Obscure Disney History with a Dash of Encouragement
An exploration of our Disney park micro-obsessions There’s no doubt about it: Disney people like weird things. And I don’t mean the stereotypical “weird things” most non-Disney fans like to point to when making a case for why Disney adults are lesser beings, like crying at the sight of a castle, finding childhood wonder looking [ ] The post Why Disney People Like Weird Things first appeared on…
Dear Tony Baxter: How one Disney Imagineer's fearlessness taught us all to be brave The post Dear Tony Baxter: How one Disney Imagineer’s fearlessness taught us all to be brave first appeared on Disney Cicerone .
These hitchhiking ghostsused to haunt our Magic Kingdom Doom Buggiesand now they are relics of a timewhen we valued magic tricks over technology. Subtle over silly. Seeing them now brings mixed emotionsremembering the first time they hitched a ridewhen I gazed in wonderat the character whom I hadn’t invitedbut who had chosen me to follow [ ] The post Making Peace With Our Lost Haunted Mansion…
Over the decades I’ve spent as a Disney historian, I’ve heard people say time and time again that there must be something wrong with Disney Adults. Their argument is usually accompanied by the assumption that Disneyland was made for children. But I have historical evidence that proves that Disneyland was, in fact, created for the [ ] The post Disneyland Was Made for Adults: Historical Evidence in…
I once saw an interview that both broke my heart and inspired me all at the same time. In 1984, Ken Anderson did an interview for the Disney Channel as part of a series called the Disney Family Album, reflecting back on his time at Disney. He had a prolific career with Disney, from an [ ] The post The Dalmatian Disaster: How the Mistakes We Make Shape Who We Are Becoming first appeared on Disney…
The moment I read the original 1977 script for Epcot’s Spaceship Earth, I knew more people needed to see it. Ray Bradbury wrote these lovely, poetic words to explain Man and His Spaceship Earth, but they sadly were never used in the attraction because the script was much too long (and too abstract in places [ ] The post The Lost Spaceship Earth Script first appeared on Disney Cicerone .
Armor. That s what she had to put on, every day. Amidst cat calls, pranks, and those who watched and waited for her to fail so they could pounce, Grace Huntington walked a daily minefield with invisible protective gear making her not as invisible as she wished she could be. Walt had warned her about this [ ] The post The Armor We Choose: Finding Grace in Painful Places first appeared on Disney…
I recently had the privilege of visiting The Walt Disney Family Museum s special exhibit for the Jungle Book called Walt Disney s Jungle Book: Making a Masterpiece, and, to be honest, I was only mildly excited about it walking into the experience. Don t get me wrong, I have always liked The Jungle Book, but it had [ ] The post The Lost Jungle Book that Never Was first appeared on Disney Cicerone .
I once had a conversation with a former Imagineer who told me something along the lines of, Disney people are storytellers. And boy, isn t that the truth? Sometimes Disney fans, creators, and even Cast Members hear a story about something in Disney history and get so excited to hear a secret that they immediately pass [ ] The post “Did you know that… ?” Seeking the Truth in Disney Stories first…
What is it about Pirates of the Caribbean that so captures our imaginations 55 years later? Looking at the attraction with fresh eyes, one may see outdated technology and vintage jokes that aren t *quite* fitting to the modern aesthetic. It could be easy to write it off as a slow or boring ride or even [ ] The post The Secrets of the Pirates first appeared on Disney Cicerone .