Thursday 11 December 2014

The Walt Disney Touch

Here are fifteen facts about Disneyland & Disney World which point to Walt Disney's immaculate attention to detail.

1.  Beneath Disney World are a series of tunnels so that characters can travel to their respective lands without being seen.  Therefore, they never appear in a land that they don't belong in ex. Snow White in Frontierland.

2.  Walt Disney had rules for characters at his amusement park including;  they couldn't say NO, they couldn't break character and they couldn't point with one finger to show directions (it was considered rude to point).

3.  Disney wanted his guests' experience to be a pleasurable and a genuine one so he used "smellitzers" throughout the park:  a vanilla scent was wafted into Main Street USA; a sea salt scent surrounded the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

4.  Walt had an apartment above the fire hall on Main Street USA.  If he was in residence, he placed a lamp in the window.

5.  Disney employees in the parks were not supposed to grow any facial hair until recent years.

6.  Walt Disney once ate a hotdog in Disney land, counting the number of steps he took until he finished it.  He placed the garbage can 25 steps from the snack stand.

7.  Women who played princesses had to stand 5' 4" to 5' 7", except for Alice, Wendy and Tinkerbell who were shorter.  Princesses had to be under 27 years of age.

8.  Walt never wanted to be called Mr. Disney.  Therefore, he had all Disneyland employees wear badges with first names only.

9.  In keeping with the goal of entertaining its guests, Disney World is only second to the US military in purchasing explosives for its nightly fireworks displays.

10.  Disneyland and Disney World's Main Street buildings have names written on the windows.  These are individuals who have contributed to the design of the parks.

11.  Snow White Castle in Disneyland and Cinderella Castle in Disney World were both designed using the artist's trick "forced perspective" which makes them appear higher than they actually are.

12.  Gum is forbidden to be sold at Disneyland and Disney World.  It is not even sold at the Orlando Airport!  Walt was tired of picking gum off the bottom of his shoe every ten minutes when he went to other amusement parks.

13.  The King Arthur Carousel in Disneyland features hand carved and painted horses which are polished every night.

14.  Walt used to stoop down and study the various buildings at Disneyland to get the perspective of a young child.

15.  Once Walt overheard a Disneyland guest say:  "We don't need to go on this ride, we've already seen it."  That was just cause for Walt to have the Jungle Cruise ride overhauled.

For more information, read "90 Facts You Didn't Know About Disney" at http://www.empireonline.com/features/90-disney-facts/9.asp OR "The Walt Disney Touch" at
http://www.justdisney.com/disneyland/waltdisney_touch/.




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