2005:
birthday at his home in Glendale, California. His work ranged from the early classics like Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs (for which he created the Queen), Alice in Wonderland, and Dumbo to modern
animated features such as The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and The Incredibles. The very last film he
worked on was Chicken Little (which will be dedicated to him).
"I think there was always a gentle
sweetness to Joe and his work. There's a gentility in
everything he touched. But there's also a great sophistication. He was one of the truly great craftsmen of our art, but he always saw his craft as a way to communicate ideas."
- Roy E. Disney on artist Joe Grant
1915:
Legendary film director, actor, and writer Orson Welles is born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the voice of Eastern Airlines commercials (the official airline of Walt Disney World in the 1970s) and was heard in the queue area of the now-extinct If You Had Wings, a Tomorrowland attraction originally sponsored by Eastern. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century.
1916:
Actress & Disney Legend Adriana Caselotti is born to musical parents in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her father, Guido, teaches music in New York,
while her mother, Maria, had performed at the Royal Opera in London. At age 19 she will supply
the voice and personality to Walt Disney's very first feature-length cartoon heroine, Snow White.
1938:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Trailer, directed by Ben Sharpsteen, is
released. Mickey (voiced by Walt Disney), Goofy (Pinto Colvig), and Donald Duck (Clarence Nash) travel cross-
country by trailer ... and sorely live to regret it!
1940:
The Disney Studio completes a move into new quarters in Burbank, California.
1985:
Dumbo's Circus premieres on the Disney Channel.
1988:
The second new World Showcase pavilion to be added to the original roster, Norway, has a soft opening at EPCOT. The 11th overall to be built, the pavilion includes the Flording shop, Puffin's Roost shop, Kringla Bakeri og Kafe restaurant, and the Restaurant Akershus. The pavilion will be officially dedicated in July. (The pavilion’s boat attraction, Maelstrom, will set sail July 5, 1988.)
1990:
"The Muppets at Walt Disney World" airs on NBC-TV as an episode of The Magical World of Disney.
The 100th and final episode of DuckTales airs on television.
1991:
The Walt Disney Company becomes part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
2004:
The El Capitan Theatre, launches a special 10-day salute to Walt Disney Pictures' 1982 landmark computer animated feature, Tron.
2006:
The Oakland Museum of California helps celebrate the first
half-century of Disney’s magical kingdom with the premiere
of a new exhibit: Behind the Magic - 50 Years of Disneyland. The 3-part exhibition features
Disney’s early life as a cartoonist and filmmaker; renderings and plans for his amusement park; and a section on the Imagineers.
Fullerton Railroad Days kicks off for a weekend of festivities at the Fullerton Train
Station in Fullerton, California. On display is the E.P. Ripley Steam Engine from Disneyland - the
original steam engine engineered by Walt Disney! (This is the first time any Disney locomotive has been
displayed at a public event off-site.)
Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre (operated by Disney since 1989) kicks off its 80th
Anniversary. The California theatre debuted on May 3, 1926, as "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama."
1964:
Voice artist/actress Dana Hill is born in Los Angeles, California. Her Disney credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, A Goof Troop Christmas, and Disney's Wonderful World TV episode "The Kids Who Knew Too Much." (National Lampoon movie fans know her as Audrey Griswold in the 1985 comedy feature European Vacation.)
1969:
Imagineers Roger Broggie and Earl Vilmer (a railroad superintendent with over 20
years experience) arrange for the purchase of 5 railroad engines (and miscellaneous
spare parts) from the United Railways of Yucatan, Mexico. These will be shipped to the Tampa
Ship Repair and Dry Dock Company, rebuilt (with the exception of one locomotive - found to be in poor shape), and
later used for Disney's new Florida theme park. (The Mexican government originally opposed the idea of Disney
buying its "railroad technology." A law on the books forbade the export of the equipment, but since the engines were
originally built in Pennsylvania and later imported to Mexico - the law did not apply and permission was granted to
buy and move the equipment to Florida.)
1984:
The Disney Channel Premiere Film Gone Are the Dayes, featuring Harvey Korman, Susan Anspach, and Robert J. Hogan debuts.
1960:
Songwriter-singer John Conant Flansburgh, one half of the rock duo They Might Be Giants, is born. The duo's Disney credits include the albums Here Comes the ABCs and Here Comes the 123s, and the soundtracks Disney's Return To Never Land, Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Meet The Robinsons Soundtrack.
"We just did this amazingly huge remake of a song from the 1964 World Fair called "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" that is going to be in an animated feature based on the book "A Day for Wilbur Robinson." It's totally orchestral with a soprano singing this Theremin-like line behind my vocal. It's really a nutty piece of arrangement." -John Flansburgh
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MAY
MAY 6
Today is National Tourist Appreciation Day
Norway soft-opening at EPCOT
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MAY 06
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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At Disney's Muppet*Vision 3-D,
the 3-D glasses are actually
called ... 3-D glasses. But at It's
Tough to be a Bug they are
called Bug Eyes, and at Honey, I
Shrunk the Audience they are
called Safety Goggles.
Park guests also wear 3-D glasses (or Carnival Games Goggles) for
Toy Story Midway Mania!
2009:
Stitch's Supersonic Celebration, a live stage show in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom at WDW, officially debuts. (It will run for only 6 weeks.)
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1995:
ABC-TV airs Disney's Freaky Friday, a new made-for-TV version of the classic
1976 feature. The remake stars Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann as the mother and daughter whose
personalities get switched.
(1908-2005)
2011:
Disneyland announces that the park will allow about 2,400 fans to ride the new Star Tours attraction during a preview event on May 20. The attendees will be the first people to experience the new version in Anaheim - which will officially debut June 3. (Coincidentally May 20 is the same day that Star Tours officially opens at Walt Disney World in Florida.)
Originally reopened as a limited engagement run last year, the Captain EO attraction at Tokyo Disneyland will now remain a permanent attraction.
Disney Channel premieres A.N.T. Farm as a special preview. The new sitcom will start as a regular series in June. The show stars China Anne McClain, Sierra McCormick and Jake Short as middle-schoolers in a gifted program at their local high school called "Advanced Natural Talents" program or A.N.T.
