2001:
Tuesday:
Following the morning terrorist attacks on The Pentagon, New York City's World
Trade Center, and in the air over Pennsylvania, The Walt Disney World Resort
in Florida, and The Disneyland Resort in California, close without incident.
All the resort hotels remain open and provide accommodations to guests who are unable to leave. Phone charges
are suspended so that guests can reach family. (The closures marks only the second time Disneyland has locked
its gates in its 56-year history due to a national tragedy. The first time followed the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.)
At Disney World, Cast Members in all 4 parks are instructed to hold hands and
form a human wall and gently (without touching guests) walk towards the hub
of each park and eventually towards the exit. This calmly forces all guests out of the
parks. Security follows each human wall to make sure no one gets past. It takes less than 30 minutes to
evacuate thousands of guests from the theme parks.
At Disneyland Resort, food and beverage stations remain open at no charge for
guests who are on property. AMC Theaters at Downtown Disney show free
Disney films for stranded Resort guests. (Due to the time difference, the California
theme parks have been able to close before any guest can enter.)
The Disney Stores close as well for the day as do Disney's Broadway
shows in New York and on the road.
Michael Eisner releases a statement to Cast Members explaining the
Disney closings. He ends his note with these words:
"Finally let me say our company around the world will continue to operate in this
sometimes violent world in which we live, offering products that reach to the higher
and more positive side of the human equation."
1984:
Ray Watson (Chairman of Walt Disney Productions) and Phil Hawley (senior director)
interview Michael Eisner (currently at Paramount Pictures) for the job of CEO at
Disney. (Although not offered the position yet, Eisner will resign from Paramount the following day.)
"Tomorrow will be better as long as America keeps alive the
ideals of freedom and a better life ..." - Walt Disney
Click HERE to read Prayer In My Life by Walt Disney
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Magic Kingdom is now
closed. Please follow the direction of the nearest Cast Member.
1892:
Pinto Colvig, known as the 'Dean of Hollywood Voicemen' is born Vance DeBar Colvig in Jacksonville, Oregon. His schoolboy buddies, inspired by young Colvig’s abundant freckles, dubbed him "Pinto, the human leopard." Although the freckles eventually faded, the name stuck. Originally a vaudeville actor and circus performer, Colvig lent his voice to such classic Disney characters as Goofy, Pluto, Sleepy & Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the pig who built the "house of bricks" in the Disney short Three Little Pigs. Colvig was named a Disney Legend in 1993. (In 1946 Colvig wrote and recorded the original Bozo the Clown record album, which led to starring as the first TV Bozo, on KTTV in Los Angeles.)
1957:
The Mellomen (a vocal group featuring Thurl Ravenscroft) appear on the Disneyland
television series opener for the 4th season. This 75th episode of the overall series starts off with a
celebration party from the Mickey Mouse Club, as they help celebrate the 4th anniversary of the ABC-TV series.
1962:
Actress and singer E.G. Daily, the singing voice of Beary Barrington in
Disney's 2002 Country Bears, is born Elizabeth Guttman in Los Angeles,
California. Known as the voice of Tommy Pickles on TV's animated Rugrats, her Disney voice
credits include Wreck-It Ralph, The Incredibles video game, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, Lloyd in Space, the animated series Aladdin, A Goofy Movie, and the series Hercules. (Movie fans know Daily for her role as Dottie in the live-action comedy Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Her singing voice can also be heard on the original theme for TV's Two and A Half Men.)
1968:
The United States Postal Service pays tribute to Walt Disney with the release of a
commemorative 6-cent postage stamp (issued only two years after his death). The stamp
features a portrait of Walt surrounded by the children of the world emerging from Sleeping Beauty Castle in the
background. The portrait has been created by Disney artist Paul Wenzel with further design by Bob Moore. A limited
number of the stamps are adhered to commemorative envelopes and hand canceled in Marceline, Missouri, Walt's
boyhood home. Roy O. Disney, Walt's wife Lillian, and members of the Disney family attend a First Day of Issue
Ceremony and parade in Marceline along with the governor of Missouri Warren Hearnes - who has declared this
day officially "Walt Disney Day." (During the first 10 days that the Disney stamp is on sale throughout the United
States, more than 150 million copies will be sold!)
David Wasson, a television producer, director, screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist, and art director, is born in Arkansas. He is best known for developing Star vs. the Forces of Evil on which he is also a director, writer and executive producer, and directing and writing on the series Mickey Mouse Shorts.
1987:
The presentation of the real Pooh (an 18"-high teddy bear given to Christopher Robin
Milne in 1921) and friends (various toys received as gifts by Christopher between 1920
and 1928) to the New York Public Library takes place.
Disney World hosts Night of Joy 1987 for the first of two evenings at the Magic
Kingdom. Christian music acts include Kim Boyce, The Clark Sisters, Benny Hester,
The Imperials, Petra, Michael W Smith, Randy Stonehill, and Greg X Volz.
Actress Elizabeth Henstridge is born in Sheffield, England. She is best known for her
role in ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Agent Jemma Simmons.
1988:
The Disney Sunday Movie airs for the last time on ABC. The following month the long-running television series will move to NBC and be called The Magical World of Disney.
2002:
Disney's 3 Broadway musicals cancel this day's performances, as New York City and the rest of the country honor those lost in the terrorist attacks of 9-11.
1923:
Engineer and Imagineer Don Edgren is born in Los Angeles, California. His 33 years of Disney problem-solving began in 1954 when the engineering firm he worked for (Wheeler & Gray, Structural Engineers) was hired to help ready Disneyland for its opening. Edgren was later hired by Disney in 1961 and went on to help build the Ford Motor Company exhibit for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair and such park attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain. Inducted a Disney Legend in 2006, today Edgren's name appears on a window on Disneyland's Main Street, USA.
Today is Patriot Day
Patriot Day occurs on
September 11 of each year,
designated in memory of the nearly
three thousand who died in the
September 11, 2001 attacks.
2007:
A special flag retreat ceremony takes place in the Magic Kingdom to commemorate Patriot Day.
SEPTEMBER 11
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
U.S. House of Representatives Joint Resolution 71 was approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25, 2001. It requested that the President designate September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day." President George W. Bush signed the resolution into law on December 18, 2001
(as Public Law 107-89). It is a discretionary day of remembrance.
SEPTEMBER 11
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2009:
Day 2 of the very first D23 Expo continues at the Anaheim
Convention Center in California, with over a dozen events. Today's
schedule includes discussions by authors Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry, a sneak
peek at new live-action films presented by Dick Cook, Imagineer Steven Davison's
presentation of World of Color, and a Walt and El Grupo screening and panel discussion.
Johnny Depp, dressed as Jack Sparrow, makes a rare surprise appearance at the expo,
arrivig on stage in a gliding replica of the Black Pearl pirate ship!
The annual contemporary Christian music festival, Night of Joy kicks off for the
first of a two-night engagement at Disney' Hollywood Studios in Florida. This
evening's line-up includes Chris Tomlin, P.O.D., Kutless, NewsBoys, Leeland, Superchick, and NeedtoBreathe.
Buzz Lightyear returns home when Space Shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven
astronauts end a 14-day journey of more than 5.7 million miles with a late
afternoon landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Disney's toy astronaut Buzz
Lightyear first journeyed to the International Space Station last May 2008 on shuttle Discovery's STS-124
mission - making him the longest tenured "crew member" in space! While on the station, Buzz supported
NASA's education outreach by creating a series of online educational outreach programs.
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SEASON 4 EPISODE 1
"To retreat from any of the
principles handed down by our
forefathers, who shed their
blood for the ideals we still
embrace, would be a complete
victory for those who would
destroy liberty and justice for
the individual."
-Walt Disney
2011:
The article "Americans have learned to keep terrorism fears in check" written by Carol Rosenberg is published in The Miami Herald. Her words include:
If there is a lingering legacy of Sept. 11, 2001, this is it: Americans fear terrorist attacks, but they've come to live with the threat. They let workers dig through bags at Disney World. They take off shoes, submit to scans and frisks, and walk through metal detectors. They then set fear aside. And move on.
1999:
The twenty-seventh episode (and season three premiere) of Disney's Recess, "One
Stayed Clean/A Genius Among Us" airs on ABC-TV. On this same day, Recess premieres in
France on TF1 and Disney Channel.
2012:
Halloween returns to Magic Kingdom Park in Florida, with the first Mickey's
Not-So-Scary Halloween Party of the 2012 season kicking off at 7 p.m.
Walt Disney Imagineering files a notice of commencement
with the Orange County Comptroller’s office indicating
the intentions for a 'selective demolition' to take place
at the old Wonders of Life pavilion in Epcot.
The notice came a few weeks prior to the theme park’s 30th anniversary.
9/11
"I’ve been selfishly indulging myself as an American… as a United States citizen… enjoying all privileges that one has as
a citizen, and it’s only times like this that you sort of wake up to … what it really means to be a citizen." -Walt Disney
2013:
The 17th Annual Hollywood Film Awards announce that Disney/Pixar's Monsters University, directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae, will be the recipient
of the Hollywood Animation Award. The award will be bestowed at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala
Ceremony on Monday evening, October 21, 2013 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
2015:
Disney announces The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, an annual
yuletide spectacle, will end after this holiday season to make way for Disney's
Hollywood Studios overhaul. A 20-year holiday tradition, the massive display has been one of Disney’s
signature events. Visitors who want to glimpse the lights one more time can do some from Nov. 6 to Jan. 3.
2017:
Walt Disney World remains closed (for the second day in a row) due to Hurricane Irma.
Extremely powerful and catastrophic, Irma has forced hundreds of thousands of Floridians to evacuate. WDW will
open all 4 theme parks tomorrow (Tuesday September 12) at 9 a.m. Only Disney’s popular water parks - Blizzard
Beach and Typhoon Lagoon - will remain closed, with plans to reopen later in the week.
1992:
Touchstone Pictures releases the film Crossing the Bridge. Set in the 1970s, three teenage buddies, tempted by the promise of a lot of cash, confront their values and ethics when a pal asks them to
smuggle drugs across the U.S./Canada border bridge. The film stars Josh Charles, Jason Gedrick, Stephen
Baldwin, and Jeffrey Tambor.
1998:
Hollywood Pictures releases the comedy-drama Simon Birch (loosely based on "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving). About a 12-year-old boy with stunted growth who is convinced that God has a greater purpose for him, the film stars Ian Michael Smith (in his film debut), Joseph
Mazzello, Jim Carrey, Ashley Judd, and Oliver Platt. Smith has been chosen because of his small height, due to Morquio syndrome.
2010:
Actor Harold Gould, who portrayed the grandpa in Disney's 2003 Freaky Friday
and supplied the voice of Old Denahi in Disney's 2003 animated Brother Bear, passes
away at age 86 in California. Gould's Disney credits also include the 1997 television version of The Love Bug, the 1990s series Dinosaurs, the 1976 Gus, and the 1975 The Strongest Man in the World. A popular character actor, TV fans will recognize him as Martin Morgenstern from the 1970s sitcoms Rhoda and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for
his role of Miles Webber on 13 episodes of The Golden Girls - a Touchstone Television production.
1915:
Carl Robert Fallberg, a writer/cartoonist for animated feature films, television cartoons, and comics for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers is born in Cleveland, Tennessee. Hired at Disney in 1935, he first worked as an assistant director and storyman on the animated features Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, and Bambi. Fallberg soon moved to working on Disney comic books for Dell/Western/Gold Key, where he was noted for scripting most of the Mickey Mouse serials illustrated by Paul Murry that appeared in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories from the early 1950s to 1973. From 1963-1989, he also wrote scripts for the Disney Studio Program, and during 1974-1985 wrote scripts for the comic strips Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales (Sunday) and the Disney Christmas Story daily strips that appeared each December.
1934:
Actor & comedian Ian Abercrombie is born in Essex, England. He voiced Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in the 2008 film The Clone Wars, the television continuation, and two spin-off video games (Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels). Fans of Disney Channel's Wizard of Waverly Place know him as Professor Crumbs. Best known for playing Justin Pitt (Elaine Benes' boss) during the sixth season of Seinfeld, Abercrombie also appeared in an episode of ABC's Desperate Housewives.
1913:
Animator and comic book artist Gil Turner is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He worked as an ice cream salesman before starting as an animator at Disney Studios in January 1933. His stay was so brief that no credit known for his work there exists. Turner moved over to other studios, such as Hugh Harman's and Jam Handy in Detroit, Michigan. He also worked for Warner Bros. Cartoons in Hollywood during World War II and for Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. Starting in 1947, he became a regular contributor to Dell's "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories," an anthology comic book series. Turner drew comics
starring Mickey Mouse, Bucky Bug, and Dumbo.
2003:
Actor John Ritter passes unexpectedly at age 54 in Burbank, California. Feeling ill while rehearsing for ABC's 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter on the Walt Disney Studio lot, he is rushed to the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center across the street. Sadly he passes away later that evening. The son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter, Ritter was known for playing Jack Tripper on the ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984). For Disney, he portrayed Roger in the 1971 The Barefoot Executive (which was his film debut) and Wendell in the 1971 Scandalous John. He also appeared in some television specials in the 1980s, including guest-starring in Donald Duck's 50th Birthday in 1984, playing Dudley Goode in Mickey's 60th Birthday, and hosting Disney's Living Seas in 1986.
