Discovering The Magic Kingdom

The Lifetime Achievements of Imagineer Terri Hardin

By Joshua Shaffer

I want to tell you about one of my favorite Disney Imagineers, Terri Hardin. She is known as one of Walt

The Auctioneer scene on Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the most iconic scenes in all of Disneyland. This scene was also the only completed scene that Walt Disney was able to experience before his death, and the last attraction he worked on. To the happiness of thousands and the sadness of millions, Magic Ki...

"Don't tell heem, Carlos. Don't be cheekin." That most notable line from Disneyland's Pirates of The Caribbean was spoken by well known voice actress June Foray. June passed away at the age of 99.

Here is the bio I wrote about her in my new book.

June Foray – (Born September 18, 1917, in Springfield, Massachusetts-July 26, 2017). There have been times when Mel Blanc was referred to as the male version of June Foray. ...

My 2nd edition is now available for purchase as we celebrate the 62nd anniversary of Disneyland.
Enjoy 700 pages full of Disneyland information.
There are now over 3,700 fun facts for the parks and for the Disney movies.
There are also over 750 photos contained within.
Here is a quick look inside.
Click here to purchas...

MERMAIDS IN DISNEYLAND? That’s right they are real. For the summers of 1965, 66 & 67 you could have caught a glimpse of them. They would swim around for 4 hours each day to entertain guests by doing aquatic stunts. Sometimes they would swim up to the people floating by in the submarine and peek through the porthole. Some of the girls started to complain about the fumes from the then diesel subs and the high chlorine content of the water. So it pressed Disney to remove...

Tinker Bell is one of the most iconic characters that Disney has ever created. She made her first Disney appearance in the 1953 animated feature Peter Pan. Disney then used her to promote the upcoming theme park, Disneyland. Since the opening of the park in 1955, Walt thought the night-time fireworks show lacked someth...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest men of our time, Walt Disney. He lost a battle to lung cancer from his chain smoking on December 15, 1966, at 9:30 am.

Here is some information you may not have known about Walt’s last days.

Yesterday we lost a true American, Astronaut John Glenn. He was a part of the first manned mission into outer space and was the first to orbit the earth in 1962. He returned to space in 1998 to become the oldest astronaut to go into space at the age of 77. He received many honors when he served in the US Navy and Marine Corps spanning World Wa...

Happy 100th birthday Kirk Douglas!!!

He was born 15 years after Walt Disney on December 9, 1916.

The photo on the bottom right is of Kirk and his family on a visit to Walt's home in 1956. You can see a 12 year old Michael Douglas sitting in the back of Walt's train, the Carolwood Pacific. Walt h...

FUN FACT: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: When you drive through the town square, there is a silhouette of Sherlock Holmes in a second floor window. This pays homage to Basil Rathbone (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) who portrayed the detective Sherlock Holmes in 16 Sherlock Holmes films between 1939 and 1953. Basil Rathbone was ...

It is said that Ken Anderson’s inspiration for the bride in The Haunted Mansion was the photo of the “Brown Lady of Raynham Hall.” The Brown Lady, or Ghost of Raynham Hall, was the title of a photo taken in 1936 by Country Life magazine. It is a photo of the staircase in Raynham Hall that has a ghostly woman i...

While riding in the DoomBuggies on The Haunted Mansion, you may notice something peculiar about the portraits of Constance with her different husbands in the attic. Her first husband is dressed simply while the following husbands increase in their wealth. Along with her increase of wealth, Constance Hatchaway, the "Blac...

Gina Rock: The Longest Running Tinker Bell in Disneyland History

By Joshua C. Shaffer

Edited by Gina Rock

Ward Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) joined Disney in 1934 in the animation department. His works includes Lucifer, Jaq, Gus and the other mice in Cinderella (1950), the Crows, Dumbo and Timothy Mouse in Dumbo (1941), Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (1940), the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat,...

I have seen lots of blogs written titled “Things You Didn’t Know About Disneyland” or something similar. People would post them on my wall or tag me in the posts so I could read through them. The problem is I knew them all already, or they were very common Fun Facts like “Walt’s apartment above the f...

Where did Oswald come from? From 1923 to 1927 Walt and his fellow animator Ub Iwerks were animating a series called Alice Comedies for Winkler Pictures, which was run by Margaret Winkler (the first woman to produce animated films, and was the pro...

Dumbo The Flying Elephant opened almost 1 month after Disneyland opened. It was originally located over by Village Haus Restaurant, but was relocated to it's present location in 1983. It replaced The Chicken Of The Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant.

FUN FACT: Peter Pan: The voice of the red-haired mermaid when she says "We were only trying to drown her" was provided by Margaret Kerry. She spent 6 months with the animators for Peter Pan pantomiming out the movements for our favorite pixie, TinkerBell.

I am sorry it took me so long to write up this post, but I wanted it to be as perfect as I could get it. Disney lost a great man and artist last week and I wanted this to do him justice.

Gibso...

When creating an animated Disney film, Disney animators draw concept art to see if they like the look of a character before settling on the one that they end up using. Here are a few examples;

Aladdin