Random WDW Info - I Never Knew!

[willis37862]

The only place outside the Coca-Cola World HQ in Atlanta to try a variety of Coke flavors from around the world is Ice Station Cool, Epcot.

They have also done this at Dollywood(tn) for their festival of nations. I don't like those other cokes very much though . It is interesting to know what others are drinking though.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

The Shoe Tree
When we went on our Wishes Cruise last summer our driver (who was terrific) brought us over to see The Shoe Tree. We were amazed to see a tree in the middle of Bay Lake with a whole load of shoes hanging off its branches! He explained that there it's a tradition for WDW boat drivers to throw their shoes onto the tree on the day they retire.

We saw that!!! I wondered about the shoes! Thanks for posting this.

 

[philaround]

They also wet down the sidewalks in Fantasyland before and (maybe after) Wishes for safety reasons.

Actually there are water pipes on the roofs of the Fantasyland Buildings, similar to sprinkler lines in bldgs. They turn the water on at the start of the fireworks and water runs down the slopes of the roofs and down the sides of the buidings to the ground. The areas that get wet are roped off prior to the fireworks so no one can stand there.

 

[annie1995]

Just subscribing!

 

[DebIreland]

For those posting in order to subscribe, I just wanted to let you know you can subscribe to a thread by going to 'Thread Tools' at the bottom left of the screen and click subscribe - you don't have to post.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I've been wondering about those big baobob trees in Africa in Animal Kingdom. I saw one near the entrance to the safari, and also along the safari route. They look like they are upside down, with roots up in the air.

One of the cast members said they are real and Disney brought them all the way from Africa and planted them. But later I read something online that said they are artificial. I am wondering which is true? If they brought them from Africa, wouldn't there be the worry of bringing in disease or insect infestation to Florida?

~~~~spoiler warning ~~~~




They are fakes, the Backstage Sarari ruined that for me! The Imagineers did a great job, but since i have known they are fakes, we got stopped right next to one on the safari and studying it a little more closely I could see a few things that looked out of place on the trees. Of couse nothing in nature is perfect, either so it could have just been part of the charm, but they are fakes.

 

[never_enough_pooh]

These are great... keep them coming!!!

 

[WDW LOVR]

WDW has ~55,000 employees making it the largest single site employer in the US (and I think the world, but who knows about China or India).

There are ~1200 transport drivers at WDW.

 

[AmyBWV99]

These are too much fun!

 

[mattsdragon]

This is an urban myth.

From oscar.com:

How the statuette got the nickname Oscar isn't clear. A popular story has been that Academy librarian and eventual executive director Margaret Herrick said that it resembled her Uncle Oscar. A reporter allegedly overheard her and helped brand the golden guy. In any case, by the sixth Awards Presentation in 1934, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used the name in his column in reference to Katharine Hepburn's first Best Actress win. The Academy itself didn't use the nickname officially until 1939.

Speaking of Urban Myths. . .

Walt Disney was not Dishonorably discharged from the military. There is no certificate of such a deed hanging upside down in his office in his scenes in Wonderful World of Disney (you don't get a certificate for dishonorable discharge). He was an ambulance driver during WWI (too young for enlistment). During WWII, he was deemed too important to the homefront effort in support of the war.

 

[mattsdragon]

When we did the IllumiNations cruise last summer, our skipper asked us if we knew why the Swan / Dolphin didn't blend in with the other water-themed hotels in the area. (That's always bugged me -- and it always seems to shatter the illusion when you're strolling the Board Walk and see those modern high rises over there!)

Nobody knew, so he explained.

He told us that the S / D were actually built first, and were originally supposed to go over on Hotel Blvd. But Eisner wanted to start developing the "Epcot Resort Area," and ordered them moved.

The result: one of the more glaring and disappointing lapses in Disney theming!

Actually, Swan and Dolphin aren't owned by Disney. When Walt bought the land, he was actually unable to acquire the land on which they were built. Over the years, different companies have actually operated the hotels, but Disney does have partial interest in both of them.

 

[peter11435]

Actually, Swan and Dolphin aren't owned by Disney. When Walt bought the land, he was actually unable to acquire the land on which they were built. Over the years, different companies have actually operated the hotels, but Disney does have partial interest in both of them.

That is not exactly true. Disney did purchase the land the Swan and Dolphin are located on. In fact Disney still owns the land. If you read my earlier post on the subject you will see what took place to bring those hotels to WDW. Also the hotels have always been operated by the Tishman Corporation.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Once our busdriver told us to look at the Swan and Dolphin. They have huge blackish squares/rectangles in their facades. This is because there was to be a monorail that traveled on that side of Epcot, and was to go through both hotels. Those rooms were filled into the resort when the monorail was nixed.

Bobbi

 

[peter11435]

Once our busdriver told us to look at the Swan and Dolphin. They have huge blackish squares/rectangles in their facades. This is because there was to be a monorail that traveled on that side of Epcot, and was to go through both hotels. Those rooms were filled into the resort when the monorail was nixed.

Bobbi

I hate to keep doing this but I feel like I have to. While many CM's at WDW like to tell that story it is not true. The monorail was never intended to go through the Swan and Dolphin. Those black squares are actually a trademark of the architect Michael Graves.

 

[pampam]

When we did the IllumiNations cruise last summer, our skipper asked us if we knew why the Swan / Dolphin didn't blend in with the other water-themed hotels in the area. (That's always bugged me -- and it always seems to shatter the illusion when you're strolling the Board Walk and see those modern high rises over there!)

Nobody knew, so he explained.

He told us that the S / D were actually built first, and were originally supposed to go over on Hotel Blvd. But Eisner wanted to start developing the "Epcot Resort Area," and ordered them moved.

The result: one of the more glaring and disappointing lapses in Disney theming!

I'm sure you were missinformed. We watched them being built, about the same time they were working on MGM. I'm told they are different because they are not Disney owned.

 

[pampam]

Richard Nixon gave his memorable "I'm not a crook" speech on 11/17/73 at Disney's Contemporary Resort Hotel.

The river in Jungle Cruise is dyed brown for a more authentic look. If it weren't, guests could see that the river is only 3.5 feet deep.

Courtesy of my spiffy new Disney trivia book....

Also by colouring the water, it hides the rail the boats travel on.

 

[SueM in MN]

That each room in the towers is modular and they were made to slide out in tact that way they could refurbish a room off location and slide it back in.
The building settled enough so the rooms will no longer slide out.
I thought that was very cool

My DH was to WDW the first year it opened and has a Commemorative Edition of a fact book sold about WDW when it opened.
According to the book, one of the reasons for building the Contemporary and Polynesian like that was to showcase steel-framed unitized construction. The 1500 rooms of those 2 resorts were actually built at an assembly plant 3 miles from the site, trucked to the correct resort and then lifted into place by giant cranes and slid into the frame like drawers. They were completely finished - walls covered, bath fixtures and lighting installed, mirrors in place. Everything was ready to just be hooked up once the room was slid into place.

 

[hearts8701]

how many stones were use to built the castle?
none the castle is made of fiberglass!

 

[CPRoark]

Richard Nixon gave his memorable "I'm not a crook" speech on 11/17/73 at Disney's Contemporary Resort Hotel.

The river in Jungle Cruise is dyed brown for a more authentic look. If it weren't, guests could see that the river is only 3.5 feet deep.

Courtesy of my spiffy new Disney trivia book....

According to "Skipper Ben" on the Inside the Magic podcast, the river is actually about 12 ft deep in most places. I found that hard to believe, but he seems very knowledgable about the ride, from years of working on it. However, that info is no more reliable (or unreliable) that yours. For what it's worth.

 

[SueM in MN]

You actually have that sort of backwards. The tishman corporporation (who own the WDW Swan and Dolphin) helped extensively (money wise) to aid in the construction of EPCOT. In return the company was granted the rights to build two large hotels next to the park. When Eisner came in he hated this idea. He argued that the hotels should instead be built along Hotel Plaza Blvd. Disney actually took the Tishman Corporation to court but unfortuanly lost and the WDW Swan and Dolphin were built next to Epcot against Eisners wishes.

According to the book Building a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture, the 2 hotels built/owned by the Tishman company were originally planned for the hotel area in Lake Buena Vista (by the other DD hotels).
The part Michael Eisner didn't like was that the plans were for 2 huge, but very ordinary (un-interesting) hotels. Eisner, who had always been interested in architecture) wanted more interesting hotels and vetoed the project, eventually leading to a competition between Micheal Graves, Robert Venturi and Alan Lapidus (who designed the original planned resorts) to design 2 resorts.
Disney didn't sue Tishman; Tishman sued Disney for $375 million for "racketeering" and $1 billion in punative charges for not completing the hotels as originally planned. The suit was eventually dropped and Tishman agreed to build the hotels as Eisner/Disney wanted. A new location was chosen near Epcot (possibly the "better" location was part of the deal to drop the suit).
Graves was the winner of the competition (even though the Swan and Dolphin broke a major "rule" of Disney parks - which was not to distract a guest's attention).