Disneyland Fun Facts

Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. Temperatures soared to over 100 degrees Farenheit that day. The asphalt, which had just been laid the night before hadn't dried completely, and it is said that ladies' high heel shoes sunk into the tar. More than twice the number of invited guests showed up at the park that day due to widespread counterfeiting of the tickets. Rides broke down and food and drink ran out. Other mishaps and malfunctions such as a gas leak near Sleeping Beauty's Castle occured as well.

Despite the problems, guests loved the park, and attendance continued to grow. Less than 2 months later, Disneyland welcomed its 1 millionth guest. Disneyland is now a world renowned theme park and receives millions of guests each year.

Autopia was one of the 18 rides that were running on opening day of the park in 1955. Back then the ride didn't have a guide rail to keep the cars on track, and by the end of opening day, many of the cars had crashed and become inoperable. It wasn't until 10 years later that they added the guide rail.

Walt Disney and the Disney Imagineers originally created Tomorrowland to represent the future as they perceived it would be in the year 1986, when Halley's Comet would make its next appearance.

Walt Disney imagined that in the future, open space for growing crops would be very limited due to large population size. He envisioned the people of the future using a system where landscaping would be replaced with beautifully manicured food gardens. These gardens would be pleasing to the eye, but would also provide much needed food and resources. If you look closely at the beautiful landscaping in Tomorrowland, you will indeed find that nearly everything is edible. There are strawberries, lemons, oranges, pineapple, guava, papaya, peppers, kale, and many other edible plants growing there.

For years is has been rumored that there is a basketball court inside Matterhorn Mountain. There is, in fact, a basketball hoop and backboard, and even some lines painted on the ground, but it is not a full-size basketball court. The "court" is in a small attic-like room in the top of Matterhorn Mountain. The small room serves as a break room for the climbers that scale the mountain. It is said that one of the climbers installed the hoop as a way to pass the time between ascending and descending the mountain. Another rumor is that the court was installed as a way for Disney to get around building codes in Anaheim, California. Supposedly, in order to get a permit to build a structure as tall as the Matterhorn, Disney had the "court" installed and passed the structure off as a sports arena in order to get around the law. By the way, did you notice who is taking a shot in this photo? It is none other than NBA star Vlade Divac!

The first Tinker Bell to glide down a cable from Matterhorn Mountain to Sleeping Beauty's Castle in 1961 was a 70 year old circus performer named Tiny Kline. At the end of her flight each night she had to crash into a mattress in order to stop! Since Tiny, there have been other Tinker Bells, and it is said that they, too, had to brave the mattress ending.

It's a Small World was originally created for the 1964 World Fair in New York. After the World Fair, the attraction was shipped to Disneyland and opened there in 1967. It's a Small World closed in 2007 and underwent major renovations and reopened in February of 2009. A new flume and new fleet of boats were installed, along with new lighting and sound systems. New characters were added as well, such as Woody and Bullseye from Toy Story.

If you've ever sat around waiting for a train at New Orleans Station at Disneyland, you may have noticed ticking sounds coming from the telegraph office. You are actually hearing the first few lines of Walt Disney's speech from opening day at Disneyland in 1955 being ticked out on the telegraph.

Word is that Disneyland gets all of its Coca Cola products and all of its Orville Redenbacher popcorn for free. In return, Disneyland agrees not to sell any of their competitors' products, and Coca Cola and Orville Redenbacher get great advertising out of it.

It used to be that when you rode the Jungle Cruise at night when the workers were presumably bored after a long day of work, that you could hear some great jokes that were not in the normal script. Creative skippers would think up funny, new jokes to tell. My personal favorite of the new jokes that popped up was the one about the rhino. It went something like: "See that native on the bottom of the totem pole? His name is Ahontas. Looks like that rhino is going to poke Ahontas." (Pocahontas, get it? Ha ha.) I always liked hearing that one. Unfortunately, it seems as though skippers have been asked to stick to the script, since I rarely hear variations any more.

As you stroll down Main Street USA in Disneyland, it is hard to miss the delicious scents coming from the Candy Palace and Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor. While much of the smell must be natural, there are also a series of vents at ground level through which the scents of vanilla and peppermint can be pumped. The vanilla scent is used most of the year, while peppermint is pumped during the Christmas season.

A favorite pasttime of frequent Disneyland goers is hunting for hidden Mickeys. Hidden Mickeys are images or figurines of Mickey Mouse that Imagineers or Cast Members have hidden on or around Disneyland park. Purely decorative Mickeys or Mickeys in plain sight don't count. In general, a hidden Mickey is partially concealed or not completely obvious.

There is an exclusive club called Club 33 above the Blue Bayou restaurant in New Orleans Square. It takes years of being on a waiting list to get in to the club, and membership costs thousands of dollars.

Walt Disney had his own apartment above the fire station on Main Street. Whenever he was in the park a light would be on in the window. That light now burns all the time in honor of his memory and a legacy that continues to live on.

Captain EO, a 3D sci-fi musical starring Michael Jackson, is back in Tomorrowland Theater at Disneyland Park. The 17-minute film originally debuted in 1986 and played until 1997 when it was replaced by Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The film cost $30 million dollars to make and features the talents of director Francis Ford Coppola and executive producer George Lucas. Captain EO now features a new 70mm print and improved sound thanks to technological improvements to the theater. This tribute to the King of Pop is playing only for a limited time.

The Disneyland Resort parking structure holds more than 10,000 cars.

Steve Martin used to work in the Magic Shop in Disneyland.

Cast Members are not allowed to point with one finger since it is considered rude. They will instead use two fingers or their whole hand to "point."

Disneyland brought in cats to control a rodent problem they had. Sometimes you still see cats here and there around the park.

I can hear the Disneyland fireworks every night from my house in Irvine, CA.

While waiting in line for Star Tours you can hear a "Egroeg Sacul" (George Lucas spelled backwards) being paged on the intercom.

Disneyland's address is 1313 Harbor Boulevard. M is the 13th letter of the alphabet, making the address MM for Mickey Mouse. Also, if you turn the address sideways it looks like 2 sets of mouse ears, perhaps representing Mickey and Minnie.