Walt's Body Is Frozen, And The 5th WDW Theme-Park Will Be....

[Jolly Ole Bert]

Just wondering what are some of the most off-the-wall Disney rumors to ever spin through the rumor mill? I'm not talking about on the DIS alone, but anywhere. Popular media, other Disney communities, anywhere. There have been some whoppers over the years.

A few that stand out in my mind include the infamous "Walt still being kept alive and is frozen somewhere" rumor, and the "Disney to build a theme-park (insert random U.S. city here)".

What other good yarns have you heard?

 

[JoShan1719]

My coworker keeps trying to convince me that Walt was a Nazi. He read it on some Disney-Bashing website and believes it.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

My coworker keeps trying to convince me that Walt was a Nazi. He read it on some Disney-Bashing website and believes it.

There is actually a bit of evidence that Walt was, if nothing else, very interested in Nazi's and did, in fact, attend numerous meetings. Whether this made him a Nazi or simply a person following his curiosity we'll never know. But it isn't a crazy, off the wall statement

 

[chartle]

Have fun

http://www.snopes.com/disney/disney.asp

 

[OldsDr]

I ahve heard this one from a couple people, I am not claiming to believe it is true.

That the reason they increased the light levels in Space mountain sometime in the Mid 80s was that someone had stood up and been decapitated. the increased light levels were put in so you could see how close your head was to the track.

 

[Jolly Ole Bert]

http://www.snopes.com/disney/disney.asp

I was floored by the basketball court being inside Matterhorn at DL. Never heard this one before, but very cool.

 

[CandyMandy]

There is actually a bit of evidence that Walt was, if nothing else, very interested in Nazi's and did, in fact, attend numerous meetings. Whether this made him a Nazi or simply a person following his curiosity we'll never know. But it isn't a crazy, off the wall statement

Whatever initial interest Walt had in the Nazis, by the time WWII started he at a minimum "fell into line" - as the cartoon he produced below shows. It was one of many "propaganda" films he made under contract for the U.S. Government during the war; he took that work on to keep his studio alive after it had lost so much money on Fantasia and was experiencing serious labor problems (a large % of his animators went on strike).

Hitler's Children/Education for Death (1943)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASW3UCc17AI

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Agreed CandyMandy, but my point was that this "rumor" really isn't a crazy, fabricated raving. There is much empirical evidence surrounding Walt's visits with the Nazi's - The degree or intent of his interest will obviously never be known for sure.

 

[skiingfast]

Whatever initial interest Walt had in the Nazis, by the time WWII started he at a minimum "fell into line" - as the cartoon he produced below shows. It was one of many "propaganda" films he made under contract for the U.S. Government during the war; he took that work on to keep his studio alive after it had lost so much money on Fantasia and was experiencing serious labor problems (a large % of his animators went on strike).

Hitler's Children/Education for Death (1943)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASW3UCc17AI

Along with this, Walt and Roy also did some work fighting the Germans in WWI.

 

[Jolly Ole Bert]

I would love to learn more about why exactly DHS was forced to block the Chinese Theater as the park's central icon. I personally don't buy the whole "Disney just decided to use the hat instead" theory. It makes no sense, and why would they block a beautiful structure such as the Chinese Theater? Rumors have been swirling for awhile that the owners of the original Chinese Theater in Hollywood threatened legal action if the park did not find another icon. Back when it was MGM studios, the park tried claiming that the Earful Tower was the official icon. But aerial shots and postcards suggested they were using the Chinese Theater more than the Earful Tower as the most popular backdrop. The Disney Can Do No Wrong bunch claim there was never any legal action threatened against DHS using the theater as the park's focal point...and Disney just "decided" to put the hat out front instead...or simply got too busy after the Millennium celebration and never got around to removing the hat. Once again, I don't buy into it.

 

[ChrisFL]

I would love to learn more about why exactly DHS was forced to block the Chinese Theater as the park's central icon. I personally don't buy the whole "Disney just decided to use the hat instead" theory. It makes no sense, and why would they block a beautiful structure such as the Chinese Theater? Rumors have been swirling for awhile that the owners of the original Chinese Theater in Hollywood threatened legal action if the park did not find another icon. Back when it was MGM studios, the park tried claiming that the Earful Tower was the official icon. But aerial shots and postcards suggested they were using the Chinese Theater more than the Earful Tower as the most popular backdrop. The Disney Can Do No Wrong bunch claim there was never any legal action threatened against DHS using the theater as the park's focal point...and Disney just "decided" to put the hat out front instead...or simply got too busy after the Millennium celebration and never got around to removing the hat. Once again, I don't buy into it.

The only thing I know is around the same time the hat was put up, there were some rumors abound that they were planning to get rid of the Great Movie Ride and replace it with a super high-tech attraction using "C.A.V.E." technology (Which can be seen in a more limited role in the DisneyQuest POTC attraction).

My thoughts were that if they had to do a major overhaul, perhaps they were going to have to re-theme the front of the building and decided to put the hat up....but this is all speculation on my part.

 

[skiingfast]

I have a friend who despite my best attempts to convince otherwise is certain that Walt was a Jew.

 

[CandyMandy]

The only thing I know is around the same time the hat was put up, there were some rumors abound that they were planning to get rid of the Great Movie Ride and replace it with a super high-tech attraction using "C.A.V.E." technology (Which can be seen in a more limited role in the DisneyQuest POTC attraction).

Another example of "residue" of the C.A.V.E. (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) concept -- beyond the fun but relatively as you put it "limited" version at Disneyquest POTC, the motion sensitivity and immersive elements on that game work, but the graphics are crude -- can be found in the gameplay on Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios. There you get the 3-D, better graphics and (some) immersion, but no motion sensitivity (ride vehicle is static during each game).

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

Well there are persistant rumors about AK's Fantasy land. They do hold some merit, but I believe at this point the money is being spent on the new MK revamp.

I believe for a while there was a rumor that more countries would be added to EPCOT, but that was a while ago

 

[skiingfast]

I believe for a while there was a rumor that more countries would be added to EPCOT, but that was a while ago

I think this rumor has been around since 1982.

Before this last trip I picked up some Portugese. I was shocked at all the people there from Brazil, they should get ride of the Spanish massages on the resort transport and change it to Portugese.

I think adding Brazil to World Showcase would make some sense. They already have enough CM's from Brazil to staff it. Then people could stop saying how South America is not represented. Of course they could add Australia too.

 

[NLPRacing]

My personal favorite rumor is the "Disney is coming to San Antonio (TX)" rumor. I hear it every time we go down there.

 

[Killian1114]

What EPCOT needs is an Ireland pavillion! The second largest ethnic group in America are the Irish, yet we have Morocco and no Ireland!

 

[DanG07]

What about Greece in Epcot? You already have a Disney movie, Hercules, to place character meet and greets there. There would be alot of interest in Greek food and souvenirs. It would make a ton of money for Disney.