Random WDW Info - I Never Knew!

[disneynutsss]

Just a thought, would it be too much like a wedding dress?

and then theres that too

 

[cheermom1]

As to the first of these items, it was Walt that put them in the park in the first place. They had them in DL before WDW's Magic Kingdom was ever built.

I'm also seriously doubting that Disney would "bail out" Universal. Why help out your competition? What would be in it for Disney? Couldn't Disney find a better investment of any funds?

I can answer this one and why it makes sense....I have a friend that works for wal mart in their main office and she said that they have and will continue to 'bail' out kmart/sears...why for competition they HAVE to have it. So it would make sense in that context for Disney to 'bail' out Universal..I don;t know if they did or not but I thought I'd throw this in there.

ETA: Besides the more people that come for universal the more that come for disney and visa versa.

 

[nadira36]

same thing for us at test track. We always try to take a family with us who looks at the long line and turns to walk away. Makes it really nice when it is someone who has never been on TT.

Oh could you find us in Sept I've been to Disney a ton of times (more than I can actually keep track of) but I have never been on TT just because of the lines. And now that we have littles that aren't that fond of EPCOT and HS we only spend a day each in those parks so definitely won't wait in line.

Well it would be nice, but someone who looks like a first (and only) timer would def benefit more.

 

[harvey]

As to the first of these items, it was Walt that put them in the park in the first place. They had them in DL before WDW's Magic Kingdom was ever built.

I'm also seriously doubting that Disney would "bail out" Universal. Why help out your competition? What would be in it for Disney? Couldn't Disney find a better investment of any funds?

The first is what our guide told us on the Keys to the Kingdom tour in response to someone asking why the ride was removed....they had believed it was due to riders throwing or dropping stuff off the side. *shrug*. I guess the guide could've made it all up.

As to Disney financing the finishing of HP, I was shocked too, but that's what my friend tells me. FWIW, she has worked for Disney for 2 decades, first as a performer, now as a manager in MK and as a Traditions instructor. All employees (whether hired by Disney or working on property as an employee of another company) must attend these classes. She's basically in charge of indoctrinating new cm's, lol. I said I wondered how Universal could do such a Disney-esque area....HP World is very different in theming than the reset of that park....she said "now you know why".

I never substantiated her claim tho. Again, she could've just made it all up. I'll be seeing her when we head down the 2nd, so I can ask her about it again.

Btw, she married Goofy . He's now a police officer for Orlando with the canine unit......her kids don't know yet about their daddy's 'previous' life *snicker*

 

[Emma1987]

"Yes, we could help you out. By the way, about all those Marvel characters..."

Nice. lol

 

[doconeill]

I can answer this one and why it makes sense....I have a friend that works for wal mart in their main office and she said that they have and will continue to 'bail' out kmart/sears...why for competition they HAVE to have it. So it would make sense in that context for Disney to 'bail' out Universal..I don;t know if they did or not but I thought I'd throw this in there.

This is even more unlikely. If competition fails of their own accord, through no fault of Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart doesn't have a problem. However, if Wal-Mart is propping up competition in order to put up the pretense of competition, they are far more likely to get slapped.

ETA: Besides the more people that come for universal the more that come for disney and visa versa.

This is counter to Disney's practices of making it more expensive to visit anything other than Disney on a trip.

 

[doconeill]

As to Disney financing the finishing of HP, I was shocked too, but that's what my friend tells me. FWIW, she has worked for Disney for 2 decades, first as a performer, now as a manager in MK and as a Traditions instructor. All employees (whether hired by Disney or working on property as an employee of another company) must attend these classes. She's basically in charge of indoctrinating new cm's, lol.

Still, I don't think she'd be in a position to know these things. You're talking about something that happens at the corporate level, not at the park training level.

I said I wondered how Universal could do such a Disney-esque area....HP World is very different in theming than the reset of that park....she said "now you know why".

It's different than the rest because it is really the first fully-immersive park area Universal has done - and that' mainly because JKR had a LOT of say in it, and the movie set designers helped with the park design - and even the other way around.

Disney would NOT have wanted WWOHP to succeed. Instead, they realized they needed to spend money on their own parks or risk being seen as stagnant.

 

[Minnesota!]

Oh could you find us in Sept I've been to Disney a ton of times (more than I can actually keep track of) but I have never been on TT just because of the lines. And now that we have littles that aren't that fond of EPCOT and HS we only spend a day each in those parks so definitely won't wait in line.

Well it would be nice, but someone who looks like a first (and only) timer would def benefit more.

I believe TT will still be closed in September...but it would be super awesome to be chosen for the lounge

 

[CarolineB]

2) The people who handle the events such as the Wishes Cruise are also the people who maintain and staff the resort pools and, at various points throughout the day, they have to take sample readings of the water in each of the resorts pools. Well, anyway, our driver told us that he/she (don't wanna get our driver in trouble) would be happy to stay at any of the WDW resorts, excepting the All-Stars. When I asked why, he/she told us about the daily pool samples and said that it's routine for any single All-Star pool to have a higher urine reading than all of the other resort pools combined. Sheesh. He/she said it was because of the high concentration of families with children that stay there. He/she then said something to the effect of, "You know, you can only shock a pool so many times in a day before you kill someone..."

!

A resort lifeguard told me this week that they call Pop Century "poop century" because of all the poop in the pool because it has so many kids.

 

[cheermom1]

This is even more unlikely. If competition fails of their own accord, through no fault of Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart doesn't have a problem. However, if Wal-Mart is propping up competition in order to put up the pretense of competition, they are far more likely to get slapped.



This is counter to Disney's practices of making it more expensive to visit anything other than Disney on a trip.

All I know is what she told me and she works in the corp office. Of course I wasn't there but that is what she said.

 

[DerangedChipmunk]

Love this thread!

Did you know that Disney imagineers put a little nod to all of the rumors surrounding the Haunted Mansion into the new queue area? There is now a real ring embedded in the pavement!

I did a quick google search and even found a pic:

So exciting to see that the imagineers hear us, and have a sense of humor to boot! Can't wait to find this for myself next time I'm in the World

 

[mesaboy2]

Love this thread!

Did you know that Disney imagineers put a little nod to all of the rumors surrounding the Haunted Mansion into the new queue area? There is now a real ring embedded in the pavement!

Yep, seen it in person a few times now. Kinda fun looking for it, so I won't spoil the exact location.

 

[harvey]

Still, I don't think she'd be in a position to know these things. You're talking about something that happens at the corporate level, not at the park training level.



It's different than the rest because it is really the first fully-immersive park area Universal has done - and that' mainly because JKR had a LOT of say in it, and the movie set designers helped with the park design - and even the other way around.

Disney would NOT have wanted WWOHP to succeed. Instead, they realized they needed to spend money on their own parks or risk being seen as stagnant.

Cool. I disagree with your logic and so forth, but it's cool. I just choose to believe my friend whether it makes sense or is logical or whatev. I love HP World (can't say the same for the rest of Universal) and I love Disney, so I'll live in my little bubble and continue to believe some pixie dust made its way up I-4 and helped make HP World become a reality.

Oh, I thought of another one: Has anyone mentioned that there's only one REAL US flag in MK? All those wee tiny ones above the buildings on Main Street are fakey...not enough stars and stripes.

And this isn't like 'wow', but our guide pointed out that the Crystal Palace looks different at each end...the left side fits with the turn of the century main street architecture and decor, and the right is more tropical/jungle-ish to fit with Adventureland next door. I love the subtle way each area of the park blends into the next.

 

[imaprincez]

Just keep reading, just keep reading....can't believe I just read the whole thread...great facts about everything, going to do a lot more looking this trip!

 

[kangaroodle]

Not sure if your source is current or not, but there are a few others:

Hidden Tink (sorry to TheIncredibles who thought the Poly had the only one.)
at BTMRR from allears (I haven't seen this one, so I can't vouch as to whether it still exists):

This is true. I've seen it and taken a picture of it just recently!

 

[micknpluto]

A resort lifeguard told me this week that they call Pop Century "poop century" because of all the poop in the pool because it has so many kids.

I have to agree. There was "turd" in the pool a few years ago when I was there. they had to evacuate. HAHAHA I dont go in the hippy dippy pool anymore LOLOL

 

[articos]

A couple things to clarify after reading some of the recent posts...

Re: The Tree of Life - the underlying steel structure is based off designs used to construct oil rigs, and was fabricated for the AK design team by a company that does construct rigs. However, it is not an actual oil rig structure or an abandoned rig underneath. The steel framing was custom built specifically to be the Tree of Life.

Re: Tower of Terror's architecture - yes, the FL Tower was built to not disrupt sightlines from other viewpoints on the property, including Morocco in Epcot. That is not why each of the Tower buildings differ, though. Florida was designed and built first, therefore, it was built to fit the location in FL. The design was done by Parsons, with a facade that was designed to feel like a 1930s Hollywood hotel. It's based on a mishmash of real buildings, including the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA, the Biltmore in L.A., the Chateau Marmont and the Hollywood Tower Apts. The CA building was designed to fit a different building need, as the ride engineering was very different from the FL building. The California/Paris design were from a style named Pueblo Deco, and more in line with the art deco look of that section of DCA, with Paris designed in tandem.

Re: Disney "bailing out" HP and/or that's the reason why WWoHP is more elaborately themed, absolutely false on both counts. Disney had absolutely no input on WWoHP financially or creatively. The effort was entirely a collaboration between Universal Creative and Warner's HP licensing and production teams. The theming on Potter is elaborate due to Universal hiring Stuart Craig, the production designer from the films, to head up the design of Wizarding World. He, along with JK Rowling overseeing, is responsible for the theming that was above and beyond what had been done before, along with some extremely talented creative folks from the attraction design world.

 

[kateybee]

OK, Jungle Cruise went in 1971. So where/why was the front half of a plane saved for nearly two decades to put in TGMR? I think the trivia is fun, but some details don't add up sometimes and it makes me go "hmmmm".

On our last trip we bought four books in Downtown Disney- one for each park. It actually mentions this as being true in both the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios books. (page 6 on each of the books actually)

This is the Hollywood Studios one: http://www.laughingplacestore.com/Product-10726.asp

 

[themollendorns]

If you have netflix, there are several Disney documentary-type things, and the imagineers give lots of cool tidbits. There's like 5 of them, and I think they were made in 2010 all by the same company...kinda like informercials for Disney, but we watch them all the week before we go to get psyched up.

Thank you for this, my youngest and I are enjoying our morning with these Disney documentaries!!

Only downside is he keeps telling me how much he wants to go on the Snow White ride, UH OH (lol).

 

[WDW_Paul]

What a nice way to spread the Magic ~ My 5 yr old is looking forward to riding TT next trip (he'll turn 6 a few days before we go in April its a surprise birthday trip he thinks we're not going for another year) My DH or I will ride it first and see if its appropriate for him. Do you think 6 is old enough?? Unfortunately I can't use height he's been tall enough to ride almost everything since he's 3 yrs old. I have to use age limits.

I can't speak for everyone, but I have a tall daughter, who was just over 4.5 last year and she rode test track with us and loved it. She also rode Space Mountain because she met the height requirements. She said THAT was kind of scary but fun. I will say I was worried about her on that one, a little. I would not be worried on test track. It's a different animal, altogether..

WDW_Paul