THIS DAY IN DISNEY

Jun 16, 1956

Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island Opens at Disneyland

On this day in 1956, guests could first step into the storybook world of Tom Sawyer by boarding a raft to Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer Island. The island was a part of Disneyland from opening day, but this good old-fashioned mode of transportation now made it possible to visit this slice of idyllic wilderness. Although the island and rafts were based on the classic Mark Twain stories, Disney had never made a Tom Sawyer movie until Tom and Huck, nearly four decades later. Here’s a fun fishy fact about the early days of Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer Island: While guests could explore Injun Joe’s Cave or Fort Wilderness, they could also bring their fishing poles and try to catch real live catfish! With no place to keep their fish while enjoying the rest of their day at the park, the novelty of fishing at Disneyland did not “catch” on.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

Jun 12, 1975

America on Parade Opens at Disneyland

America’s bicentennial kicked off a year early, when America on Paradeskyrocketed onto the streets of Walt Disney World, and a week later, on this day in 1975, at Disneyland. The gala salute to the nation’s history, creations, contributions and achievements was several years in the planning and included many innovative live production techniques. Most noticeable is the fact that the entire pageant was presented in larger-than-life proportions. The 50 parade units averaged more than 20 feet in height and some reached 30 feet in length. An entirely new family of Disney characters had been developed to accompany these scenes. The “People of America” included more than 150 doll-like performers, which stood nearly eight feet tall to scale proportionally with various parade units. Represented alongside the new super-sized pioneers, pilgrims and athletes were new representations of famous American figures, including Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, Christopher Columbus and Tom Sawyer. Just as important as the visual aspect of the parade was the unique pre-recorded soundtrack performed by the “Sadie Mae,” a completely restored 1890 automatic band organ. And what better way to get a crowd of thousands in the spirit of a patriotic parade than a tune by the Disney Legends team of the Sherman Brothers? Their tune, composed specifically for America on Parade, would boom out over the sound system before the parade, and was appropriately and patriotically entitled “The Glorious Fourth.”

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

Jun 09, 2006

Cars is Released

The Disney·Pixar movie Cars drove audiences into theaters on this day in 2006, and after the success of their previous films, the folks at Pixar were revving up to bring new technology to their latest flick. Pixar has never been content to rest on its laurels — each film has challenged them in new ways, whether it was the blades of grass and crowd scenes in a bug’s life, the caricatured-but-realistic humans in Toy Story 2, the hairy characters and simulated clothing of Monsters, Inc. or the vibrant underwater world ofFinding Nemo — and Cars posed some of their greatest challenges yet. Perhaps the biggest was creating the metallic and painted surfaces of the car characters, and the reflections that those surfaces generate. An algorithmic rendering technique known as “ray tracing” was used for the first time at Pixar to give filmmakers the look and effect that they wanted. Because of ray tracing and all the reflections, the average time to render a single frame of film on Cars was 17 hours. Some frames took as much as a week. All the hard work paid off, however, and Cars raced to No. 1 at the box office.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

May 29, 1941

Strike at Walt Disney Studios

In 1941, the morale was not high at the Disney Studios. The studio was millions of dollars in debt, largely due to the loss of the European markets during the war. Employees were fearful for their jobs. Additionally, the 1930s saw a rise in the labor unions of motion pictures and other industries. Disney artists were not poorly paid, however, pay levels were set based on what Walt or top executives thought they were worth. During the growing tension, a tough “left-wing” union organizer, Herbert Sorrell, with the support of the newly formed Screen Cartoonist’s Union, instigated Disney’s employees to strike. In 1947, at a testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee where Sorrell was accused of being a Communist Spy, Walt recounted the situation, “I told Mr. Sorrell that there’s only one way for me to go, and that was an election, and that’s what the law had set up. He laughed at me and told me that I was naïve, I was foolish. He said, ‘You can’t stand this strike,’ and that, ‘I’ll smear you and I’ll make a dustbowl out of your place if I choose to.’” When the studio did go on strike on this day in 1941, Walt felt terribly betrayed and was astonished at what he felt was the ingratitude of his employees. He left negotiations in the hands of a Disney attorney, and while away on a goodwill tour of Latin America, received word that the strike was settled, giving in to unionization.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

May 20, 1973

Tom Sawyer Island Rafts Opens at the Magic Kingdom

It was on this day in 1973, that Walt Disney World guests could explore an all new island in the Magic Kingdom, thanks to the opening of the Tom Sawyer Island Rafts. To join in the opening-day festivities were Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher themselves! Almost. In reality, it was two teenagers, Steve Pierceall and Becky Bleigh, dressed like the famous characters, who were chosen during the annual Mark Twain observance in their hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. The celebration also set sail with the maiden voyage of the new steamboat, the Richard F. Irvine, complete with singers, dancers and Disney characters aboard. Joining “Tom” and “Becky” for a recreation of theTom Sawyer fence white-washing scene were newspaper carrier boys from five major U.S. cities. This event marked the second time a Hannibal “Tom” and “Becky” were flown to a Disney park for a celebration, the first being back in 1956, for the opening of Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer Island.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

May 17, 1991

Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Opens at Walt Disney World

Stroll cobblestone walkways as you listen to the smooth jazz backdrop and breathe in the sweet smell of magnolia blossoms in the air. Disney’s Port Orleans Resort, themed after the French Quarter in New Orleans, opened with 432 guest rooms, a restaurant called Bonfamille’s Café, two quick-service diners, and the Doubloon Lagoon, a pool area built around a massive sea serpent. The guest rooms are situated along landscaped lanes overlooking the Sassagoula River, which is a boat ride away Downtown Disney. The Dixie Landings Resort, which opened the following year, was eventually combined with Port Orleans on April 1, 2001 and was split into two sections, known as Port Orleans French Quarter and Port Orleans Riverside.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

May 13, 1933

The Mail Pilot is Released

That daring pilot, Mickey Mouse, stars in The Mail Pilot, which was released on this day in 1933, telling the chilling tale of his journey to fly the mail across the land. Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet will keep the postmouse from his appointed rounds… and he encounters them all. But, the real challenge occurs when he encounters that dastardly mail bandit (Pete) who will stop at nothing in his attempts to sabotage delivery, even if it means taking the life of our hero. Will Mickey safely deliver the mail to his adoring fans awaiting their deliveries, or will this be the demise of the heroic postal carrier? Thanks to Mickey’s quick thinking and skillful flying, the mail bandit’s plans are foiled, when Mickey dexterously lands safely and the villain is captured in a mail bag, where he will no doubt be delivered to the prison via express mail.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

May 12, 1956

Main Street Horseless Carriage Debuts at Disneyland

From the Haunted Mansion omnimovers to the monorails, Bob Gurr was responsible for the design and construction of countless vehicles in the Disney parks. For the Main Street Horseless Carriage, Bob recalls, “Their idea was that they would go and buy some antique cars and sort of refurbish them in order to have some vehicles on Main Street. Roger (Broggie) and I went out to a place in San Bernardino where there was a crazy old guy in a black suit… and he had maybe 150 old cars, all kinds, a lot of them in very poor condition. He was trying to make a deal with Walt that he would sell him some of those cars and the studio would find somebody to overhaul them and then use them as ride vehicles.” It didn’t take long for Bob to decide it would be more beneficial to build their own antique cars from scratch. “By that time I had picked up just enough knowledge to know how to find parts, how to source parts, how we can marry stuff together, so very quickly we came up with the idea of what we then called the ’03 antique car, the red car at Disneyland.” That car made its debut at Disneyland on this day in 1956.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

May 08, 2006

Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee Named as Stars of Broadway Production ofMary Poppins

After the supercalifragilistic success of Mary Poppins on stage in London, it seemed only natural for the story of the practically perfect nanny to fly on to Broadway. On May 8, 2006, it was announced that Ashley Brown would play the title role and Gavin Lee would star as Bert. Lee had created the role of Bert in London and at the time of the announcement had stated, “Playing Bert has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.” While Brown had yet to debut as Mary Poppins, she was certainly no stranger to Disney on Broadway, having played Belle in Beauty and the Beast before packing up for Cherry Tree Lane.

THIS DAY IN DISNEY

Apr 28, 2006

Stick It is Released

Stick It, a Touchstone Pictures comedy about competitive gymnastics, first leapt on to movie screens on this day in 2006. Independent 17-year-old Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym) is deft at defying both authority and the laws of gravity. Haley’s single dad finds it next to impossible to keep his teenage daughter in line (or simply at home, for that matter). For her and her neighborhood-cruising, dirt-bike-riding pals, there is no jump or course around that’s too intense for Haley to try—just dare her. So when her latest joyride results in a short trip to juvenile court, the judge hands down her sentence: Rebellious Haley has to do time at Vickerman Gymnastics Academy, an elite academy run with military regimentation by legendary and hardnosed coach Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges). So it’s back to rules, back to conformity, back to spandex for Haley—bummer.