, but two more were added out of necessity for more guest capacity. Each night,
two monorail trains have a sleepover in one of the other stations, and if the temps get
below freezing, they go deluxe and stay in the Contemporary's station. Because of
regularly scheduled maintenance, no two trains ever spend more than one night in a

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schedule rotation outside of the barn. Someday, when you're at the MK and you have a
few spare minutes, go outside the gates and turn left. Walk down the pathway under the
beams toward the Contemporary, and just before you come to the intersection where
North World Drive goes backstage, stop and look up. Above your head is a switch beam,
which can move a train between the outer (Express or Exterior line) and inner (Resort or
Lagoon line) beams. If you're really lucky, you might witness an actual switch. While
looking up, you'll also note a spur track that goes north into the backstage area, which
then continues into the barn. If you happen to have a recent property map, the Magic
Kingdom area spur track and the barn are actually shown on the map, although neither is
identified as such. On the Epcot line, there is another spur track to the northeast of the
Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC), which connects it to the Express beam. What
happens in the event that one monorail breaks down along the beam and can't get back to
barn under its own power? There are three diesel powered tractors that can pull a fully-
loaded monorail into the nearest station. The passengers are dropped off there, and the
tractor then moves the empty train backstage to the barn for maintenance. By the way,
the monorail trains also share the barn with the WDW Railroad steam trains. The
monorails occupy the upper area of the building and the steam trains have the lower area.
TRIVIA: The two "extra" trains added to the fleet are Monorail Lime and Monorail
Coral. The way to tell the difference between Monorails Green and Lime and
Monorails Pink and Coral is by the white delta shape painted on Lime and Coral's
color identifier stripe on the side of the train. (2) Since 1971, total miles logged by
WDW monorail trains would be equal to more than 30 round trips to the moon. One
dozen new cars were put into service along the 14-mile beamway in 1990 as the original
fleet received a well-deserved retirement.

PICTURES—(1) Kodak estimates that approximately 4% of all amateur photographs taken
in the US are snapped at Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland.

SIZE—(1) Covering 47 square miles, Walt Disney World Resort is about the size of San
Francisco or two Manhattan islands. Of the more than 30,000 acres, less than ¼ has
been developed, with another quarter designated as a wilderness preserve.

WEDDING PAVILION—(1) It was designed to provide the Bride and Groom a view of the
MK.s Cinderella Castle while standing at the altar.

MAGIC KINGDOM--General Info—(1) Walt designed the parks so that when you pass
from land to land, you don't see the others. If you are 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 (even the pavement changes to
match the new [mood] land). (2) Small pipes shoot the trash through the utilidors under
the Magic Kingdom at 60 mph. (3) If there are 2 lines and you can't see the loading area
from where you are, take the line to the left. (4) In the MK, you will rarely see a
Frontierland CM walking around in Tomorrowland. Most CMs arrive to work in their own
clothes and then check in at costuming to pick up their costume. When going on breaks

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etc., they use the tunnel system under the MK (which is really ground level) to travel
between lands, as not to ruin the effect of each land. (5) Ever notice there isn't a lot of
gum stuck on rides, trees, waiting areas in WDW? That's because they don't sell it, just
for this reason. (6) There are more than 20,000 different colors of paint used in Walt
Disney World. (7) If you were to wash and dry one load of laundry every day for the
next 44 years, you'd clean about as much as the Cast Members at the Walt Disney World
Laundry do in a single DAY! (8) The Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse statue in MK--Did
everyone see what is on Walt's right ring finger? (9) The walkway in MK is red because
Walt wanted to lay out the "red carpet" for all guests. (10) The characters watch the
color of the cement behind the scenes. When it changes color, they know they have to
be in character before they enter the parks. The same goes with leaving. As long as
they are on that color, they must be in character even if it is behind the gates. That is
in case the gates are not closed and a child or anyone can look and see them. So, they are
not allowed to take the costume off and be out of character. They don't want anyone to
see Mickey without his head. (11) On the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, they mention that in
WDW no trashcan will ever be more than 30 steps away from you. It seems that Walt
went to other parks when he was designing the park and counted how long a person would
hold onto a piece of trash before dropping it on the ground. He came up with 30 steps.
(12) 50,000 people could fit into the underground tunnels called the Utilidors.
(13) OPENING-After the rope drop, get on the train and take it to the Adventureland
stop. Get Big Thunder Fastpasses for the family and then jump on Splash Mtn. We do
this every trip with good to awesome results. This past Dec. was awesome. We rode
Splash Mountain three times without getting off. Then BTM twice. We gave away the FP
we got for BTM because the time was still 10 minutes away, and we were on our way to
Liberty Square. The worst the train trip will do is to get you on Splash Mtn. fast and
then onto Big Thunder with a FP. (14) All the Spanish moss you see hanging off any trees
in WDW are fake. They're stapled onto the trees, for obvious reasons. (15) In Florida,
everything is pretty much sea level. In order to build the required access tunnels
beneath the MK, they needed to pile A LOT of earth up onto the area of the Park to
make it easier to lay the network of "people pipes" that run under the park. This earth
was removed from an area in front of the MK site, and later became the Seven Seas
Lagoon.

Celebrity Voices--Many celebrity voices—(1) Tim Curry as S.I.R. in Alien Encounter to
Pee Wee Herman in Star Tours. (2) He's not widely known for much more than being the
voice of Tony the Tiger, but check out the official Disney section of this Thurl
Ravenscroft fan site to get in on all of the voices that you know and love on Disney
attractions that Thurl provided like the drunken pirate, the singing dog, and one of the
minstrels in Pirates; Fritz in the Tiki Birds; Buff the buffalo head in Country Bear
Jamboree; and you can hear -- and SEE -- Thurl as the busted bust singing Grim Grinning
Ghosts in The Haunted Mansion.

Parking Lot—(1) In the MK parking lot, only 6 of the 7 dwarfs have a lot named after
them! There is Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Sneezy. No Doc! Why?

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Because while naming the sections in the world's 3rd largest parking lot, the designers
were afraid people might get the Boat Dock and the Parking Lot "Doc" confused. (2) You
could fit all of Disneyland into the MK parking lot and still have room to park 500 cars!

Phones--One in Tomorrowland under the TTA and Astro Orbiter. There's also one in one
of the shops on Main Street (candy store?). I believe there may be one in the Main
Street Railroad Station??? Pick them up and listen to the interesting conversations.
(**Update-7/8/07—Heard Main Street phone taken out!)

Adventureland--The last two trips to MK when we entered the park at opening, instead
of heading to the right (Tomorrowland) or beeline straight to Fantasyland, we veer to the
left, over the hub that leads to Adventureland. No one is there. We can do the entire
land and not wait in a single line. That includes Pirates (walk right on), Jungle Cruise (walk
right on), Swiss Family (no lines), Tiki Room (actually wait for it to open), and Magic
Carpets (okay, by the time we get to this one there is a line, but not too long). The last
time we did this, Genie was just standing there alone, waiting for company. We were
happy to oblige.

Aladdin.s Magic Carpet Ride—(1) The Golden Camel in front of the Aladdin ride is
controlled by someone hidden nearby and shoots unwary guests as they walk by. I stood
there taking video from a distance and laughed my head off. Whoever was controlling it
was able to nail a few people in the back of the head! (2) Its really not a secret, but
after you get off the Magic Carpets of Aladdin Ride, go to the concession stand behind
it. They have the best ice cream called the Citrus Swirl that is vanilla ice cream mixed
with orange juice, and it.s GOOD!

Ariel’s Grotto—There is a bathroom right behind Ariel's Grotto that no one knows
about...not that interesting of a Disney secret (unless you have to go to the bathroom
really bad) but worth knowing!

Astro Orbiter—Hidden Mickey--near one of the stability pillars in front of Astro
Orbiter on the side facing Space Mountain. It is definitely an imprint of a classic Mickey
in the cement.

Barber Shop—(1) For $5, you can get glow-in-the-dark streaks put in your hair. Great
for kids who are nervous about the dark rides! Washes out easily. (2) Paint little Mickey
heads on the back of the kids. heads. (3) Sprinkle 'Mickey dust' on everyone! (4) The
chalkboard in the barbershop on Main Street has all the Hurricanes listed as if they
were next to get haircuts.

Big Thunder Mtn.—(1) Walk to the exit from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Behind the
fence (on the left side as you exit the ride), between two metal carts and behind a cactus
is a cutout in the reddish rock that resembles a side profile of Tinker Bell. (2) Hidden
Mickey--Three rusty gears lying on the grass as you reenter the station. (3) In queue

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area for Big Thunder, look for crate that says, "Lytum & Hyde Explosives Company."
(4) One of the five trains is slightly faster then the rest (though which one is a CM
secret/ but I say it doesn.t hurt to ask a CM), and there is a storyline to the coaster
that most people don.t know. It has to do w/the flood of Amityville, a mining town, and
the color and the shape of the rocks in the mtn. are based on those found in AZ and the
Grand Canyon. (5) If you ride in the afternoon, the grease on the rails are hottest so
that will make the ride a little faster.

Buzz Lightyear—(1) A CM at the end of the Buzz Lightyear ride (just before the gift
shop area) may choose you to find a hidden Disney Character somewhere in the area from
the entrance of the shop forward. You get a free copy of your picture and a free
souvenir if you can point it out in under 5 minutes! (2) The big points in Buzz are found
leaving the first room. Turn around and shoot the back of the orange robot.s arm or the
back of the buzz saw(100,000 points). The car turns automatically away form these so
turn back score big! (3) Hold the button on your blaster down--don't let it up as you
move it around and aim. (4) In the very last Buzz Lightyear room where you are still able
to shoot, look forward at the top left corner, there's a planet with Mickey on it. This
same planet is also on the map of planets in the waiting area just as you enter. The
planet is blue. (5) If you make a silly face for the camera on the Buzz ride, your photo
will come up on the monitors as "Zapped by Zurg."

Carousel of Progress—(1) There is a Picture of Walt Disney hidden in the CoP. It is in
the daughter's room in the 1940s on the wall you are facing as you sit in front of the
stage wall in the upper left corner. (2) You should be able to spot several HMs in the
final scene: (a) Mickey appears as a nutcracker on the fireplace mantle, (b) a plush
peeking out from a present, (c) a white peppermill on the kitchen counter, (d) An abstract
Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's apprentice from Fantasia in a painting on the dining
room wall, (e) one of the Christmas presents under the tree (near the Grandfather's
chair) is wrapped in red and white paper but has a large classic Mickey head cut out of
green paper glued to the side of the gift (the gift is partially hidden by another present,
so you see the ears and part of the top of Mickey's head), (f) a classic Mickey appears
(just for a few seconds) on the top of a spaceship in the middle of the television screen
(look for it just as the game starts on the TV before Grandma starts playing) (g) On the
top of a cup, the lid is a HM. (3) The voice of the grandfather in the final scene is the
voice of the man who was the main character voice in the original 1964 Worlds Fair
version. Mel Blanc is the voice of Cousin Orville. Mel's son, Noel, is the voice of some of
the characters on the radio in the earlier scenes. The current voice of the main
character you may recognize as the voice of the narrator from "A Christmas Story".
"Can't get no privacy” line sounds faintly like Yosemite Sam. (4) The dog holding the keys
in Pirates of the Caribbean and the dog in Carousel of Progress are both Walt Disney's
dog.

Castle—(1) Sit in the outer edge of the Plaza restaurant...basically look at the castle,
find the wire that goes from the castle down to the restaurant rooftop on the right, and

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go get a seat under it. TinkerBell will fly down that wire and right over the top of your
heads! (2) Discover the little mice (Gus & Jacques) in the throne room at Cinderella.s
Royal Table. (3) Behind the castle is a fountain with Cinderella. If you bend down and
look at the fountain, the crown on the back wall appears to crown Cinderella. (4) When
you take a walk down Main Street, take a good close look at the castle. You will notice
that the "bricks" get smaller the higher up the castle goes. The Imagineers called it the
"forced perspective" technique. The castle looks a little taller than it would if all the
"bricks" were the same size. (5) Inside the walls of the walk-through of the castle are
several mosaics. On the mosaic wall farthest from the entrance are the two stepsisters,
Anastasia and Drusilla. The mosaic shows one of them with a red face and the other with
a green face. Red with Rage and Green with envy!!! (6) Approximately 1,000,000 mosaics
to make up the scenes. (7) If you sit on the stone ledge on the side of the castle, you will
hear Stitch giggle and tell you to be quiet because he's hiding. (8) There is also Story
Time with Belle at the small theater to the right of the Castle. There, Belle asks for
young volunteers who she puts in costumes of Chip, Miss Potts, Garson, and others. It is
another very rare picture moment. (9) I'm not sure if this was mentioned in all the pages
but at Cinderella's Royal Table in the room where you get your picture taken with
Cinderella there is a flag on the wall that is actually the Disney Family Crest. It is the
flag with the Three Lions on it.

Characters—(1) If you see a human character, like Mary Poppins, ask them a question
about their movie, and they go right into character. I had Mary doing Supercalifragilistic
backwards! Kiss all the female "non-human hands" and watch their reaction. (2) During
the morning session about 15 min. before Buzz and Woody are scheduled to come out, the
Army men come out in their Jeep and do a preshow. They choose 8-9 kids that are there
early to line up. They have them shout their names and handed them weapons. Buzz and
Woody made their appearance for a group photo with all of them. (3) Cinderella comes
into the downstairs lobby of "Cinderella's Royal Table" restaurant a few times a day, and
you don't have to eat your meal there. (4) The characters at the Fairy Tale Favorites
line at the Toontown Hall of Fame change on the hour, but the Mickey's Friends and Pooh
Friends are the same all the time. Go late in the hour, come out, and jump back in line for
the top the hour. Some characters might pop out from behind the Judges Tent. (5) CMs
playing Snow White and Ariel are not allowed to get a tan, even when they are "off duty."
Snow White can't because she must have fair skin, and Ariel can't because mermaids
don't have tan lines. (6) We have gotten lucky a couple of times and come across a ton of
characters at the "teardrop" area in the Magic Kingdom. It's an area by the train station
in Toontown. It's kind of hidden, but if you are riding the train, you pass by it right
before the train stops in Toontown. (I think it might be a smoking area?) Anyway, we
think they might be doing some kind of market research or something because what
appear to be CMs in business casual clothing escort the characters out and take pictures.
Last time we found it, there was a CM videotaping. You can really get a ton of pictures
with all kinds of characters, some of which are rare, with little to no wait (unless, of
course, the train has just let out)! Some examples of characters we have gotten are:
Pinocchio and Gepetto, Darkwing Duck and Launchpad, the three mice from Cinderella,

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Friar Tuck, Rafiki, Dopey, and several others. You can't ask about it at guest services
b/c it's supposedly "unscheduled," but we came across it around 2. If you're in
Toontown, doesn't hurt to stop by. (7) This isn't "official," but we bought my son Mickey
hands one year, and all day long CMs and Characters came up to slap him five, and during
the parade, almost every character made a point to come over to him to do the same.
(8) You can get great pictures with characters by taking them when you interact with
them and not just pose with them. (Example: Scratch Pluto behind the ear and snap the
picture.) (9) Check out the details on the characters' costumes. Woody has a pull-string
on his back just like the toy, Buzz has a (c)Disney printed on his butt just like the plastic
toy ( I don't know if "Andy" is on their boots, though), and the Green Army Man has
plastic molding on his boots and helmet like the toy and a unique block print autograph.
(Buzz can't sign, he has a stamper--maybe his gloves aren't flexible enough?) King Louie
from the Jungle Book can't give autographs-his arms are too long. (10) All the character
greeters carry a phone number with them so they can call and see at what time a specific
character is going to be out and where. If you have a special character you would really
like to see, I would ask a friendly-looking character greeter (these are the people who
accompany the characters out into the parks) if he/she knew when they would be out and
where. (11) Costumed characters are instructed on subtle body movements, such as a toe
tap, to communicate with their CM escorts of requests, problems, issues, etc.

Cinderella’s Carousel—(1) There is only one horse on the carousel that has a gold ribbon
on its tail. This is Cinderella's horse. Prince Charming.s horse is next to it. (At least
that's what the fairy godmother said.) (2) On Cinderella.s Carrousel is the only place in
Fantasyland where you can see a picture of Cinderella running with her prince to their
carriage after just being married. (3) Cinderella's Carousel was built in 1917 by the
Philadelphia Toboggan Company. At the time it was constructed, it was red, white, and
blue (symbolizing patriotism) and was located at Detroit Palace Garden Park. In 1928, it
was brought back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was refurbished and then relocated
to Olympic Park in Maplewood, New Jersey. Maplewood closed in 1967, and the carousel
was due to be silenced, if not for the watchful eye of a Disney person. The Carousel was
fully restored, given the Cinderella theme, and was unveiled at the opening of the Magic
Kingdom on October 1, 1971. (4) There are 90 horses on Cinderella's Golden Carousel.
(5) Know what the difference is between a merry-go-round and a carousel? A carousel's
horses all move up and down, while merry-go-rounds have some non-moving horses.

Country Bears—The claw marks on the floor of The Country Bear Jamboree.

Exposition Hall— (1) There's a small theater that shows old Disney cartoons (like the old
Main Street Cinema but in color and with seats), a couple exhibits, some nice photo
opportunities, and usually in the late morning, I've seen a variety of Disney Princesses
there (Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, Mary Poppins). (2) Most characters come from
the Hall to the outside for meet and greets. Every character that came through stopped
to say hi or mess with us. It was air-conditioned, and no lines to stand in! (3) There is a
Mr. Toad ride vehicle behind a curtain in Exposition Hall!!

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Fantasyland—(1) When you go to Sir Mickey's Shop in Fantasyland, look at where the
roof meets the walls. You will see Willie the Giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk
peeking into the shop. (2) In Fantasyland, the pavement changes a few times. One is
near Ariel's Grotto. The pavement is cement mixed with sea shells like you would find
near an ocean town. Another is right in front of the carousel where Merlin the Magician
picks a lucky lad to remove the Sword from the Stone. The pavement there is shaped
like sword blades.


Ferry Boats—When you take the ferry to and from the Magic Kingdom, look down at the
concrete pylons where you pull into the dock. They are covered with coins (mostly
pennies) that people have thrown overboard.

Fireworks—If you don't need to see Tinkerbell fly or see the front of the castle while
watching the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom, go BEHIND the castle to see the
fireworks. The view is fantastic, and you don't have to fight crowds. In fact, we usually
grab a seat at one of the outdoor restaurants and enjoy! It.s nice to sit down after a
long day at the MK.

Food—(1) Get a Dole Whip at Aloha Isle at MK. (2) Eat lunch at The Pinocchio Village
Haus and look out of the window that overlooks the loading/unloading area inside of It's
A Small World. Pinocchio's Village Haus is made up of seven themed rooms. They are
named Blue Fairy, Cleo, Figaro, Jiminy Cricket, Monstro, Stromboli, and Geppetto's
Workshop. Also, one of the chairs has a Mickey head craved into the back it. (3) Not
sure if this counts as a theme park secret, but it is very helpful if you have small
children. The sticks from the Mickey Ice Cream Bar will fit through the slit in a soda cup
top. This works great at catching ice cream drips for the little ones. (4) Try having a late
evening meal or snack outside on the second-story balcony of Pinocchio's Village Haus as
the lights are coming on at night in Fantasyland. All the trees and rides are lit up, and it
is a wonderful spot to sit and relax! (5) The talking trash can in the McDonald.s
restaurant by the AllStars. My husband was so startled by it that he actually dropped
his tray into the trash!

Frontierland Railroad Station—At the Frontierland RR Station, look for a wooden leg
named Smith. It is a reference to a joke in Mary Poppins. "I knew a man with a wooden
leg named Smith." "What's the name of his other leg?"

Frontierland Shootin. Arcade—(1) Drop $0.50 in the machine, and then, hit all of the
targets with the flash from your camera. Amaze your kids! (2) If you get there early,
you may be able to shoot for free.

Hall of Presidents—(1) Has anyone found the HM in the Hall of Presidents? Look at the
picture near the entrance of the viewing hall. In this picture, George Washington is

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holding a sword. Look at the bottom of the sword. (2) The curtains in the windows above
the exit door are hand sewn.

Haunted Mansion—(1) After riding the elevator/stretching room down, as you walk to the
cars, there is a lobby with a desk and lamp. On the desk is a dictionary that is turned to
the word death. This is not easy to see since it.s supposed to be behind a barrier, but go
ahead and look because nobody is there to stop you....or is there? (2) HM on dining room
table, in the library, and on the right hand corner of the spirit. (3) HM as you face
Liberty Square and are at the iron gate. Look to the left--the thing that holds the gate
at the bottom is a Hidden Mickey. (4) If you're by the Haunted Mansion at night, look up
at the top story right above the front door. If you watch it for a while, you'll notice a
light pass by it and some shadows. It looks like 2 people are walking by with a lantern.
(5) The 17th-century mansion of Master Gracie is supposedly on the Hudson River. The
Hall of Presidents is supposed to represent Pennsylvania. I think the river for the paddle
boat was supposed to be on the Mississippi, but my notes are a little confusing to even
me. Also, have to check what Tom Sawyer's Island actually represented. The Diamond
Horseshoe is at the gateway to the west, St. Louis, MO. The old wooden cottage of the
Country Bear Jamboree symbolically represents Colorado. (6) The top architecture is
very easy to recognize as chess pieces. The architect was famous for building structures
that had chess pieces as a part of the structure. When he was commissioned to build the
HM, he continued his "signature" and added some chess piece architecture to the top of
it. The only chess piece missing from the outside is the knight. This is because it is
always (k)night INSIDE! (7) Two Hidden Donalds embroidered in the chairs--red velvet
chairs in the hallway area--Donald's face is on the whole "back" of the chair. One is by
the piano with shadow and one is in the hallway w/floating candelabra. (CM said there
were 2 Donalds, 5 Mickeys, and a hidden ring.) (8) At the HM, the carriage in the
courtyard is being led by an invisible horse, notice the hoof prints (go at night if you can).
The invisible horse is called "Old Glue" or "Elmer" and the black hearse is the same one
used in a John Wayne movie called THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER. Follow the hoof prints
(and wheel tracks of the hearse) out to the area where the fast pass machines are
housed. This is the stable (you can see horse whips, bridles, and horse shoes hanging
down from above). (9) Stand in front of the hearse at the Haunted Mansion and listen.
You will hear the "ghost" horse whiney. (10) In the pet cemetery at the very, very back,
in the top left corner (I think), you can see Mr. Toad! (11) Loeota Toombs (Thomas) is
the woman on the gravestone and the small bride right before you exit urging you to
"hurry back"--this is actually her voice played here. She is the head in the crystal ball,
but the voice of the crystal ball Leota is actually Eleanor Audley, who did the voice for
Maleficent and Lady Tremain (from Cinderella). Leota was not an Imagineer; she was part
of the costuming department (wigs). Walt saw her as he was touring the department and
said, "You've got a face that should be in the Haunted Mansion." What he meant was
that she was quite beautiful, and he wanted her likeness as the now-famous Madame
Leota. (12) At one point in the ride, you fall out of an attic window and die! I think this
occurs when your doom buggy turns backwards, and you make that steep descent.
Supposedly, if you pay close attention, the ghosts have not acknowledged you before that

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point, but after you "die," you enter the party scene, and that's when they acknowledge
you for the first time! (13) The creepy organ music you hear in the stretching room
"Grim Grinning Ghosts" slowed way down. You are hearing one song the whole ride,
starting very slow and getting faster as the ride goes on. (14) The "hands" on the clock
are actually fingers! (15) The one-winged bat really has both wings--one is extended as if
stretching the wing and the other is still by the side of the body. (Once you leave the
stretching room and make your way through the queue to your doom buggy, you pass posts
to which the chains are attached. Those posts have bats at the "head" or top of them.
There are three "one-wing-stretched" posts. Look where you make your turns to change
the direction the line moves. (16) Towards the end of the graveyard of the Haunted
Mansion (while inside the ride), there is a ghost in a window-type thing holding some keys
well the key holder is a HM. (17) In the Haunted Mansion in the ballroom scene, there is
an old lady sitting in a rocking chair. This animatronic figure is a duplicate made from the
Grandmother in one of the side scenes of the Carousel of Progress. (18) The well in front
of the Haunted Mansion contains an info red emitter (which activates the info red
receptor in Pal Mickey's nose). (19) 2nd ring in the pavement is a "fairy ring" formed by
paving stones just beyond the well. This marks the spot where a huge oak tree once
stood. It was removed when the fast pass machines were put in. If you stand in the
middle of the fairy ring on the night of a full moon and call out "Leota" three times, she
will come briefly to one of the upper windows of the mansion with her candle. (20) The
area from the well to the building entrance is called the Colonnade. Towards the end of
the Colonnade is the Family Plot with Imagineer "credits" on the tombstones. (21) A
berm behind the Family Plot conceals the gigantic building for the ride -- none of which
takes place in the brick mansion! (22) The Foyer is the only spot in the mansion in which
you can take a flash photograph. (23) Six separate images are in the Aging Portrait
above the fireplace as the young man ages and decays. The portrait was inspired by an
Oscar Wilde novel called THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. (24) The Foyer and two
Stretch Rooms form a Hidden Mickey. (25) Side step the ride and use the exit on the
right side of the foyer to find a little corridor leading to the exit side of the mansion
(used as a VIP or wheelchair entrance). In the passage is a row of servant bells.
Though the attic is not one of the locations for which there is a bell, Madame Leota has
one. (26) Be among the first to exit for the Doom Buggies by standing on the side with
the painting of the lady with the parasol (a painting of Master Gracey's first wife who
was lured to her death by the machinations of Madam(e) Leota). (27) Who is the woman
who screams in the stretch room? Some say this is the voice of a woman who has thrown
herself down from the rafters and you can hear a dull thump at the end of the scream.
(28) Notice the yellow bats painted on the conveyor of the load area. (29) Hippogriffs
guarding two separate staircases. (30) There is a sea captain with a harpoon pictured in
the Portrait Gallery. HM lore includes a story about the owner of the house being a sea
captain who murders his bride. (And the weather vane at Disneyland's HM is a sailing
ship!) (31) The piano player in the Music Room is invisible, but you can see his moving
shadow on the floor. (32) The flowers in the conservatory wake scene are not dried out
and shriveled (like the wreath on the mansion's front door). They are all still bright and
alive. (33) There is a Hidden Tinker Bell in a pane of broken glass over the coffin! (34) A

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ghostly shadow of a claw sweep across the Ghostfather clock. (34) Look for the duelists
who lean out of the paintings in the Grand Ballroom and shoot at each other. (35) Look
for the Lon Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA poster in the attic. (You can only see it
when the lights are on.) (36) There are stars twinkling overhead in the graveyard scene!
Notice that the outside of this house looks nothing like the brick manse outside. (37) A
shaggy haunt by the singing executioner (and the knight) is the very same haunt that
appears as one of the Hitchhiking Ghosts at the end! These three are Phineas, Ezra, and
Gus. (38) HM was based on an actual Manor--The Gracey Manor. After all the family
members died, the common people started rumors of seeing weird things happening. Walt
Disney World then decided to create a walk-through telling the story of one of the
rumors told. It ended up as a ride though. Also, they couldn't decide whether they
wanted the HM to be scary and serious or humorous, so that is why at the beginning it is
so grim and at the graveyard the singing busts and the hitch hiking ghosts make it funny.
(39) If you look up at the cemetery gate when you are first going into the cemetery
scene, you can see a paper tag hanging off of the gate. That is actually the purchase tag
that was accidentally left on the gate when it was purchased from a California
manufacturer. It has been there for so long they leave it as a private joke to
themselves. (40) One small, almost completely unnoticeable enhancement is in the
Stretch Room. If you linger behind the crowd as they are exiting this room, pay
attention to the gargoyles. They speak and chatter and laugh. It.s difficult to hear, and
you need to pay attention, but they are definitely making noise. This is a VERY minor
effect -- only a true Disneyphile would even care -- but if you.re like me and want to
experience everything, then don.t rush out of the Stretch Room.

It’s a Small World—(1) There is only one nation or region whose name is actually written
out anywhere in the attraction. Look carefully for the small hat with the name "Mexico"
written on it as you venture through the South American portion of the ride! (2) Only
two of the figures represent the United States. The cowboy and the Eskimo. (3) In the
jungle room of Small World, the purple vines hanging from the ceiling are all HMs. (4) In
the African section, right above the giraffe on the right side of the boat, there are some
leaves. One leaf is in the shape of Mickey's silhouette. (5) In the Australia scene, there
is a kangaroo bobbing back and forth, and the shadow of it on the wall makes a HM.

Jungle Cruise—(1) At the exit of the Jungle Cruise, there is a large black board with a
list of missing persons and boats. The names are things like Ben Eaton for people and Run
Aground Sue for boats. (2) As you are coming to the end of the Cambodian temple, on
the left side, there are areas of the wall that look like it's been worn away. One of these
worn away areas is a Minnie profile. This was pointed out to me by the tour guide on the
Keys to the Kingdom Tour. (3) Each of the scenes in the Jungle Cruise attraction is
taken from the True-Life Adventure Film Series that Walt Disney produced in the early
1960s. (4) In the new Jungle cruise FastPass area, there are several inside jokes. The
machines are made to look like crates. One is addressed to "Trader Sam's Cranial Curios,
London, England,” and one is addressed to Pamela Perkins President of the AC. Several of
the items in the storage cage are addressed to various characters at the Adventurers'

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Club (at Pleasure Island). (5) While on queue at the Jungle Cruise, one hears assorted
scratchy 1930s records played over the PA system with a somewhat witty DJ bantering
and making corny announcements and reading "The Jungle News" on Congo's KBGO. One
of the songs he plays is "You're the Top," by Cole Porter, and parts of the lyrics, which
are very clearly audible and discernible, go like this: "You're the melody/from a
symphony/by Strauss! /You're an O'Neill drama! /You're Whistler's mama! /You're
Mickey Mouse!" (6) Listen to the chanting tribesmen--one of them says "We love disco!”
(7) The thatched roof material around Jungle Cruise is actually made of metal not straw
(reach up and touch it). (8) Just before boarding the boat at Jungle Cruise, look for sign
that says "Employee of the Month." It reads "E.L. O'Fevre" (Yellow Fever).

Liberty Square—(1) The Liberty Tree is well over 100 years old (a.k.a. Southern Live
Oak). The 13 lanterns hanging in the tree represent the original 13 colonies. (2) Listen
for the subtle music changes between lands in the MK. Also, notice how the pavement
changes as well, especially as you travel across the nation and through time from Liberty
Square (the Colonial Eastern US) into the Frontierland (Western US). (3) In Liberty
Square, where they have the building fronts with just door after door, stop and take a
look at them. (This is the area right behind the outdoor eating area.) The addresses on
the doors are all two numbers. If you put 18 in front of them, that is the style of door
they would have had for that year. As you walk along, you can see the progression of the
style. From the windows to the hardware to the door and the window styles themselves.
(4) There are no bathrooms located in Liberty Square, in keeping with the time period of
that area. (5) As you enter the Columbia House Restaurant from the Fantasyland end
nearest Peter Pan's Flight (London), it is decorated to represent England, and as you walk
through, the decor changes to early American. As we change lands, Fantasyland to
Liberty Square, we are virtually crossing the Atlantic when you enter the Columbia House
Restaurant end nearest the Small World attraction leaving the Old World Behind to make
our fortunes in the New World. (6) In Liberty Square in MK, all of the shutters are hung
slightly at an angle. This is because during the revolutionary war, England stopped
shipping the US almost everything made of metal because the colonials would melt them
down for bullets. One thing they did continue to ship was shutters. The colonials would
take the metal hinges off the shutters to melt down for bullets and would hang the
shutters with leather straps. Over time, the leather would stretch out, causing the
shutters to hang at an angle. (7) Liberty Square was supposed to represent the East
Coast of the United States all the way across to the Train station behind Splash
Mountain which was to represent the West Coast of the United States. Pennsylvania is
the "Liberty Tree and the Liberty Bell.” The small bridge and creek next to the "hat"
shop near the shooting gallery is referred to by CMs as the "Little Mississippi.” (8) In
Liberty Square, look down at the main walkway (which is also the parade route). Instead
of just plain cement, there's also an area a couple feet wide that goes all the way down
the walkway and looks like a brownish/yellow gravel. In frontier times, the streets had a
urine trough in them for the horse urine. The gravel area represents the urine trough.
(9) Liberty Square Christmas shop--Look closely! It's actually three separate shops with
the walls opened between them. They are supposed to be owned by three different

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colonial families--a German family, a woodcarver's family, and a musician's family. (10)
The 17th-century mansion of Master Gracey is supposedly on the Hudson River. The Hall
of Presidents is supposed to represent Pennsylvania. I think the river for the paddle
boat was supposed to be on the Mississippi. The Diamond Horseshoe is at the gateway to
the west, St. Louis, MO. The old wooden cottage of the Country Bear Jamboree
symbolically represents Colorado. Big Thunder Mountain and the tiny town of
Tumbleweed were near Monument Valley, MT, and lastly, the train stopped in
Frontierland, representing CA. (WHEW!) (11) Hidden park in Liberty Square in the back
of the Christmas Store. (12) The large bell is made from the same mold as the Liberty
Bell. (13) Look at the 2nd story windows in Liberty Square. One has a rifle and another
has 2 lanterns for "1 if by land, 2 if by sea.”

Main Street—(1) Talking Goofy, if it is still there. On Main Street right by the
entrance, there is a Goofy statue sitting on a bench. When you sit by him he talks.
(2) Check out the old-style phone mounted on a wall in the General Store (Main Street
Market House?) (on the right side of the street as you're headed in). Pick up the
receiver and listen in to a conversation going on. You can hear a conversation between a
mother and her daughter, Annie. They discuss what they are going to buy at the store,
the cost of certain items, and how to attract a man. Every now and then, a nosey
eavesdropper, Miss Klump, listens in and is politely told to hang up by the mother. When
I asked the CMs at the store about it, they just replied, "Of course, the tenants
upstairs!" (Rumor: TAKEN OUT) (3) There is a shop on Main Street that will do a
silhouette of a child's profile. About $5-$7. They don't take credit cards; you can only
pay cash or charge it to the room. (4) Be at Magic Kingdom at dusk for the flag lowering
ceremony. (5) If you turn down the first side street to your right on Main Street on a
more quiet day and look up at the windows that have signs that say something like "music
lessons," you'll hear a voice practicing scales and someone tap dancing. You can't always
hear it; it has to be pretty quiet. (6) The entrance to the park is like a theatre. The
ticket area is like a lobby. Then, you go through the tunnels lined with "coming
attraction"-type posters. The train station is the curtain, and when you go through it,
you're in the “show.” Now, for the credits--If you look up at the names on the windows
of the buildings along Main Street, you see the names of all the people who were
responsible for building the park. The very last name is Walt's. It is on the backside of
the last building on the right (ice cream parlor?). It seems like he's almost hidden from
view, but Roy wanted him there so that he would always have a view of the castle. Walt is
the last name as you walk in (being the director, always listed last at the beginning of a
movie), and he is first on the way out (being the director - always listed first at the end
of the movie). Some of the names (i.e., M.T. Lott) are both references to dummy
corporations used by the Disney Company and inside jokes referring to the Imagineers,
etc. (7) Main Street is designed, through forced perspective, to look as if it's much
longer than it is when you're heading towards the castle. In the mornings, you are all
excited and have the energy to walk. When you're walking away from the castle towards
the exit, it looks shorter. That's good for the way out when you're tired. Also, since
most people walk on the right side of the street, all the food shops are on the right as

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you enter for those wanting breakfast, while the shops are on your right on the way out!
(And when you walk into the shops on your right, they have stuff for a day in the park
[cameras, water bottle holders, etc]. When you are coming out, all the shops on your
right have gifts and souvenirs.) (8) The fire station on Main Street is Station No. 71.
The Park opened in 1971. (9) Be leisurely when leaving the MK. It was so nice to walk
around the lands going back from BTMR to Main Street just looking around and enjoying
the empty feeling. Also, get yourself a spot in front of the castle at about 30 minutes
after the park closing. You'll be treated to the "kiss goodnight" from the
castle...something really cool to see. (10) In Town Square, there are a few flag poles with
American flags on them. The main flagpole is always taken down during rain storms and
right before sundown, but the rest of the flags are not taken down. That is because they
are not real American flags. They look like American flags, but they are all missing a star
or a stripe that makes them not actual American flags. (14) The Main Street Emporium
sells (or at least used to sell) a scavenger hunt book for about $4 that is fun to do.
(15) Firemen from around the country can either bring to MK or mail in their firemen
patches, and Disney will put them up on display in the Main Street Firehouse. They're all
framed for everyone to see. (16) Ride up Main Street on the trolley horse;

Main Street Railroad—(1) Following Hurricane Charley, a tree that was uprooted was cut
up and some of the trunk pieces arranged as a Mickey head on a lawn, visible from the
WDW railroad train a little ways past the Main St. station (may be temporary). (2) If
you sit in the very last car, the one that with the little platform out the back, they will
ask you to be the guest conductor. You get to yell, "All Aboard!" into the microphone and
announce the different lands. (3) The telegraph you hear at the train station is tapping
out Walt Disney's speech at Disneyland's opening in Code. (4) On one of the shelves, you
can see Aladdin's lamp as well as other characters belongings waiting to be picked up at
the train station. (5) “Go-away green." When you ride the MK Railway, there is a huge
green building off on your left that you really never notice. The color of green does not
draw the eye. (6) In the Train Station, you can find articles left by other "guests,”
including Mary Poppins and other characters from Disney films. (7) Before the MK opens
for the day, the WDW train is perfectly centered in front of the train station for those
wishing to take pictures. It is the only time during the day that this occurs. (8) WDW
Railroad Motto--Dreams are made to come true. (9) What are the names of the four
genuine steam engine locomotives? Lilly Belle - Walt Disney - Roy Disney - Roger Brogg.
(9) The Walt Disney World Railroad engines get a whopping 792. per gallon of gas!
(10) When you are in the waiting room of the railroad on Main Street, they have antique
Mutascopes. When you put a penny in, they actually work! Put in a penny, start turning a
crank, and a short silent movie plays for you. (11) The mechanical band machine plays for
a quarter. Here is the secret: In the upper right hand portion of the mechanical band,
there is a switch. If you flick the switch, it plays for free. (12) Look at the departing
trains schedule at the WDW Railroad Station on Main Street. One train is headed for
Kimball Canyon, a salute to legendary Disney animator Ward Kimball.

Mickey’s Philharmagic—(1) The carpeting when exiting Philharmagic has some HMs.

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(2) Look to the right of the "stage.” There are musical instruments going down the wall.
Look closely at the tubing on the French horn. You will see Mickey. (3) The music playing
in the beginning and end fit together and play m i c k e y m o u s e! (4) Donald's voice in
Mickey's Philharmagic is actually created by classic performances from the original voice.
Whoever does the current voice added only a few lines not recorded in the past (e.g.,
humming Be Our Guest). (5) In the waiting area for "Mickey's Philharmagic," there are
many amusing posters featuring Disney characters, but there are also funny inscriptions
in the little one or two inch plaques on the poster frame bottoms. (6) This one may be
obvious, but I'll post in anyway: At the end of Mickey's PhilharMagic, Donald's behind
can be seen in the back of the theatre wall. As guests exit into the PhilharMagic gift
shop, they'll see his angry front side if they look up.

Pecos Bill’s—The dining area is usually totally full with no where to sit. Simply stroll down
the little hallway, past the restrooms, and into Adventureland. On the other side, there
are a bunch of tables and chairs set up, in the shade, and usually there is no one else
there! Peace and quiet!

Peter Pan—In the nursery, over by Nana, there are some building blocks spelling out
"DISNEY" and "P PAN."

Pirates—(1) Years ago, a maintenance guy (or Imagineer) named George was killed during
the building of the Pirates ride. They say his ghost haunts the ride to this day. The
workers have to say "goodnight George" before they shut down the ride each night, or
there will be problems with the ride the next day. My 12-year old asked the attendant
while we were boarding the boat if he said goodnight to George. He said, “Of course! We
don't want the ride to break down!” The thread also said that if you yell out George 3x
during the fire scene, something "may" happen. The kids had a blast with this and yelled
out even though people were looking at us! (2) The storyline of Pirates is a backward
dream sequence, with the opening Bayou scene being the modern day. The portrait of the
red-headed woman in the drunken skeleton room is actually a portrait of the red head
being sold at the auction after she had been acclimated to the pirate lifestyle some
years after her sale. (3) When in the queue, two skeletons playing chess have died
playing because the chess game is a loop position where every possible move leads to a
series of moves that will lead back to the same position --nobody can win. After a
refurb, the Imagineers couldn't get the configuration right and had to search through
Marc Davis' notes to set the chess board back to the proper condition! (4) On the
Pirates of the Caribbean ride, on the first bridge that you go under into the next room,
sitting on the bridge is a man with one of his legs hanging over and another man standing
next to him. If you look at the face of the man sitting, it is the face of Sid Caesar. One
of the designers really loved Sid Caesar and made the face to look this way. (5) Look at
the ENTIRE lock at the dog/jail scene to see the hidden Mickey, not just at the keyhole.
(6) Towards the end, when you pass under the bridge, the pirate sitting above you and his
leg dangling…once upon a time, the red handkerchief sitting on the bridge beside him was
between his toes dangling downward. Apparently, too many guests would stand up to try

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and grab the red hankie so they removed it from his toes and placed it on the bridge
beside him. There is a gap between his big toe and second toe if you look. (7) The dog
holding the keys in Pirates of the Caribbean and the dog in Carousel of Progress are both
Walt Disney's dog, or so I've heard. (8) Just a little thing to notice...On Pirates, as you
pass the auction scene, watch as the pirate on the left hand side fires his gun, the sign on
the other side of the water "pings" and swings back and forth. (9) At Magic
Kingdom....upon exiting Pirates of the Caribbean, answer the trivia questions at the
farthest left side cashier and get a certificate and free gift from the treasure box.

Riverboat—Ask to ride in the pilot house and receive official riverboat pilots
certificates.

Share a Dream Parade—(1) There is a hidden Walt on every float. They were very hard
to find and had to be pointed out to me by a fellow CM. (2) We ate lunch outside at
Pecos Bill.s on Thursday (next to Splash Mountain), and as we were finishing, realized the
parade was starting. Since we were at a table right next to the fence (and the parade
route!) we stood on our stools and had the perfect, unobstructed view! As the
characters rounded the corner, almost ALL of them caught our eye -- and the females
seemed to love seeing our DS! (3) Find a place in Frontierland to watch the afternoon
parade. Choose a late lunch. Once you have a parade spot and have planted yourself
there, send one person for food either at the burger place or back around by Pirates at
the taco stand. (They branch out from the same center kitchen). Then eat while you are
waiting. Don't spend 35 minutes eating lunch (or longer at peak time) then another 45
waiting for the parade--combine!!! (2) If you are near the beginning of the parade, once
it is done, go the wrong way in traffic (it will be a challenge!!!) and head back into Pirates,
Tree House, Magic carpets, Jungle Cruise. They will be deserted.

Snow White—(1) Mickey is hiding on the mural. He's by the flowers! (2) Look at the
laundry hanging out to dry. One pair of shorts has Mickey polka dots. (3) Chip and Dale
in Snow White's Scary when Dope waves goodbye.

Space Mtn.—(1) One of the asteroids is actually a chocolate chip cookie! (2) Hidden
Mickey in the last Red Star picture as you walk up the ramp in line. It is 3 white stars in
the shape of a classic Mickey toward the middle left side of the picture. (3) The ONLY
attraction located OUTSIDE the perimeter of the WDW RAILROAD!

Splash Mtn.—(1) The opening of the top cave of Splash Mountain (the one you exit as you
take the final plunge) is a hidden Mickey. It is noticeable from inside the cave and
outside. It is profile shaped, not the traditional mouse and ears. (2) The queue for
Splash Mtn is filled with great touches. In one, you can see the shadow of Brer Toad
sitting in a rocking chair and hear him singing. (3) Bird houses in the trees. I know when
they first opened the ride you could listen and hear birds "talking" and "arguing" in the
bird houses. (4) Notice the street lights when loading for Splash Mountain. One blinks
when the boats are ready to go in motion. (5) There is a tiny HM on a barrel (where the

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paint looks like it oozed down the side) right before your first fall into the inside of the
ride. (6) The little critter, in the cave-like room just before the last drop…He comes
upside down out of the ceiling and says "Go FSU!" An Imagineer that graduated from
Florida State put it there. (7) There is a bridge outside the ride, right in front of the
big drop. For every third log boat that hits bottom for the big drop, there is a water
cannon that shoots up an extra bit of water and sprays the bridge, soaking everyone who
happens to be standing there watching! (8) The water on Splash Mountain is required by
law to be drinkable.

Swiss Family Treehouse—(1) Outside the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse are crates
with addresses to persons on them. I know I don't have the facts 100% accurate, but
there's enough here to snag your interest. One is to Johann David Wyss (author of the
book). It is being sent to McGuire Blvd. (Dorothy McGuire was Mother Robinson), and the
other crate is to John Mills who was Father Robinson. It was sent to Bora Danno. James
MacArthur played son Fritz Robinson. James MacArthur later played as Jack Lord's
(Det. Steve McGarrett) second-in-command Det. Danny ("Danno") Williams (1968-79) in
Hawaii Five-0. (2) The view from the top looking out at the castle is absolutely amazing
at night. A lady came up when we were up there in December. She said she had been
going regularly for many, many years and was amazed about the awesome view that she
had been missing. This is a must do for me every trip. (3) The Swiss flag in the Swiss
Family Treehouse is the only flag of another nation that is on display permanently over a
Disney attraction.

T.T.A.--The attraction was originally called "The WEDway People Mover" from July 1,
1975 until the debut of the "New Tomorrowland" on June 11, 1994. Although the ride
itself has remained essentially the same, the soundtrack has had several changes, some
minor and some major: (a) the "WED" part of WEDway is for WED Enterprises, the
original name for Walt Disney Imagineering (or WDI for short). WED is, of course,
Walt's initials (Walter Elias Disney), (b) the model city the Tomorrowland Transit
Authority passes is the model for Walt Disney.s personal vision of E.P.C.O.T., and (c) in
the hair salon scene, look for a Hidden Mickey on the lady's belt buckle. (2) In the bus
stop as it's called (right after the City of Tomorrow), there is a robot holding a green
tube/paper thing in his hand. If you look at the top of the green thing, you will notice a
small rim of red. A CM told me that it is a horn you blow on New Years Eve. He put his
initials and the date and stuck it in there.

Tiki Room—(1) My seven year old daughter befriended the cast member at the Tiki room
before a lightly-attended show. She was introduced as a "helper,” greeted everyone, and
"woke up" Michael to start the show by tapping on his perch. (2) Look at top of Tiki Room
from Frontierland and notice bulls sticking out of tower. This is because the top of Tiki
Room sticks out above buildings and can be seen from Frontierland. It is a way of
disguising the building.

Tink’s Treasures-(1) If you want to wake Tink, go DIRECTLY to the store as soon as the

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park opens. The store is right behind the castle. My DD walked in and went up to the
first CM we saw and asked, "Could I please wake up Tink this morning?" Being the first
one in there, she was allowed to do so. They had her stand on a little stool, gave her a
wand, and her tap the treasure box three times saying loudly, "Wake up Tink." As she did
this, the lights and music started to play. They presented her with a certificate that
said something along the line of "Had a Magical Moment." If you go into the store and
hear the music, you know she has already been waked up. If it is quiet she is still
sleeping. (2) Has anyone ever noticed that when you go into Tinker Bell's Treasure's shop
that it is also divided into two sections? When you enter the door nearest the castle,
you are actually in the Darling Children's nursery. The merchandise shelves are beds,
dressers, chest of drawers etc. There are dolls, kites, and other toys all around the
ledge at the top of the room. Then as you go to the other end, the shop is laid out as
Capt. Hook's ship. There is even a "bridge" where one could imagine a ship's wheel. You
can see the tree where the Lost Boys live. You will even get to see TinkerBell fly into one
of the trunk/limb openings to warn the Lost Boys of Hooks "gift." (3) If Tink is already
awake, you can watch her fly around the shop and land in a dresser drawer.

Tom Sawyer’s Island—(1) Be the first to find the six hidden paintbrushes and receive a
special Fastpass! They tend to be on the main part of the island--not across
"Superstition Bridge" to Fort Langhorn. They seem to hide them fairly close to the raft
landing area. (2) While in Harper's Mill on Tom Sawyer Island, look closely at the wooden
gears operating. On one of the gears that rotate horizontally, look closely between the
cogs. You will see a little bluebird sitting there.

Tomorrowland—(1) A talking trashcan is in Tomorrowland too! His name is Push. He
comes out from Mickey's Star Traders every hour or so and roams for 20 minutes.
(2) Near the Speedway on the way into Tomorrowland, there is a high streetlamp with
three large round hooded lights. It was designed to cast a HM on the ground twice a day
when the sun is in the right place. (3) The metal "palm trees" in Tomorrowland fold up at
night and open during the day just like flowers!

Tony's Town Square Restaurant—(1) At the back of the restaurant, there is a beautiful
three-paned dark blue window, through which you can see the shadowy silhouettes of
Lady and the Tramp sharing their late-night meal of spaghetti. (2) A checker board
outside of La Chapeau in the MK. It is right next to Tony's right by the flagpole. It was
a great five-minute break from the hustle and bustle of the trip. (3) The Lady and the
Tramp paws in front Tony.s at MK.

Toontown—(1) When you go to Minnie's house, make sure you turn all of the knobs in the
kitchen. Hear the popcorn pop, etc. (2) Take the back walkway from Toontown to
Tomorrowland and avoid the Toontown crowds. (3) Toontown is a concept that did not
exist prior to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" This is Mickey's Toontown, the Florida
version. Toontown opened in October 1996. Mickey, Minnie, and the gang all live in
Disneyland. Their vacation homes are at Walt Disney World. Toontown had many things

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any town would have. A garage, a gas pump, a radio station, at least one farm, a farmers.
market, and homes (that Mickey and Minnie live in.). The first structure on your left is

Pete's Garage (home to the Toontown public restrooms). On your right, you'll notice a
small shack, home of W A C K-Y radio. (While you are inside Minnie's house be sure to
listen to the radio in her living room. It is tuned in to W A C K-Y radio.) Next, you enter
Goofy's barnstormer. As you enter the turnstiles, look up at the fans. On the wall to
the left, do you see an outline of Goofy's face and hat? What is next to the "chicken
exit?” As you leave the building, can you find a tribute to the Main Street Light Parade?
It was coming back to Walt Disney World for an encore presentation. Just around the
corner, you'll find one of Goofy's plants, POPcorn on the cob! Don't miss the scarecrow
in Goofy's garden or the bell pepper "clappers" he is growing or the summer squash (some
'er not). Early in the morning, you can hear all kinds of fun great sounds--farm animals,
crop dusting engines etc., a countryside theme, a farm area, etc.. Where else would you
expect to find the farmers. market? This is the Florida countryside. When you go inside
the farmers market, you'll see crates and bags of Florida citrus product. A nice tribute
to the lands of Florida that have been built over. (4) If you go to Mickey.s Toon Town
entrance, near the tea cups just before it opens at 10 a.m., you'll get an escort by several
Disney characters to take you in. (5) The life-like chickens, who for years covered the
road in the famous car crash scene of the mourned "World of Motion," have found a new
home at Mickey's Toontown Fair.

Winnie the Pooh—(1) Deed being handed off in Owl's House. (2) HM on the wall to the
right (FastPass side) where the FastPass line meets the regular line. (3) On the floor of
the Pooh ride, on the right in Owl's house, there is a picture of Pooh and Moley from Mr.
Toad (look to your left as you enter owl's house--a framed picture on the wall, just inside
the doors). (4) 100 Acre Woods playground--go inside the tree and look above the door
facing the Pooh ride, there is a HM in the rocks.

Wishes— (1) View from the walkway to Tomorrowland.

EPCOT—General—(1) The sidewalks twinkle at night. Take the right-hand path after
the Epcot ball. You'll come upon them. Absolutely magical. And the fireflies in the
trees! (2) The distance around the World Showcase, from China to Canada, is 1.2.5 miles.
(3) World Showcase park entrance--we found the upside down classic Mickey in the
clock. (4) The concrete paths around the lagoon are red to make the grass appear
greener. (5) A great, uncrowded place to visit characters is the bench near the rail past
the International Gateway. It's on your right if you're coming form the BC. It might be
across from that first clothing store when you get in. (6) There is a butterfly garden
behind Mouse Gears. (7) Enter EPCOT for FREE! If you're anywhere near the
International Gateway around 9pm, the CMs will open the gates and allow you in to watch
Illuminations. This is a great way to start your trip with some extra magic, especially if
you're staying at one of the Boardwalk area resorts and had an afternoon or evening
arrival.

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African Outpost—(1) Open the lids of the crates and see what happens. (2) If you are
over near China/African Outpost in the early afternoon, the drawbridge goes up and you
can watch them bring out the launching islands for Illuminations. It's a bit of a wait as
the drawbridge is open, so traffic stops and you can't cross the bridge until they finish.

American Pavilion--(1) View the American Flag that was taken from the rubble of
9/11/2001. It will put a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye. (2) When you go to
see the show, you will have to go up to what seems to be the second floor. The reason
for this is that all of the different platforms with the Presidents on them are actually
stored under the seats that you are sitting on. They come sliding out as they are needed
and then go back under when they are finished. (3) The building that the American
Adventure is in is really 5 stories, but has tall doors and windows to make it look like it is
only 3 stories. It's hard to tell, but have one person go stand by the door to the gift
shop, and you'll be able to tell that the opening is about 12 feet high! (4) Was designed
using "forced perspective" (same as the castle in MK) because Imagineers discovered
that a building from that time period would have been too small to be seen across World
Showcase Lagoon. (5) In the American Pavilion, there are paintings along the front wall.
One of the first ones opens to reveal an elevator. (6) The colonial soldiers come out with
the flag, and they have a small band and there is a drummer boy. They do a little
ceremony of sorts. (7) Most of furniture and props are real antiques. In the opening
scene, there is a teapot behind Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain that says "No Stamp
Act" on it -- a real antique. (8) The pictures on the walls of the American Adventure
were all painted by various Disney artists. One picture in particular is an optical illusion.
The picture hangs in the corner to the left as you first enter the rotunda. It is a picture
of a B-17 bomber from back in World War II. In front of the picture is a grey strip of
tiles on the floor. If you stand on the gray tiles and walk back and forth, the plane seems
to swivel to follow you. (9) Take your younger kids (toddler through elementary school)
to see the Fife and Drum Corp at the American pavilion. During the show, the kids all get
to go up with the corps and lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Canada—(1) In Canada, at Epcot's World Showcase, there is a huge "rock" at the Kodak
picture spot. Before IllumiNations-Reflections of Earth begin, the top of the "rock" will
open, and sound and lighting equipment for IllumiNations will come out. I was standing
right by the "rock" when it happened and was amazed at what I was seeing! (2) There
was a walking trail in Canada, with an old abandoned mine and waterfalls? I knew of the
one on the way to see that movie, O'Canada, but supposedly, there is another one--a real
walking trail to show you the landscape of Canada. (3) The waterfall was put there
because the sound of the water masks the fact that there is a huge generator directly
behind it. (4) There is a building in Canada that is only 3 stories high, but has 5 rows of
windows to make it look taller. (5) Do you know how many of the three totem poles are
real? One--There are two on your right and one on your left. The one on your left is a
700# cedar totem pole. Two have two distinct markings that show they are two large
pieces of fiberglass stacked on top of each other. The 30-foot "real" totem pole raised

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there in April 1998 is carved by a renowned Tsimshian Indian carver, David Boxley. The
totem pole is three stories of Raven, a traditional story amongst Northwest Coastal
Indians. The top of the pole depicts the story of Raven tricking the Chief of the Skies
to release the sun, moon, & stars from a carved cedar chest (box). (6) The trees in
Canada are replaced when they grow too big! (7) Also, the plants at Canada change with
the seasons, not to correspond with Buchart Gardens but to simulate the seasons in
Canada. White in winter, gold and red in autumn, etc. They can't correspond to Buchart
Gardens because the weather in Disney is different than on Vancouver Island. However,
the flower gardens there represent Buchart Gardens.

China—(1) The temple in China is acoustically perfect--if you stand exactly in the middle
of the room, your voice will echo back to you. (2) You can purchase a fan, and they will
personalize it for free. They write the name in Chinese. The fan is very inexpensive,
around $4. (3) Pathways narrow to help create the feeling of crowded streets and lots
of people.

Club Kool—(1) When you go into the Coke station, get a little of the "Italy-Beverly"
flavor and act like you are drinking it; then tell everyone how delicious it is. They will all
take a big gulp and gag!!! It is disgusting! (2) Used to be called Ice Station Cool, but now
it's "Club Cool." If you are walking towards the WS from FW, it is on the right-hand side
of the large fountain. If you walk past the fountain, you have gone too far.

England—(1) The Rose and Crown pub in the United Kingdom sells more Guinness beer
annually than any other establishment in the entire world (not just Disney World). (2) A
great sign about butterflies is in England. It starts off as very informative, and then
goes on to become quite hilarious. It is in the gardens by the thatch-roofed cottage.
(3) There is a section in England where you can look up your family name and get
information about it. Names in the book are from ALL countries, not just England
ancestry. There is a book to look up your name then they will pull up info in their
computer, and you can see your family crest and family name history. They have all sorts
of things that you can buy like mugs, shirts, plaques, etc. (4) The Twining Tea Shop in
England was modeled after William Shakespeare's home.

France—(1) The Eiffel tower is the only "carrot" in the WS--the only thing that cannot
be reached by the general public. (2) Since the Eiffel Tower in France isn.t full scale, it.s
coated with a sticky substance so birds won.t perch on it and spoil the illusion. (3) Be
sure to find Belle's library. If you're searching for Belle and Beast, you're almost sure
to walk through, but even if you're not, browse the shops and you'll find yourself there
as well. There are countless references to classic Disney tales. Shelves are lined with
favorite stories and knickknacks like gargoyles from Hunchback and the rose from
Beauty and the Beast. There's also a beautiful stained-glass window, just like the
mosaics during the prologue of B&TB. (4) Between France and Morocco, you'll notice that
there is a section of pavement that looks different. This is supposed to symbolize the
Straits of Gibraltar. (5) France is the only place in the US that you can buy a special line

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of perfume. There are a limited number of bottles. (6) Sometimes there is a Beauty and
the Beast character "show" between the fountain and the perfume shop. A lot of folks
will sit on the edge of the fountain as well as the benches nearby to watch this particular
show. (7) There is a door that says "Door Must Be Kept Closed" or some reasonable
facsimile. If you open it, you'll see the Eiffel Tower from almost directly below and a
service road.

Futureworld—(1) Check out the Jammitors.

Germany—(1) Being in Germany at the top of the hour. At the courtyard in Germany if
you look up towards the back there is a clock. If you are there around the hour, it will
ring, and a German boy and girl will come out (they are made out of wood, they are not
real) and twirl around. Sometimes the clock is a little off on the time, and you have to
wait a few minutes. (2) While you're looking at the train set in Germany, look at the
church on the side of the bridge closer to the lagoon. Over the doorway are, I think, 4
(four) HMs. They are Mickey hats. (3) Also in the train set—On the side of the bridge
farthest from the lagoon, in the brownish-colored castle, on the right side in the
farthest window is a hidden Mickey. It looks like one of the little rubber ones you can
buy. He is dressed up in his suit and is just standing there in the window. (4) If you go
into Germany on the right side, walk straight to the back wall (through the tables and
chairs) and knock on the wall. There is a big mural on it. You will get a hollow sound. It is
a plywood wall that covers the area that was in the original plans for the pavilion,
supposed to be the entrance to the Rhine river boat ride, which never panned out for
whatever reason. (5) A Rhine River attraction was originally planned for the Germany
pavilion. A building was even built for it, but the attraction was never constructed. A
pair of massive wooden doors at the rear of the outdoor cafe is the only indication of the
show building behind the stone castle wall. (6) The pickle tree in Germany! Not a secret
but very cool tradition that our family started after reading about the "pickle" ornament.

Innoventions—(1) Innoventions West, at the IBM exhibit, you can email pictures of
yourself. (2) Innoventions East the ten-second video clip you can email. (3) Look for the
solar-powered lawnmowers at EPCOT.

International Gateway— (1) When you are crossing that little bridge to France you are
symbolically crossing "the English Channel.” (2) At the International Gateway, near
France, on the bridge in the lagoon area, there's a bicycle sitting on the land near the
water with an artist's canvas next to it. The painting there looks finished, too. It took
me a long time to see that Disney detail; it's easily missed.

Italy—(1) If you wander around behind the shops (where the fountains are), look around
for little red press-buttons that say "press for a surprise" (or something to that affect).
If you press the button, water squirts from a different location. It.s always fun to see
where the water comes from when you do it, and then, wait for an unsuspecting person to
walk by. They can't ever figure it out. (2) In Italy, when you are walking towards the

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pavilion, you have the shop with the clothes on the left. OK, that building, the columns
have little men, maybe monks (?) carved into them, a little overhead level. I am not 100%
if I am right on the EXACT location, but there is the corner column, then either the next
one or the one after that (so either the second or third from the end of the corner of
the WS walkway and the one leading into Italy), one of the men is actually holding a
bowling ball. All of the figures seem to be holding something round, but only one has a
bowling ball. I had to have a CM taller than me point it out, as I was too short and could
only feel it with my fingers. The CM told me one of the architects was a bowler and
wanted to leave that in the building. (3) Located in the central plaza of the Italy pavilion,
known as the "Plaza del Teatro," you can find the "Fontana de Nettuno." This fountain
contains the image of Neptune, the God of the Sea, and was inspired by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini's Fountain of Trevi, located in Rome, Italy. The original famous fountain is often
recognized as having been seen in Federico Fellini's classic film, "La Dolce Vita."

Japan—(1) The Japanese pagoda has 5 stories and each symbolizes something. They are
in ascending order, which represent the elements from which Buddhists believe all things
in the universe are created: earth, water, fire, wind, and sky. (2) Upside down classic
Mickeys in gold bells. (3) The statue to the right as you enter Japan was a gift from the
government of Japan when MK opened and was moved to Epcot when it opened. (4) Find
out the times Miyuki makes animals out of candy. She will give them (for free) to some
of the children in the group standing there. It is amazing to watch her do this. (5) I
don't know if this counts as a secret or not, but our family LOVES the Kaki-Goris in
Japan! They are Japanese ices, and they are soooo good...perfect treat for a hot day (and
any day, for that matter). The stand is located right next to the big Pagoda on the left
(if you're facing away from the lagoon).

Mexico—(1) There are relief carvings on the sides of the pyramid in Mexico. They were
added later after they realized that small children liked to climb those little steps!
(2) Free pictures-in the far corner of the Kidcot area. It makes it look like you are
sending a postcard from Mexico. (3) The temple in Mexico was built to look like a Mayan
pyramid

Mission: Space—(1) In the gift store, look at the ceiling. Double Hidden Mickey. I
think I can make out both a classic and a profile hidden Mickey in the same scene.
(2) When you are in the gift shop of Mission Space, look at the walls. It looks like
electrical boxes and wiring. Some of these boxes are Mickeys heads. (3) If you can peel
your head forward while on Mission Space, try all the knobs...they ALL work! Some make
noises within the cabin, others flash lights, but the different switches, etc. are there for
more than decorations! (4) If you DO start flipping all of the switches and turning the
dials and stuff, "Lt. Dan" comes over your speaker and tells you not to touch them.
(5) The Horizons logo is dead center in the middle of the spinning space station in Mission
Space. A tribute to the attraction that was demolished in order to make way for Mission
Space.

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Morocco—(1) All the tiles and carvings in Morocco were hand made and none depict life.
(2) When they light up all the countries in Epcot as part of Illuminations, they do not
light up the temple in Morocco as this would violate their religious beliefs. (3) You can
take a guided tour of Morocco. Times vary, there is no charge, and it is about 20 min, if
I remember correctly. It was run out of the tourism office room (now Tangere Cafe). I
would just ask a CM at Markesh kiosk. It really is worth the time. "The Treasures of
Morocco" tour is 45 minutes, and it is free but you have to sign up at the pavilion in
advance (same day) and the tours do fill. (4) Across from Morocco there is an aqua-duct.
Most people walk by. They grow vegetables and plants there. It is really neat to look at.
(5) When they were asked to join WS, the King was so excited and thrilled that they had
been asked. He sent his own men over there to build it and totally paid for the
construction. It did not cost Disney anything to build. (6) There is a "gold" prayer room
in Morocco that was included for the CM and is open to the public. (7) When walking
through Morocco, take a look at all of the mosaic tile artwork on the walls. You will
notice that each mosaic has at least one cracked/flawed tile in it. This is because these
mosaics were created by Moroccan artisans in a unique arrangement with the Moroccan
government and Disney, as mentioned before. The Moroccan people worship Allah and
believe that only Allah can create something that is "perfect," so every mosaic was
purposely flawed!

Norway—(1) The roof has grass growing on it! Horticulture CMs get up on the roof and
trim the grass with clippers since they don.t seem to have a goat to keep up there as they
do in Norway. (2) There is a secret on the Viking Ship Ride. As you are waiting to aboard
your ship, look closely at the painting on the wall of the Viking Ship, and you will find
Mickey on the ship. (3) There is a talking bench to the right of the theater doors.
(4) Rice cream and cloud horns to die for. (5) The Stave Church is a replica of the
famous Gol Stave Church in Norway, although smaller in scale than the original. The
original Gol Stave Church dates to the early 1200s and is at the Norsk Folke Museum
near Oslo, Norway. There are 28 similar churches still existing in Norway. These 600-
year old buildings are the oldest wooden structures in the world today. They may not last
for long. People claiming to be pagans have set fire to some of these amazing old
churches in recent years.

The Seas w/Nemo & Friends— (1) In Epcot at Sea Base Alfa, look at the beams inside.
You will see a bunch of letters and numbers. The people who worked on building it wanted
to leave something, so the letters and numbers mean something special to each one who
worked on the building (2) When you leave notice the overhang coming out is very large.
That is to give you eyes time to get readjusted to the sunlight. (3) The Living Seas
Pavilion measures 203. in diameter, 27. deep, and contains 5.7 million gallons of salt water.
The Aquarium is so large that Spaceship Earth (160. in diameter) would fit inside with
room to spare. (4) A standard swimming pool holds 20,000 gallons of water. One inch of
water from the surface here can fill a standard swimming pool. (5) Nearly two tons of
food is produced each week for the inhabitants of the Seas. The dolphins dine on herring
and capelin; the West Indian manatees eat lettuce, carrots, sprouts, and fruit. Animal

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nutritionists at The Seas manufacture the coral out of dental plaster, mixing in ground
fish and other food in the process. Divers place about a dozen of these out each day, and
the parrotfish and other coral crunchers eat them up. (6) If you dine at Coral Reef, call
and request a FREE personalized diver sign and menu! (7) The windows in the Coral Reef
restaurant in the Living Seas are 18. high, 8” thick, and are made of acrylic.

Soarin’ —Look for the HM in the golf ball and fireworks.

Spaceship Earth—(1) In Spaceship Earth, there is a scene with a monk sleeping on a book
he is writing. There is a HM in the book as well as names of the Imagineers. (2) The
entrance to Spaceship Earth with the two shops actually created a Wind tunnel, and they
had to make adjustments after it was built. Still gets windy down there. (3) There is a
lift machine at the top of Spaceship earth. It is in the room where the moon is shown
and the vehicle turns backwards to go down. It is used to get Mickey through a hatch
and on top of the attraction for commercials. (4) When you're coming up to the scene
where the artist is painting, look on the wooden table to the left (right there along the
wall). There is a Mickey painted there. I also heard there was a Mickey formed out of
stars in that ride but I have never been able to find it. Anyone know if that's true?
(5) In the scene of "The Renaissance," there is a little table to the left of the scene.
This is where the painter keeps some of his supplies. There is a HM made from paint
rings, like the painter set his cup down three times and it coincidentally made that
certain shape! (6) There are two figures that used to be in the Hall of Presidents: the
sleeping monk used to be Woodrow Wilson & the large bald slave in the Egyptian scene
was William Taft.

Test Track—(1) Test Track vehicles have three on-board computers that have more
processing power than the space shuttle. (2) Test Track is the fastest ride in WDW, at
65 mph. (3) When you leave Test Track, you walk into a room that looks like a factory
with lots of motorized carts overhead moving around and conveyer belts moving parts. It
looks like a HUGE room, but if you walk over to the wall on the right side and stand at the
right angle, you can see that the room is actually pretty small and that they use mirrors
to give the illusion that you're standing in a section of a huge warehouse/factory!

The Land—(1) The address on the mail box in front of the farm house has 82 or
1982 on it. The Park opened in 1982. (2) Watch for the lab set up on the right near
the end of the ride. There is a bunch of green test tubes in the shape of Mickeys head
in the test tube holder on the far right. (3) You can make cookies in the Nestle Junior
Chef Program at the yellow bakery storefront near the Sunshine Season Food Pavilion.
Kids ages 3-10 can help make a batch of cookies. They get a chef hat, a bag of chocolate
chips, & 2 cookies for free! No registration. First come, 1st serve, 1/2 hr long. (4) Did
you know that the 134'-long mural at the Land is made up of over 150,000 tiles? They
represent the layers of the Earth's soil. Both sides of the mural are EXACTLY alike
EXCEPT for one green tile on the right-hand mural which was placed there by the artist
as her "signature." (5) The Garden Grill rotates faster at breakfast than at dinner

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because we spend LESS time eating breakfast. (Disney wants its guests to experience an
entire revolution during a meal.) (They don.t serve breakfast anymore!) (6) The buffalo
and prairie dogs were originally conceived to be part of a ride called Western River
Expedition that was going to be put at WDW instead of Pirates. The ride never made it
to fruition but traces of its inspiration can be seen in several parks!

United Kingdom—(1) When approaching the UK from Canadian side, the first thing you
come up to is the Rose and Crown on your left. When the Imagineers visited the UK, they
determined there were three types of pubs (Public Houses). All three styles are
reflected in the outside architecture of Rose and Crown. One facade is the one you can
see from the water side or Canada side, one facade is the entrance into the pub itself,
and the third is for the fish and chips window. The name Rose and Crown was chosen
because after their study of the four countries, it was determined that the word "Rose"
and the word "Crown" were the two most popular words contained in the naming of Pubs.
(2) As you look in front of you and to your right, you will see a line of shops. The first is
a tea shop. It.s outside and inside architecture represents UK in the 1600s--thatched
roof, huge hearth inside low ceilings, and dark lighting even the style floor. The next
shop represents the 1700s and has a sign out front that says Est. 1702. It has higher
ceilings and basic wrought iron lighting fixtures. If you look at it from the outside, you
can see the cantilever build. That served two purposes-the first was a legal form of tax
evasion. Subjects were taxed on the square footage of the downstairs. Second and even
more visual was what they threw out the upstairs windows into the drains that ran down
the center of the streets. Just another reason gentlemen walked nearer the road and
wore large brimmed hats while ladies walked very near the bldgs. The next building is
1800s neoclassical. See the window styles and even how ornate the window coverings and
lighting are? Look up at the ceiling and how it is painted. As you exit that shop, look to
your right. There is a whole other building over there, and it is in the same 1800s time
frame to stay in sync. Look at the rooftops. See the Mary Poppins style chimneys?
(3) You should now be looking out over the garden area (intended to represent Hyde
Park). If you look to your left, you will see a typical shrubbery maze. Only it is short
hedges so children don't get lost. The British Invasion performs in the gazebo right in
the middle of the maze! (4) If you come on around using the path rather than the road,
you will see a not-a-Garden or more accurately a Knot-a-garden. It represents the local
apothecary. The hedges are grown a foot or so high in the shape of a knot, and each
"section" of the garden had a different herb planted in it. (5) On that path back on the
road to the international gateway was the butterfly box and garden. Disney has plants
that butterflies are naturally attracted to. When the butterflies spin their baby
cocoons, horticulture takes the cocoon and places it in this protective box. It has a top
and four sides but no bottom. As the butterfly hatches, it simply flies out the bottom of
the box. As the plants it is attracted to are right there, they tend to never leave the
British Butterfly Garden. (6) There is a section in England where you can look up your
family name and get information about it. Names in the book are from ALL countries, not
just England ancestry. There is a book to look up your name; then, they will pull up info in
their computer and you can see your family crest and family name history. They have all

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sorts of things that you can buy like mugs, shirts, plaques, etc. (7) The fish and chips
became so popular they added the "fast food" version.

Water Fountains—(1) The shooting water fountains (not the big one) that the kids play in
just before you enter the WS. If you can time it just right, you're unsuspecting buds
will never forget their first encounter with these. (2) The talking fountains are by the
restrooms on the side of Innoventions facing The Land. As you come through the center
of the building walking towards The Land, make a quick left turn. They are right there
and outside Mousegear shop, behind Innoventions West, near the restroom between
Innoventions and HISTA Pavilion, near the play fountain between Future World and
World Showcase (left side of the big fountain in FW as you are walking toward WS).

World Showcase (“WS”)—(1) In the entrance, we found the upside down classic Mickey
in the clock. (2) The frontage of each country is exactly the same, as is the height of
their tallest feature (i.e., mountains in Canada, Eiffel tower, etc.). Some spread out
inside more than others, but the frontage on the walkway is the same. They wanted to
make sure everyone was equal—forced perspective is what makes some look taller.
(3) Check out the different Santas in each different country during Christmas. (4) The
distance around the World Showcase, from China to Canada, is 1.5 Miles. (5) The World
Showcase water area is 185 acres and is larger than Disneyland! (6) The concrete paths
around the lagoon are red to make the grass appear greener. Red and green are
contrasting colors, so it makes the grass appear more vivid. (7) When doing the World
Showcase masks, ask CMs to attach a map of their country with the charm. Most
countries have maps (only USA didn't have one available), and most countries have a
wishing legend on the back of the maps. They are wonderful to read.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

General—(1) Disney's Animal Kingdom encompasses 500 acres, the company's biggest
theme park. The centerpiece is The Tree of Life, 14 stories high and 50 feet wide at its
trunk. (2) Stop and look down at the walkway under your feet. Did you know, for
example, that the leaf prints and mud cracks were made by a mold? The Imagineers
actually took a large patch of mud, made a cast of it, and then reproduced it for the
walkways of Disney's "Africa." They even distressed and widened the naturally occurring
cracks by squirting them with a hard stream of water from a hose. (3) If you.re at the
Animal Kingdom and there's a long line to get in, try going through the Rainforest Cafe.
There's a park entrance at the rear of the gift shop. (4) Each morning, 15 minutes
before the schedule opening time, you can go through the turn styles and head to the
Tree of Life area. Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy arrive to welcome you to the park! Mickey
appears and gets on the truck, and you can follow them into Harambe as the Adventure
Begins in the Animal Kingdom! (5) There is a game that the children can play as you walk
around the park. There are four or five stations throughout. First one you go to, you get
a book, and as you finish each one, you get a stamp. We found this on the way to
Conservation Station. On the right as you walk along the walkway from the train to

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Conservation Building, there is a small garden with a couple of CMs there. They have
different cards and give them to the children, and the children have to find the bugs in
the garden. There is another one on the path to the Lion King Show, one at the front
entrance to the Dino Ride, and another down in the area of the Tree of Life. There was
another one on the trails. They are touchy, feely games. (6) Find the “Jafar” rock.
(7) Slow down and look! Most of the good stuff is things to do, and they are not jumping
out in front of you, like big attractions do. (8) WES PALM! (9) The Oasis Gardens in
Disney's Animal Kingdom was originally going to be called "Genesis Gardens," before it
was decided that the religious connotation of "Genesis" might prove to be too
controversial in the future. (10) There are about 27,000,000 gallons of water in Animal
Kingdom's "Discovery River." That will fill about 1,800 average-sized backyard swimming
pools. (11) The highway sign in Dinoland is route 498 (park opened in April 1998).
(12) If you look at the signs for Animal Kingdom, there is a dragon among the animals on
the bottom. This was supposed to represent "Beastly Kingdom," a land of the park with
mythical creatures that was planned but never developed. (Maybe we got Dinoland USA
instead.) (13) If you are at Animal Kingdom when it opens and you are one of the first
people in line, you may be a first family. They pick families (we were acting goofy when
we were picked) to be the first to be on the rides and usually get to ride the rides alone.
(14) Many of the benches in AK are made of recycled plastic milk jugs. It takes 1,350
jugs to make a single bench. (15) On the way into the parking area for Animal Kingdom,
look for a tall "different" looking tree (not the Tree of Life). It is actually a cell phone
tower in disguise. (16) $1.7 million worms are ordered each year to feed animals at
Disney's Animal Kingdom. (17) At AK, obviously no straws are allowed, but at the Tamu
Tamu refreshment stand, you can order the soda float and get a souvenir Pluto straw-
spoon to keep. (18) While on the Discovery Island Trails, look for a hidden, shaded rock.
In the rock are several small holes that appear to have gotten there by bugs. Peep
through these holes to get direct views of some of the animal carvings on the Tree of
Life. Each peephole leads to a specific view!

Animal Kingdom Lodge—If you go for an evening meal to AKL (Jiko's or Boma's), go early
to view the animals (around 5pm) because that's when the feeding troughs are filled, and
it tempts the animals nearer the viewing areas.

Asia—The mythical land of Anandapur in Asia--note the authentic prayer trees draped
with both faded and new scarves that commemorate dead loved ones. (2) Look on the
ground in DAK's Asia: bicycle tracks!


Camp Minnie-Mickey—While walking on the way to Camp Minnie-Mickey, there are two
talking bushes called Herb and Flora that pass the time by talking to passers-by and very
loudly people-watching with each other. They were very funny, but seem to only be
"alive" for short periods of time. Check 'em out the next time you're there, they had us
crackin' up!

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Conservation Station—(1) If you go to conservation station, there is so much for you and
the children to see and touch. If you get there early enough in the morning, you might
be able to see an operation on one of the animals. During the day inside conservation
station, they put on little hands on shows with animals that are great for children of all
ages. Also, there are tables set up with items about the animals and always someone
there to tell you are the articles on the tables. Outside is the petting area. They do not
let you feed the animals, but have grooming brushes that you can brush the animals. It is
great because the animals do not start eating you clothes or knocking the little one.s
down to get to food. Next to that, there is a small stage where during the day, they put
on cute little shows. They are trying to train animals to do certain things. The best part
of this is that they are not the usual animals. You get to talk with the trainers, and it is
a great little show. Also, on the walk from the train to conservation station there is a
garden on the right-hand side for kids. They are given cards and have to find the bugs in
the garden. Needless to say, the bugs are not real. Our kids have done it at least three
times and enjoy it each and very time. (2) Finding one of the 27 hidden Mickeys in the
mural in the Animal Kingdom Conservation Station.

Dawa Bar—(1) Across from the Dawa Bar is what appears to be an old fort. Don't
assume, as I did, that the area is off limits--there are actually tables and chairs in there!
(2) Slightly behind the Dawa Bar, you will see tables beside the large wall which looks
over the river. Go to the wall and look down. On the bank beside the river, there is a
camp scene with a boat, clothes line, tent, etc. It looks like someone was shipwrecked
there. It.s very cool to go look at while taking a break.

Dinoland USA—(1) A CM pointed this out to me--In Animal Kingdom, in Dino-Land, as you
go under the gigantic dinosaur and head toward Tarzan Rocks, look under the dinosaur to
see if it's male or female. Nothing gross, just the way the lights are presented tells you
what it is. (2) Kids certainly won't want to overlook the Dinoland Boneyard--the play area
is specially made for them to blow off some steam. If they look off to the right, behind
the jeep, they'll see a row of fossils set into the wall. Just hit one and find out what
happens--it's musical! If you can't find the so-called "xylobone," a Cast Member will
point it out to you. (3) The highway sign in Dinoland is route 498 (park opened in April
1998). (4) The red, yellow, and white pipes above the load area at “Dinosaur” are for
Ketchup, Mustard, and Mayonnaise, and the letters on each pipe are their chemical
formulas. (5) During Dinosaur, cars bounce over a big bump in the track. The big bump is
a tail of a long neck Saltosaurus, who then turns around to look at you, and if you sit on
the back two rows, it throws you around a little more then the front two rows. (6) When
you are entering Dinoland by the rides, there are shrubs that spell out Dinoland. It is
where you would go to Tarzan Rocks. Look at the border around them. It is all License
Plates from different states. It is really neat.

Expedition Everest—(1) 1,800 tons of steel were used in the mountain structure. That is
about six times the amount of steel used in a traditional office building of this size.
(2) There is a difference between the FP and standby lines--in the standby line, you buy

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your supplies in the line and go to the booking office. In the FP line, you only get your
supplies. The whole thought is that you are on a fast track to get on your journey.
(3) Imagineering used hammers, chainsaws, and blowtorches to "age" wood and buildings
used in the Expedition Everest attraction, queue, and surrounding areas. (4) Look at the
little temple in Asia in front of Expedition Everest. When viewed from the specific angle,
these tiny temples form the exact shape of the mountain behind them!

Festival of the Lion King (“FOLK”) —Just found this out. We were at the AK on Sunday
and we were walking back to the FOLK--On the path, as you walk to get to the FOLK,
there is a bridge that you walk over. On the right side of the bridge, if you look over
the side to the left, you will see what appears to be a waterfall. If you look closely, it is
actually a dinosaur with the water coming out of his mouth.

Harambe—In Harambe, you might spy a genuine Coke bottle perched atop a utility pole as
an insulator for a power line.

It’s Tough to be a Bug—(1) This one is for the inside of the theatre of It's Tough To
Be A Bug. The announcer says something to the effect of "Will all honorary bugs please
remain seated so the beetles, maggots and cockroaches may exit safely." If you look up
at the ceiling, you will see "swarms" of lights. They all fly toward the doors. Look to your
left at the exit signs and you will see little firefly-type creatures lighting up the exit
sign as they exit the theatre. (2) The Classic Mickey above the Handicap door sign in the
loading area for “It.s Tough to be a Bug.”

Kali River Rapids—(1) Don't miss Mr. Panika's office--the owner of the "business" may
be "out to temple" as the signs indicate, but the two resident geckos who reside in his
gecko cabinet are in all the time. Children will enjoy spotting the little critters, which
are very much alive! (2) On the way up to the top, right after leaving the dock, there are
statues along each side. The crocodile on the right has his nose broken off. It was
broken during an evacuation practice a few months ago. It should look like the crocodile
statue on the left. Actually, it seems to fit in just fine, but she said it was her group
that broke it, so she should know. Also, she pointed out that the waterfall at the top,
right after seeing the crocodile, is in the shape of a lions head. Sure enough, once it was
pointed out to us, it was as clear as could be. It's better viewed just after you pass it,
looking back.

Mickey’s Jammin. Jungle Parade—(1) If you stand near the entrance to Kili Safari, you
will see the parade twice, as it starts and ends at the same spot. We saw the parade in
front of the Dawa Bar. Then, we moved over so that we were facing the Kili Safari
entrance, and the large double doors that the parade goes through were to our left. We
stayed there for about 20-30 minutes, and then the parade came by again. It was
SUPER!! There was almost no one around (several people on the other side of the street,
but no one on our side at all)! The characters spent several minutes with us and our kids,
and we got some great pictures!! But we felt that we had wasted some time with the

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first viewing, as we had staked out our spots about 30 minutes ahead of time. We could
have spent another hour, at least, doing some rides/attractions and then made our way
down to the Kili Safari entrance and seen the parade, which was just as good at the end,
as it was at the beginning. Just be sure, if you do this, that you don.t get blocked in by
the parade and cannot make your way to this SPECIAL SPOT!!

Pizzafari—If you walk up the path to the left, toward Harambe, you'll pass by the
counter service restaurant, Pizzafari, one of the most brilliantly decorated buildings in
the Animal Kingdom. The bright colors are eye-catching of course, but stop in *before*
the lunch crowds gather so that you can study the different rooms with their ornate
murals, walls, and ceilings. Can you identify which room is which? The Home Room,
Nocturnal Room, Upside-Down Room, Camouflage Room, Four Seasons Room, and Bug
Room.

Pocahontas Show—Two of the Pocahontas shows at Animal Kingdom are "training
sessions," per Steve Soares' website. They are not regular shows. They train the animals
to perform the behaviors they use in the regular shows -- sort of a "behind-the scenes"
show.

Primeval Whirl—HMs in the asteroids.

Rafiki.s Planet Watch—There are Mickeys hiding ALL OVER the colorful mural at the
entrance to the main building at Rafiki's Planet Watch. Look for them in the eyes of the
animals and the wings of butterflies.

Safari Ride—(1) Don't just ride once. Different animals can be seen at different times
of the day. Riding first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon are two different
experiences. (2) The flamingo pond is shaped like Mickey! (3) The rocks in the water on
the way to safari ride in AK as you go over the bridge look like animals. Saw one shaped
like an elephant and one like an alligator.

Talking Trash Can—I've seen a talking trash can at AK. Take the train , get off, and
walk all the way down the path till you come to the first building, and depending if your
timing is right, the trash can usually roams around the entrance to the first building.
There is also a talking tree at the entrance to AK. I don't know if there is a particular
schedule for these things. I think you just have to luck out.

Tree of Life—(1) There are approx 320 animals carved into the Tree of Life. (2) When I
was working at Vista-United in 1997, Michael Eisner invited Jane Goodall to come see the
construction of DAK, in particular the Tree of Life. He asked her what she thought
about all the animals being carved in the tree and she asked, "Where is the chimpanzee
going?" After conferring with Zsolt Hormay (chief sculptor), it was discovered much to
ME's embarrassment that one was not included in the over 300 animals. ME told Miss
Goodall to pick a place on the tree and one would be sculpted. She chose the entrance

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outside of ITTBAB so everyone would be able to see David Greybeard; the first chimp
she ever observed. You will notice he is more detailed than the other animals--
multicolored (grey beard), and there is a plaque next to his image describing him. (3) Did
you know that when you walk down the path to the Tree of Life there are places where
you walk through “tunnels?” If you look up at those “ceilings,” you can see a lot of
“critters” up there. Look for a pterodactyl and others. Look up when you go through
those “arches.” (4) The Tree of Life is constructed from an old oil rig. It was the only
thing strong enough to hold its shape.

Tusker House—(1) At the Tusker House Restaurant in AK, you can hear kitchen noises if
you sit in the outside dining area. It sounds like dishes clanging together, sweeping up
broken glass, etc. This is a recording, but it's funny to see how people react when they
first hear the sounds. (2) In the Tusker House restaurant in Africa, there is a sign that
says, "No Smoking as this building is very old." I remember thinking that it can't be that
old if the park opened in 1998!

MGM

General—(1) If you are at MGM in the morning when the park opens, don't go to the
Tower of Terror or RNR, go on the Great Movie Ride first thing with no wait and then go
to Star Tours. You can ride Star Tours for almost an hour with no wait because almost
all the guests are over at the two big rides. (2) The façade at Mickeys of Hollywood is
modeled after Frederick.s of Hollywood. (3) At many of the rides, if one of the kids
wants to ride again but the parents are weary, ask the attendant if he or she can "go
around." At Test Track, they send you up a set of stairs and tell you to follow the yellow
arrows. You can see the ride operator's booth and have a great view of the queing area.
Then you go back downstairs, and it lets out right at the boarding area, and they put the
kid straight back on (no wait) and you go outside to wait for him. (4) This was very neat.
It was the truck (at the front of the park), and if you stepped on a lever and lifted, you
could lift one side up. This was great to watch peoples. reactions when you did it. I did
not see when they removed it, but we have not seen it the last three times (3 years) that
we were there. (5) The date for MGM is on the gas pump (if you get up close and look
at the numbers) right when you first enter the park. (6) At Disney-MGM Studios, there
are yellow painted curbs where lines form for characters that only come out for a few
minutes (i.e., CARS & Power Rangers); get there about 30 min. early, as lines close early.
(7) An aerial view of MGM shows the layout to be a huge Hidden Mickey. (8) ANDY
MATION--If you can find him, he is AMAZING!! He is a Disney fact knowledge guy who
makes the most unbelievable Disney character balloons!!! And, they are FREE!! He only
makes one character an hour. He picks which character, and he picks who he will give it
to. Don't ask him. Don't shout at him. And please don't upset him. While he makes the
character, he gives the best facts about the character he's making, so it's a learning
time for everyone as well as just amazing to watch. I've seen him make Belle, Snow
White, Stitch eating a kid's head, a backpack from Buzz Lightyear. He made my DD
Pluto on a walking stick. He's amazing, but he's hard to find. You'll see a man wearing a

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black beret and a yellow painter's smock with black Mickey heads - that's him!!!

Brown Derby—All the pics in the Brown Derby that are in BLACK frames are copies of
the originals. All the pics in the GOLD frames are the originals from the original Brown
Derby...which no longer exists.

Fantasmic—1) The lagoon where the Fantasmic show takes place is only 1.5 feet deep!
(2) The island stage is surrounded by a 1.9 million gallon moat--enough water to fill every
bathtub in the more than 24,000 rooms on Walt Disney World Resort property--twice.
(3) Animated sequences are projected on three water screens stretching 50-feet high
and 100-feet wide providing an excellent view no matter where you sit. In comparison,
the water screens are more than twice the size of an average 20-foot-by-40-foot movie
screen. (4) To create a surface on which animation can be projected, water screens pump
2,400 gallons of water into the air every minute, and if called upon, call fill the 500,000-
gallon Disney-MGM Studios landmark Earffel Tower in less than three hours. (5) During
his battle against evil, Mickey encounters the villainous Jafar in the form of a 100. long
and 16. high cobra that could fit more than 8,000 average-size King Cobras in its coils.
(6) The mechanical Maleficent dragon in the climactic good vs. evil scene weighs an
astonishing 32,000 lbs. To move the dragon.s enormous body and wings takes more than
2,000 PSI of hydraulic pressure. (7) If stretched out, the river of fire during the
Maleficent dragon scene would circle the entire one-mile tri-oval racetrack at Walt
Disney World Speedway.

Great Movie Ride (“GMR”)—(1) When Disney built the GMR, they purchased a real
Lockheed plane for that scene. It was cut in half, and the back of the plane can now been
seen in the jungles of the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland. (NOT TRUE.) (2) When you.re
sitting in your car waiting for everyone to load in, ask to see the hidden Minnie (it's a
shadow figure hard to spot). Also, when you.re in the underworld scene, look on the
billboard. if you look at the far left hand corner, you'll see a Mickey foot and part of his
tail. When Mugsy takes over the car, look up at the windows you drive by until you stop.
Mickey's head is there (in the windows above the scene on the left-hand side). The last
one I know of is Snow White's body imprinted on the poster next to the stairs where
Mugsy stands. (3) Pharaoh Mickey and Slave Donald are on the BACK wall on the opposite
side from Indy and Salla, just as you're about to leave that room. It is about 1/3 of the
way "up.” (4) Also in the GMR...In the Egyptian-styled section, check out some of the wall
tiles as fast as you can while the ride moves through. Most of them are normal
hieroglyphs, but several have pictures of funny MGM and Disney stuff. For example, one
of the tiles has R2-D2 and another has C-3PO from Star Wars. There are a couple
hidden Mickeys in there too. (5) What is the significance behind the license plate
number "021-429" on the car depicted in the gangster shoot-out sequence of "The Great
Movie Ride?” It is the date of the Valentines Day Massacre---Feb. 14, 1929. (6) Those
talking/sound effects boxes are at MGM. When you get off the tram backstage tour
ride, walk through the building with all the costumes in it and go straight through the
area where you can have photos taken with the phony backdrops. They are on the left-

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hand side near the steamroller from Roger Rabbit. (7) Two different scenarios in the
ride: You will either have a gangster or a robber kick out the CM and take over your car.
You never know which one you will get. (8) Going into the Great Movie Ride, the lions at
the front are not really lions. They are dogs! Supposedly, if you can tell the CM which
one is the female, they will walk you through the back door, bypassing the line. (10) The
belt buckle worn by the John Wayne figure in the "The Great Movie Ride" in MGM was
really worn by The Duke in one of his movies.

Hollywood Blvd—On Hollywood Blvd at MGM, read the names stenciled on the second
floor windows. I recall seeing one that said 'Valiant Detective Agency' from 'Who
Framed Roger Rabbit. (it's above the Hollywood and Vine Restaurant on Echo Lake).

Hollywood Hideaway—Do you know where the Hollywood Hideaway is? This private VIP
Lounge is tucked quietly away at the Disney-MGM Studios for use during private and
special events, but it's really not that hard to find. When Guests need to know how to
get to their special event, simply direct them to Drew Carey's Sounds Dangerous
attraction. Radio Disney is right next to it, and behind Radio Disney...is the Hollywood
Hideaway!!

Indiana Jones—(1) When you.re in line for Indiana Jones, you go past a well. If you pull
on the rope, you'll hear someone down in the well. (2) If you exit the Indiana Jones
Stunt Spectacular theater from the far right-side stairway (as you face the stage), pay
attention as you go onto the landings. Look for the hand of a CM rising above the railing
holding the golden idol from the show's Mayan (or South American in the movie version)
temple. The idea is to pat the head of the idol as you go past.

Lights! Motors! Action!—There is a clothesline at the top of one of the buildings
(during the stunt show, there is a stunt jump from there). One of the items of clothing
on the line has Mickeys!!

The Magic of Disney Animation Secret—You can enter from the exit and stand in line
for the drawing/rendering opt. w/out going through the animation tour. Just ask a CM
for directions. Every 15-20 min. (space is limited). There's a room where they have
pencil and paper and a row of stools and artist type tables, and you get to draw a
character while getting instructions from a Disney artist. It's fun and a great Disney
souvenir for the kids! (If you don't have time right after the tour, you can leave and
come back at a slower time.)

Mann.s Chinese Theater—Look in front of the theater. You can see signatures and
handprints of a lot of celebrities that visited MGM. There are even signatures of some
of the characters too!


Muppet Vision—(1) Look for the key under the doormat at Muppets 3D. Just after you

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go through the turnstile, go to your right and you.ll find a welcome mat. Take a peek
underneath it. (2) In the preshow for Muppet*Vision, in the front, there is a display that
says “2D Fruities” and has a bunch of flat models of fruit. (3) In the preshow Muppet 3D
room at MGM, there is a net full of green Jell-O hanging from the ceiling. It signifies
Annette Funicello. (4) If you go across the street from the Muppetvision show at MGM
(away from Indy Jones and sort of toward the Shrunk playground), there is a fire
hydrant that sprays water at unpredictable intervals. (5) Read the graffiti on the walls!

New York Street—(1) On the street in the New York neighborhood, you can hear
gangsters talking and gun shots inside the buildings. (2) Check out the "Singing in the
Rain" umbrella that is attached to one of the streetlights near the old Hunchback
theater. Grab the umbrella and step on the black square embedded in the cement
underneath it for a nice surprise!


One Man’s Dream—(1) In Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, if you look closely at Walt
Disney's grade-school desk, you can see the initials "W.D." carved into it. (2) The time
that a certain clock is stopped at in Walt Disney: One Man's Dream is the same time
that Walt Disney was pronounced to be dead. (3) Walt's "office"--When you are
standing in front of the glass window to look into his office, you would be in his
kitchenette if you were really in his Burbank office. There were glass doors that opened
into his kitchenette by the push of a button. (4) The room is in reverse of how it was in
CA. I have heard lots of speculation that this was due to a photo negative being
reprinted incorrectly or something else. The fact is the room WDW was working with
had a door on the "wrong" side of the room. So things were placed almost mirror image.
Behind the desk is a briefcase that Walt used to carry home work. There is speculation
that the papers on the credenza behind the desk are papers from Robinson Caruso that
have Walt's red grease pencil markups. The telephone on the desk is the actual
telephone that Walt used every day of his life in his CA office.


Pizza Planet—The "beat-up" delivery vehicle that rests out front is, of course, made to
look like the one in Toy Story that Woody and Buzz ride in, and if you look in the
passenger window, you can find the buckled-in Buzz in the passenger seat. Also, if you
look in the bed canopy, you can find Woody thrashed around with the tool box in back.

Rock „n Roller Coaster (“RNR”)—(1) In the inside queue for Rock n Roller
Coaster....where it loops around a few times (right before you enter the ramp area to the
preshow), on the wall (if you are looking straight back into the room its the wall on your
right-hand side), there is a framed poster on the wall that was the cover of a record
album. On the poster is a large American flag. The flag was added to the poster after
people complained that the large pot leaf on the poster at the time was not appropriate
on a Disney ride. If you look closely at the American flag sticker, you can see the dark
shape of the pot leaf still underneath it. (2) Where in WDW can you find the

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"Highland Apts.?” —The alley behind the Aerosmith's studio by the launch area of RNR.
(3) While waiting to tour Studio C, listen at the doors to Studio A and B, you will hear
sounds from real recording sessions some of which came from Aerosmith's rerecording
for the coaster. (4) While waiting to tour Studio C, you will hear PA calls for various
people. These individuals being called are the Imagineers of the attraction. (5) Take a
look at safety signs in the form of a guitar in the parking structure. It is a tribute to
Elvis. (6) One of the PA announcements in the G-force records lobby is something to the
effect of "phone call for Jude on line one...Hey, Jude, pick up line one!" (7) In the
attraction, take a look at the AC power boxes and other electrical boxes. On these, you
will see the initials and birthdays of the Imagineers. (8) The music posters in the
rotunda will change out (as will the back ground music in the plaza) since G Force is a
record company, and things are always changing in the music biz. (9) Next time you are in
the Rock 'n Roller Coaster ride notice the License plates: (a) 1QKLIMO, (b) UGOGIRL,
(c) BUHBYE, (d) 2FAST4U, (e) H8TRFFC. (10) There is a hidden Mickey on the Rock 'n
Roller Coaster in the recording studio. If you look to your right on the floor, the sound
cables are coiled in the shape of Mickey. (11) Each limo plays a different Aerosmith
track. Some include F.I.N.E, Dude (looks like a lady), Nine Lives, Sweet Emotion, Walk
This Way, and Love in an Elevator. When the ride ends, if you were in the limo that
played Love in an Elevator, the lyrics change to Love in a Roller Coaster? (12) I was told
that ToT's acceleration was just a little more than 1G (a little more than gravity alone)
while Rock & Roller Coaster has more acceleration than that at the very start of the ride.

Star Tours—(1) On the exit side, come out of store, make a left, and look up at the
building. "M" draped flags are there (posts protruding from the building with material
draped over them, creating "M". (2) DH found a Hidden Kermit on line for Star Tours!
There are several droids on you right side just around the corner from the loading zone.
One of the droids looks like an animatronic Kermit the Frog without the green skin.
(3) As your leaving the droid room entering the staging area, look up and you'll see 2
mechanical birds--a neat homage to the 2 crows (ravens?) on Splash Mt. just before the
big drop. (4) A little Star Tours tip. Listen to the announcements. I'm not sure if they
still do it, but they used to page an Egroeg Sacul. George Lucas backwards. It might be
on Space Mountain though; I forget because I haven't listened for it in a while. Also
listen for the reference to THX1138, seen in all of Lucas' films! (5) You can ride without
the bumps; just ask for a motionless flight check version. (6) "Do you know about the HM
on the tree outside Star Tours?" It is the huge central tree, directly across from the
Imperial Walker towering above you and high on the trunk, just below the walkway
platform for the Ewok village above. (7) The boxes circulating over you in the second
queue area are all stenciled with letters and numbers, such as "PAD 61257" and "KMS
81850." These stand for the initials and birthdates of Imagineers who worked on the
attraction.

Stars & Cars Motor Parade—After the Stars & Cars Parade, around 3:45-4:00, some of
the characters from the parade go into a door by the Great Movie Ride. Then, around
4:15, they come out for Meet and Greets by the hat. You can wait for them as they go in

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and come out and get pictures. Most of the characters will talk or wave and let you take
their picture.

Tower of Terror (“TOT”)—(1) As you walk through the lobby, you will see a pair of
glasses with the lenses broken. This honors the Twilight Zone's episode with Burgess
Meredith: The last man on earth after an atomic blast who LOVES to read. He finds the
remnants of a library and is all set to finally read to his heart's content, when he
accidentally breaks his glasses!! (The glasses also make a HM.) (2) Images of Mickey
Mouse have been hidden throughout the attraction by mischievous Imagineers. During
the entire show, for example, the little girl is holding a Mickey Mouse doll (one of the
first Mickey Mouse dolls ever made, and it is the only HM that the design team has
confirmed). Also, look for the famous silhouette of three circles along the balcony railing
just before you enter the building and as a water stain on the wall in the boiler room.
Although probably not intentional, the bell for the elevator above Rod Sterling.s head in
the Library film also bears a resemblance to those famous mouse ears. A reference to
Mickey can also be seen in the sheet music in the Library which is a copy of actual music
written in the 1930s. (3) The luggage in the lobby is a complete set made from genuine
alligator skin. While looking through a 1930s furniture catalog, Imagineers decided to
call the company to see if they were still in business. They were, and Walt Disney
Imagineering had them reproduce two settees for the lobby. (4) It is said that
Imagineers had mahjongg players set up the game in the lobby so that guests who know
how to play the game can see that it is authentic. (5) The top speed for The Twilight
Zone Tower of Terror is said to be about 39mph. (6) When you board the elevator, on
the left side, outside of the elevator itself, is an inspection certificate that's dated
Oct. 31, 1939 and signed by "Cadwallader." Cadwallader was a character in the sixth
Twilight Zone episode, "Escape Clause," who actually turned out to be the Devil himself.
The inspection certificate number is 10259, which is cool because The Twilight Zone's
first episode ("Where Is Everybody") premiered on Oct. 2, 1959. (7) In the Fifth
Dimension scene on the Foxtrot side, the swirling stars form a HM just before they
disappear. (8) Unofficial HM-- when the elevator doors open the first time in the long
hallway, if you look up at the hallway where there is a slight kind of doorway overhead,
there is a HM right in the dead center. It's pretty easy to see. Just look straight ahead
in the middle upwards. (9) Has anyone seen the dummy from a Twilight Zone episode?
When you are on TOT and your elevator gets to the bottom and you turn toward your
door, he is sitting in a chair off to the side. (10) The bldg. is 199. tall. It was supposed
to be 200., but for a structure 200. tall, you need lights at the top for airplanes to see.
So it is 199. tall to keep the spooky feeling! (11) In Tower of Terror, when you first go
into the library to watch the movie, go all the way to the right by a bookshelf and there
will be a book open of a song and the title is "What, no Mickey Mouse?" (12) As soon as
you enter the lobby, on the right, is the concierge desk with glasses on it. On the wall
behind and above it is a large, dark plaque that says AAA13 Diamond Award hotel.
(13) On the Tower of Terror, the elevator doors that open up to the view of the outside
are built to add a bit of fear and excitement but mainly to relieve the air pressure that
builds up inside the elevator shaft. (12) I was told that TOT's acceleration was just a

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little more than 1G (a little more than gravity alone) while Rock & Roller Coaster has more
acceleration than that at the very start of the ride.

The Voyage of the Little Mermaid—(1) The wood floor of the ante-room of Voyage Of
The Little Mermaid is fake. It has a "shelf paper" photograph of wood pasted on (I think
concrete) which was then varnished. This technique is also used a lot on inexpensive
particle board furniture and might be elsewhere at WDW too.

RESORTS

General—(1) The only place in the MK where you can see the CR is Tomorrowland. The
only place in the MK where you can see the Poly is Adventureland. (2) At both the
Contemporary and the All-Star Resorts, there is a time referred to as "Children of the
Day." I believe each resort chooses two "Children/Families of the day." At the start of
day - child/family, using the lifeguard megaphone, announces "Lifeguard on Duty." End of
day - child/family, using the lifeguard megaphone, announces "Lifeguard Off Duty."

All Star Movies—If you count all of the Dalmatians (the icons plus the puppies on the
buildings), you will come up with 101 Dalmatians!

All Star Music—(1) The curtains have the music for "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Da" on them!
(2) You will see a series of musical notes scattered around the lobby. These musical
notes represent a favorite Disney tune - When you wish upon a star!

Animal Kingdom Lodge—(1) Offers several free programs: (a) a guided tour of the
hotel's African art collection at 2 p. m, (b) a Culinary Tour of Africa at 4 (in which you
get to meet the chefs at Jiko and Boma, and eat free samples; great if you want to learn
more about the food before you actually eat there), and (c) a Cultural Safari at 9 p.m. led
by an African CM, who tells you about their homeland. (2) They have a parade for the
kids through the lobby at 8pm. The kids get to pick out an instrument from the gift
shop, and they march around playing drums and then get a certificate.

Beach & Yacht Club—(1) At Beaches N Crème, there's a cool old Wurlitzer jukebox full
of Rock „n Roll classics that plays for free. (2) The Yacht/Beach Club and Old Key West
both have horticultural tours of the resort grounds one day a week. They're free.
Inquire at guest services at the resort. (3) The vintage car near the front entrance of
Disney's Beach Club Resort is a mint-condition 1927 Chevy Depot Wagon, or "Woody
Huckster," complete with wooden steering wheel, one manually operated windshield wiper,
and a wood cabinet seating area with bench seats.

Boardwalk—(1) Sound of seagulls overhead - even when there are no birds around. (2) In
the rooms, postcards are printed on the curtains. Those are real postcards that were
used and have different people's messages on them.

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The Contemporary—(1) The contemporary doesn.t have a 13th floor. (2) Look for the
five-legged coat in the mosaic tile mural near the monorail. (3) The highest point for the
monorail is while it is going through the Contemporary.

Fort Wilderness— (1) The name "Fort Wilderness" came from the fort on Tom Sawyer.s
Island located at DISNEYLAND® Park in Anaheim, California. (2) On Opening Day, a
total of 40 CMs welcomed guests to the resort. It opened with 232 campsites. (3) Tree
Trunk Trashcans: The tree trunk trashcans featured at the resort contribute to the
rustic theme. These trashcans are recycled props obtained from the retired Indian
Village attraction that was open in Frontierland at DISNEYLAND® Park in California
from 1955 to 1971. (4) Pioneer Hall: Pioneer Hall opened on April 1, 1974. The
architecture and theme of Pioneer Hall is based on buildings constructed in the late
1800s and is comprised of two stories. Pioneer Hall is home to the popular Hoop-Dee-Doo
Musical Revue, Trail's End Restaurant, and Crockett's Tavern. (5) Lawnmower Tree--
"The Lawn Mower Tree" is a tree embedded with lawn mower parts. The tree is located
100. away from the marina building and 5. off the path leading to Pioneer Hall. There is a
plaque there about it. (6) Tri-Circle D Ranch: The Tri-Circle D Ranch opened with the
Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground on November 19, 1971. The Ranch includes two
barns and a petting farm. The two barns are situated 1 1/2 miles apart. One barn is
located near Pioneer Hall and serves as the home for draft horses, such as those that
are used on Main Street, U.S.A., at the MAGIC KINGDOM® Park. This barn also houses
the ponies that are used for special events such as weddings, pony rides on the Ranch,
and "Meet and Greet" with Guests at DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM® Theme Park. The
second barn, the Trailblaze Corral, is located near the entrance to Fort Wilderness
Resort & Campground and serves as the home for the Saddle horses that are used for
the Trailblaze Corral Trail Rides around the Ft. Wilderness Resort & Campground. On
average, there are 80-85 horses on the grounds. The petting farm includes the following
animals: chickens, cows (Dexter breed), donkeys, goats, horses, miniature horses, pot
bellied pigs, and sheep. Unique animals that have also found a home at Tri-Circle D Ranch
include: Roadsweeper and Bonjara, two of the only 26 registered Gypsy Vanner horses in
the United States have been living on the Tri-Circle D Ranch since July 2002. Historical
Note: Minnie Moo, a Holstein cow famous for her natural Mickey Mouse shaped black
spots, lived on the Tri-Circle D Ranch from November 1990 through July 2001.
(5) Wilderness Cabins: The resort's log cabins, which were introduced in 1997, feature a
Northwest Territory themed exterior. The interior details include lantern lamps above
the kitchen table and chairs constructed to resemble tree branches giving the cabins a
more authentic wilderness look. (7) Trailblaze Corral Trail Rides: Guests can enjoy
guided trail rides through the wooded area around Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort &
Campground (Southeastern portion of the Resort). Check-in for the trail rides is located
at the kennel, adjacent to the main parking lot entrance to Disney's Fort Wilderness
Resort & Campground. The guided trail ride is 1.8 miles long and takes approximately 45
minutes to complete. (8) Ride the boat from Wilderness Lodge to Fort Wilderness or
vice versa--about half way between the two resorts on the Fort Wilderness side of River
Country, there is a Cypress Tree away from the shore line with dozens of pairs of shoes

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on it. Whenever anyone from "Watercraft" retires, all the staff go out there and the
retiree puts a pair of shoes on the tree. It is just part of their small retirement
ceremony for each other. (9) Lobby fireplace--Classic Mickey in the stonework. (10) HM
in the stream by the geyser.

Grand Floridian—(1) If you stand in the lobby on Wednesdays between 8 and noon, the
WDW florists come in and change the flowers. You can get some of the old ones! (2) If
you go to the Grand Floridian, behind the service desks are the original keys of the Grand
Floridian rooms. If you are a very polite and nice to the cast members, they just might
give you one as a souvenir! (3) If you are the first person to rent a water sprite from the
dock of the Grand Floridian in the a.m. (8:00am open), you have to ring a ship.s bell, and
then, an eerie song starts playing. Then, a cast member gets on the PA and asks who be
wakin. the sleeping pirates this early in the morning. Then, they start play Pirates Life
for Me. They asked for our name and sent us to our boat. We came back in an hour and
were given our "Magical Moment Certificate" and were told our pirates share for the day
was credited back. He then gave me a full refund of the hour boat ride!

Polynesian—(1) Lie on the beach and watch the Electrical Water Pageant and then the MK
fireworks. (2) They have a ceremony when they light all the Tiki torches at night.
(3) Every morning, the beach sweeper leaves huge HM designs raked into the sand on the
beach. In order to view these, you need to be at the Poly before a lot of people have
walked on the beach... as they do get trampled over as the day wears on. (4) Coffee
lovers, take a minute to grab some great brew at Kona--the stand outside of the cafe (or
visit the cafe itself for some great breakfast choices). MUCH better than the brown
tepid water served at the parks/resorts! (4) There is a HM among all the circles of
bamboo (or some kind of wood) as you are going up the stairs to the second floor of the
Polynesian to the restaurants.

Pop Century—(1) On the playdough characters, there are fingerprints in the elephants.
ears. (2) An often-missed free attraction at the Pop Century Resort--in the main dining
area and next to the gift store, at 5 p.m. and sometimes at 8 p.m., they have free prizes
for kids. They make them do little limbos, singing, etc. to win, and all get a prize. It is
small Disney stuff but it's fun to see the crowds gather to watch all the kids.

Wilderness Lodge—(1) Free tours Wednesdays-Sundays at 9 a.m. that tell you how the
hotel was built and a little about the architecture. Ranger Stan is a fountain of Disney
knowledge! (2) If staying at WL, you can ask to be the flag family, where, if chosen, in
the morning, you are brought through the hotel to the roof where you and your family can
raise the 3 or 4 flags up the posts and get some very rare picture opportunities. (3) If
you're a Walt Disney buff, go to the Iron Spike Room at the Wilderness Lodge villas.
They have two train cars from Walt's personal backyard railroad. (4) The Lodge was
designed to look like a bear. At night, you can see it very clearly. On the top of the main
lodge, there are two windows that peak out that make the eyes. The huge light fixture
makes his nose/mouth and finally the wings of the hotel and the lights on the walkways

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make the arms and claws!

Wilderness Lodge Villas—(1) The sound of a chainsaw buzzing in the woods if you sit on
your back porch long enough. (2) The sound of an owl "hooting" when you are walking
from the lodge to the villas.

HISTORY

Anyone know exactly what happened to spark Walt Disney's idea of building Walt Disney
World?

Well...when Walt was alive, he used to stand at the exit of Disneyland wishing the guests
a farewell at the end of the night. NO ONE ever left the park before closing time. One
night, a family walked by and was leaving the park before closing time, and Walt stopped
them. He asked them why they were leaving early, worried that maybe a CM was rude or
something bad happened. They said everything was wonderful, but when they were on the
skyride, they saw the highway and could see there was a lot of traffic. They wanted to
get a head start home to beat the traffic. Walt would have none of it, so he decided
that day he would build a bigger park and make it a "world" instead of just a "land.” He
wanted it to be that once you enter Disney World you have no ties with the outside world.
Since Disneyland is in the middle of the city and is so small, one couldn't do that. With a
new world, you are engulfed in all that is Disney. Thus, the idea for Disney World was
born (which was later renamed "Walt Disney World" by Roy Disney).

This isn't about a theme park, but it's very interesting. It's a story that the CM who
gave us a KTTKT told us: Before Walt Disney started his own company, he was a young
cartoonist looking for work. He signed on with a very small and little known company and
started drawing and creating. He created a rabbit that he named "Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit". Apparently, this company loved the rabbit, but wanted to make some changes.
Walt refused, saying that this was his creation and he didn't want it changed. He then
sold the rights of his creation to this company and quit to set out on his own. The
company? Warner Bros., who then renamed Walt's creation "Bugs Bunny!"

Link to the whole story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit

KEEPSAKES

Pressed Pennies— (1) Avoid the bight shiny pennies. Depending on what penny you use,
you may get a smear of zinc (silver looking metal). In 1982, pennies were made with both
copper and zinc. Use pre-1982 pennies. (2) You might want to get the design pressed
onto the "face" of the penny because the "tail" side sometimes leaves parts of the
monument and you end up with an incomplete image. (3) Generally, if you insert the penny
so that the "face" side is to the right, that is the side that will be pressed with the
design. Also the quarter to the far left tends to be the quarter that gets pressed in

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Quarter Presses.

DOWNTOWN DISNEY

Christmas Shoppe—(1) In the very last room where they do the embroidery, look up. The
the rafters look like lattice work. If you look carefully, you will see HMs in it. (2) At
least once a day in the Christmas shop they have a Magical Moment. One of the CMs
chooses a child and has that child color in a paper ornament and then signs it, and they
hang it on the Christmas tree there with the ones that have already been done.

World of Disney— (1) Get a Magic Moment Certificate from Information.

CAST MEMBERS— (1) If you ask a cast member for directions, they will point with two
fingers because pointing with one finger is considered rude.

WATER PARKS— (1) The old "swimming hole" of River Country still stands to this day.
Although it is abandoned and visitors are not allowed on its premises, it can still be
viewed from the water. If you rent a Sea Raycer in the Seven Seas Lagoon, look on the
map they provide you for an island known as Discovery Cove (Island). Right across the
way, you'll see the old little swimming hole formerly known as River Country. (2) You can
also see parts of it when you go to Mickey's Backyard BBQ. (3) At Blizzard Beach,
there.s a hidden ice gator. If you are in Melt-a-Way Bay facing Summit Plummit and if
you look in the rocks in between the two life guard stands on the right side of the pool
(the two known as Wave One and Wave Two), just above and to the left of Wave One, you
will see carved in the rocks an outline of an alligator. (4) When at BB and waiting for the
chairlift back to the top, get into the single rider.s line, if you don't mind being split up.
This is much quicker. (5) Summit Plummit is the tallest waterslide in the world!

GOLF—If you have the first tee time on any morning at any of the golf courses, you are
allowed to select the pin placement on the finishing hole. You can make it as tough or
easy as you want. Next to the green is a sign saying "so and so" from "insert city" chose
the pin placement today.

Downtown Disney

At Pleasure Island, the nonsensical historical plaques showing how they relate to
Merriweather Pleasure on all the buildings.

Polynesian

The ladybug release program takes place at the Polynesian Resort every Thursday
morning at 11:00 a.m. and also at 10:00 a.m. at the Wilderness Lodge. Each guest is given
a matchbox containing some ladybugs. You then release the ladybugs onto the nearby
plants. Ladybugs are attractive carnivorous insects that eat other "bad" insects. By

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using this process, Disney World has managed to reduce their chemical pest control by
more than 70%. This is an educational experience for your child that could come in handy
if your child is expected to hand in some educational papers for school concerning their
trip. The ladybug release is free and open to anyone who wishes to participate.

Pioneer Hall— Pioneer Hall opened on April 1, 1974. The architecture and theme of
Pioneer Hall is based on buildings constructed in the late 1800s and is comprised of two
stories.


Reception Outpost— The Reception Outpost opened in July 1973 and was constructed of
pine logs imported from Montana.

Wilderness Cabins— The resort's log cabins, which were introduced in 1997, feature a
Northwest Territory themed exterior. The interior details include lantern lamps above
the kitchen table and chairs constructed to resemble tree branches giving the cabins a
more authentic wilderness look.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

1. The Disney-MGM Studios were originally designed to be a new pavilion for Future
World at Epcot. When Eisner and F. Wells saw the plans for it, they decided not to
limit the concepts and ideas to one attraction, and thus, a 3rd theme park was born.
2. In MGM there is a hidden attraction, it is Gertie the Dinosaur. She is a tribute to
the vaudeville actor and artist Windsor Mackay. About 1912, he decided to spice up
his act with a cartoon of a railroad, projected on the screen, and he would interact
with it. The audiences thought that this was trick photography. He then decided to
come up with Dinosaur Gertie. This was before the concept of the multiplane
camera or even cells. He made about 14,400 drawings on rice paper. Each one not
only had Gertie drawn on it but also had the background scenery (silent movies had
16 frames per second and this ran about 15 minutes or 900 seconds). He started this
act in 1915. The audiences recognized at this point that Gertie was a cartoon and
could not be trick photography. This was the first recognized projected cartoon.
Many years later, Walt Disney met Windsor's son. The son was very happy to meet
Walt, but Walt was even happier to meet him. Walt told the son that "I owe
everything I have done to the idea started by your father". There is a small sign
near Gertie in the park, but it does not go into this detail.
3. Tower of Terror--When you fall the first time (only in the left shaft) all the way on
the bottom, there are black statues of the family with their luggage.
4. The break room for the Tower of Terror is located between the two drop shafts.

EPCOT

To minimize crowds, start in Mexico and proceed clockwise around the various countries.

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Once again people tend to go to the right starting in Canada.

Off Kilter: 30-minute concert (Canada)

You can see a letter signed by G Washington in the restaurant. (Morocco)

Catch the Mariachi band (Mexico)

Try the delicious open face sandwich at the Norwegian bakery. It has lots of smoked
salmon & chopped egg. High protein, light, delicious!

In the Norway pavilion, you'll notice that the buildings are built very close together. If
they allowed more distance between them, the pressure from the snow accumulation
would eventually push the walls in.

World Showcase

Watch for street performers in all the lands. The World Showcase Players often select
people from the audience to help with their skits. I was chosen to play Ebeneezer
Scrooge in (the "silly" version of) "A Christmas Carol" last Dec.! I even had a line: "Bah
humbug! Harumph!" (And I got to say several times!) Other audience members played
Marley and Tiny Tim, but I was the star. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.
When it was over, they gave me a little badge that says "Honorary World Showcase
Performer".

Each of the cast members in the pavilions in the world showcase are “interns” that are
citizens of the presented country.

Do the Hidden Treasures of the World Showcase tour. If you are into trivia and want to
learn the secrets of every country, this is a tour for you.

We found two hidden Mickey's that we have not heard about on here yet. One is on the
FW program paper they gave us. It is a 'knot' in the grain of the wood below the
wording. Second one was when we got Jasmine.s autograph at Epcot. The mural behind
her has all sorts of little buildings. One of the towers has a small window with the
Mickey shape.

Pirates of the Caribbean

WDW's POTC opened on the seventh anniversary of Walt Disney's death.

Resorts

It would take more than 20 million, 12-ounce cans of Coca-Cola to fill one of the

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humongous Coke cups at the Home-Run Hotel in Disney's All-Star Sports Resort.

It would take nearly 9.5 million tennis balls to fill one of the tennis ball cans at Center
Court Hotel in Disney's All-Star Sports Resort. That's enough to stretch from Walt
Disney World Resort to Key West.

World's Largest . . . Stormalong Bay, Disney's Beach Club Resort swimming area, holds
750,000 gallons of water, making it the largest sand-bottom pool in the world.

The musical staff notes across the registration desk at Disney's Port Orleans Resort-
French Quarter spell out the first verse of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

If you wanted to stay in all the guestrooms in all of the hotels and resorts currently open
on Walt Disney World property (at a rate of one per night), it would take more than 72
years.

Horticulture

50,000 sprinkler heads and 2,000 miles of irrigation pipe are needed to water more than
3,500 acres of landscaping at Walt Disney World Resort. Since 1971, more than 100,000
trees and 2 million tended shrubs have been planted.

Each year, a horticulture staff of more than 600 plants 3 million bedding plants and
annuals and maintains millions of other plants including more than 2 million shrubs, 13,000
roses, and 200 or so topiary.

The "Liberty Oak," which is the focal point of the Liberty Square area in the Magic
Kingdom, is the proud parent of more than 500 young trees. They all started out as
acorns harvested from the majestic oak.

Earth Day 1991 signaled a "moving" experience for an impressive oak -- a 55. tall tree
weighing in at nearly 85 tons. It was moved 12 miles across WDW property. It is doing
well in its new "digs" serving as a centerpiece for the Ol' Man Island recreation area at
Disney's Port Orleans Resort-Riverside.

THEME PARKS

Walt Disney World is home to Florida's two highest "mountains." In the Magic Kingdom,
Big Thunder Mountain rises 197 feet above Frontierland. Space Mountain in
Tomorrowland is 180 feet tall.

If you're enjoying fresh vegetables at the Garden Grill, Sunshine Season Food Fair or
Coral Reef restaurants at Epcot, chances are they were grown right in the theme park.
Last year more than 30 tons of fruits and veggies were harvested from The Land

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pavilion's greenhouses.

Spaceship Earth, the visual and thematic centerpiece of Epcot, weighs 16 million pounds -
- more than three times that of a Space Shuttle fully fueled and ready for launch. The
outer "skin" of Spaceship Earth is made up of 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles.
Also, did you know that rainwater never falls off the sphere? It's absorbed into the ball
and funneled away.

If you emptied the water from The Living Seas in Epcot into one-gallon milk jugs and laid
them side by side, they would stretch from here to New Orleans, Knoxville ,or Raleigh --
540 miles. And the recipe for the artificial sea water called for 27 truckloads of sodium
chloride or common table salt.

The fountain at Epcot Innoventions Plaza can shoot water 150 feet in the air -- within 30
feet of the top of Spaceship Earth. If all of the shooters were fired at once, there
would be 2,000 gallons of water in the air.

More than 26,000. of lights outline the Epcot World Showcase pavilions -- a string long
enough to stretch across the Golden Gate Bridge more than six times.

Spaceship Earth at Epcot is the tallest attraction at Walt Disney World Resort. The
giant Sorcerer Mickey hand and wand make the attraction approximately 240 feet at its
highest point. It tops The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror at the Disney-MGM Studios

(199 feet), the Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle (185 feet), and The Tree of Life at
Disney's Animal Kingdom (145 feet).

The Earffel Tower, Disney-MGM Studios' water tower landmark, would wear a hat size of
342 3/4.

[DisMc]

Nice thread! :wizard:

[yekcoh_99]

Wow!!!

[disneyxo]

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to post this. Lots of interesting information.

[Red_Rider]

Wow, this thread is AMAZING!!! Thank you so much!!!!

[MorenaSangre]

Great stuff - that's the kind of thing I love to know. As a (fairly) local resident and AP holder, I enjoy seeing the little details as much as the "big Stuff."

I haven't read in depth yet, but skimmed and didn't see the mention...I had heard that appropriate leftover food from Disney restaurants that was not fit for human consumption was sent to AK for "recycling" in some animal diets. Anyone know if that has any truth?

[knewton64]

COOL THREAD:goodvibes.

[Ecboyd]

The "I made Magic" stickers are no longer available. We asked in nearly every store on Main Street and at City Hall.

: (
Nope, no more I made Magic stickers.

So we Made Our OWN!