Wow, Disney Trivia is one of my favorite things, and there is tons and tons of it. Here are a few tidbits:
- Both Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean were originally intended to be walk-through attractions featuring wax statues, crude animatronics and a number of other illusions. However, since bringing crowds through on foot would have been a logistical nightmare, Disney employed the omni-mover ride system so that all guests moved through the attraction at a set pace. This system has now become standard for just about all of Disney's dark rides.
- Florida law states that any structure over 200 ft tall must include a red flashing light on top. Because of this, no ride is higher than 200 ft. Expedition Everest is the tallest, measuring over 190ft.
- Cinderella's castle, though only 189ft high, looks much taller because it was built with forced perspective. That is to say that at the bottom of the structure, it is built larger than scale, and at the top, it's built smaller than scale. This way, it appears to the eye to be much taller than it is. Many of Disney's structures are built this way, except the America's building that hosts the American Adventure at the World Showcase. This building was built OPPOSITE, so as to give the impression that a very large building would appear much smaller than it actually is.
- The Living Seas has one of the largest aquariums in the world. The main tank is large enough to fit Spaceship Earth completely inside of it, and have over 10 feet of room to spare around the sides.
- Animal Kingdom is Disney's largest park. The entire Magic Kingdom park could fit in the area used by the Safari ride alone.
- The entire property that makes up WDW is over twice the size of the island of Manhattan in New York.
- At Mumpet Vision 3D at MGM, once you enter to your left, the ticket booth has a sign that says "be back soon, key under the mat." If you look to your feet, you will find a mat on the ground. Lift it up and there is an actual key underneath.
- Spaceship Earth actually has no interior supports. The spiral track system is it's only support. Also, in order to keep it from becoming a waterfall when it rains, there is a complex system of gutters and drains hidden underneath the silver tiles on the rides exterior. It channels rain water and sends it into the nearby Seven Seas Lagoon.
- Due to the number of animatronics required for Spaceship Earth, imagineers didnt have time to create unique characters for everyone needed. They used pre-existing molds that were created for other animatronic characters from other Disney attractions. If you look closely, you may recognize some familiar faces, including a number of our presidents.
- The People Mover in MK's Tomorrowland runs on a linear induction ride system. The ride is propelled by a well-synchronized series of electro magnetic impulses that move the ride forward. It uses no fuel, and opperates cleanly and efficiently. This same system is used by Rock n Roller Coaster to launch riders from 0 - 60 in less than 3 seconds.
Those are just a few, and someone may want to double check me, I'm just running off of memory here. Like I said, there is a ton of this stuff, and once you really start to realize how much effort and thought go into these parks, you truly realize how impressive and amazinig they are.
and 13 
love this stuff, too.
