Hello all. I have been compiling a list of Little Known things you can find in the parks, as I will be going in June and wanted to make sure I find them all. I copied and pasted this list from numerous threads and made it into a sort of a checklist for myself. After I was done, I decided some of you might be interested in it for yourself, so I decided to post it for all of you. Enjoy!
(Note: please remember this is copy and pasted, so some of the wording might be a little strange.) I hope everyone can find something on this list they didn't know before!
In TOT the letters on the sign have fallen off, and in the bottom of the marquee, they read: EVIL TOWER U R DOOM
I've heard of are the little mice (Gus and Jacques) looking down at the foyer below Cinderella's Royal Table
Paw prints in the cement of Lady and Tramp outside of Tony's Town Tavern.
President Clinton is the only president to wear a Mickey Mouse Tie, in the Hall Of Presidents
Mosaic mural in the fourth-floor lobby of Disney's Contemporary Resort was created in 1971 with 1,800 one-square-foot tiles and took 18 months to construct. Look closely: there's a five-legged goat facing the monorail track.
The musical staff notes across the registration desk at Disney's Port Orleans Resort-French Quarter spell out the first verse of "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Someone mentioned the green Jell-O in Muppet Vision 3-D, but one of the great secrets, cause everyone rushes by to get to where they are going, are the walls outside that have graffiti all over them. Stop and read some of it sometime.
The some of the big points in Buzz are found leaving the first room. Turn around and shoot the back of the Orange robots arm or the back of the buzz saw. 100,000 points. The car turns automatically away form these so turn back score big!
HM Look at the chair in front of the endless hall with the "floating candelabra
In Spaceship Earth the Greek Thespians are acting out Oedipus Rex in Greek of course.
In Animal Kingdom eat at Tusker House and sit outside on the back patio area, sounds like the people upstairs are having trouble cleaning.
There are some lovely seating areas around Liberty Square, have a relaxing drink there.
Ride up-front in the monorail and get your co-pilots license.
Ride the watercraft from the Poly-MK and get a Disney watercraft sticker.
Look on the top of the haunted mansion outside the roof has large chess pieces located on the top!! It is pretty cool! There is a chess pieces missing though the knight is missing from the roof.... take a guess why??
Well the reason being that the Knight is the only chess piece located in the haunted mansion (not sure where in the haunted mansion it is but I will look when I go)... the knight is located in the mansion because it is always "knight" (night) in the mansion
Look for the Gossip Phone in (I think) the second store on the left on Main Street in MK. It's a kitchenware store and there is an old fashioned phone on the back wall. Pick it up and listen to the people talking on it. And Market House is the name of the store; it is on the right of Main Street after Center Street (the alley street in the middle of Main Street).
At the end of Center Street you can also listen to the Music Lesson.
Check out the one-cent movie machines in the main street station, assuming they are still there.
1) Muppet Vision 3-D - look for the key under the doormat when entering the theater.
2) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! - Outside of the theater there is a well. Pull on the rope that's dropped inside of the well and listen.
3) There are two paths in the Great Movie Ride attraction.
One group goes through the gangster set. The second group goes through the bank robbery set.
4) In The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh look for the picture of Mr. Toad handing over the deed to Owl (I think it's Owl). Yes it is Owl in the picture, and if you look down on the floor to your right as you are leaving Owl's house you will see some other cute pictures.
Oh this is one of my favorite cute things, if you are in the Train Station with your back to the castle look up to you're left to see the belongings of some of our favorite Disney characters (Aladdin's lamp, Peter Pan flute thingy, Brer Rabbits pole pack, etc.)
Also around the Haunted Mansion, there are wire people. In the wire fencing they are things that look like stick people. If I remember correct there are 999 of them to represent the 999 ghosts that live inside.
Is the singing in the rain umbrella still in MGM? Or did they remove it for the rehab? If it's still there, it's not really a secret, but a really cute photo op!
Also, there is a hidden Baloo in Animal Kingdom. It is in Africa, right behind the Tamu refreshment stand. It is a little half wall that, ironically, King Louie and Baloo usually stand in front of. It is on the backside of the wall. The wall is chipped, and one of the chipped pieces is a profile of Baloo.
Another fun thing, especially in audioanamatronic shows, is to watch what else is going on, besides the main character. For example, watch Zazu while Iago steals the show in the Tiki Room. He makes all sorts of facial gestures and takes a nap and such. Also, stay until the very very end of that show. Iago says some fun things as you walk out of the theater. Country Bears is another one that's fun.
If you are at the Mk right after the afternoon parade, stand at the beginning of Main Street. Look up to the windows in the buildings on both sides of the street and you will see the windows close. That is were the music comes from for that part of the parade when it passes there.
Then walk down Main Street and take the first little street on the right. There is usually a vendor who cuts out silhouettes there. If you walk to the back, listen very carefully... From up in the windows you will hear a woman singing scales and sometime tap dancing.
It's the Cinderella Fountain in Fantasyland.
As you are walking through Cinderella Castle from the Hub, as soon as you emerge into Fantasyland, on your left, quite near the pathway that leads to Sleepy Hollow Refreshments in Liberty Square, there is a little fountain with a sculpture of Cinderella (before she was a princess) surrounded by water fountains from which you can drink. Anyway. Immediately behind the Cinderella sculpture is a painting on the wall. Within the painting is a crow drink. Anyway. Immediately behind the Cinderella sculpture is a painting on the wall. Within the painting is a crown-shaped figure. If you stand directly in front of the Cinderella fountain, and crouch down just a bit, it will appear that the crown painted on the wall is situated upon the head of our fair Cinderella
At the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area, climb the stairs between the garden hose and the slide coming out of a roll of film. There is a dog nose. Put your hand in the nostrils. The dog sniffs you
Look for the talking Trash Can in MK and Epcot,
Talking water fountain in Epcot, and
Talking Palm Tree in AK. Ask a CM for assistance.
In Liberty Square, there is a gate around a door -- it guards a marble slab that used to be threshold or a step or something like that at Monticello. Jefferson actually walked on it long ago.
In Epcot, if you stand in the correct spot, you can see the Tower of Terror appear to be part of Morocco. The best spot to see it is near the souvenir stands between Future World and World Showcase, specifically the souvenir stand closer to Mexico. And since both have similar colors, they blend together decently.
On Journey Into Imagination with Figment, as you are about to go into the sound room, look at one of the doors, it says Dean Finder(Dreamfinder). Also, in the finale, look to the Figment with the music book glider, there is a Dreammobile.
In Mouse Gear, look for the blimp from the original JII, sans the balloon.
Look closely during the ballroom scene. The women are leading the men!
Don't forget the sponges, the group of three meteors are cookies, while the big one that is by itself is a sponge
Also in Spaceship Earth, in the scene with the monks writing on desks, look at the second one - not only has he fallen asleep, but the tiny ink blob he made is a hidden Mickey...
At Animal Kingdom, read all the cool signs, especially in Africa and Asia - and inside the buildings, look for where the "dirt" has built up in the corners. (animal Kingdom has some of the most amazing, intricate themeing, imho.)
Not on the same scale, but I love the jewels embedded in the concrete around the Magic Carpet ride, and the impressions of leaves in the concrete at AK. Best surprise
An evening on Seven Seas Lagoon: eat at the Whispering Canyon Cafe in Wilderness Lodge. If you time it right (get there for about 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM), you can have a nice meal and finish dessert just after 9 PM, at which time you can stroll down to the dock or the beach to watch the Electric Water Pageant as it passes the Lodge. Then board the next boat toward the MK, (no earlier than 9:45 PM) and you will be halfway across the lake when the 10 PM fireworks start over Cinderella Castle. This is a beautiful way to view the fireworks, and is really romantic as the boat captain will dim the onboard lights during the show, and may even pause before docking to allow you to see the show to the end. Sit in the front of the boat for the best view, it's really beautiful.
Go to Downtown Disney Marketplace with your children and ask at one of the (Disney) store cash registers for the Sticker Hunt booklet. There are 15 different stickers to collect at each of 15 stores. This was the first time my children wanted to go to all the stores with us! We even went into several we adults hadn't been in, like clothing stores. It made browsing around the Marketplace that much more fun.
* Are you a trivia buff? Stop in the Art of Disney store! They run a quiz every day and give out prizes if you get them all right!
Noticed this during my last vacation, and promptly forgot about it. During lunch at Casey's Corner, I was sitting in the bleachers facing the TV showing Disney sports cartoons. On the same wall as the bleachers, there is a bunch of old baseball pictures. One in particular caught my attention. It seemed a lot newer than the other pictures-it wasn't really grainy at all, yet it was dated "1915." Also, the players were sitting on very modern-looking metal bleachers. The last thing I noticed was...THEY WERE ALMOST ALL WEARING PRECISELY THE SAME MOUSTACHE! Could these be the Imagineers who did the Casey's corner rehab a few years back? If you want to find it yourself, go in the TV room connected to Casey's Corner. The pictures are just inside the doorway, on the wall to the left. The picture I'm talking about is about at eye level.
For pure fun and a nice trip, have Her visit the "LAWN MOWER TREE" at Fort Wilderness
Even if we don't do anything else in Fantasyland, we make sure to stop by Tinkerbell's Treasures to watch her flit around the shop! Even knowing her path, it often takes 4-5 minutes to find her!
We decided to go to Tom Sawyer Island. On the raft ride over, the CM says (something to this effect): "Aunt Polly asked Tom and Huck to paint a few things on Tom Sawyer Island, but they had other ideas and left they're paint brushes all over the place. If you happen to see one, please pick it up and bring it back to me. I'll give you a prize in exchange for the brush." Well, without really trying, my husband found a paintbrush. Ordinarily I would leave it behind for a child to find, but it was my birthday so I kept it. When we turned it in, our prize was a head of the line pass to either Splash or Big Thunder Mountain.
In the area just next to the AFI shop at the Back Lot Tour ride -- while we were waiting to have our picture taken, I wandered into the area nearby which was stacked with wooden crates and, since nothing really is what it seems to be around here ;-), I started to open the crates out of curiosity and was rewarded with various silly sound effects.
Check out the "Singing in the Rain" umbrella that is attached to one of the streetlights near the Hunchback Theater. Grab the umbrella and step on the black square embedded in the cement underneath it for a nice surprise!
We thought one of the best things to do in the AK was to go to the bridge where the Kali River Rapids ride ends. There are 2 elephants that people on the bridge can make shoot water by pushing a button. By this time in the ride the riders think they are safe and start taking off their rain gear, but no! We didn't ride the ride, but it was worth it to go over there and spray people!
The meteors in Space Mountain are giant chocolate chip cookies & natural sponges.
The talking water fountains - one between Innovations west & the Imagination pavilion, near the restrooms, & one to the east of the fountain of nations, near the shop, & one to the right of the magic water fountain (below) - press the buttons!
Near the Journey into Imagination pavilion are two fountains - one that is a reverse fountain (the water flows upwards) & another where the water leaps from pad to pad.
In the UK pavilion, there is a path running down the side of the Rose & Crown pub, which leads to a 'secret' garden.
Ask for a list of hidden Mickey's from guest relations.
Just by the Indiana Jones show, there are some crates hidden in the bushes, which are marked 'don't open' - go ahead & open them!
Near Indiana Jones is a well with a rope in it, pull the rope for a surprise.
Go into Muppet Vision 3D, at the entrance turnstiles on the right is a ticket window with a notice that says - "Closed - Key under Mat". Look under the mat and you will find the key!
Find the dog nose which is near to the garden hose in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, put your hand into the dog's nostrils!
Head straight through the Innovations East, and head towards Horizons, you will spot a set of restrooms to the left. You will see a couple of water fountains that there that are said to talk.
Some of the coins in the fountains are permanently affixed to form hidden Mickey's
Look at whose "baggage" you can see at the train station. Up on one of the shelves (CMs can help you locate it) you can see Aladdin's lamp as well as other characters belongings waiting to be picked up at the train station.
When you go to Sir Mickey's Shop in Fantasyland look at where the roof meets the walls. You will see Willie the Giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk peeking into the shop.
In MgM on the street in the New York neighborhood you can hear gangsters talking and gun shots inside the buildings.
In Epcot, while boarding the Maelstrom, you'll notice that one of the Vikings in the longboat has some funny headgear!
In AK, in the Dinoland playground, try to open the door (have your kid do it and just watch!)
Hotel tours: Smokehouse at the WL, MMMM Good!!!
In Liberty Square you will notice that the roads around the buildings are brown, while the street is not... back in those times people dumped garbage out of their windows, so Disney made the walkway near the buildings to be "dirty".
Most people know that the names on the windows of Main Street are pretty much real people that contributed to the Disney Co. The only time you will see Walt's full name in ANY of the parks, is only at WDW on the Ice Cream Parlor Window, and it is the ONLY name that faces the castle. Walt also loved ice cream.
Main Street USA is sloped up towards the castle for multi purposes... to make the castle seem bigger/further away, and at the end of the day, it is easier walking downhill on the guests leaving...
The two colors Disney paints the backstage areas/show buildings are go Away Green and Blend In Brown. These two colors were made by Disney to paint things they did not want to be noticed
Most people think of WDW as being "in Orlando". We Disney fans know that's not true. But even a lot of Disney fans don't realize that WDW is actually in two cities. The area that includes Magic Kingdom and Fort Wilderness is actually in the City of Bay Lake. The rest of the property is in Lake Buena Vista.
I just found this out a few days ago (and I've been there over a year!). When you get in line for buzz, the "story" of the attraction is unfolding. Once inside, all guests are being 'shrunk' to toy size so they are able to fit in the xp 37-space cruisers. This is why, once you get up to the view finder and magnadoodle and buzz, they are all the same size as you. Then when the ride is over and you see buzz telling you your scores and zurg behind bars, you return to normal 'human' size. Just a little side note
"All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door."
In Liberty Square all the shutters on the windows are hanging crooked. This is because in those times leather was used to fasten shutters on and would stretch over time to hang crooked. The imagineers used crooked metal fasteners.
As you enter Muppet Vision on the right is a ticket-taker window that has a sign that says, "Back in 5 minutes, key is under the mat". If you lift up the mat (you're probably standing on it) there's really a key there.
Ever notice during the 3:00 o'clock parade that during a routine stop on the parade route the performers perform, the songs are sung, and then the float rolls on down the road again? Well, look a LITTLE closer; about 6 of the performers will walk around the floats before it starts moving again, for two reasons, ONE - to make sure all kids/people are out of the way
TWO - there are (I believe 6) switches on each float that must be flipped before the driver can proceed on the route. This makes sure all characters are ready, and everyone is out of the way.
The original design for the resorts around The 7 Seas Lagoon were to mirror the lands in the Magic Kingdom
Poly - Adventureland
Wilderness lodge and Fort Wilderness - Frontierland
Contemp - Tomorrowland
Grand FL - Main Street
The resorts for Fantasyland and Liberty Square were never built.
There is a silver plate that runs between Liberty Square and Frontierland. This plate represents the Mississippi River, separating the east from the west, and there is water flowing out from the plate into the Rivers of America. Additionally the buildings also reflect changes east to west from the colonial style to the frontier boomtown to the southwestern adobe buildings.
1. When the Haunted Mansion first opened; the very first room would fill with fog before a servant opened the doors to let guests in. The fog was a great effect, and rolled out onto the guests, giving a very creepy first impression. One of the servants happened to be allergic (or so she said), to the fog, so they cut it out. (I thought, personally, that most theatrical fogs were water based...?)
2. In the room with the changing portrait, see how many hidden Mickey's you can count... there are quite a few, they are the border of the frame around the changing picture. Get close; you will see that the design is Mickey heads all put together.
3. In every room there is a face watching you, not necessarily a human, or ghost face, but somehow, something hidden is watching you. The fire screen in the changing portrait room is sort of a devilish face, keeping tabs on everyone in the room. The banister tops while waiting to board your doombuggy are all faces, and some have teeth... look closely. Once you board your doombuggy, just as the ride starts, look at the curtains drawn above your head in the doorway leading into the first scene... the curtains are actually a bat, watching you.
4. In the room with all of the portraits eye's following you, the big portrait straight ahead hanging above you is the original concept for Master Gracey. I believe he is a captain of a boat, or a sailor in a storm or something like that. The attraction was originally supposed to be focused more around him.
5. While I am not giving away how any effects are done in the ride, just random trivia, I will say, the busts that follow you, were the most mind blowing to me. People have tried to explain this to me before, and I never quite 'got it', but seeing them from the backside of the set was mind blowing!
6. NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER attempt to step out of your doombuggy. Especially during Leota's séance!
7. I had a WONDERFUL opportunity to actually dance with some of the ballroom ghosts, and I should say that they are quite polite, and great dancers (i stepped on one lady's toe, but she said she didn't feel a thing) In the ballroom scene, most people don't realize that there are ghosts on the chandeliers (sp?), under the table, and in the portraits above the organ. The ballroom scene was very fascinating to me, and as far as set construction goes, there is so much more than, or actually, there is so much less than meets the eye! - Side note... the granny in the rocking chair on the far right hand side of the ballroom scene is used in what other attraction, (think about the future, of a great big beautiful tomorrow)
8. When you are in the attic, there is a story that the bride is actually pushing you out of the attic window, and I guess I am just not observant, because before I was told this story plot, I never realized that if you look to your right while on your way down, you see the backside of the mansion you are falling out of. Anyway, she pushes you to your death, in the graveyard! What a meany.
9. As soon as you enter the graveyard, you go under a tall gate, if you look really hard, at the top left-center portion of the gate, there is a paper tag. This is the original purchase tag from California, they forgot to remove it, and it is still there today!
10. The entire graveyard scene was amazing to me. Just seeing all the ghosts and their ghostly world in the light was pretty neat, like I said though, I'm not hear to ruin illusions... but pay close attention to this room, every time I go through it, I see and hear something new!
11. In the scene with the lone piano player, pay close attention to what's going on outside! Notice the direction the wind is blowing the tree compared to the direction the clouds are moving...
12. The grandfather clock sports a pair of bloody fingers for hands, and the clock is actually one of the faces in the room, watching you, with a devilish tail for a pendulum.
13. The fountain outside of the attraction was originally meant to be a working fountain, but some parts never got shipped from California in time for opening day, so the fountain was just kicked over where it was.
My favorite detail is in the ballroom scene. If you look down on the floor of the balcony the doombuggies are traveling on about halfway through the scene you will see a patch of light and the shadows of two pairs of legs swinging as if there are two people sitting on a ledge above you. Very cool!!
In the loading room there is a table and chairs with an open book on the table. The book is an encyclopedia or dictionary (can't remember which) but it is opened to the word "death"
One interesting fact that you all have over looked is that the Chair in the WDW version of the haunted mansion in the endless hallway room is in the shape of Donald duck. It takes a while to see it, but its clearly Donald ducks portrait on the chair.
The mansion itself has great attention to detail. If you watch closely at night, you will see strange lights coming from the conservatory, and the bride wanders through the mansion, you can tell by the illumination of a candle glow in the mansion windows.
The Tombstones of the mansion are the names of the imagineers who created the place.
There were disagreements between the imagineers on whether the mansion should be fun, or scary. So the imagineers drew up there own set of plans for the mansion. That's why the beginning of the ride is more scary, and from the ballroom on, the mansion is more kooky and funny.
Watch out for the rock formations on the shores of the Canada pavilion during Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. For the fireworks show, one of these boulders "breaks open," rising up into the air, a contoured piece of rock topping a pole equipped with lights and speakers for the show. Once Illuminations ends, the pole silently retracts back into the boulder, its rocky top preserving the appearance of the Canada shoreline. It's all part of Disney's attempt to preserve show elements--outside of show time, you'd never know it wasn't a real rock. A similar pole rises out of the rocks at the Japan pavilion, and two light poles are cleverly concealed in the Italy pavilion.
Take that huge building alongside World Showcase that's been sitting empty ever since Epcot opened in 1982. The stone "castle" building, located in the Germany pavilion alongside the Biergarten Restaurant, was to have been the home of a Rhine River cruise attraction taking guests on a boat ride through the German countryside. But the attraction was never built. The main entrance to the ride would have been located at the back of the Sommerfest Outdoor Cafe
Did you know that when you're riding the time vehicles inside Spaceship Earth, you're not seeing the inside of the silver-faceted geosphere that's become a world renowned landmark? Spaceship Earth is actually composed of two separate spheres, one inside the other. The facade of the outer sphere is positioned two feet away from the inner sphere by 467 four-inch-diameter aluminum hubs. The outer sphere is covered with 11,324 silver facets on 954 triangular panels; the inner sphere houses the time vehicle tracks and the actual attraction.
Test Track is the longest, fastest ride in all of Walt Disney World. The cars log almost a mile, reach a top speed of 65 miles per hour and hit a high-bank curve at an angle of 50 degrees. But what exactly lies under the hood of these amazing vehicles? Each is designed to last one million miles (enough miles to make two round trips from the Earth to the moon). Each vehicle comes equipped with no less than six braking systems. And while there are four visible wheels on each car, they actually carry a total of 22 wheels. Each vehicle is controlled by three onboard computers, which together have more processing power than the entire Space Shuttle.
(Note: please remember this is copy and pasted, so some of the wording might be a little strange.) I hope everyone can find something on this list they didn't know before!
In TOT the letters on the sign have fallen off, and in the bottom of the marquee, they read: EVIL TOWER U R DOOM
I've heard of are the little mice (Gus and Jacques) looking down at the foyer below Cinderella's Royal Table
Paw prints in the cement of Lady and Tramp outside of Tony's Town Tavern.
President Clinton is the only president to wear a Mickey Mouse Tie, in the Hall Of Presidents
Mosaic mural in the fourth-floor lobby of Disney's Contemporary Resort was created in 1971 with 1,800 one-square-foot tiles and took 18 months to construct. Look closely: there's a five-legged goat facing the monorail track.
The musical staff notes across the registration desk at Disney's Port Orleans Resort-French Quarter spell out the first verse of "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Someone mentioned the green Jell-O in Muppet Vision 3-D, but one of the great secrets, cause everyone rushes by to get to where they are going, are the walls outside that have graffiti all over them. Stop and read some of it sometime.
The some of the big points in Buzz are found leaving the first room. Turn around and shoot the back of the Orange robots arm or the back of the buzz saw. 100,000 points. The car turns automatically away form these so turn back score big!
HM Look at the chair in front of the endless hall with the "floating candelabra
In Spaceship Earth the Greek Thespians are acting out Oedipus Rex in Greek of course.
In Animal Kingdom eat at Tusker House and sit outside on the back patio area, sounds like the people upstairs are having trouble cleaning.
There are some lovely seating areas around Liberty Square, have a relaxing drink there.
Ride up-front in the monorail and get your co-pilots license.
Ride the watercraft from the Poly-MK and get a Disney watercraft sticker.
Look on the top of the haunted mansion outside the roof has large chess pieces located on the top!! It is pretty cool! There is a chess pieces missing though the knight is missing from the roof.... take a guess why??
Well the reason being that the Knight is the only chess piece located in the haunted mansion (not sure where in the haunted mansion it is but I will look when I go)... the knight is located in the mansion because it is always "knight" (night) in the mansion
Look for the Gossip Phone in (I think) the second store on the left on Main Street in MK. It's a kitchenware store and there is an old fashioned phone on the back wall. Pick it up and listen to the people talking on it. And Market House is the name of the store; it is on the right of Main Street after Center Street (the alley street in the middle of Main Street).
At the end of Center Street you can also listen to the Music Lesson.
Check out the one-cent movie machines in the main street station, assuming they are still there.
1) Muppet Vision 3-D - look for the key under the doormat when entering the theater.
2) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! - Outside of the theater there is a well. Pull on the rope that's dropped inside of the well and listen.
3) There are two paths in the Great Movie Ride attraction.
One group goes through the gangster set. The second group goes through the bank robbery set.
4) In The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh look for the picture of Mr. Toad handing over the deed to Owl (I think it's Owl). Yes it is Owl in the picture, and if you look down on the floor to your right as you are leaving Owl's house you will see some other cute pictures.
Oh this is one of my favorite cute things, if you are in the Train Station with your back to the castle look up to you're left to see the belongings of some of our favorite Disney characters (Aladdin's lamp, Peter Pan flute thingy, Brer Rabbits pole pack, etc.)
Also around the Haunted Mansion, there are wire people. In the wire fencing they are things that look like stick people. If I remember correct there are 999 of them to represent the 999 ghosts that live inside.
Is the singing in the rain umbrella still in MGM? Or did they remove it for the rehab? If it's still there, it's not really a secret, but a really cute photo op!
Also, there is a hidden Baloo in Animal Kingdom. It is in Africa, right behind the Tamu refreshment stand. It is a little half wall that, ironically, King Louie and Baloo usually stand in front of. It is on the backside of the wall. The wall is chipped, and one of the chipped pieces is a profile of Baloo.
Another fun thing, especially in audioanamatronic shows, is to watch what else is going on, besides the main character. For example, watch Zazu while Iago steals the show in the Tiki Room. He makes all sorts of facial gestures and takes a nap and such. Also, stay until the very very end of that show. Iago says some fun things as you walk out of the theater. Country Bears is another one that's fun.
If you are at the Mk right after the afternoon parade, stand at the beginning of Main Street. Look up to the windows in the buildings on both sides of the street and you will see the windows close. That is were the music comes from for that part of the parade when it passes there.
Then walk down Main Street and take the first little street on the right. There is usually a vendor who cuts out silhouettes there. If you walk to the back, listen very carefully... From up in the windows you will hear a woman singing scales and sometime tap dancing.
It's the Cinderella Fountain in Fantasyland.
As you are walking through Cinderella Castle from the Hub, as soon as you emerge into Fantasyland, on your left, quite near the pathway that leads to Sleepy Hollow Refreshments in Liberty Square, there is a little fountain with a sculpture of Cinderella (before she was a princess) surrounded by water fountains from which you can drink. Anyway. Immediately behind the Cinderella sculpture is a painting on the wall. Within the painting is a crow drink. Anyway. Immediately behind the Cinderella sculpture is a painting on the wall. Within the painting is a crown-shaped figure. If you stand directly in front of the Cinderella fountain, and crouch down just a bit, it will appear that the crown painted on the wall is situated upon the head of our fair Cinderella
At the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area, climb the stairs between the garden hose and the slide coming out of a roll of film. There is a dog nose. Put your hand in the nostrils. The dog sniffs you
Look for the talking Trash Can in MK and Epcot,
Talking water fountain in Epcot, and
Talking Palm Tree in AK. Ask a CM for assistance.
In Liberty Square, there is a gate around a door -- it guards a marble slab that used to be threshold or a step or something like that at Monticello. Jefferson actually walked on it long ago.
In Epcot, if you stand in the correct spot, you can see the Tower of Terror appear to be part of Morocco. The best spot to see it is near the souvenir stands between Future World and World Showcase, specifically the souvenir stand closer to Mexico. And since both have similar colors, they blend together decently.
On Journey Into Imagination with Figment, as you are about to go into the sound room, look at one of the doors, it says Dean Finder(Dreamfinder). Also, in the finale, look to the Figment with the music book glider, there is a Dreammobile.
In Mouse Gear, look for the blimp from the original JII, sans the balloon.
Look closely during the ballroom scene. The women are leading the men!
Don't forget the sponges, the group of three meteors are cookies, while the big one that is by itself is a sponge
Also in Spaceship Earth, in the scene with the monks writing on desks, look at the second one - not only has he fallen asleep, but the tiny ink blob he made is a hidden Mickey...
At Animal Kingdom, read all the cool signs, especially in Africa and Asia - and inside the buildings, look for where the "dirt" has built up in the corners. (animal Kingdom has some of the most amazing, intricate themeing, imho.)
Not on the same scale, but I love the jewels embedded in the concrete around the Magic Carpet ride, and the impressions of leaves in the concrete at AK. Best surprise
An evening on Seven Seas Lagoon: eat at the Whispering Canyon Cafe in Wilderness Lodge. If you time it right (get there for about 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM), you can have a nice meal and finish dessert just after 9 PM, at which time you can stroll down to the dock or the beach to watch the Electric Water Pageant as it passes the Lodge. Then board the next boat toward the MK, (no earlier than 9:45 PM) and you will be halfway across the lake when the 10 PM fireworks start over Cinderella Castle. This is a beautiful way to view the fireworks, and is really romantic as the boat captain will dim the onboard lights during the show, and may even pause before docking to allow you to see the show to the end. Sit in the front of the boat for the best view, it's really beautiful.
Go to Downtown Disney Marketplace with your children and ask at one of the (Disney) store cash registers for the Sticker Hunt booklet. There are 15 different stickers to collect at each of 15 stores. This was the first time my children wanted to go to all the stores with us! We even went into several we adults hadn't been in, like clothing stores. It made browsing around the Marketplace that much more fun.
* Are you a trivia buff? Stop in the Art of Disney store! They run a quiz every day and give out prizes if you get them all right!
Noticed this during my last vacation, and promptly forgot about it. During lunch at Casey's Corner, I was sitting in the bleachers facing the TV showing Disney sports cartoons. On the same wall as the bleachers, there is a bunch of old baseball pictures. One in particular caught my attention. It seemed a lot newer than the other pictures-it wasn't really grainy at all, yet it was dated "1915." Also, the players were sitting on very modern-looking metal bleachers. The last thing I noticed was...THEY WERE ALMOST ALL WEARING PRECISELY THE SAME MOUSTACHE! Could these be the Imagineers who did the Casey's corner rehab a few years back? If you want to find it yourself, go in the TV room connected to Casey's Corner. The pictures are just inside the doorway, on the wall to the left. The picture I'm talking about is about at eye level.
For pure fun and a nice trip, have Her visit the "LAWN MOWER TREE" at Fort Wilderness
Even if we don't do anything else in Fantasyland, we make sure to stop by Tinkerbell's Treasures to watch her flit around the shop! Even knowing her path, it often takes 4-5 minutes to find her!
We decided to go to Tom Sawyer Island. On the raft ride over, the CM says (something to this effect): "Aunt Polly asked Tom and Huck to paint a few things on Tom Sawyer Island, but they had other ideas and left they're paint brushes all over the place. If you happen to see one, please pick it up and bring it back to me. I'll give you a prize in exchange for the brush." Well, without really trying, my husband found a paintbrush. Ordinarily I would leave it behind for a child to find, but it was my birthday so I kept it. When we turned it in, our prize was a head of the line pass to either Splash or Big Thunder Mountain.
In the area just next to the AFI shop at the Back Lot Tour ride -- while we were waiting to have our picture taken, I wandered into the area nearby which was stacked with wooden crates and, since nothing really is what it seems to be around here ;-), I started to open the crates out of curiosity and was rewarded with various silly sound effects.
Check out the "Singing in the Rain" umbrella that is attached to one of the streetlights near the Hunchback Theater. Grab the umbrella and step on the black square embedded in the cement underneath it for a nice surprise!
We thought one of the best things to do in the AK was to go to the bridge where the Kali River Rapids ride ends. There are 2 elephants that people on the bridge can make shoot water by pushing a button. By this time in the ride the riders think they are safe and start taking off their rain gear, but no! We didn't ride the ride, but it was worth it to go over there and spray people!
The meteors in Space Mountain are giant chocolate chip cookies & natural sponges.
The talking water fountains - one between Innovations west & the Imagination pavilion, near the restrooms, & one to the east of the fountain of nations, near the shop, & one to the right of the magic water fountain (below) - press the buttons!
Near the Journey into Imagination pavilion are two fountains - one that is a reverse fountain (the water flows upwards) & another where the water leaps from pad to pad.
In the UK pavilion, there is a path running down the side of the Rose & Crown pub, which leads to a 'secret' garden.
Ask for a list of hidden Mickey's from guest relations.
Just by the Indiana Jones show, there are some crates hidden in the bushes, which are marked 'don't open' - go ahead & open them!
Near Indiana Jones is a well with a rope in it, pull the rope for a surprise.
Go into Muppet Vision 3D, at the entrance turnstiles on the right is a ticket window with a notice that says - "Closed - Key under Mat". Look under the mat and you will find the key!
Find the dog nose which is near to the garden hose in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, put your hand into the dog's nostrils!
Head straight through the Innovations East, and head towards Horizons, you will spot a set of restrooms to the left. You will see a couple of water fountains that there that are said to talk.
Some of the coins in the fountains are permanently affixed to form hidden Mickey's
Look at whose "baggage" you can see at the train station. Up on one of the shelves (CMs can help you locate it) you can see Aladdin's lamp as well as other characters belongings waiting to be picked up at the train station.
When you go to Sir Mickey's Shop in Fantasyland look at where the roof meets the walls. You will see Willie the Giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk peeking into the shop.
In MgM on the street in the New York neighborhood you can hear gangsters talking and gun shots inside the buildings.
In Epcot, while boarding the Maelstrom, you'll notice that one of the Vikings in the longboat has some funny headgear!
In AK, in the Dinoland playground, try to open the door (have your kid do it and just watch!)
Hotel tours: Smokehouse at the WL, MMMM Good!!!
In Liberty Square you will notice that the roads around the buildings are brown, while the street is not... back in those times people dumped garbage out of their windows, so Disney made the walkway near the buildings to be "dirty".
Most people know that the names on the windows of Main Street are pretty much real people that contributed to the Disney Co. The only time you will see Walt's full name in ANY of the parks, is only at WDW on the Ice Cream Parlor Window, and it is the ONLY name that faces the castle. Walt also loved ice cream.
Main Street USA is sloped up towards the castle for multi purposes... to make the castle seem bigger/further away, and at the end of the day, it is easier walking downhill on the guests leaving...
The two colors Disney paints the backstage areas/show buildings are go Away Green and Blend In Brown. These two colors were made by Disney to paint things they did not want to be noticed
Most people think of WDW as being "in Orlando". We Disney fans know that's not true. But even a lot of Disney fans don't realize that WDW is actually in two cities. The area that includes Magic Kingdom and Fort Wilderness is actually in the City of Bay Lake. The rest of the property is in Lake Buena Vista.
I just found this out a few days ago (and I've been there over a year!). When you get in line for buzz, the "story" of the attraction is unfolding. Once inside, all guests are being 'shrunk' to toy size so they are able to fit in the xp 37-space cruisers. This is why, once you get up to the view finder and magnadoodle and buzz, they are all the same size as you. Then when the ride is over and you see buzz telling you your scores and zurg behind bars, you return to normal 'human' size. Just a little side note
"All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door."
In Liberty Square all the shutters on the windows are hanging crooked. This is because in those times leather was used to fasten shutters on and would stretch over time to hang crooked. The imagineers used crooked metal fasteners.
As you enter Muppet Vision on the right is a ticket-taker window that has a sign that says, "Back in 5 minutes, key is under the mat". If you lift up the mat (you're probably standing on it) there's really a key there.
Ever notice during the 3:00 o'clock parade that during a routine stop on the parade route the performers perform, the songs are sung, and then the float rolls on down the road again? Well, look a LITTLE closer; about 6 of the performers will walk around the floats before it starts moving again, for two reasons, ONE - to make sure all kids/people are out of the way
TWO - there are (I believe 6) switches on each float that must be flipped before the driver can proceed on the route. This makes sure all characters are ready, and everyone is out of the way.
The original design for the resorts around The 7 Seas Lagoon were to mirror the lands in the Magic Kingdom
Poly - Adventureland
Wilderness lodge and Fort Wilderness - Frontierland
Contemp - Tomorrowland
Grand FL - Main Street
The resorts for Fantasyland and Liberty Square were never built.
There is a silver plate that runs between Liberty Square and Frontierland. This plate represents the Mississippi River, separating the east from the west, and there is water flowing out from the plate into the Rivers of America. Additionally the buildings also reflect changes east to west from the colonial style to the frontier boomtown to the southwestern adobe buildings.
1. When the Haunted Mansion first opened; the very first room would fill with fog before a servant opened the doors to let guests in. The fog was a great effect, and rolled out onto the guests, giving a very creepy first impression. One of the servants happened to be allergic (or so she said), to the fog, so they cut it out. (I thought, personally, that most theatrical fogs were water based...?)
2. In the room with the changing portrait, see how many hidden Mickey's you can count... there are quite a few, they are the border of the frame around the changing picture. Get close; you will see that the design is Mickey heads all put together.
3. In every room there is a face watching you, not necessarily a human, or ghost face, but somehow, something hidden is watching you. The fire screen in the changing portrait room is sort of a devilish face, keeping tabs on everyone in the room. The banister tops while waiting to board your doombuggy are all faces, and some have teeth... look closely. Once you board your doombuggy, just as the ride starts, look at the curtains drawn above your head in the doorway leading into the first scene... the curtains are actually a bat, watching you.
4. In the room with all of the portraits eye's following you, the big portrait straight ahead hanging above you is the original concept for Master Gracey. I believe he is a captain of a boat, or a sailor in a storm or something like that. The attraction was originally supposed to be focused more around him.
5. While I am not giving away how any effects are done in the ride, just random trivia, I will say, the busts that follow you, were the most mind blowing to me. People have tried to explain this to me before, and I never quite 'got it', but seeing them from the backside of the set was mind blowing!
6. NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER attempt to step out of your doombuggy. Especially during Leota's séance!
7. I had a WONDERFUL opportunity to actually dance with some of the ballroom ghosts, and I should say that they are quite polite, and great dancers (i stepped on one lady's toe, but she said she didn't feel a thing) In the ballroom scene, most people don't realize that there are ghosts on the chandeliers (sp?), under the table, and in the portraits above the organ. The ballroom scene was very fascinating to me, and as far as set construction goes, there is so much more than, or actually, there is so much less than meets the eye! - Side note... the granny in the rocking chair on the far right hand side of the ballroom scene is used in what other attraction, (think about the future, of a great big beautiful tomorrow)
8. When you are in the attic, there is a story that the bride is actually pushing you out of the attic window, and I guess I am just not observant, because before I was told this story plot, I never realized that if you look to your right while on your way down, you see the backside of the mansion you are falling out of. Anyway, she pushes you to your death, in the graveyard! What a meany.
9. As soon as you enter the graveyard, you go under a tall gate, if you look really hard, at the top left-center portion of the gate, there is a paper tag. This is the original purchase tag from California, they forgot to remove it, and it is still there today!
10. The entire graveyard scene was amazing to me. Just seeing all the ghosts and their ghostly world in the light was pretty neat, like I said though, I'm not hear to ruin illusions... but pay close attention to this room, every time I go through it, I see and hear something new!
11. In the scene with the lone piano player, pay close attention to what's going on outside! Notice the direction the wind is blowing the tree compared to the direction the clouds are moving...
12. The grandfather clock sports a pair of bloody fingers for hands, and the clock is actually one of the faces in the room, watching you, with a devilish tail for a pendulum.
13. The fountain outside of the attraction was originally meant to be a working fountain, but some parts never got shipped from California in time for opening day, so the fountain was just kicked over where it was.
My favorite detail is in the ballroom scene. If you look down on the floor of the balcony the doombuggies are traveling on about halfway through the scene you will see a patch of light and the shadows of two pairs of legs swinging as if there are two people sitting on a ledge above you. Very cool!!
In the loading room there is a table and chairs with an open book on the table. The book is an encyclopedia or dictionary (can't remember which) but it is opened to the word "death"
One interesting fact that you all have over looked is that the Chair in the WDW version of the haunted mansion in the endless hallway room is in the shape of Donald duck. It takes a while to see it, but its clearly Donald ducks portrait on the chair.
The mansion itself has great attention to detail. If you watch closely at night, you will see strange lights coming from the conservatory, and the bride wanders through the mansion, you can tell by the illumination of a candle glow in the mansion windows.
The Tombstones of the mansion are the names of the imagineers who created the place.
There were disagreements between the imagineers on whether the mansion should be fun, or scary. So the imagineers drew up there own set of plans for the mansion. That's why the beginning of the ride is more scary, and from the ballroom on, the mansion is more kooky and funny.
Watch out for the rock formations on the shores of the Canada pavilion during Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. For the fireworks show, one of these boulders "breaks open," rising up into the air, a contoured piece of rock topping a pole equipped with lights and speakers for the show. Once Illuminations ends, the pole silently retracts back into the boulder, its rocky top preserving the appearance of the Canada shoreline. It's all part of Disney's attempt to preserve show elements--outside of show time, you'd never know it wasn't a real rock. A similar pole rises out of the rocks at the Japan pavilion, and two light poles are cleverly concealed in the Italy pavilion.
Take that huge building alongside World Showcase that's been sitting empty ever since Epcot opened in 1982. The stone "castle" building, located in the Germany pavilion alongside the Biergarten Restaurant, was to have been the home of a Rhine River cruise attraction taking guests on a boat ride through the German countryside. But the attraction was never built. The main entrance to the ride would have been located at the back of the Sommerfest Outdoor Cafe
Did you know that when you're riding the time vehicles inside Spaceship Earth, you're not seeing the inside of the silver-faceted geosphere that's become a world renowned landmark? Spaceship Earth is actually composed of two separate spheres, one inside the other. The facade of the outer sphere is positioned two feet away from the inner sphere by 467 four-inch-diameter aluminum hubs. The outer sphere is covered with 11,324 silver facets on 954 triangular panels; the inner sphere houses the time vehicle tracks and the actual attraction.
Test Track is the longest, fastest ride in all of Walt Disney World. The cars log almost a mile, reach a top speed of 65 miles per hour and hit a high-bank curve at an angle of 50 degrees. But what exactly lies under the hood of these amazing vehicles? Each is designed to last one million miles (enough miles to make two round trips from the Earth to the moon). Each vehicle comes equipped with no less than six braking systems. And while there are four visible wheels on each car, they actually carry a total of 22 wheels. Each vehicle is controlled by three onboard computers, which together have more processing power than the entire Space Shuttle.
