Disney Tidbits

Sights… sounds… smells… and other hidden in plain sight Disney tidbits… little know facts, hints, secrets, or otherwise overlooked details in the midst of the usual sensory overload.

• did you notice the smell of fresh baked cookies as you go down Main Street USA
• town square fire station #71… commemorates WDW opening in 1971
• as you progress down main street, the lamps progress from gas to electric as if you were progressing through time
• of course yall know about the second story store front windows with Imagineers names…. my favorite is Walt’s on the train station… “ Keeping Dreams on Track – Walter E. Disney – Chief Engineer”
• and yall know about forced perspective 80/60/40 scale of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors, giving the illusion of greater heights and greater distance as you look down Main St towards the Castle.
• if you visit Tom Sawyer Island and find  paint brush left behind by Tom, take it to a cast member for a free fastpass.
• It’s also rumored that if you see Woody & Jessie in the parks, and you shout “look, Andy’s coming”… they will fall to the ground, freeze, and pretend to be toys.
• and the biggest tidbit of all… that most people don’t know… All of Main St. USA in Magic Kingdom, as well as most of the park…is really on the second floor so to speak. The first floor, or ground level is the unidors, or tunnels that run under Main St. Unidors were Walt’s idea so that cast could “pop up” in the desired area without walking through the park. This was prompted back in Disneyland when he saw Davy Crockett waling through tomorrowland… kinda spoiling the whole theme. A network of storage rooms, hallways, and offices runs underneath the attractions at WDW. The area that guests walk through is actually the park’s second and third stories.
• In the graveyard scene of the Haunted Mansion, a skeleton hand is stuck out of the ground holding a fastpass.
• Main Street USA is loosely based on downtown Marceline, Missouri, circa 1910, the year a four-year-old Walt Disney and his family left the small town and moved to Kansas City.
• Each evening, a model dressed as Tinker Bell “flies” for 750 feet between Cinderella Castle and Tomorrowland to signal the start of the nightly fireworks display.
• Three of the original Adventure Land attractions that opened in 1971 are still operating—the Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, and the Enchanted Tiki Room—Under New Management.
• Walt Disney World had to obtain approval from the U.S. Congress to place the Great Seal of the United States on the carpet in the Hall of Presidents.
• A cowboy and an Indian are America’s representatives in WDW’s “It’s a Small World” attraction.
• The fastest ride at Walt Disney World (with a top speed of 65 miles an hour) is Epcot’s Test Track.
• Since most of central Florida sits on a thin layer of dirt floating on water, Disney has developed a system of 43 miles of canals and 23 miles of levees to control the water levels.
• Next to the Department of Defense, WDW is the largest purchaser of explosives in the country (mainly for the nightly fireworks and other pyrotechnic shows around the park).

These are just a few interesting facts, along with the thousands of “Hidden Mickey’s” that are hidden in plain sight all over the parks. They say most are planned, but I think that many are done by cast members where ever the opportunity presents its self… and wala… more hidden Mickey’s… right in plain sight.