Some random Disney facts that are not true

[Vexorg]

During my just completed visit to Disneyland, I was with a couple of friends, and over the course of the five days we spent in the parks, we kept making up random "fun facts" about Disneyland and its various attractions completely off the top of our heads and posting them on Facebook. Since some people might find some of these amusing, I thought I'd post some of these "Disney Fact that are Not True" from our trip. Feel free to make up your own:

- Due to declining bird population, most birds in the skies over Disneyland are now animatronics. Occasionally one wanders away from the park; if you find one and return it, you get a free churro.

- In order to avoid having to put a Proposition 65 warning on the ride, in 2007 all of the water in Pirates of the Caribbean was replaced with a nitrogen-based substitute. Most people do not notice the difference, but Disney junkies endlessly debate whether the real-water version is better than the fake water version on Internet forums. Ironically, if water gets into the "water", they have to take the ride offline for cleanup. Real boats would sink in this substance, so the boats had to be specially modified.

- As a show of Disney's commitment to alternative energy, King Arthur's Carrousel has recently been converted to be powered by four oxen.

- In order to move the phases of the Moon to a more convenient time for photo-taking opportunities within the parks, Disney has created an artificial moon over California Adventure which normally has its phases eight days out of alignment the real moon, but can also be modified as necessary. On October 27th 2005, the fake moon malfunctioned, and for roughly three hours there were two separate moons over the park.

- Although many theories have been made about the origins of the name of Disneyland's exclusive Club 33, the club received its name from the fact that when it opened in 1967, the cost of a meal at the club was $33. Among the many special benefits that Club 33 members enjoy is the fact that they are each allowed to bring home up to six of the park's feral cats each year.

 

[msdaisy]

These are cracking me up!

 

[Vexorg]

Digging this back up to add a few more Disneyland Facts that are Not True from my just-completed trip to DLR. For some reason, this stuff is just fun to make up:

- For a number of years, among Disney Cast Members there has been an underground "scene" devoted to tuning and customizing Autopia cars. Twice a year after hours, they hold races on the Autopia to determine whose car is fastest. The current record was set in 2008 with a time of 2 minutes 28 seconds, with a top speed of 11.78 miles per hour. Unofficially, a car in 2003 reached 18 miles an hour, but was disqualified when an illegal nitrous system was discovered.

- As a cost saving measure, several of the floats used in the daily parades are built on top of riding lawnmowers. This allows them to be repurposed to mow lawns throughout the park when they debut a new parade. In order to make sure guests do not find out about this, they only mow lawns late at night.

- In 2009, the American Chiropractic Association honored the Matterhorn Sled Climb with its coveted Amusement Ride of the Year award, in recognition of its 50 years of exemplary contributions to the Chiropractic profession.

- Since the mid Nineties, Disney has had a genetic engineering program devoted to creating topiary bushes that grow into and maintain specified shapes with little to no maintenance. A number of the simpler geometric shapes on It's a Small World have been replaced by these modified bushes. The topiary buffalo found near the ride, planted in 2008, represents the state of the art in self-shaping bushes.

 

[Freesia123]

Ill join in


Due to recent economic recession, Disney is looking for new corporate sponsors. As of January first, many rides will change names to accommodate sponsorship money. Some of the changes will include:

Indiana wheatboard Jones adventures

Autoglassplustopia

Sleep Country And Beauty Castle

Space for all your stuff Storage Mountain

 

[mamaCta]

Ill join in


Due to recent economic recession, Disney is looking for new corporate sponsors. As of January first, many rides will change names to accommodate sponsorship money. Some of the changes will include:

Indiana wheatboard Jones adventures

Autoglassplustopia

Sleep Country And Beauty Castle

Space for all your stuff Storage Mountain

 

[pennyring]

A cast member in the Disney Gallery "corrected" me last week when I was talking to my niece about Disneyland PARIS. He clears his throat and goes, "Ahem... It's EURO Disney."

Hahahha. No it isn't. (Maybe if this was 1994...) But anyway...

 

[Freesia123]

Ever wonder why At least one water ride always seems to be down ?

A little known fact is that with California's financial difficulties, piping water into the Los Angeles area was too expensive. The State government ordered all possible sources of water in the area to be drained to help the water supply. Although hardly noticeable to the naked eye, the Disneyland water reserve was reduced by 10% in order to comply with the new regulations. This means that at least one water ride is down all the time as there is not enough water to run them all at once.

 

[lalasmama]

You know how Grizzly River Run is drained every Jan-Feb? The recession has hit Disneyland hard, and they end up with a dry GRR when they are late paying the water bill to Oregon

 

[wadisneydad]

Originally Space Mountain was named for all of the extra space in the building that holds it. After the first day of operation and riding it himself, Walt decided that he would tell everyone that the ride's name came from the fact that it looked like you were in space while on the ride.

 

[Vexorg]

I'm getting ready for another trip, and I will have another set of these on the way soon, but in the meantime here's another one:

Anyone who has been visiting Disneyland for long enough knows that the old Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland was replaced in 1979 by the much more thrilling Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but few people know that the creation of BTMRR was prompted by an accidental discovery of a significant deposit of rare earth minerals underneath Nature's Wonderland in 1975. As the ride was being built, a small but productive mining operation was commenced several hundred feet below the attraction, and continues to this day. For most of the past year the ride has been closed, ostensibly to facilitate a replacement of the tracks, but in addition to the work above ground, an exploratory shaft is currently being dug toward the Matterhorn in hopes of finding even larger deposits.

 

[Vexorg]

And a few more...

• Although the Haunted Mansion is advertised to have 999 Happy Haunts, in reality Disney's internal standards allow for a variance of plus or minus two percent on any given day to account for scheduling conflicts or other issues that might arise. Although they do manage an exact count of 999 on most days, the Mansion can be considered to be operating normally with as few as 980 Happy Haunts or as many as 1,019. On March 14th 2009, a mishap in scheduling resulted in a record 1,143 Happy Haunts in the Mansion for a short time before the problem was discovered and the ride brought down to rectify the problem.
  
• In July of 2009, the Captain Jack Sparrow animatronic in the final scene of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride suffered a major malfunction. Rather than risk extended downtime to the ride during the busiest part of the year to make repairs, Disney hired Johnny Depp to replace the broken animatronic in the ride for three days. He did such a good job of staying in character that the ruse was not discovered until several weeks later by Disneyphiles reviewing YouTube videos of the ride and noticing discrepancies in the motions compared to the existing figure.
  
• Although it is rarely seen by park guests, there is in fact an alternate path on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride that does not lead you to the Gates of Doom. Naturally, you get there by not looking into the Eye of Mara, which is nearly impossible to get 12 tourists on a ride car to cooperate on at once. If you are fortunate enough to reach this alternate path there will not be untold riches or eternal youth, but you may get free t-shirts, snacks, Disney gift cards or possibly even free admission to the park. Naturally, the ride is considerably shorter than normal along this alternate path.

 

[lana772]

That's funny! You could start an "urban myth" with that Johnny Depp one.

 

[lana772]

So funny!!!! I just told DDs the POTC one. AND they believed it!!!! Tomorrow it will be all over middle school. Haha! Urban myth started.

 

[Vexorg]

I made another trip to the parks this past weekend, so it's time for a few more of these:

• In spite of the fact that the new version of Star Tours has been running since 2011, this has had little effect on protracted litigation that has been ongoing since at least 1992 between the Walt Disney Company and Reubens Robotic Systems, manufacturers of the notoriously unreliable RX-series pilot droids that led to numerous incidents in the original version of the ride. Although this has become a well known case study in many prestigious law schools, no resolution is expected anytime soon.
• A recent deal between Disney and Starbucks has recently resulted in a Starbucks location being opened on Main Street USA, and there has been a location in California Adventure since last year. In keeping with Starbucks' standard expansion strategies, there are currently plans for at least 12-18 more locations within Disneyland to be opened by 2016.
• Visitors to the Disneyland Resort soon become aware of the green tape is used by cast members to make improvised queues as needed. What they may not be aware of is that this tape is the product of years of research by Disney Imagineering. The current version in use in the parks was introduced in 2011, and represents the very latest innovations in adhesive technology. Shortly after the new version of the tape was introduced, a cast member on his last day on the job decided to randomly create a queue out of the green tape in the middle of Fantasyland. Such is the power of the green tape that the queue attracted as many as 300 visitors who spent nearly an hour in line before they figured out that they weren't actually waiting in line for anything.
• As a result of the current government shutdown, the National Parks Service has advised Disney that they must shut down the Grand Canyon diorama along the Disneyland Railroad between Tomorrowland and Main Street USA until a budget is passed. Orange cones have been placed along the route, and guests are currently being advised to look in the other direction as the train passes by. Naturally, enforcement of this edict is minimal at best.
• Although haunting duties at the Haunted Mansion are typically handled by a team of roughly 1,550 Happy Haunts (typically 999 at a time, give or take a handful) for three months out of the year the Haunted Mansion becomes the Haunted Mansion Holiday, a Nightmare Before Christmas version of the mansion that requires far fewer spooks to operate than the standard version. During this time of year, several hundred Happy Haunts are assigned to other attractions around the park, including It's a Small World, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy and even the Matterhorn. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of this policy takes place on the Autopia, where during HalloweenTime you can opt to let a ghost do the driving for you by controlling only the gas pedal in the car. Naturally, the ghost drivers aren't very good at it.
  

 

[lana772]

Soooooo FUNNY!!!!

LOVE THIS THREAD!!!!

 

[crystal1313]

LOL! Love the green tape one! SO funny!!!

 

[Vexorg]

Just back from another trip, which means another round of Disneyland Facts that are Not True:

• Most Disneyland visitors are aware of Disneyland's practice of honoring Disney legends with windows on Main Street USA. What most people don't know about is that cast members in Adventureland have established their own similar practice with the pile of skulls found in the canoe in front of the headhunters' camp on the Jungle Cruise. Over the years, a number of notable cast members have been honored with skulls added to the pile in their honor. In recent years, advances in medical imaging technology have allowed Disney Imagineering to now create anatomically accurate representations of the skulls of the cast members being honored.

• In 1967, following a number of notable incidents of bad driving on the Tomorrowland Autopia, Disney briefly experimented with adding several "police officers" hiding behind billboards on the ride to pull over misbehaving drivers and issue them "tickets" for their infractions. This move proved to be unpopular as almost immediately a number of children claimed to be traumatized by the experience, thinking they were about to go to jail. Finally, the experiment came to an end about a week later, after the Anaheim Police Department claimed jurisdiction over the Autopia.

• In recent years, Disneyland has sought a number of different ways to put special overlays on existing rides, which has resulted in such favorites as Haunted Mansion Holiday. In addition to Rockin' Space Mountain (which has been run primarily during Grad Nites) and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy during Halloweentime, Disney also briefly experimented with running Space Mountain with the cars placed backwards on the track. Although the ride functioned surprisingly well in this configuration, ultimately the concept was sunk by difficulties in loading passengers and the fact that people tend not to buy photos of the back of their head, No formal name was ever decided on for the concept, but in testing, Disney Imagineering generally referred to this as "Backspace Mountain".

• For over 20 years now, the Brotherhood of Mechanical Performers and Artists (BMPA) has been attempting to unionize the animatronics at Disneyland following successful efforts in a number of smaller parks throughout California. In spite of a campaign promising shorter working hours, more breaks during the day and upgraded mechanical components, a vote among the animatronics in 2011 went overwhelmingly against unionization, with 88% voting no. Since this time, the BMPA has filed grievances against Disneyland with the NLRB, claiming that they somehow manipulated their animatronics to vote against them.

• Most people know about the popular RunDisney events that take place at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, but in recent years, Disney has explored the possibility of expanding to swimming events as well. Last year, RunDisney extended invitations to a select few runners from the Tinkerbell Half Marathon to a special before-hours event where the Storybook Land canal in Fantasyland was opened for swimming. Although the participants were enthusiastic about the opportunity, it was ultimately determined that a large-scale event would be impractical. Although the Rivers of America seems like the most obvious place for an event like this, Coast Guard regulations designate it as a navigable waterway, which prohibits swimming.