this day in disney history

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5/17

1908:
Disney writer and director Ralph Wright, the gloomy voice of loveable Eeyore in such classics as Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh
and the Blustery Day, is born in Grants Pass, Oregon. He (along with his fellow Disney contemporaries) was a pioneer in the use of "gags" within cartoons, often acted out in front of the "story board," a bulletin board pinned with sequential sketches of the cartoon's scenes - a technique still in use today in most major animation studios. Wright's story credits include Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!, The Jungle Book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and The Aristocats. His directing credits include the 1957 live-action Perri.
1940:
Disney's Donald Duck cartoon Billposters is released.

American computer scientist Alan Kay is born in Massachusetts. In the mid-1980s he joined Walt Disney Imagineering as vice president of research and development before going on to work for Hewlett-Packard and Viewpoints Institute
1950:
Disney Legend Howard Ashman, playwright, producer & award-winning lyricist is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He co-produced The Little Mermaid with John Musker, and co-wrote many of the film's songs including "Under the Sea" with composer Alan Menken. Ashman's Disney credits include Oliver & Company, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, (He is also known for his
rock musical Little Shop of Horrors which he co-wrote with Menken.)
1964:
Disney's Wonderful World of Color TV show airs the episode "Disneyland Goes to the World's Fair." Walt is shown working on a scene from the Progressland show along with Wathel Rogers, his principal Audio-Animatronics programmer.
Although Disney hasn't built the fair's Kodak Pavilion, Walt explains to millions
of viewers about how the development of Kodak cameras make it possible for
people to record their World's Fair memories ... and actually plugs the Kodak
Pavilion! Kodak's structure is located next to Pepsi's "It's a Small World"
attraction and the Tower of the Four Winds - the only place where visitors can get a picture taken with Disney characters.
1991:
Disney's Port Orleans Resort French Quarter, a re-creation of the streets and rowhouses of New Orleans' French Quarter, opens at 2201 Orleans Drive in Walt Disney World. The Downtown Disney area resort offers 432 guest rooms in 3 buildings (the room count will increase to 1,008 when construction on the remaining 4 buildings is completed). Also opening is the Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory food court, Jackson Square Gifts and Desires shop, and Bonfamille's Cafe restaurant. (In 2001 it will be renamed Port Orleans Resort when it is merged with Dixie Landings Resort.)

Touchstone Pictures release the comedy What About Bob? directed by Frank Oz and starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. A successful psychiatrist loses his mind after one of his most dependent patients, a highly manipulative obsessive-compulsive, tracks him down during a family vacation.

Actor and rapper Daniel Curtis Lee is born in Jackson, Mississippi. His Disney credits include Zeke and Luther and Good Luck Charlie
2004:
Phase 1 of Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (the 7th Disney Vacation Club resort built at Walt Disney World) welcomes its first guests. Phase 1 features 4 Villa Buildings in a section called Congress Park - opening with 184 Vacation Home units. Jodi Benson (best known as the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid) takes part in the opening festivities singing "Part of Your World" and other Disney classics. The resort (inspired by the city of Saratoga Springs, New York) is situated on the former site of the Disney Institute at 1960 Broadway. (Phases 2-4 will open over the next 5 years.)

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Disney theme park ride Jungle Cruise will be turned into a live-action feature film.

Comedic actor Tony Randall, who hosted the 1987 television special
Walt Disney World Celebrity Circus, passes away in his sleep of complications from heart surgery. Also appearing on The Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park Grand Opening 1989 television special, fans will remember Randall for his classic role of Felix Unger on the sitcom The Odd Couple.
2005:
Walt Disney Records releases "Best of The Muppets featuring The
Muppets' Wizard of Oz" from the upcoming The Muppets' Wizard of Oz television movie. (This is the Muppets' first major album release since the franchise was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004.)

It is announced on this day that Roy and Patricia Disney have pledged $10 million to Providence Saint Joseph Foundation to build the San Fernando Valley's first and most comprehensive free-standing cancer center. In recognition of their generosity and commitment, the California cancer facility, the largest provider of cancer services in the valley, will be named
"The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center."

Actor and impressionist Frank Gorshin passes away at age 72 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in California. He played the role of Iggy the bank-robber in Disney's 1965 live-action film That Darn Cat! Television fans will remember him best for his role of the Riddler on the 1960s Batman series.
2006:
The late Sam McKim, the man who drew the first Disneyland map, receives a Window on Main Street at Disneyland. Hired in 1954 as Walt's Master Map Maker, McKim's sketches were also used to help design the park, especially Main Street and Frontierland. During his 32-year career, McKim worked on several of the Studio's films, including Zorro, Johnny Tremain, The gy Dog, and The Gnome-Mobile. He also played a key role at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, for which he contributed sketches for all four Disney attractions. (McKim passed away in July 2004.)

 

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5/18

1910:
Imagineer Dorothea Halt Redmond is born Dorothea Halt in Los Angeles,
Calfornia. An illustrator and production designer, she was hired in the 1960s by Walt Disney to design a private apartment in Disneyland's New Orleans Square, as well as the interior and exterior settings of many restaurants and shops. She later designed Fantasyland at Disney World in Florida, as well as portions of Main Street and the mosaic murals in the archway of Cinderella Castle that were implemented there and in Tokyo Disneyland. (One of the first woman to work in the male-dominated field of motion-picture production design, her credits include Gone With the Wind, The Best Years of Our Lives and The Ten Commandments, as well as seven Alfred Hitchcock productions.)
1935:
The Pan-Pacific Auditorium first opens at 7600 West Beverly Boulevard in the
Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. Designed by the Los Angeles architectural firm of Wurdeman and Becket, it is considered to be one of America's finest examples of Streamline Moderne architecture (a branch of the Art Deco style). Over the years, the Pan-Pacific will host the Ice Capades, the Harlem Globetrotters, and even Elvis Presley! Unfortunately a fire will destroy the Pan-Pacific in May 1989. Today a nearly full-scale and stylized replica of the Pan-Pacific's facade lives on in Florida ... as the main
entrance to the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park
1941:
Miriam Margolyes - the voice of the Matchmaker in Disney's 1998 Mulan and The Glowworm/Aunt Sponge in Disney's 1996 James and the Giant Peach - is born in England. (You may recognize her voice from films like Babe: Pig in the City and Cats & Dogs.)
1992:
Actor and musician Spencer Breslin is born in New York City. His credits include Disney's The Kid, The Santa Clause 2, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, The gy Dog, and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Breslin also supplies the voice for Cubby in the 2002 Return to Neverland
2003:
Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo premieres in Hollywood, California. Written by Andrew Stanton and directed by Stanton and Lee Unkrich, it tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) who, along with a regal tang called Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), searches for his abducted son Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould). Finding Nemo will be generally released May 30.
2007:
Disney Channel airs the Hannah Montana episode "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" for the first time. Larry David (famous for co-creating Seinfeld and Curb Your
Enthusiasm) appears as himself!

Ten wireless hot spots are opened at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Users with a Nintendo DS and the game Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End can download extra content at these hot spots not available anywhere else! Premiering the followind day at Disneyland, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will open in theaters May 25
2009:
Christmas comes to the Cannes Film Festival courtesy of Disney when Jim Carrey and director Robert Zemeckis arrive in a horse-drawn carriage to show off the first footage from their 3-D digital version of A Christmas Carol, due in theaters November 6.

Disney Legend, voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist for Walt Disney Studios, Wayne Allwine passes away at age 62. Best known as the official voice of Mickey Mouse for three decades (and only the 3rd person to ever voice the famous mouse full-time) Allwine was married to Russi Taylor, the current voice of Minnie Mouse.

 

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5/19

1906:
Voice actor/sound effects man, musician & creator of hundreds of one-of-a-kind gadgets and props, James Macdonald is born in Dundee, Scotland. (Yes, he spells his last name with a small "d"!) He and his parents came to the United States when he was only a month old, and James grew up in Philadelphia. While playing drums and percussion with a band for the Dollar Steamship Lines in 1934, Macdonald was called to the Disney Studios to record music for a Mickey Mouse cartoon. His impeccable timing and talent earned him a permanent position to form the sound department at the studio. In 1946, Walt Disney personally selected Macdonald to take over the voice of Mickey Mouse. His Disney credits include Mickey and the Beanstalk and the TV series House of Mouse, as well as the animated classics Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Alice in Wonderland. An original member of the popular jazz group, The Firehouse Five Plus Two, Macdonald was named a Disney Legend in 1993 (2 years after his death).
1937:
Walt Disney's animated film Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons is released for a limited time to help promote the upcoming release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is a collection of five Oscar-winning Silly Symphony shorts, bridged together with title cards and narration. At approximately 41 minutes, the film includes Flowers and Trees, Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, Three Orphan Kittens, and The Country Cousin.
1971:
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes debuts in Disneyland. A free-floating gas-powered canoe experience, it had originally opened as Indian War Canoes in 1956. Inspired by the Davy Crockett Disneyland television shows, the park's guides wear coonskin caps
1986:
Actor Eric Lloyd - Charlie Calvin in all three of Disney's Santa Clause features - is born in Glendale, California. He also supplies the voice for Blanky in the 1998 The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars and the 1997 The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue.
1998:
The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (a film not created by Disney but released by Walt Disney Home Video) is released. Voice credits include veteran Thurl Ravenscroft, Farrah Fawcett, Carol Channing, and Eric Lloyd.
2000:
Disney's animated Dinosaur featuring the voices of D.B. Sweeney, Ossie Davis, and Julianna Margulies is released in the U.S. Set 65 million years ago during the late Cretaceous Period, the film follows the adventures of an Iguanodon named Aladar who is separated from his own species when a Carnotaur allows an Iguanodon nest to be robbed. Using live-action backgrounds with computer animation of prehistoric creatures, it is the 39th animated feature produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. (The Countdown to Extinction attraction at the Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park will be re-named and re-themed to the movie.)

Plans for Disney's newest attraction Mission: SPACE (to be
completed in 2003-2004) are launched into space aboard Atlantis,
NASA's International Space Station shuttle flight (STS-101).
The crew, made up of six American astronauts and one Russian
cosmonaut, will spend nearly 10 days in space.
2006:
As of this day, the non-intense version of Epcot's Mission: Space opens to guests
2009:
Baltimore money manager T. Rowe Price Group's new financial education and interactive exhibit opens at Epcot. The Great Piggy Bank Adventure at Innoventions features personal finance lessons for families on saving, spending wisely and diversifying investments.

It is reported that Disney plans to build a 500-room hotel resort on 15 acres at the ambitious National Harbor development about eight miles south of Washington D.C. in Maryland. The Peterson Companies announce on this day the sale of land at its National Harbor development to Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Disney is considering using the 15-acre site overlooking the Potomac River in National Harbor as the location for a resort hotel for families and others visiting the National Capital Region. (National Harbor already includes a 2,000-room Gaylord National convention center, a Westin, an Aloft and other hotels, shops, restaurants and residential units.)
2010:
Today is Turtle Day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Held at Rafiki’s Planet Watch,
guests can learn about turtles and tortoises – and what they can do to protect them and their habitats

 

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5/20

1913:
William Redington Hewlett, an electrical engineer who co-founded the Hewlett-Packard Company, is born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1939, he will form a partnership known as Hewlett-Packard Company with David Packard, a friend and college classmate. HP's first product will be an audio oscillator (an electronic test instrument used by sound engineers) based on a design developed by Hewlett. Eight will be sold to Walt Disney to develop and test an innovative sound system for the feature Fantasia.
1949:
Actor, comedian and writer Dave Thomas - the voice of Tuke in Disney's Brother Bear and Brother Bear II - is born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Comedy fans will remember him from Second City TV - where he and Rick Moranis created the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie - the same voices used for both Brother Bear films! Thomas also supplied the voice of Hugo for
Disney's television series The Legend of Tarzan. (TV fans may recall Thomas for his role on the ABC sitcom Grace Under Fire from 1993-1998.)
1963:
Walt Disney visits St. Louis to tour the Gateway Arch area, which has been under construction since February. He discusses the proposed Riverfront Square with James P. Hickok (president of Civic Center Redevelopment Corporation). Disney has been invited to participate in the development
of the Missouri tourist attraction (and is considering St. Louis as the location for his next "Disneyland").
1973:
Disney World's Tom Sawyer Island, the Tom Sawyer Rafts, the Plaza Swan
Boats, and the Richard F. Irvine (WDW's second Liberty Square Riverboat) all first open at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. A huge outdoor playground, Tom Sawyer Island (located in the middle of the Rivers of America) is inspired by the famous works of author Mark Twain. It features Injun Joe's Cave, Magnetic Mystery Mine and old Fort Sam Clemens. The Tom Sawyer Rafts in Frontierland take guests to and from Tom Sawyer Island. The Plaza Swan Boats are powered by natural gas engines, and are designed to run with an electric guidance system. Unfortunately the system will fail early in the attraction's life span and give way to a new steering mechanism - two jets of water below the hull (one in front, one in back) that can swivel 360 degrees and move the boat in any direction. (The attraction will close in August 1983.)The Richard F. Irvine is named for ________ F. Irvine, a set designer with a degree in architecture. He started working at the Disney Studios in 1942 and in 1953, was asked to join the Disneyland team as an early "Imagineer."Guests can board the riverboat and travel the Rivers of America from Liberty Square. (The Richard F. Irvine will be completely refurbished and renamed in 1996 as the Liberty Belle Riverboat. )
1994:
Disney's Aladdin: The Return of Jafar (the sequel to Aladdin) is released direct-to-video. It features the voices of Jason Alexander, Dan Castellaneta as the Genie, Jim Cummings, and Gilbert Gottfried returning as the voice of Iago. It is Disney's first ever direct-to-video sequel.
1996:
Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf, located between the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Walt Disney World Swan hotels, opens. The 36-hole adventure
features Fantasia Gardens - an 18-hole miniature golf course, and Fantasia Fairways - an 18-hole "challenge" course designed with strategically placed bunkers and hazards.
2006:
Life size models of Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) and Sally Carrera (voiced by Bonnie Hunt), from the new animated feature Cars, begin a 2-day exhibit at Downtown Disney West Side in Florida. The film’s sheet metal counterparts were created specifically for the tour by famed movie car creator and customizer Eddie Paul.
2011:
Star Wars Weekends returns to Walt Disney World for the 2011 season, the same day the much anticipated Star Tours attraction reopens. More than 50 story combinations are possible for guests to experience aboard Star Tours, so guests can enjoy the attraction multiple times without ever experiencing the same adventure. (There will be 4 Star Wars Weekends in all: May 20 to 22, May 27 to 29, June 3 to 5 and June 10 to 12.)

Opening in U.S. theaters on this day is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is joined by Angelica (Penélope Cruz) in his search for the Fountain of Youth, confronting the infamous, real-life, legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

 

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5/21

1914:
John Hubley, an Academy Award-winning animator and animation director, is
born in Marinette, Wisconsin. In 1935, he got a job as a background and layout artist at Disney, where he worked on such classic films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi, as well as "The Rite of Spring" segment from Fantasia. He left Disney in 1941 (during the strike) and shortly thereafter become a founder of UPA (United Productions of America) - where he designed Mr. Magoo!
1928:
Walt Disney's trademark application for "Mickey Mouse" is filed with the United States Patent Office.
1943:
Walt Disney writes to painter/illustrator Norman Rockwell, thanking him for the painting of The Saturday Evening Post cover (dated March 1, 1941).
Walt tells him that members of the Disney staff have been trooping up to
his office to admire the gift. "To all of them," Walt writes, "you are some
sort of a god." Rockwell is enjoying a broad popular appeal in the United States as he is famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he creates for The Saturday Evening Post magazine
1957:
Actor Judge Reinhold - Neil Miller in Disney's 1994 live-action feature The Santa Clause (and its sequels) - is born in Wilmington, Delaware. (Reinhold has appeared in more than 75 films including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ruthless People, Beverly Hills Cop, and Swing Vote.)
1998:
The new Disneyland Tomorrowland is unveiled after being given an extreme facelift. Various dedications will take place over the next 2 days. Among the special guests are legendary astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Wally Schirra.
2001:
In Hawaii, Disney turns the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis into a party ship and outdoor movie theater for the premiere of its summer blockbuster, Pearl Harbor. Movie stars mingle with survivors and top military officers as some 2,000 guests gather on the flight deck of one of America's biggest ships for the screening
2005:
Actor, director & writer Howard Morris, the original voice of Gopher in Disney's
Winnie the Pooh features, passes away in Los Angeles, California. Since the early 60s, he had been a main staple of the Hanna-Barbera Productions vocal team, offering hundreds of voices for The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. (As a director he was responsible for the classic black-and-white pilot of TV's Get Smart as well as episodes of Hogan's Heroes and The Andy Griffith Show - in which he was also known for his comedic role of Ernest T. Bass.)
2008:
Disney’s VirtualMagicKingdom.com shuts down at 10 p.m. The free social gaming site, also known as VMK, let players choose and style avatars, chat with other players and play games - all in a virtual theme park environment.
2010:
The 2010 Star Wars Weekends officially begin at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
There will be 4 consecutive weekends in all: May 21-23, May 28-30, June 4-6, and June 11-13.

 

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5/22

1915:
Writer, cartoonist & animator George Baker is born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
In 1937, Baker will go out to Hollywood to work for Disney and for the next 4 years, work on virtually all of Disney's well-known pictures, including Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo. In June 1941 he will be inducted into the army where he'll create the comic strip "The Sad Sack." (At the end of the war, the U.S. Army will create an advertising campaign with the phrase: "Don't be a Sad Sack, re-enlist in the Regular Army.") After the war Baker will transform the Sad Sack army cartoon into a syndicated comic strip & a long-lived comic book series!
1955:
ABC camera crews begin rehearsing every Sunday at Disneyland for the park's
July 17 grand debut. As this is the early days of television - a live broadcast from a crowded theme park is not a common event and much preparation is needed.
1964:
Attorney Robert Price Foster and his Disney colleagues drive to Orlando from
Daytona to meet Jack and William Demetree at the offices of Stockton, Whately, & Davin (a mortgage and real estate company). The Demetrees own a parcel of land that just might be perfect for a new Disney resort/theme park. After touring the land ... Foster is impressed.
1968:
Walt Disney Travel Company is incorporated in Florida. The company will
work with travel agents and individuals planning vacations to the yet-to-be-open Walt Disney World Resort. (The service will be expanded to California 4 years later.)
1987:
Ernest Goes to Camp, a comedy film directed by John R. Cherry III and starring Jim Varney, is released through Disney's Touchstone Pictures. The second film to ever feature Varney's character of Ernest P. Worrell - it is Touchstone's 12th release.
1992:
Disney's Hollywood Pictures releases Encino Man a comedy directed by Les
Mayfield and starring Brendan Fraser, Sean Astin and Pauly Shore.
1998:
Disneyland continues unveiling its newly renovated Tomorrowland. New Additions include Rocket Rods (a high- speed attraction running on the former PeopleMover track), Redd Rockett's Pizza Port (a restaurant located in the former Mission to Mars attraction), NASA Space Experience, and the short "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience." Also re-opening is the Astro Orbitor attraction (originally known as the Astro Jets). It has been relocated to the entrance of Tomorrowland, and placed on ground level, thus making the ride the new focal point as guests step from the main plaza of Disneyland into Tomorrowland.
2004:
In celebration of Mickey Mouse’s 75th Anniversary, Underground Atlanta plays host to 15 700-pound, 6-foot-tall Mickey Mouse statues, part of the Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations touring statue program (that was first unveiled on November 18, 2003 at Walt Disney World). The statues debut at noon with the help of Mickey Mouse, Disney Legend Al Konetzni and Atlanta’s own artist Thomas Knechtel. They will remain on display at the venue through Tuesday, July 20.
2005:
Voice actor, singer and Disney Legend Thurl Ravenscroft passes away at
age 91 in Fullerton, California. Best known as the voice of Kellogg's Tony the Tiger, Ravenscroft's numerous Disney credits include 101 Dalmatians, Alice in Wonderland, The Aristocats, and Cinderella. He can also be heard in such Disney theme park attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and Country Bear Jamboree. Ravenscroft was also a member of The Mellomen, a singing group who worked for Walt Disney in films, on television, and on records. (It is also Ravenscroft's deep voice you hear singing "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" for the holiday TV classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas!)
2009:
Disney's interactive 40-city train tour, to promote the upcoming movie Disney's A Christmas Carol, begins in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Union Station. The free traveling experience includes a 3D sneak peek of film footage, carolers, decorations, authentic artifacts (on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London) and giveaways. Amtrak locomotives and engineers will lead the four-car Train Tour (plus a private car), across the US, with stops ranging from 1-3 days along the way. The tour will finish at New York's Grand Central Terminal over the weekend of October 30th through November 1st. (Starring Jim Carrey and directed by Robert Zemeckis, Disney's A Christmas Carol opens in theatres November 6.)

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, a documentary about the siblings who wrote some of Hollywood's & Disney's most memorable songs, is released in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Palm Desert, California, for a limited run.
2010:
Disney-Pixar and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation team up to present two exclusive screenings of Toy Story 3 at Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville, California. (The film will be released in the U.S. June 18.)

 

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5/23

1910:
Character actor, singer & dancer Scatman Crothers - the voice of Scat Cat in Disney's 1970 release The Aristocats - is born in Terre Haute, Indiana. (Fans of the 1970s sitcom Chico and the Man remember him for his role of Louie.
Cartoon fans know Crothers as the voices of Meadowlark Lemon in The Harlem Globetrotters, Jazz the Autobot in The Transformers and the title character in Hong Kong Phooey.)
1922:
Walt Disney incorporates his Kansas City cartoon company, Laugh-O-Gram
Films, Inc. It is located on the upper floor of the McConahy Building located at 1127 East 31st Street. (This is the same building that today is the focus of a grass roots restoration and urban renewal effort, the details of which can be found at Thank You Walt Disney.) Unfortunately, Disney will sell his one-reel cartoons for less than it cost to produce them, and Laugh-O-Grams will go belly-up.
1936:
Actor Charles Kimbrough is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He supplies the voice of Victor, one of the three gargoyles in Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (TV fans know Kimbrough for playing the straight-faced anchor Jim Dial on Murphy Brown.)
1958:
Comedian, actor, photographer and game show host Drew Carey, star of Disney's 2000 TV film Gepetto and the Disney theme park attraction Sounds Dangerous, is born in Cleveland, Ohio. Sounds Dangerous, a 12-minute film
attraction, first debuted at Disney-MGM in 1999. Carey, who also had a
small role in Disney's 1995 TV version of Freaky Friday, is best known for
his ABC-TV sitcom The Drew Carey Show and as host of the U.S. version of ABC-TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway? - which debuted in 1998. He now hosts and stars in DREW CAREY’S IMPROV-A-GANZA on GSN (game show network)(Carey can sometimes be spotted on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer!)
1983:
Disneyland continues with the grand re-opening of the new Fantasyland.
The children of the original kids that first crossed the drawbridge in 1955 are the first to re-enter twenty eight years later. In the presence of Mrs. Walt Disney, the drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty Castle is lowered for only the second time in the park's history! New attractions include Pinocchio's Daring Journey.

Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 1-millionth guest. (The park has only been opened for less than 2 months!)

Composer & Disney Legend George Bruns passes away in Portland, Oregon at age 68. Among his musical accomplishments -Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) co-written with Xavier Atencio & used in the Disney theme park attraction Pirates of the Caribbean and the movies based on that ride, The Ballad of Davy Crockett co-written with Thomas Blackburn, and Love for the Disney animated film Robin Hood.
1996:
Disney joins McDonald's in a 10-year multinational marketing alliance linking McDonald's restaurants to Disney theatrical releases, theme parks and home video releases.
2001:
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin soar to life at Disney World's Magic Kingdom
2002:
It is reported that Home Depot and the Walt Disney Co. have agreed in principle on a three-year, $100 million cross-platform deal. It includes ad spending across assorted Disney media properties ABC, ESPN & Lifetime. Part of the deal will also include the development of The Disney Paint Program, an exclusive room decorating program featuring a line of Disney-brand children's paint.
2005:
The Alex Theatre in Glendale, California presents the documentary Dream
On Silly Dreamer (which features the story of artists who were affected
most by Disney's decision to close its animation facility in Florida).

The beta version of Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom opens to the public.
Also known as VMK, it is a free massive multiplayer online game run by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online. Launched as part of the Happiest Celebration on Earth (the promotional campaign to commemorated fifty years of Disney theme parks) VMK is a representation of the actual Disneyland and
Magic Kingdom theme parks.
2010:
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra presents the 21st Silent Film Gala at Royce Hall. Among the evening's presentations - the 1924 Walt Disney short, Alice’s Wild West Show, starring Virginia Davis. The film is presented in honor of the late Roy E. Disney, who had been a great supporter of the silent gala over the years

 

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5/24

1918:
Award-winning matte designer, special effects creator, artist and Disney Legend Peter Ellenshaw is born in London, England. Best known for his incredible matte paintings, he worked as a special effetcs technician on such Disney films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island, The Story of Robin Hood, and most famously Mary Poppins for which he won an Academy Award. He was also awarded an Oscar for the 1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Ellenshaw's talent and experience in special visual effects was so respected that Disney called him out of retirement after 10 years to work on the 1979 The Black Hole
1934:
Hollywood Party - a musical film starring Jimmy Durante, directed by Roy Rowland and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, premieres. It features 31 stars like Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, George Givot, and Mickey Mouse - who introduces the Technicolor 7-minute cartoon sequence "The Hot Choc-Late Soldiers," created by the Disney Studio. (The film will be generally released June 1.)
1968:
In recognition of his distinguished public service and outstanding contributions to the United States and to the world, U.S. President Johnson presents a Congressional Gold Medal to the widow of the late Walt Disney. The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the U.S. Congress and is, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Disney had also been awarded the Medal of Freedom back in September 1964.
1989:
Raymond A. Disney (one of Walt's brothers & the second child born to Flora & Elias Disney) passes at the age of 98. He had been in the insurance business.
1996:
Spy Hard, a comedy distributed by Disney's Hollywood Pictures, opens in theaters. Leslie Nielsen plays Secret agent WD-40 ________ Steele, in this parody of James Bond films.
2004:
Disney Interactive launches Toontown Online, a 3D multiplayer game.

It is announced that Disney has launched an 18-month publicity campaign for its theme park in Hong Kong (which will open in 2005).
2005:
Pooh's Heffalump Movie is released to DVD. Originally released in February
2005, it features the voices of Jim Cummings (as Pooh), John Fiedler (as
Piglet), and newcomer Kyle Stanger (as Lumpy). The animated film is the first
in which Pooh narrates.
2009:
Disney's live musical Tarzan completes its Holland engagement at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen, just outside Amsterdam after 900 performances. The production, which opened in April 2007 has been seen by 1.6 million audience members during its run, making it one of the most successful musicals in Holland.

 

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5/25

1908:
Actress & radio performer Barbara Luddy, the voice of many Disney animated characters, is born in Great Falls, Montana. She was the voice of Kanga in 3 Pooh featurettes including The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rover in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty and Lady in Lady and the Tramp
1936:
The New York Journal prints some outspoken opinions expressed by Jerome Kern (composer of such classics as The Song Is You and Old Man River). Kern's words include: "Cartoonist Walt Disney has made the 20th century's only important contribution to music. Disney has made use of music as language."
1944:
Puppeteer, actor and film director Frank Oz is born Richard Frank Oznowicz in Hereford, England. Oz began his behind-the-camera work when he co-directed the fantasy film The Dark Crystal with long-time collaborator Jim Henson. He also directed the 1991 Touchstone release What About Bob?, and was the voice of Fungus in the 2001 animated release Monsters, Inc. (Star Wars fans know Oz as the Jedi Master Yoda while Muppet/Sesame Street fans know him as the voices of Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, Bert, and Grover!)
1947:
Emmy Award-winning actress Karen Valentine is born in Sebastopol, California. Her Disney live-action credits include the 1979 The North Avenue Irregulars and the 1978 Hot Lead and Cold Feet. (Fans of classic TV know Valentine as Alice Johnson on the series Room 222.)
1960:
Cartoonist Walt Kelly writes Walt Disney a friendly letter. Best known for his classic funny animal comic strip Pogo, Kelly's words include: Just in case I ever forgot to thank you, I'd like you to know that I, for one, have long appreciated the sort of training and atmosphere that you set up back there in the thirties. There were drawbacks as there are to everything, but it was an astounding experiment and experience as I look back on it. Certainly it was the only education I ever received and I hope of I'm living up to a few of your hopes for other people. (Kelly worked at the Disney Studios from 1936-1941.)
1981:
The Kindercare Center child-care facility opens at Walt Disney World
1983:
Pinocchio's Daring Journey officially opens to the general public as part of the New Fantasyland. Already running over the last few days with the rest of the overhauled Fantasyland, when Disneyland debuted in 1955 this location was home to the Mickey Mouse Club Theater. Based on the 1940 animated classic, Jiminy Cricket guides guests through various scenes from the movie. Pinocchio's Daring Journey is the first Disneyland attraction to have first appeared at Tokyo Disneyland (in April 1983) and the first attraction created by Disney to use holographic material.
1986:
Today is the last day EPCOT guests will hear the original narration
of the Spaceship Earth attraction. It will be replaced with a new narration by legendary newsman Walter Cronkite
1998:
The newly expanded Disney Orlando Animation Studio opens at Disney World. The new "Magic of Disney Animation" tour includes an expanded viewing area where guests are able to meet Disney animation artists and see the ongoing work on future animated releases.
2009:
Today is Memorial Day.

It is reported that Disney is readying a remake of the 1986 sci-fi adventure movie Flight of the Navigator.

The charming Audio-Animatronics show The Mickey Mouse Revue
closes at Tokyo Disneyland after nearly 26 years of delighting Japanese
guests. Originally flown in from Disney World, it will be replaced with Mickey’s PhilharMagic (the same show that replaced The Mickey Mouse Revue at WDW).

 

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5/26

1915:
Radio, film & TV character actor Sam Edwards is born in Macon,
Georgia. His Disney voice credits include adult Thumper for Bambi, Ollie the Owl for the America Sings attraction and Heffalumps & Woozles, as well as Owl & Tigger for Winnie the Pooh LP records. Edwards also narrated & provided voices for numerous Disneyland Storyteller albums and appeared in the live-action features The Boatniks, The Absent-Minded Professor, and Escape to Witch Mountain. (Edwards' son William Edwards - a professional ragtime pianist known as "Perfessor" Bill Edwards has performed at Disneyland!)
1920:
Singing legend and actress Peggy Lee, who contributed greatly to
Disney's 1955 animated feature Lady and the Tramp, is born in Jamestown, North Dakota. Lee was the speaking and singing voices of Darling, Peg, and the two devious cats Si and Am. She also co-wrote all of the film's songs with her friend and Decca Records colleague Francis "Sonny" Burke. (A
multi-faceted artist and performer, Lee had her first #1 hit in 1942 with "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place.")
1962:
Comedian Bob Goldthwait, the voice of Pain in Disney's 1997 feature
Hercules and the TV series House of Mouse, is born in Syracuse, New
York. His voice credits also include Lilo & Stitch: The Series and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. (Ranked as the 61st greatest comedian of all time by Comedy Central, film fans know him for his role of Zed in the humorous Police Academy movies.)
1966:
Actress Helena Bonham Carter, Red Queen in Disney's 2010 Alice in Wonderland, is born in London, England. (Harry Potter fans will know her as Bellatrix Lestrange. Director Tim Burton is Carter's "domestic partner" and father to her children.)
1983:
The EPCOT Outreach information area opens in Communicore West. It is an educational cul-de-sac where guests can investigate at length any of EPCOT Center's major themes, or other Disney-related information. Graphic displays line the walls leading up to a counter where a staff of researchers (including a librarian) can attempt to answer any questions guests may have
1986:
EPCOT's Spaceship Earth reopens with a new narration by legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, a new finale song titled "Tomorrow's Child," and a new sponsor - AT&T. It is the attraction's second version
1990:
Mickey's Starland opens in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
(Originally known as Mickey's Birthdayland in 1988, it will later be renamed Mickey's Toontown Fair.)
2005:
Actor & singer Eddie Albert passes away at age 99 in California. Best known for his role on the classic television series Green Acres, Albert's Disney credits include the 1975 Escape to Witch Mountain and the 1963 Miracle of the White Stallions. (Born in 1906, Albert was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.)
2009:
An advanced screening of the new Disney-Pixar animated feature Up takes
place at AMC Star Grand Rapids in Michigan. (The film officially opens May 29.)
2010:
Lee DeWyze tapes the famous "I'm Going to Disney World!" television
commercial for Disney Parks at the Nokia Theater after being crowned
the newest American Idol in Los Angeles, California.

Art Linkletter, a legendary star of radio and television (for more than 75 years) who served as Master of Ceremonies for the opening day of Disneyland in 1955, passes away at age 97. A close friend of Walt Disney, he also hosted the 1959 television special for Disneyland’s first New Tomorrowland and was later inducted a Disney Legend in 2005. Born in 1912, Linkletter was best known for his funny interviews with children and ordinary folks on such 1950s and '60s TV shows as People Are Funny and House Party.

Disney quietly introduces Disney Tickets Together - an application allowing
Facebook users to buy tickets to Toy Story 3 without leaving the social networking site and while, at the same time, prodding their friends to come along. Believed to be a first-of-its-kind, Disney Tickets Together could transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets

 

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5/27

1879:
Star of stage & screen Lucile Watson - the grandmother in Disney's 1946 feature Song of the South - is born in Quebec, Canada. Beginning her career on the Broadway stage, Watson went on to appear in such feature films as Watch on the Rhine and Little Women
1911:
Legendary actor & writer Vincent Price - the voice of Professor
Ratigan in Disney's 1986 release The Great Mouse Detective - is born in St. Louis, Missouri. It was one of his last major roles ... and one of his favorites!
Horror film fans know Price best from classics like Tower of London, The House of the Seven Gables, and House of Wax. Director Tim Burton directed a short stop-motion film as a tribute to Vincent Price called Vincent, about a young boy named Vincent Malloy who was obsessed with the grim and macabre. Distributed by Disney's Touchstone in 1982, Vincent was narrated by Price himself!
1977:
Disneyland holds a grand opening ceremony for its newest attraction, Space
Mountain (just in time for the Memorial Day weekend crowds). Attending the
debut are the six surviving astronauts from the original seven Project Mercury space travelers and the widow of the seventh. Also opening along with Space Mountain is the 1,100-seat Space Stage, the 670-seat Space Place fast-food restaurant and the Starcade electronic arcade. It is the second
Space Mountain in the world (the first one opened at WDW in Florida in 1975).
1984:
Roy E. Disney's son, Roy P. Disney marries Linda Ross
1985:
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife visit EPCOT for the President's
Second Inaugural Parade. (The original outdoor parade in January had been cancelled due to very bad weather in Washington, D.C., and an indoor mini-parade had been hastily organized in the Capital Centre sports
arena.) Some 2,500 bandsmen from sixteen states participate at EPCOT on this day and the event makes television news and newspaper headlines around the world. The President is brought in by helicopter that lands
behind the American Adventure pavilion. (Reagan, then an actor, took part in Disneyland's debut in 1955.)
1995:
The Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, located on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom (at Disney World), is renamed Casey's Corner. A counter service eatery, Casey's Corner specializes in hot dogs, french fries and refreshments
2002:
25th Anniversary Edition of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is released on DVD and VHS.

The Walt Disney Company puts the nose of one of their old Mark IV monorail cabs up for sale via online auction
2010:
A special screening of Toy Story 3, to benefit Emery Ed Fund, takes place at Pixar Animation Studios. (The much-anticipated Toy Story 3 will be released June 18.)

 

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5/28

1953:
Disney's first ever 3-D cartoon released in the U.S. premieres at
the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, California. It is a short distributed by RKO titled Melody (Adventures in Music). Written by ________ Huemer and co-directed by Ward Kimball, Professor Owl teaches his music class (made up of birds) about melody and its importance to the world of music. Melody
will later be shown in the Fantasyland Theater at Disneyland as part of the 3D Jamboree
1960:
Disneyland's Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland opens in Frontierland the same day The Art of Animation exhibit opens in Tomorrowland. An "E" ticket attraction, the Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland is an improved version of the Rainbow Caverns Mine train, which first opened in 1956. The attraction covers a very large portion of Frontierland and features over 200 Audio-Animatronic animals plus themes and scenery from Walt Disney's
popular True-Life Adventure films. On this day Walt himself christens the new scenery with some help from his grandchildren - Tammy, Joanna, and Chris Miller .The Art of Animation opens adjacent to Art Corner - a retail store in Tomorrowland selling postcards, flip books, artist prints, art supplies, animation kits and original hand-painted animation cels. The exhibit
contains artwork and other items drawn from an international traveling display that had promoted the release of Sleeping Beauty
1966:
The It's A Small World attraction (direct from the World's Fair) opens in
Fantasyland at Disneyland. The ride (sponsored by Bank of America) features 297 animated children, 256 toys, a canal filled with 233,000 gallons of water, and of course the famous song written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. It is the park's first continually loading high capacity ride. The day is marked by special ceremonies attended by Walt Disney himself. The attraction will prove to be so popular that versions will later be added at the Magic Kingdom in WDW, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland
1988:
Gulf Coast Room (one of the select Walt Disney World restaurants that required jackets for men) closes in the Contemporary Resort Hotel. One of the most elegant of Walt Disney World’s continental restaurants, it closes to make way for added convention space
1993:
Groundbreaking begins for the Tower of Terror attraction at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in Florida
1994:
Disney's Wilderness Lodge (located at 901 Timberline Drive) opens at Walt Disney World. The 728-room lakeside deluxe resort (inspired by the beautiful early American National Parks) features an 80-foot tall fireplace in its lobby. Only a mile away from the Magic Kingdom, the resort is surrounded by 56 acres of oak and pine trees
1999:
A new Main Street Electrical Parade makes its debut at Walt Disney World in Florida. (The parade was first brought to life at Disneyland in Anaheim, California from 1972 to 1996.) The preview party is attended by 5,000 Floridians and celebrity guests like actors LeVar Burton, Lacey Chabert, Carrie Fisher, Jonathan Lipnicki and Judge Reinhold. (Longtime Walt Disney World fans may recall an earlier version of the Main Street Electrical Parade that performed at the Magic Kingdom beginning in 1977.)
2004:
The 3rd of 5 consecutive Star Wars Weekends kicks off at the
Disney-MGM Studios. Special celebrity guests over the next 3 days include
Anthony Daniels (who played C-3PO) and Andy Secombe (who portrayed Watto).

The animated Disney short Lorenzo has its nationwide release, playing in front of Raising Helen. Lorenzo, about a fat cat whose haughty manners become the cause of his own undoing, is based upon pencil sketches and a story idea created by Disney veteran Joe Grant 20 years ago.

Disney Channel premieres the That's So Raven episode "Leave It to Diva."
This episode is directed by actress Donna Pescow (best known to Disney
Channel fans as Eileen Stevens of Even Stevens).
2006:
It's A Small World at Disneyland celebrates its 40th anniversary!
2010:
Walt Disney Pictures releases Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. An action-adventure fantasy film written by Jordan Mechner, Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard, it is directed by Mike Newell and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina, Ben Kingsley as Nizam, and Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar, the film is based on the 2003 video game of the same name.

At Disney's California Adventure, the Silly Symphony Swings has a "soft opening" two weeks before the official grand opening of the re-themed ride.

Retired Disney Imagineer Bob Jolley passes away at age 88. First working as a scenic artist in The movie business, Jolley began his Disney career at the Walt Disney Studios and moved in 1973 to Walt Disney Imagineering. He worked on such attractions as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland and later became the field art director for the World Showcase pavilions in EPCOT. Jolley specialized in show finishes and was considered an expert in aging and graining sets and buildings

 

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5/29

1903:
Legendary comedian, actor and entertainer Bob Hope is born in England. Hope's first of many connections to Disney was in 1939 when he presented the Short Subject Award and personally handed Walt the Oscar for Ferdinand the Bull. In 1965, Hope appeared on the television special Jack Benny Visits Walt Disney, and in 1971 took part in NBC-TV's Grand Opening of Walt Disney World. Hope was at the Walt Disney World Tencennial in 1981 where he helped lead a thousand piece marching band and in 1989 spoke at the ribbon cutting for Disney-MGM Studios dedication. (His handprints are in the cement of the forecourt of The Great Movie Ride.) Hope later was a guest on NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of WDW and in 1999 participated in the very first Disneyland Christmas lighting ceremony (one of his last official appearances). Bwana Bob's a small, freestanding store in Walt Disney World's Adventureland (originally called the Adventureland Kiosk) is actually a tribute to legendary Bob Hope!
1917:
John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth United States President, is born in
Brookline, Massachusetts. The youngest elected to office, at the age of 43,
events during JFK's administration include the Space Race. Visit him and all the U.S. Chief Executives at Disney World's The Hall of Presidents
1928:
A gag meeting for the second Mickey Mouse short is held at Walt Disney's house. Walt tells Wilfred Jackson and other members of his staff the idea of producing a sound cartoon
1941:
Disney animator Eric Larson arrives at work to discover his wing of the Disney Studio empty! Some 300-plus employees are outside on a picket line participating in a labor strike against the studio. The strikers are mostly assistant animators, inkers, and painters who want union representation, higher wages, and job security. None of the animators who are Walt's Nine Old Men - which include Larson - join the strikers. Disney is in the midst of production on Dumbo. (The strike will last for 5 weeks.)
1963:
Actress Lisa Whelchel, a member of the 1977-1978 TV series The New Mouseketeers (and the 70's sitcom Facts of Life) is born in Texas
1991:
Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 100-millionth guest!
2000:
Singer Chuck Negron (formerly of Three Dog Night) brings his Joy To The World 2000 tour to the Walt Disney World Resort for three days.
2002:
Mannheim Steamroller make their Disney World debut at Epcot - as part of the Flower Power Concert Series. They perform at the America Gardens Theatre. (In 1999 Mannheim Steamroller released Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse, a unique collection of well-known Disney tunes).
2008:
Disney and NASA announce that Buzz Lightyear (the Disney/Pixar character) will visit space for real when he becomes part of Discovery's crew on May 31. Lightyear is scheduled to take to space on Discovery’s STS-124 mission stowed inside a locker in the space shuttle's crew compartment. The toy astronaut will mark an educational partnership between NASA and Disney.

Versatile Emmy-winning comic actor Harvey Korman, best known for his funny contributions to TV's "The Carol Burnett Show," passes away in Los Angeles,
California at age 81. His Disney credits include voice work for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the 1980 feature film Herbie Goes Bananas, the 1965 television episodes of The Adventures of Gallegher, and an uncredited role in the 1963 Son of Flubber. He was also cast in the 1989 short-lived Mel Brooks'
Touchstone/Disney sitcom The Nutt House. (Korman appeared in many of Brooks' films such as Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety.) Cartoon fans know Korman as the voice of the The Great Gazoo on countless episodes of The Flintstones during the 1960s.
2009:
Disney's interactive 40-city train tour, to promote the upcoming movie Disney's A Christmas Carol, pulls into Williams Depot in Arizona for 3 days. The free traveling experience includes a 3D sneak peek of the film (to be released in November), carolers, decorations,authentic artifacts (on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London) and giveaways.

Thousands of fans turn out at Disney's Hollywood Studios to see singer
Kris Allen celebrate his crowning achievement as the new American Idol.
The 23-year-old singer from Conway, Arkansas takes part in a party-filled procession through the Florida theme park followed by an appearance at the American Idol attraction.

On the same day, Disney's Hollywood Studios hosts the second Star Wars Weekends of the 2009 season. Celebrity guests include Peter Mayhew and Matthew Wood.

Disney/Pixar's Up is generally released in North America. Directed by Pete Docter (of Monsters, Inc. fame), Up features the voices of Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen, Christopher Plummer as the villainous
Charles F. Muntz, animator Bob Peterson as Dug and young Jordan Nagai as Russell.

Included is the very first teaser trailer for Toy Story 3 (to be released in June 2010.)

 

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5/30

1908:
Mel Blanc, "The Man of a 1000 Voices," is born in San Francisco, California.
He is famous for his work at Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera, and even Disney. He supplied the hiccup sound effect in the 1940 Pinocchio and voiced Raja the Tiger for the 1960 Goliath II. Blanc also voiced Cousin Orville for Walt Disney World's Carousel of Progress and occasionally took part in early Disney radio projects such as The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air.
(Blanc is best known as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, and hundreds of other cartoon favorites and is still regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice-acting industry!)
1909:
Benny Goodman, often referred to as the "King of Swing," is born in Chicago,
Illinois. His music is featured in Disney's 1946 Make Mine Music and Goodman himself performed at Disneyland in 1961
1936:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Thru The Mirror is released. It is based on the "Alice Through the Looking Glass" story
1967:
Site preparation begins in Florida on the Walt Disney World project, requiring swamp drainage, clearing of land, and removal of trees.
(It will take 1,584 days and $400 million to Opening Day.)
2003:
The Disney/Pixar animated feature Finding Nemo is generally released. The underwater adventure, directed by Andrew Stanton, features the voices of Alexander Gould as Nemo, Albert Brooks as Marlin, Willem Dafoe as Gill, Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, and John Ratzenberger as Fish School.
2005:
Today is Memorial Day. The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all
Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.
2007:
It is reported that Disney will release a Chinese-language movie, The Magic Gourd, this summer - its first co-production with the state-run China Film Group. The movie, based on a novel written by the late Chinese children's writer Zhang Tianyi, is about a boy who discovers a gourd that grants him wishes.
2009:
Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection Illustrator Signing takes place at Wicket’s Warehouse in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Illustrator Chris Reiff (a frequent contributor to Star Wars Insider magazine) is on hand to sign his new book - a collection of blueprint posters.

The winners of the 3rd Annual MiceChat Gumball Rally - sponsored by the popular Disney fan site MiceChat - is Team "Kids Incorporated" made up of Janae Mack, Katie Wakayama and Marissa Manalo of Topanga. The unofficial competition (which draws close to 300 people) began early this morning to see who could ride as many attractions as fast as possible in Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure.

Over 100 Walt Disney fans gather at the Screenland Theatre Building to celebrate the progress made thus far in the effort to preserve and restore the site of Walt Disney’s first professional film studio in Kansas City, Missouri. Special Guest of Honor for the evening is 90-year-old Virginia Davis, who as a child starred in Walt’s last cartoon made in Kansas City and his first series made in Hollywood, the Alice Comedies.
2011:
Today is Memorial Day in the U.S.A. A federal holiday, it is observed on the
last Monday of May. Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the American Civil War, today it commemorates all U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service.

 

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5/31

1908:
Veteran actor Don Ameche is born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His Disney credits include the live-action Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (as the voice of Shadow) and The Boatniks (as Commodore Taylor). The Academy Award winning Ameche is known for his appearances in such features
as Corrina, Corrina, Cocoon, and Trading Places
1967:
Buddy Baker and 45 musicians record some 47 different pieces of music - that Baker has scored - for Disneyland's new Adventure Thru Inner Space attraction (which will open to guests in August).
1993:
Senior executive and Disney Legend Donn Tatum passes away in Los Angeles, California. Born in 1913, Tatum was first recruited by Walt Disney in 1956, as production business manager. He later served on the Company's Board of Directors and as vice president and administrative assistant to Roy O. Disney. As the first president of Walt Disney World Co., Tatum helped build Walt Disney World and develop EPCOT Center.
1998:
The Wildhorse Saloon, a 27,000-square-foot entertainment venue, opens at Downtown Disney Pleasure Island, Florida. The Wildhorse Saloon (located at 1630 Biena Vista Drive) sits on the former site of the Fireworks Factory restaurant.

Disney holds a wrap party at the Florida Animation Studio for its newly completed feature Mulan. (It will have its world premiere 5 days later.)
2008:
WALL•E (the star of Disney/Pixar's newest animated feature set to open June 27) appears at a special Family Day celebration at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. WALL•E greets visitors in the New York Times—Ochs-Sulzberger Family Great Hall of News, part of the "world's most interactive museum."

"Science of Disney Imagineering" takes place at NYU in New York City. The sold-out event allows guests to interact with Lucky the Dinosaur, ask Finding Nemo's Crush questions, and meet the Imagineers, the scientists and engineers of Walt Disney Imagineering.

Buzz Lightyear blasts off to the International Space Station as "a member of the crew" of space shuttle Discovery. The toy space traveler is part of a program that Disney’s Youth Educational Series and NASA have developed. Buzz's mission coincides with the opening of "Toy Story Midway Mania!," a new 4-D interactive attraction opening on this day at Disney World.
2010:
Today is Memorial Day, a United States federal holiday commemorating
U.S. men and women who lost their lives while in the military service.

 

[trr1]

6/1

1911:
Actor Erik Rolf - who portrayed John in Disney's 1946 Song of the South and
Mr. Simms in Disney's 1950 Davy Crockett, Indian Scout - is born Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was married to actress Ruth Warwick, who played Sally in Song of the South
1933:
The first Mickey Mouse watch is sold by Ingersoll-Waterbury, a Connecticut clock maker on the verge of bankruptcy. The sale of the watches will save the company!

Eric Larson - from Cleveland, Utah - is hired by the Disney Studios at fifteen dollars per week. He will go on to become one of Walt's "Nine Old Men".
1953:
Pianist, vocalist, comedian and entertainer 'Piano' Bob Jackson is born Robert Jay Jackson. Since 1997 he has presented a one man cabaret show four nights a week at Riverside's River Roost Lounge at Walt Disney World's Port Orleans Riverside Resort. (In addition to his own show at Disney, Jackson has been a featured Orlando-area entertainer, appearing at Seaworld, Gaylord Palms Hotel, and Pat O'Briens Universal Studios Citywalk.)
Yehaa!!
1981:
At Disney World, the EPCOT Preview Center, located in the Magic Kingdom, debuts the film A Dream Called EPCOT. (EPCOT will open in October 1982.)
1982:
Disney World's monorail line is extended from the Ticket and Transportation Center to the yet-to-be-open EPCOT Center.
1987:
Disney World's If You Had Wings - a Tomorrowland attraction
sponsored by Eastern Airlines - closes forever. With Eastern Airlines (under new CEO Frank Lorenzo) in dire financial straits, it opts not to extend its 15-year sponsorship of the attraction. (Five days later the attraction will reopen as If You Could Fly.)
1989:
Walt Disney World's Typhoon Lagoon - featuring one of the world's largest wave pools in the U.S. - officially opens. The centerpiece of the park is Miss Tilly, a shrimp boat impaled upon a mountain named Mount Mayday that erupts a 50-foot geyser of water every half hour! The park features a mascot named Lagoona Gator.
2000:
The original Main Street Electrical Parade begins its season of nightly performances in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World
2002:
The Walt Disney Studio Paris unveils its new Disney Cinema Parade.
(It has been designed by an outside design studio ... a Disney first.)

Journey Into Imagination (featuring Figment) reopens in Epcot's Future World.
2007:
Disney-MGM Studios celebrates the 30th anniversary of Star Wars with the first of four Star Wars Weekends. Celebrity guests for the next 3 days include Warwick Davis and Kenny Baker.

Starting on this day, Walt Disney World bans smoking in guest rooms at more than 20 of its hotels and time share resorts. It is the largest single site resort complex to institute this type of smoking policy change.
2009:
Disney announces that Luxo Jr., the hopping desk lamp that serves as the mascot for Pixar Animation Studios, is coming to Disney World. A 6-foot-tall animatronic version of Luxo will soon take up residence in the Pixar Place section of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Phase 4 of Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (a Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World) opens. The Treehouse Villas, all stand-alone structures elevated 10 feet off the ground on pedestals and beams, are made up of 60 three-bedroom homes.
2010:
Disney World's Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel (located in the Magic Kingdom) is
now officially called Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.

 

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6/2

1944:
The Donald Duck short Commando Duck, directed by Jack King, is released. Probably one of the worst soldiers in the Army, Donald (voiced by Clarence Nash) is dropped out of an airplane and right into enemy territory!
1972:
Emmy Award winning actor, singer, comedian and television personality, Wayne Brady is born in Columbus, Georgia (though he was raised in Orlando, Florida).At age 15, Brady worked at Walt Disney World as Goofy. But his career truly began as one of the improvisational theater performers in the original (British) version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, after which he became a regular on the American version, hosted by Drew Carey and broadcast on ABC. He went on to star in his own ABC variety show in 2001 called The Wayne Brady Show, and a daytime talk show of the same name in 2002. Brady wrote and sang the theme song for Disney's popular animated series The Weekenders and in 2004 appeared in the Disney Channel movie Going to the Mat. A year later he sang and recorded Jim Brickman's original Disney song "Beautiful." Radio Wayne, his Walt Disney Records' debut children's album was released in May 2011.
1989:
Touchstone Pictures - part of Disney's Buena Vista Entertainment family - releases Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams.
1997:
Space traveler Story Musgrave appears at Disney Institute in Florida. An astronaut, surgeon, mathematician, computer analyst, pilot, parachutist, ex-Marine and student of the humanities, Musgrave shares his wealth of knowledge as the Discover Magazine scientist-in-residence.
2002:
Epcot's new Journey Into Imagination with Figment is dedicated. Contained within The Imagination! Pavilion, it is the third incarnation of the attraction. Unlike the first two versions, Figment plays a larger role as the small purple dragon appears in every show scene.
2007:
The completed Ratatouille is viewed by the Pixar staff at a wrap party.
(The animated feature will be released in theaters June 29.)
2008:
Space shuttle Discovery docks at the International Space Station on this day, delivering a mammoth lab and two new occupants: a NASA astronaut and Buzz Lightyear. A 12-inch action figure of Buzz will move in for a half-year as part of NASA’s toys-in-space educational program.
2010:
Songwriter (and Disney Legend) Randy Newman receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

[trr1]

6/3

1960:
Disneyland's Puffin Bakery, opened since July 1955, closes on Main Street.
The space will become the Sunkist Citrus House and then the Blue Ribbon Bakery (in 1990) before becoming known as Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor.
1980:
Donn Tatum retires as chairman and chief executive officer of Walt Disney
Productions, becoming chairman of the executive committee. On this same day, Card Walker is elected chairman of Walt Disney Productions.

Walt Disney Productions announces the creation of new divisions: Walt Disney
Motion Picture and Television Production Division, Walt Disney Outdoor Recreation Division (with Richard Nunis being named president), and Walt Disney Marketing Division
1984:
The Bistro de Paris restaurant in the France Pavilion at Epcot's World Showcase opens
2009:
Disneyland treats guests to a preview of a new fireworks show called "Magical."The nighttime presentation features 750 discreet digital-control channels, Disney Air Launch system (which creates less ground-level smoke than the former system using black powder) and the addition of six high-beam lights shooting up behind the castle. "Magical" will officially begin its summer run June 12.
2010:
Disney Legend Rue McClanahan passes away at New York-Presbyterian Hospital at age 76. The Emmy-winning actress was best known for her role on the hit series The Golden Girls (a Touchstone Television production which ran for 8 years starting in 1985).

 

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6/4

1924:
Actor Dennis Weaver is born in Joplin, Missouri. He was the voice of Abner in Disney's 2004 animated feature Home on the Range and appeared in The Wonderful World of Disney's "Gallegher Goes West" 1960s serial as George Tucker. (TV fans know Weaver best from the hit series Gunsmoke, Gentle Ben, and McCloud. In 1961 he appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Shadow Play" where he was trapped inside his own dream!)

Walt Disney is awarded his very first honorary degree, a Master of Science degree from the University of Southern California.
1938:
Walt Disney's Snow White wrap party - also known as Walt's Field Day - is held at the Norconian Hotel in Norco, California.
1956:
Actor Keith David - the voice of Apollo in Disney's animated Hercules - is born in New York City. His Disney voice credits also include House of Mouse, The Legend of Tarzan, Gargoyles and The Princess and the Frog (as the voice of Dr. Facilier).
1958:
Disneyland's ship Columbia is officially christened on the Rivers of America. Joe Fowler (Disneyland’s construction supervisor and a former naval admiral) is on hand dressed as a sailing captain of the 1700s, with the Mousketeers appearing as his crew! The attraction will officially open 10 days later.
1990:
The Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel (a Starwood-operated hotel) opens at 1800 Epcot Resorts Blvd. between the Disney MGM Studios & the Epcot resort area. Designed by Michael Graves, the hotel features two 56-foot tall dolphins.

At Disneyland, the Bengal Barbecue a quick service food location in Adventureland opens.
1991:
At Walt Disney World, the Company D Cast Member store opens in the Team Disney Building. The building, located at 1375 Buena Vista Drive, was designed by architect Arata Isozaki.
1999:
Walt Disney World's newest attraction The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh debuts in the Magic Kingdom. A dark ride based upon the film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, it is located on the spot once occupied by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It will officially open to guests the following day. (Versions will later open at Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland.)
2000:
Cirque du Soleil, the internationally acclaimed producers of permanent and
touring shows around the world, including La Nouba at Downtown Disney West
Side, hold auditions in Orlando, Florida.
2005:
The Disney Magic sets sail from California on the second of 12 cruises to the Mexican Riviera this season.

Key members of Hong Kong's travel industry visit the Hong Kong Disneyland site to experience first-hand the progress behind the first Disney theme park in China.

"Disney's First Customer Still Uses His Lifetime Pass" an article by Tom Wharton appears in The Salt Lake Tribune. It tells the story of Dave MacPherson, Disneyland's very first paying customer.
2006:
Disney's All-Star Music Resort at Walt Disney World opens their new family suites. Nearly 400 guestrooms have been converted to 192 family suites.

 

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1914:
Songwriter and actor Stan Jones is born in Douglas, Arizona. A rodeo cowboy, miner, logger, firefighter, and park ranger, Jones found true success as a songwriter and worked off and on for Disney from 1955 up to his death in 1963. Jones wrote all the songs sung by the Triple R campers throughout the first two seasons of Disney's serial The Adventures of Spin and Marty - including "The Triple R Song." He penned "Wringle Wrangle" for the film Westward Ho the Wagons and worked on the soundtracks for The Searchers and The Great Locomotive Chase. (His most famous song, "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky", was written in 1948 when he worked for the National Park Service in Death Valley, California. In 1997 Jones was inducted into the Western Music Hall of Fame.)
1925:
Actor-singer Bill Hayes, who earned a gold record for "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," is born in Harvey, Illinois. He also had a minor follow-up hit with "Wringle Wrangle" (written by Stan Jones), from the 1956 Disney movie Westward Ho, The Wagons. (Hayes is best known for his long-running role as Doug Williams on the television soap Days of Our Lives, a character he first played in 1970.)
1961:
Voice artist Mary Kay Bergman, whose talents can be heard in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Mulan and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, is born in Los Angeles. From 1989 until her early death in 1999, she was Disney's official voice for Snow White. (She also gained popularity for voicing most of the female characters on the animated TV series South Park.)
1972:
Walt Disney World's If You Had Wings attraction, sponsored by Eastern Airlines (the official airline of Walt Disney World) opens. It is located in Tomorrowland across from the Mission To The Moon attraction. If You Had Wings takes guests on a journey through some of Eastern's tourist destinations, such as Mexico City, New Orleans and the Bahamas. The attraction will entertain millions of visitors for the next 15 years.
1987:
Disney marks the 50th anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a reunion of performers who had assisted in the portrayal of Snow White at the theme parks. Nearly 100 past and present Snow Whites gather in both Disneyland and Disney World on this day. (Tokyo Disneyland, which had 17 Snow Whites since it opened four and a half years prior to this reunion, had to cancel its scheduled event because none of the women, all American, could attend.)
1995:
Walt Disney World formally announces its newest project ...Animal Kingdom. Construction will begin in August.
1998:
Disney's 36th animated feature film Mulan premieres at the Hollywood Bowl in California. The film is the first (of three) produced primarily at the animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. Loosely based on various versions of the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, Mulan features the voices of Ming-Na, Eddie Murphy, June Foray, Pat Morita, and George Takei. Also featured are the singing voices of Lea Salonga, Donny Osmond, and Matthew Wilder. (The film will open across the U.S. June 19.)
1999:
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh opens to the public at Disney World.
A dark ride based on the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne, guests are taken through a giant storybook featuring Pooh and all his friends.
2004:
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performs the score to Plane Crazy (a 1928 Mickey Mouse short) live at UCLA's Royce Hall. It is preceded by a screening of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. (the film that influenced Walt's first talking Mickey short Steamboat Willie).

Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President, passes at the age of 93 at his Bel Air, California home. An actor and governor of California (for 2 terms), Reagan took part in the TV broadcast of Disneyland's grand opening in July 1955. At 4:30 on this day, the American flag in Disneyland's Town Square is lowered to half mast.

Johnny Depp is awarded Best Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards for his role in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
2007:
Diane Disney Miller (daughter of Walt Disney) rededicates the Walt Disney
Elementary School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It's been fifty years since her dad Walt first came to the school (the first to ever bear his name).