this day in disney history

[trr1]

2/1 and fact for the day

Disney Legend James Macdonald the 2nd voiceof Mickey Mouse) is
the silhouetted tympani player in the Disney film Fantasia. Originally a drummer, he was the creator of hundreds of one-of-a-kind gadgets
and props used to make sound fx.

2011:

Walt Disney’s 1951 classic Alice in Wonderland is released to hi-def Blu-ray

as a new 2-disc 60th Anniversary Edition.



The Visual Effects Society announces the winners of the 9th Annual VES Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short is given to Pixar's Day & Night.



The spring issue of Disney twenty-three magazine hits stands.

The cover story gives readers a stem-to-stern tour of Disney Cruise Line’s

newest ship, Disney Dream, a mighty 4,000 passenger vessel equipped with

cutting-edge technology.



Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 is released direct-to-DVD.

 

[trr1]

2/2 and fact for the day

The Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim, is currently the
only hotel actually inside a U.S. Disney theme park. There
is an exclusive guest turnstile between Disney California
Adventure and the hotel.

2012:
groundhog saw his shadow 6 more weeks of winter
so we shot him and ate him :lol:

 

[trr1]

2/3 and fact for the day

Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Fire Department is company number 71 - for the year the park
opened ... 1971!
(The Reedy Creek Fire Department provides real fire and emergency medical services to all of WDW.)

2011:

Pixar Animation Studios celebrates its 25-year anniversary.

 

[trr1]

2/4 and fact for the day

The classic 1951 film The African Queen helped inspire the design of Disneyland's Jungle Cruise attraction.(Set in Africa during World War I, the film
centers on a riverboat captain - played by Humphrey Bogart - who is persuaded by a strait-laced missionary - Katharine Hepburn - to use his boat to attack an enemy warship.)

TODAY IS WORLD CANCER DAY

 

[trr1]

2/5 and fact for the day

Peter Pan was the final Disney animated feature released
through RKO and the final Disney film in which all members of
Walt's Nine Old Men worked together as directing animators.

2012:

The New York Giants win the 46th Super Bowl, beating the New England Patriots 21-17. Giants quarterback (and MVP) Eli Manning shouts "I'm going to Disney World!" - taking part in the 26th year of the famous Disney commercial. Manning, who will take part in a parade the following day at the Magic Kingdom, is the 45th athlete to scream those famous 5 words.

 

[trr1]

2/6 and fact for the day

Walt Disney World is the largest supporter of the Give Kids the World compassion program. Disney provides over 50,000 tickets a year and
special services for terminally ill children and their families.

 

[ISTCPilot1989]

2/7 - this day in disney history

1938: The first Donald Duck daily strip in the USA, drawn by Al Taliaferro, is published.

 

[trr1]

2/7 and fact for the day

Mel Blanc (the voices of Bugs Bunny & dozens of other Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies characters), was hired to perform the voice of Gideon
the Cat (who is Foulfellow the Fox's sidekick) for Disney's Pinocchio.
However, it was later decided that Gideon would be mute (just like
Dopey in Snow White). All of Blanc's recorded dialogue in the film was
deleted, save for one military hiccup, which can be heard a
couple of times in the film.

 

[trr1]

2/8 and fact for the day

Scuba diving plays a major role for 54 employees at the Disneyland Resort.
Divers are responsible for maintaining and fixing rides and equipment in the
waterways, such as the lagoon for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

2011:

The soundtrack for the movie Gnomeo and Juliet is released by Walt Disney (3 days before the film's intial release).
2012:

2012:

On the 11th anniversary of Disney California Adventure park, Disney announces that the expansion of the park will be complete this summer. With the addition of two new areas —
Buena Vista Street and Cars Land — and slight changes to the names of some existing areas, the total number of themed lands in the park will increase to eight.

 

[trr1]

2/9 and fact for the day

Singer-songwriter Paul McCartney (best known as one of The Beatles) names Lady and the Tramp as his all-time Disney favorite! McCartney
appeared on the October/November 1992 issue of
The Disney Channel Magazine.

2012:

Disney takes possession of its newest cruise ship when the colors of German
shipbuilder Meyer Werft are lowered and the Disney Cruise Line flag is raised
over the Disney Fantasy. The traditional maritime ceremony marks the final step of construction before the 4,000-passenger ship makes her way across the Atlantic, eventually arriving to her homeport of Port Canaveral, Florida, and inaugural voyage on March 31. The Fantasy will first stop in New York City for its March 1 christening before heading down the East Coast to arrive at Port Canaveral on March 6.

 

[trr1]

2/10 and fact for the day

An average of 100 pairs of sunglasses are turned in to the Walt Disney World Lost and Found Department at the Magic Kingdom Park, each day. On a winter day at Disney, the lost-and-found departments receives about 400 to 500 items a day. But in summer, when tourists pack the theme parks,
the staff wades through a jumble of more than 1,000 articles daily.

2010:

To honor the 10th anniversary of Travel Channel host Samantha Brown, the network airs Samantha Brown Fan-a-thon in which she celebrates ten years of travel at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida - with her fans. (In her 10 years at Travel Channel, Brown has visited dozens of countries, hundreds of cities and countless hotels around the world!)

2011:

Disney Legend Bill Justice passes away of natural causes, the
day after his 97th birthday, in Santa Monica, California. Starting
out as an animator for Walt Disney Studios in 1937, he worked on such classics as Fantasia, Bambi and Alice in Wonderland. In 1965, Justice became one of Disney's early Imagineers; programming Audio-Animatronic figures for theme park attractions. He also directed the animated Mickey Mouse March opening for the popular 1950s TV series Mickey Mouse Club. He retired in 1979 and later chronicled his 42 years at Disney in the book Justice for Disney (which featured a foreward by Leonard Maltin).

 

[trr1]

2/11 and fact for the day

Young Walt Disney's first pet was a Maltese terrier, on his
family's farm in Marceline, Missouri
(located about 120 miles northeast of Kansas City).


Today is National Inventors' Day


2011:

The animated feature Gnomeo and Juliet (based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet) is released by Touchstone Pictures. Featuring the voices of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, it is Touchstone's first animated film since 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas.



Mickey's Toontown Fair at Walt Disney World, a section of the Magic Kingdom that started as Mickey's Birthday Land in 1988, shuts its gates for good at the end of this day. The area is needed for the ongoing Fantasyland expansion project. The Barnstormer attraction is scheduled to remain (but with a new name and theming), but the rest of Toontown will fade into Disney history.



Main Street in Motion, a traveling experience offered by General Motors, makes a 3-day stop at Epcot. The event allows guests to test drive up to 70 different vehicles (and not have the pressure of being followed around by a sales person).

 

[trr1]

2/12 and fact for the day

In 1940 RCA Victor released an album described as "recorded
from the original soundtrack of the Walt Disney Production
Pinocchio." This was the first time the phrase "original
soundtrack" was used to refer to a commercially available
movie recording.

 

[trr1]

2/13 and fact for the day

Covering 47 square miles, Walt Disney World
is about the same size as the city of
San Francisco or two Manhattan islands!

2011:

The Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media is awarded to composer Randy Newman for Toy Story 3.



Toy Story 3 picks up a British Academy Film Award for Animated Film at the 2011 Orange British Academy Film Awards in London, England. Director Lee Unkrich is in attendance to accept.

 

[trr1]

2/14 and fact for the day

today is trr1's birthday

Horizons - an extinct Epcot attraction - was dedicated to "humanity's future." One of Horizon's biggest backdrop paintings was called "Looking Back at Tomorrow." It was painted by Robert McCall, a famous artists best known for his powerful images created for NASA.


2011:

Disney kicks off American International Toy Fair by unveiling the all new Disney·Pixar Cars 2 toy line of more than 300 toys before a capacity crowd of toy industry insiders and members of D23 (Disney's official fan community) in New York City. Academy Award®-winning actor Michael Caine, voice of the charming and eloquent new Cars 2 British agent Finn McMissile and actress Emily Mortimer, voice of his spy-in-training Holley Shiftwell, are on hand for a panel discussion and are presented with custom-built toys celebrating their Cars 2 characters.



Jake and the Never Land Pirates, a musical animated Disney Junior show based on the successful Disney franchise, Peter Pan, debuts on Disney Channel. The show revolves around a group of children who are pirates in Never Land, looking for treasure.


2012:

Entertainer Paul Abdul visits Walt Disney World on this Valentine's Day. She poses with Minnie Mouse inside Disney's Holywood Studios for a photo opp. Abdul helped open the American Idol Experience back in February 2009.

 

[trr1]

2/15 and fact for the day

At Disneyland, the only human with a Mickey's Toontown window
dedication is Walt Disney himself!
At the library, it reads:
"Laugh-O-gram Films, Inc. W.E. Disney, Directing Animator."

2011:

Everybody Wants to Be a Cat: Disney Jazz, Vol 1 is released. The audio CD is a brand new collection of 13 classic Disney songs recorded by a mix of Jazz luminaries and newcomers such as Roy Hargrove, Dave Brubeck, Regina Carter, and Esperanza Spalding.

 

[trr1]

2/16 and fact for the day

Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life is 145 feet tall. It has 45 secondary
branches that lead to 756 tertiary branches. With 7,891 end branches,
the entire structure is covered with 102,583 manmade leaves, each of
which is more than a foot long!


2012:

The brand new cruise ship Disney Fantasy sets sail for New York with a fireworks

salute on its first voyage after sea trials in January. The Fantasy was built at the Meyer Werft

shipyard in Papenberg, Germany, the second of two new ships for the Disney Cruise Line, to be based in Port

Canaveral, Florida. The ship will make its inaugural voyage from Port Canaveral to the Caribbean on March 31.

 

[trr1]

2/17 and fact for the day

Epcot's iconic Spaceship Earth weighs 16 million pounds!
One of the most recognizable structures at Disney World, it is
not only the centerpiece and main focal point of Epcot, but
also the name of the attraction housed within the 18-story
geodesic sphere.

2011:

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) hosts its Investor Conference at the Grand

Californian Hotel in Anaheim, California. Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts,

announces a plan for visitors to avoid lines and personalize their vacations using new time-saving programs at

Disney parks. Presentations by Disney's management team are also available via a live audio Webcast.

2012:

The Secret World of Arrietty is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney Pictures. Known in

Japan as The Borrower Arrietty, this 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film is based on Mary Norton's juvenile fantasy

novel The Borrowers. (Norton's novels The Magic Bed ; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons and

Bonfires and Broomsticks were adapted into the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.) The film tells the

story of Arrietty, a young Borrower (a tiny person who lives in people's homes and "borrows" things to survive while

keeping their existence unknown) who resides under the floorboards of a typical household. She eventually befriends

Sho, a human boy with a heart condition since birth. Originally directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the North

American version of The Secret World of Arrietty is directed by Gary Rydstrom; an American sound designer and

director known to Disney/Pixar fans for his work on A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The

film's U.S. voice cast includes Disney Channel favorite Bridgit Mendler and comedy veteran Carol Burnett.



On this day, D23′s "23 Days of Celebration" invites all Disney fans to help mark the third anniversary of the first and only official Disney fan club. Each day at approximately 10 a.m. Pacific time, D23 will provide a different challenge for the day – and the first person to submit a valid photo that matches the challenge will win a special D23 prize.



"Minnie’s Fly Girls Charter Airline" debuts at Disney California Adventure park. A tune-

filled "travelogue" of song, dance and audience interaction, it is staged in Condor Flats, across from Soarin’ Over

California, and features songs from the '40s, '50s and '60s. The show features a talking and singing Minnie Mouse!

It is the first time that a talking Minnie with a moving mouth, face and sound appears at the Disneyland Resort,

 

[trr1]

2/18 and fact for the day

Disney Transport is the privately run transportation system at
Walt Disney World. Disney World's buses cover almost
12 million miles every single year!

 

[trr1]

2/19 and fact for the day

The Walt Disney World College Program is a U.S. national internship program operated by The Walt Disney Company, and stationed at the
Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.