Secrets & Little Known Facts about rides

[Teachckg]

WHERE is this camel everyone is talking about?

 

[ajleone]

WHERE is this camel everyone is talking about?

It's at the Magic Carpets of Aladdin in Adventureland.

 

[Tiki Room Fan]

I remember years ago when the spitting camels were part of one of the parade floats.

 

[toledo13]

bump

I love this thread!

 

[Hootch]

chess game is actually a loop type game - not a stalemate. Any legal moves that you make from the placement will eventually lead you back to the same position. This actually works with the scene design. A stalemate is a tie and the game is over. If the moves looped (I don't have a better term) the players would be there forever.

There are reports the pieces are being moved periodically. If it is a loop the integrity of the concept is maintained as long as legal moves are made.

 

[trinaweena]

My daughter used to think that Cinderella's horse's name was "Eachday". Because when she was very young, we would read her the Golden Book Disney Cinderella story. It said that she would feed her horse, eachday.! Sorry.

That actually made me laugh out loud and my dog looked at me funny. So adorable! I can remember thinking the same kinds of things when I was a kid (Example in the Lion King when Scare talks about the gene pool, I asked mom what a jean pool was)

kids are cute

 

[IndyJammer]

On the Streets of NY at DHS, be sure to check out the News Papers!

 

[Yvonne]

Subscribing!

 

[wagster92]

chess game is actually a loop type game - not a stalemate. Any legal moves that you make from the placement will eventually lead you back to the same position. This actually works with the scene design. A stalemate is a tie and the game is over. If the moves looped (I don't have a better term) the players would be there forever.

There are reports the pieces are being moved periodically. If it is a loop the integrity of the concept is maintained as long as legal moves are made.

That actually explains a lot!!

 

[doconeill]

chess game is actually a loop type game - not a stalemate. Any legal moves that you make from the placement will eventually lead you back to the same position. This actually works with the scene design. A stalemate is a tie and the game is over. If the moves looped (I don't have a better term) the players would be there forever.

There are reports the pieces are being moved periodically. If it is a loop the integrity of the concept is maintained as long as legal moves are made.

Just to be pedantic (I'm in that sort of mood), modern rules would make a "loop game" a draw (or a player could claim a draw) once the pieces return to the same position the third time...

 

[Samantha/NC]

so maybe everyone already knows about it
Check out the golf ball that is heading straight towards you in Soarin' it has a mickey's head it!

 

[Xcited4Disney]

Thanks for all of the great info!

 

[perla75]

Just found this on Wikipedia & wanted to share. So cool-I wish they made this instead of Camp Minnie-Mickey! I never noticed the dragon on the DAK logo before.

Beastly Kingdom
Animal Kingdom's original logo which includes a dragon at the center.

Disney's Animal Kingdom focuses on three broad classifications of animals: those that exist today; those that did exist, but are now extinct (i.e., dinosaurs); and, those that exist in legend and mythology.[5] In the original design for the park, the animals of legend were to have their own section.

Beastly Kingdom (supposedly spelled in Old English as "Beastly Kingdomme") was to have featured mythical animals such as unicorns, dragons, and sea monsters. The land would feature realms of both good and evil creatures. The evil side would be dominated by Dragon Tower, a ruined castle home to a greedy fire-breathing dragon who hordes a fabulous treasure in the tower chamber. The castle is also inhabited by bats who plan to rob the dragon of his riches. They enlist the guests' help in their scheme, and whisk them off on a thrilling roller coaster ride through the castle ruins. The climax of the ride is an encounter with the evil dragon himself, resulting in a nearly-barbecued train of guests.[citation needed]

The good side of this land would be home to Quest of the Unicorn, an adventure which sends guests through a maze of medieval mythological creatures to seek the hidden grotto where the unicorn lives. Finally, the Fantasia Gardens attraction would be a musical boat ride through the animals from Disney's animated classic, Fantasia. The ride would feature both the crocodiles and hippos from " Dance of the Hours" and the Pegasus, fauns, and centaurs from Beethoven's "Pastoral."[citation needed]

Due to budget constraints of the Walt Disney Company, Beastly Kingdom never came to fruition and Camp Minnie-Mickey was built as a temporary tenant of the Beastly Kingdom's land.

The change was supposedly rather sudden, as remnants of this planned area were visible when the park opened. One such remnant was a fire-breathing dragon in the Discovery River Boats attraction. Said dragon was visible from the Camp Minnie-Mickey bridge for several years, roaring loudly and spewing fire from a rocky cave. In addition, one of the McDonald's Animal Kingdom-themed Happy Meal toys was a winged purple dragon.

Legend has it that Disney laid off the Imagineers who had planned the Beastly Kingdom, and they were subsequently hired to create the Dueling Dragons and the Flying Unicorn attractions for Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park[citation needed].

Even now, hints of a mythological land still exist, including:

* The Unicorn parking area
* The original Animal Kingdom logo, which prominently features the silhouette of a dragon, and still appears throughout the park
* The dragon-shaped stone fountain near Camp Minnie-Mickey
* The detailed dragonhead statue which sits atop one of the ticket booths at the park's entrance (the other two are topped by an elephant head and a triceratops head).

As Expedition Everest includes a yeti, an animal that may or may not exist, the park now features at least one attraction for each of the three categories the park was originally built to represent.

As to Beastly Kingdom's future, Joe Rohde said in 2000: "We had a vision and now it's become a place holder. We have all kinds of ideas and not all of them fit with the theme of Beastly Kingdom. I'm not even convinced there will be a Beastly Kingdom.

 

[Disneenut]

This has become quite the thread.

subing

 

[Tiki Room Fan]

Perla...I agree with you! Beastly Kingdom sounds like it would have been awesome!!

 

[Tink127]

I love reading this kind of stuff. Besides listening to the Dis Unplugged, I also listen to the WDW Radio Show. Lou does some great work on walking through rides and attractions and pointing out the little details. One of his listners enhanced some of his DSI with pictures and they are available in the download section of disneyworldtrivia.com. Hope you enjoy them!

 

[Villainess]

My daughter used to think that Cinderella's horse's name was "Eachday". Because when she was very young, we would read her the Golden Book Disney Cinderella story. It said that she would feed her horse, eachday.! Sorry.

This is so cute!

On the Streets of NY at DHS, be sure to check out the News Papers!

Where are these on NY Street? In 2007 I took pics of these near the subway stairs but last Apr/May they weren't there - maybe being refurbished? Are they back?

 

[demonskrye]

I've read it several places that Walt almost didn't put Pirates in at WDW because he thought no one would be interested in them, since Florida is on the coast and it would be too familiar a theme.

I've heard that too. Walt apparently felt that, while pirates were something of an unknown novelty on the west coast, the east coast wouldn't be as interested in them since actual historical pirates called the Atlantic coast home and east coasters were more familiar with pirate history already. There was a different ride proposed calle, I believe "Rivers f the Old West" which would have taken guests on a somewhat humorous journey through the fiction Wild West, something a little less familiar to residents of Florida than pirates. In the end, the pirates won out and made a second home for themselves in WDW, where they continue to reside to this day.

[
Don't forget the scene in PPF where the mermaids are sunning themselves on rocks; there's a certain red-haired mermaid who I'm sure you'll find looks pretty familiar!

I remember reading (I think it was on Jim Hill Media) that this was a result of CMs constantly getting asked "Is one of the mermaids Ariel?" by guests riding PPF after "The Little Mermaid" came out. So when the ride had a minor refurb, the CMs went to the Imagineers and said "Please, for the love of Walt, make on of the mermaids Ariel." And they did.

Just to be pedantic (I'm in that sort of mood), modern rules would make a "loop game" a draw (or a player could claim a draw) once the pieces return to the same position the third time...

Well, how "modern" are modern rules. PotC isn't exactly set in contemporary times and those skeletons may have started playing well before then even.

 

[Geoff_M]

I saw the MK camel spitting at people! Is it something guests can control - from an unseen location of course?!

The camel started out life as part of a parade float and would spit water on people along the parade route.

Here's one from JIYI... There's a scene where Figment is standing on what looks like a loading dock. As you exit that scene and if you're in the last car, watch Figment, as you're about to lose sight of him he often turns and waves "good-bye" to you!

 

[Buzz Litebeer]

Walt apparently felt that, while pirates were something of an unknown novelty on the west coast, the east coast wouldn't be as interested in them since actual historical pirates called the Atlantic coast home and east coasters were more familiar with pirate history already. There was a different ride proposed calle, I believe "Rivers f the Old West" which would have taken guests on a somewhat humorous journey through the fiction Wild West, something a little less familiar to residents of Florida than pirates. In the end, the pirates won out and made a second home for themselves in WDW, where they continue to reside to this day.

Well... yes and no.

The attraction was actually going to be called "The Western River Expedition" and was the brainchild of Marc Davis (who came up with most of the pirate gags in PotC). The concept was "Cowboys of the Caribbean"; it was going to utilize essentially the same ride mechanism as PotC, but have a western theme and western gags. The attraction was actually intended as part of a much larger complex called Thunder Mesa, which would have included a runaway mine train-themed roller coaster and trails leading to an observation deck that would give guests a commanding view of the Magic Kingdom. The attraction was budgeted at around $100M -- small change to Disney today, but back then that price tag was exorbitant (the HM's budget was around $7M, by comparison). Thunder Mesa was planned to be added as part of the resort's "Phase II" construction process.

However, three things happened that derailed the plans. First, the Western as a form of popular entertainment dramatically dipped in popularity after the moon landing in 1969 and audiences turned to the skies and science fiction (this turn was referenced somewhat in Toy Story with Woody being replaced by Buzz as a favored toy). Secondly, initial Guests at the resort were outraged that PotC -- which had been heavily hyped by Disney on his national TV show -- was nowhere to be found in Florida. The lack of PotC was, in fact, the number one guest complaint at the MK during the first few months of operation. So, the decision was made -- quickly -- to install PotC at WDW. The only problem: money. So, an abbreviated version of the Disneyland PotC was hastily installed (which didn't sit well at all with the Imagineers). Davis was crushed; he knew that the addition of PotC meant WDW management would never allow the construction of Thunder Mesa. After all, the WRE and PotC was, essentially, the same ride, with a different overlay. The third thing that happened was the energy crisis of '73. Companies were tightening their belts, and WDW followed suit. A large number of Phase II projects were scrapped, including the Venetian, Asian, and Persian resorts -- and Thunder Mesa (now rendered obsolete by PotC).

Elements of Thunder Mesa were paid homage to (or stolen outright, depending on who you talk to) by Imagineer Tony Baxter with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (the runaway train roller coaster) and Splash Mountain (ride vehicles that would travel out from the attraction into the Rivers of America and then back inside-- and a show scene that was visible from the WDW Railroad. Splash Mountain also used character designs -- and the actual AAs at Disneyland! -- from another Marc Davis-designed attraction, America Sings). Supposedly Baxter was Davis' protege at one point, and the men stopped talking to each other in the 1970s. Supposedly.