this day in disney history

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12/3 and fact for the day

There were 737 decorated trees throughout WDW for the 2009 holiday season. Those 737 trees required 300,000 yards of ribbon!

2010:

Filming for Disney's televised Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade takes place at Walt Disney World with host Ryan Seacrest and singer Mariah Carey.
In an email statement, Disney announces that Ben Sherwood will succeed David Weston as president of ABC News.
It is announces that the sale by the Walt Disney Company to Filmyard Holdings LLC of Miramax Films for $663 million (subject to certain adjustments) has been completed.

 

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12/4 and fact for the day

Walt Disney had an apartment built above the fire station on Main Street USA
in Disneyland. Employees would know when he was in the apartment when the light was on in the window at night. To this day a light is left on in his
memory.

 

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12/5 and fact for the day

Some of Walt Disney's ancestors were from Gowran, a village and
former town in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Gowran is internationally known
for its picturesque racecourse, Gowran Park.

2011:

Nominations for the 39th Annual Annie Awards are announced by the International

Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. Cars 2 is nominated for Best Animated Feature while

both Disney Jake and the Never Land Pirates and Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are nominated for Best

Animated Television Production - Preschool. In the Animated Effects in an Animated Production category, Dan

Lund (for Winnie The Pooh) and Jon Reisch (for Cars 2) are both nominated. Chad Sellers, Rebecca Wilson

Bresee and Tony Smeed are each nominated for Character Animation in a Television Production for their work

on Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice. Winnie the Pooh picks up two more nominations when Andreas Deja and

Mark Henn are each chosen for Character Animation in a Feature Production. Award recipients will claim their

trophies at the 39th Annual Annie Awards scheduled for Saturday, February 4, 2012 at UCLA's Royce Hall in

Los Angeles, California.

 

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12/6 and fact for the day

Elias Disney (Walt's dad) once worked as a mailman in
Kissimmee (near Orlando), Florida.
As a young man, Walt too worked for the Post
Office ... but in Chicago.

 

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12/7 and fact for the day

Walt Disney was first fascinated by television back in the mid-1930s
when he visited Camden, New Jersey to see a demonstration of
the new medium by RCA head David Sarnoff. Following World War II, the
Disney Studio even applied to the FCC for a television station license -
Walt envisioned a television broadcasting center at his studio!

2010:

Wonders of the Younger, the sixth album by the band Plain White T's, is released on

Hollywood Records (a record label owned by The Walt Disney Company).



Operation: Secret Santa, a computer animated short film sequel to 2009's Christmas

special Prep & Landing, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, airs on ABC.

The voice cast includes veteran comedic actress Betty White as Mrs. Claus.
Discount Disney World Tickets



2011:

It is reported that the Disney Institute is helping to train NFL "teammates" or Super Bowl workers/volunteers in the customer-friendly ways of Cast Members at Disney theme parks. The goal is to make all fans at Super Bowl XLVI "feel like VIPs." The league's working with Walt Disney Co.'s Disney Institute on a "Fans First" initiative to train the 20,000 executives and employees who will work Super Bowl XLVI on February 5, 2012 in Indianapolis.

 

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12/8 and fact for the day

A whopping 800,000 watts of electricity are used along
Hollywood Studio's 760-foot-long Residential Street, Washington
Square backlot and New York Street for the Osborne Family
Spectacle of Lights!

2011:

Disney announces it will build a Disney Vacation Club addition to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the highest-priced company-owned hotel at Walt Disney World. The project will feature approximately 147 time-share units in a separate structure next to the Grand Floridian's main building. At this time the new addition is expected to open in late 2013.



Coach Nick Saban and the University of Alabama football team receive the 2011 Disney Spirit Award during The Home Depot College Football Awards held at Walt Disney World. The Spirit Award, given by Disney Sports to an inspiring player or team annually, is being presented to this team because of its efforts to aid and rebuild their community after the events of last April (when devastating tornados struck Alabama). The team is on its way to New Orleans to compete in the BCS National Championship.

 

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12/9 and fact for the day

In the mid-1960s, Walt Disney was constantly denying
rumors that CBS was buying his studio and theme park. In fact
he once told columnist Hedda Hopper: "With the business
Mary Poppins is doing, Disney might make an offer to buy CBS."

2010:

It is reported that the Disney Dream is headed home! After nearly two years of construction, Meyer Werft, the ship’s builder, officially hands over the massive vessel to Disney in a traditional maritime ceremony aboard the ship in Bremerhaven, Germany. The Meyer Werft flag is lowered, and the Disney and Bahamian flags are raised, signifying the transfer’s completion. Plans have the ship departing Bremerhaven for its transatlantic voyage to Port Canaveral on December 19 (and arriving in Florida, USA on January 4).

 

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12/10 and fact for the day

For the holiday season, Disneyland dresses up the classic it’s a small
world ride, adding lights and seasonal songs. Twenty employees work for 17 days, 10 to 12 hours a day to decorate the attraction!

2010:

Touchstone Pictures/Miramax Films releases the comedy-drama The Tempest.

 

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12/11 and fact for the day

Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel (in California) is unique in the Western Hemisphere for being one of the few buildings to actually have a 13th floor - as opposed to the more common practice of going straight from 12 to 14. This is because the original owners were Japanese & they don't consider the number bad luck!

2010:

An entire block of Hollywood Blvd. is virtually transformed into the computer world of grids and gladiators for the premiere of Tron: Legacy at

Disney's El Capitan Theater. (The sci-fi sequel opens December 17.)

 

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12/12 and fact for the day

Several attempts, in the early 1970s, to make a wave machine
work at Walt Disney World's Polynesian Village Resort resulted in
failure. The plan was to have artificial waves crash along the beach. But the waves caused massive beach erosion, and the machine was switched off only a few months after the resort opened.

2010:

The American Film Institute names the Disney/Pixar 3-D feature Toy Story 3 one of its best 10 movies of 2010 (the only animated feature to crack AFI’s list).



Christmas Cupid, an original movie for ABC Family starring Chad Michael Murray, Christina Milian and Ashley Benson, first airs.

 

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12/13 and fact for the day

Young Walt Disney and his family once lived in Kansas City (after living in Marceline) in a very small house at 2706 East Thirty-first Street. Compared to the large Marceline farmhouse, the Thirty-first Street home had
only a tiny vegetable patch -and no indoor plumbing!
2010:

An exclusive "Pirates Fans First!" event takes place at AMC Downtown Disney 12 theater at the Disneyland Resort. About 500 contest winners are the first to get an exclusive look at the brand-new trailer for Walt Disney Pictures Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in 3D. This is followed with a group ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction!

 

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12/14 and fact for the day

Babes in Toyland (released This Day in 1961) marked the first time Disney’s
licensees had the opportunity to manufacture toys that were actually
seen in a movie. The Fairy Princess doll played with by Annette Funicello in the "Just a Toy" number was designed for the film by Uneeda Doll Co., and 367 other items, including puzzles, puppets, Colorforms, costumes, and games were manufactured by 45 companies participating in the promotion.

2010:

Disney and ABC Studios receive a total of nine Golden Globe nominations.

Among the nominations -

Alice in Wonderland:

Best Motion Picture in a Comedy or Musical, Best Original Score, &

Best Actor - Comedy or Musical (for Johnny Depp)

Toy Story 3 and Tangled:

both up for Best Animated Feature Film

The 68th Annual Golden Globes, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, will be televised live on NBC, Sunday, January 16, 2011.

 

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12/15 and fact for the day

When Disney was looking for their "Davy Crockett," they originally
considered actor James Arness for the title role. But that
changed when Walt Disney saw actor Fess Parker in a minor
role in the feature film Them! (which ironically starred James Arness).

 

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12/16 and fact for the day

"We will continue to operate Walt Disney’s Company in the
way that he has established and guided it."
-Roy O. Disney (This Day 1966)

 

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12/16 and fact for the day

oops I mean 12/17 and fact for the day

There has been a long-standing urban legend that after his death,
Walt Disney was cryopreserved so he could be revived at a later date.
This is not true. Mr. Disney was cremated on December 17, 1966
and his ashes were later interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

2010:

Profiles in History’s Hollywood Auction 43 begins (for the next two days) at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. Included is an assortment of unique Disney collectibles from film and theme parks, including an original stretching room oil painting from The Haunted Mansion, and an original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 production cel.



TRON: Legacy, a science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, is released in U.S. theaters. It is a sequel to Disney's 1982 film Tron. Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn, and Bruce Boxleitner reprises his roles as Alan Bradley and Tron, while Garrett Hedlund portrays Flynn's now-adult son, Sam. Electronic music duo Daft Punk has composed the film score.

 

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12/18 and fact for the day

Often regarded as Disney's answer to Star Wars, The Black Hole cost the studio $20 million to produce - making it (at the time) the most expensive picture ever produced by the company. Although not well-received by critics, it earned $36 million at the US box office!

 

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12/19 and fact for the day

The Disneyland tradition of a giant Christmas tree towering over Main Street, U.S.A. began in 1955. Disneyland was the last Disney park in the world to
still utilize a real live tree as its holiday centerpiece in Town Square! For the first time in 53 years an artificial tree was used in 2008.

2010:

Disney World's 19th and final Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

of the 2010 holiday season takes place at the Magic Kingdom.



The International Press Academy hands out the trophies for their 15th annual

Satellite Awards at a gala awards ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel in

Century City. The Best Animated Feature award goes to Toy Story 3 while Colleen Atwood receives

an award for Best Costume Design for her work on Alice in Wonderland.

 

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12/20 and fact for the day

There is a Roy O. Disney Suite in the main building of
Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and on
Disney's cruise ships.

 

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12/21 and fact for the day

When principal photography wrapped on Disney's Swiss Family Robinson, it was discovered that there was a problem with the sound ... almost every word of recorded dialogue was unusable! The entire cast had to be brought back to England for 28 days where they re-recorded every word in
the film.

 

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12/22 and fact for the day

During the parades at Disney World, the second story windows on Main Street open and close automatically just before and after the parade to reveal the speakers that play the parade music.