Your best Disney fact or insider story...

Hootch said:
After a major refurb to POTC a number of years ago, they could not figure out the chess game set up. It was sometimes later that they found the diagram in a file.

The chess game is not a stalemate as many people think. Any moves will result in coming back to the same arrangement so the game never ends.

I don't believe it is possible to get to this situation in a real game.

Stalemate is very possible and is actually an endgame strategy. The game does end. The term for a stalemate when the board is as complex as that in POTC is called a swindle. Perfect for pirates.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalemate
 
http://www.thefloridaproject.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/chess-may10.jpg

Here are pictures from the last seven years. The pieces are moved continually and they are not in stalemate. Including after the refurb when they had the drawing.

Thanks for that picture.

I wonder whose turn it is! It must be whites turn to move to protect the queen?

If it is whites turn the pirate will win in two moves. If it blacks turn, the white queen is gone and the white pirate is in serious trouble.

Fun.

Edit: I looked at more pictures, those two queens are always side by side. Interesting.
 
Oh I've got one. In the old Indiana Jones (where the plane came from the left instead of the right, and Marion slid down a rope), Indy and the burly mechanic would fight, and the mechanic would turn last minute into the propeller, and steam/smoke would shoot up to hide what happens next (since Disney can't have blood spatters like in the movie).

But still, that propeller was whirling and looked dangerous to me.

A friend of mine worked at DHS, and told me the secret. The propellers (which were already spinning when the plane came out)...were made of cloth.

Seems like it would still hurt a LOT to be slapped repeatedly with strips of cloth moving that fast!

I believe they are the same ride vehicles (they aren't really go carts) as when the attraction opened in 1971. The "theme" has changed a couple of times, the Indy 500 was a sponsor for awhile, and I think the track was shortened a little but I don't think the actual ride vehicles have changed any.

I've always thought of the speedway cars as bladeless riding lawnmowers!
 
Stalemate is very possible and is actually an endgame strategy. The game does end. The term for a stalemate when the board is as complex as that in POTC is called a swindle. Perfect for pirates.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalemate

stalemate is a draw ending to a chess game. And that's one of the reasons it doesn't work in this case. The pirates have withered away to skeletons because the game never ends. The set up, which I haven't seen clearly enough to replicate, has one move available and the resulting moves return the pieces to the original positions. No one could duplicate the positioning without Marc Davis' diagram.

For lack of a better name, it is a loop game that will never end, or you will die trying to end it.
 
There is an upside water fountain in Epcot by the Imagination pavilion. It's not a big fountain.

Fantasia wise, check out the pool courtyard at Port Orleans French Quarter. It has the alligators.

Never knew til recently the sword in the stone does actually come out for selected few.


Great thread
 
Never knew til recently the sword in the stone does actually come out for selected few.

Does anyone know if it's random or if someone is watching and releasing it for certain kids? It seems that Happy Birthday buttons and princess dresses help with pulling that sword out! ;)
 
Does anyone know if it's random or if someone is watching and releasing it for certain kids? It seems that Happy Birthday buttons and princess dresses help with pulling that sword out! ;)

I believe it's in the control of a CM that isn't necessarily visible & utterly random based on what strikes them or whether anyone is even manning that control at the moment.
 
We tracked down more of the stuff we learned about in this thread over the weekend when we decided at the last minute to blow off reality & took an impromtu 2-day trip. :thumbsup2

DD is learning chess so I can't wait to show her all the new chess info you guys posted - GREAT STUFF!

We have REALLY been having fun with all of this!
 
Jungle Cuise: Each of the scenes in Jungle Cruise (JC) is taken from the True-Life Adventure Film Series that Walt Disney produced in the early 1960's

Jungle Cruise: Near the beginning of the Jungle Cruise (JC), look very carefully at the tribal head carvings on the three canoes at Pygmy Beach. You may see vague resemblences of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

Cinderella's Golden Carousel: Cinderella’s own horse is here and is distinguishable by one very unique feature—it is the only one to have a gold ribbon on its tail. Cinderella’s horse is white, wears a red bridle, and is second rank in from the outside.

Its a small World: In one of the last scenes of 'Small World, there's a balloon and one of the dolls in it is holding a sign saying 'HELP!

Peter Pan: As your ship enters the nursery you might notice the building blocks stacked on the floor (a group is by Wendy's bed, another by the window as you exit). If you look closely, you'll see that these blocks spell "P Pan" and "DISNEY."

Winnie the Pooh: When Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was converted into Winnie the Pooh Adventure around the turn of this century, they included a scene where Mr. Toad hands off the property deed to the ride (to Owl). To see this scene, look to your left as you enter Owl's house. There's a framed picture on the wall, just inside the doors. You really have to turn around and look 'back', almost.

Buzz Lightyear Spin: Some of the big points in Buzz Lightyear are scored when leaving the first room. Turn around and shoot the back of the Orange robots arm or the back of the buzz saw. As you enter the second room, try to shoot the volcano. The jackpot appears to be the 'Z' target at the bottom of Zurg's pulpit, reachable only just as you enter or (facing backward) just as you leave the third room.

Haunted Mansion: at night, look up at the top story right above the front door. If you watch it for a while you'll notice a light pass by it and some shadows, it looks like 2 people are walking by with a lantern.

Haunted Mansion: In the ballroom scene, there is a lady sitting in a rocking chair. This animatronic figure is a duplicate made from the grandmother in one of the side scenes of the Carousel of Progress (CoP).

Cinderellas Castle: Sit on the stone ledge on the right side of the castle, you may hear Stitch giggle and tell you to be quiet because he's hiding.

Cinderellas Castle: Inside the walls of the walk-through of the castle is several mosaics. On the mosaic wall furthest from the entrance are the two stepsisters, Anastasia and Drusilla. The mosaic shows one of them with a red face and the other with a green face. Red with rage and green with envy!

Cinderellas Castle: Try asking the suit of armor for an autograph. what happens?? Sorry Not going to spoil this one!

Cinderellas Castle: n the room where you get your picture taken with Cinderella, the flag with the three lions on it represents the Disney family crest.

Cinderellas Castle: The little mice up in the rafters of the lobby of the castle are Gus and Jacques in the throne room at Cinderella’s Royal Table.

Tom Sawyers Island: find one of the paintbrushes Tom and Huck left behind. If you find one, don't just leave it there -- take it back to a Cast Member for a special prize, maybe even a "go to the front of the line" pass for a major attraction! Please be kind and don't horde the Brushes. The CM will give you a pass for the whole family.

Wake up Tinkerbell - in her shop, tinkerbell's treasures, its a sweet little surpise for any Disney fan. It can be done many times during the day. There is a bell on the counter, and when it is rung tink flies around the shop and then appears on a flat screen behind the counter. The kids can get pixie dust in their hair too.

Roy Disney Statue - Location: Magic Kingdom Town Square
You may have walked past it many times without realizing it's there. In the center of the Town Square, near the flagpole is a statue of Roy Disney. Roy is sitting on a bench. There is room for a guest or two, especially if you want to have your picture taken with Roy. Many guests are unfortunately unaware of this tribute to Walt's brother. They may not even be aware of his contribution to the development and success of Walt Disney World. This lesser-known Disney is quite unheralded. What I like most about this treasure is that it recognizes the other Disney responsible for WDW.

Lilo and Stitch Restrooms – in Cosmic Rays and reportedly a few other places you can hear Stitch in the Women’s Restroom talking, sometimes looking for Lilo, and you can hear Lilo in the Men’s Restroom looking for Stitch.

Props - In the Main St. train station lower level, up on one of the shelves (Cast members (CM's) can halp you locate it) you can see Aladdin's lamp as well as other characters' belongings waiting to be picked up. Some park guest lost and found items are there too, is the artificial leg with the name Smith on it (a Mary Poppins joke) one of these?

Liberty Square Tree - The 13 lanterns hanging in the Liberty Square Tree representing the original 13 U.S. colonies. Its the big tree to the left when facing the Paddle Wheel Boat.

--Thor

Not sure if anyone has commented on this yet or not ~ but as far as I know, you can no longer wake Tinker Bell up. Her gift shop, Tinker Bell's Treasures, has been changed over to Castle Couture. When we were there last year, my daughter asked about it and they told us that she was no longer "living" in the store. She was lucky enough to wake her during our 2009 trip, but thought it would be fun to try it again.
 
My source is my once upon a time class

Im just relaying what they told me, I'm not sure I believe it because of the grand, but its architecture does somewhat fit in with main street in the sense that they are close to the same time period. But my biggest problem with it is where would the venetian and the other planned hotels fit in, i mean the persian resort could fit into adventure land but its a bit of a reach

They way I read it in the Imagineering Guide to the MK, was the Contemporary would be visible from TL, so it needed to look futuristic, and the Poly originally was meant to be seen from Jungle Cruise so they wanted it to fit in. It was all about placement and visual appeal as opposed to matching up with the lands in MK.
 
I just want to kiss all y'all's faces for this amazing amount of information. I have been to WDW many times, but I'm taking my bf for his First Time Ever next month and this thread will help me make the magic happen!!
 
Awesome little bits of info on this thread! A lot of it I knew, but some new to me things as well not to mention reminding me of all the things I had forgotten about!!
 
This thread has lured me out of the shadows, my lurking days are over and this thread is amazing.
 
This thread has lured me out of the shadows, my lurking days are over and this thread is amazing.

:welcome:party:

This has been a lot of fun. Less than three weeks before I head to wdw. It might take that long to summarize all the cool information in this thread. I am going to need some kind of "talking points".
 
the keys to the kingdom tour is awesome for information, it has also started my own personal quest to all the backstage tours at some point
 
and effective Nazi interrogator designed and built the mosaics in Cinderella's Castle. Hanns Scharff was an premier interrogator and specialized in gathering information from downed pilots.

His methods were gentle and a couple of times he helped prevent the torture of American officers. He relied on vast amount of information that the Nazis developed throughout the war to gain even more information.

After the war Scharff immigrated to the US. He was asked to interrogate a US soldier accused of treason and later testified at the hearing. Scharff also lectured at the Pentagon on interrogation techniques.

Scharff designed and built the Cinderella mosaics with his daughter in law though she was early in her training. His studios did the mosaics outside the Land in Epcot. His daughter in law Monika was the lead on that project.
 
and effective Nazi interrogator designed and built the mosaics in Cinderella's Castle. Hanns Scharff was an premier interrogator and specialized in gathering information from downed pilots.

His methods were gentle and a couple of times he helped prevent the torture of American officers. He relied on vast amount of information that the Nazis developed throughout the war to gain even more information.

After the war Scharff immigrated to the US. He was asked to interrogate a US soldier accused of treason and later testified at the hearing. Scharff also lectured at the Pentagon on interrogation techniques.

Scharff designed and built the Cinderella mosaics with his daughter in law though she was early in her training. His studios did the mosaics outside the Land in Epcot. His daughter in law Monika was the lead on that project.

Ok, that is a little freaky.
And I had to google it.
Yup, its true. :eek:
 

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