Disney Trivia Guy

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! I watched Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) last night and I thought about writing this article about the little leprechaun that lives in Disneyland. Have you ever heard the tale of The Little Man of Disneyland? When Disneyland opened in 1955, there was a book published by Little Golden Books titled The Little Man of Disneyland.  Donald Duck is on the front cover. In the story, Patrick Begorra, a leprechaun, walked out of his house, which was in the trunk of an orange tree, to discover people walking around his orange grove. It was Donald, Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto. They said they were digging up the trees to build Disneyland. Patrick would have nothing to do with it. He tried to stop them. Mickey told him about a rocket trip, a Wild West stagecoach, and flying pirate ships. Patrick did not believe him, so Mickey flew him in their helicopter to the studio to show him the concept art for the park. Patrick agreed to let them build ...

Today we lost one of the best and most important Disney Imagineers, Alice Davis. Wife to legendary Imagineer Mark Davis and Disney's top seamstress.  Alice attempted to get into the Chouinard Art Institute to learn how to be an animator since her passion was drawing; but, the Art Institute didn’t accept girls. They did, however, accept her to teach her to be a costume designer. Her first class was Fine Art, where they taught her about human anatomy and how muscles worked. The class instructor was Marc Davis. Alice began her career designing women’s lingerie and undergarments for the Beverly Vogue & Lingerie House in Los Angeles. It wasn’t until after she graduated and began working that she started up a friendship with Marc, whom she ended up marrying in 1956 at the age of 27. She quickly became the head designer. In the mid-1950s, Alice got a call from Marc requesting her to design a dress for Helene Stanley to wear as the live-action model for Briar Rose in Sleepi...

Disney's mermaid character who was a person of color and disabled. In The Little Mermaid: The Series (1992-1994), Ariel met a Latina deaf and mute mermaid named Gabriella. She appeared in two episodes and had her octopus, Ollie, as an interpreter of her sign language. The animators added her into the series to honor Gabriella Angelina Bommino, a 2-year-old who was a huge Ariel fan that ended up losing a battle with leukemia in 1993. They intended to show what Gabriella would have looked like as a teen. In the episode " Wish Upon a Starfish ," Ariel meets Gabriella and they go on a quest to find a starfish that grants a wish. Gabriella wished to be able to sing. It was released in season 2 as episode 6 on October 16, 1993. In the episode " Ariel's Treasures ," Ariel meets Gabriella again and shows her all of her treasures, including the new eggbeater that she finds. But Ursula had placed a curse on it. It was released in season 3 as episode 7 on October 29, ...

In Beauty and the Beast (1991), after Beast storms off from Belle’s room when she refuses to join him for dinner, the painting of Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer from 1665 can be seen hanging on the wall in the background. If you liked this fun fact, you should check out my book which has over 3,700 fun facts in it about Disneyland, California Adventure, and Disney Movies. www.DisneyGuy.org

  On Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Disneyland , before exiting your car, you can spot a painting of Toad posing while dressed all in blue holding a feathered hat. This is a Toad-themed reproduction of the oil painting “ The Blue Boy ,” by English artist Thomas Gainsborough who painted it in 1770. To get a copy of my book with over 3,700 Disneyland Resort and Disney Movie fun facts, visit my website  www.DisneyGuy.org

Today marks the anniversary  of one of the most popular attractions in Disneyland,  Star Tours . It opened on January 9, 1987.  In the beginning, this race through space attraction wasn’t what it turned out to be. Originally, Disney was making a ride simulator attraction based on their sci-fi film The Black Hole (1979). With an estimated cost of $50 million, Disney felt it was too high of a price for a film that was only so-so in popularity. Heck, the movie only cost $20 million to produce and it only made $35 million at the box office. Disney decided to go another route. They would capitalize on their partnership with Lucas. Lucas had just produced Captain EO which was going to open up in September 1986. After a deal was made, both projects were in production. George and his team at ILM started work on the film for the attraction while Disney bought four flight simulators from the military for $500,000 each. Disney gutted out the building that once housed ...