Walt Disney World Trivia

• Written in 1967 by George Bruns & Xavier Atencio, "Yo Ho" ("A Pirate's Life for Me") is the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song.
• A statue of Roy O. Disney seated on a park bench beside Minnie Mouse is located on Main Street, U.S.A. at the Magic Kingdom.
• The first annual International Flower & Garden Festival took place at Epcot in 1994.
• Disney's Magic Kingdom Park attracted 17.2 million visitors in 2009, followed by Disneyland with 15.9 million visitors.
• Tickets for the original Night of Joy in 1983 were $12.95 at the gate and the event featured Shirley Caesar, Petra and others.
• The Liberty Square Riverboat opened at Disney on Oct. 2, 1971, and the first paddle wheeler was called the “Admiral Joe Fowler.”
• Originally known as Treasure Island, Discovery Island in Bay Lake opened in 1974 as a nature preserve & closed in 1999.
• The Plaza Swan Boats (1973-83) embarked from two loading docks: one near Tomorrowland & the other near the Plaza Restaurant.
• Frontierland initially had just three attractions: WDW Railroad station, Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes & Country Bear Jamboree.
• The Main Street Electrical Light Parade made its debut at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in 1977.
• NBC aired the Disney TV special, "Grand Opening of Walt Disney World," on October 29, 1971.
• Opened in 1988, the Norway pavilion is the most recent nation to be added to the World Showcase at Epcot.
• Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is the most visited water park in the world with 2,059,000 guests last year.
• When Disney’s Magic Kingdom opened its doors on October 1, 1971, adult admission cost just $3.50, a seven-ride attraction ticket book cost $4.75 and an 11-ride attraction ticket book cost only $5.75.
  
• Approximately 10,000 guests attended the grand opening of Disney’s Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.
  
• At 189 feet tall, Cinderella Castle is Disney's Magic Kingdom's tallest structure. Space Mountain is the Magic Kingdom's second tallest structure at 183 feet tall.
  
• It’s A Small World and the Carousel of Progress both debuted at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair.
  
• From 1971 to 1982, Disney's Magic Kingdom offered ticket books that categorized attractions based on an "A" to "E" scale. E tickets were used for the eight most popular Magic Kingdom attractions: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Country Bear Jamboree, Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain.
  
• The Omnimover vehicles used for The Haunted Mansion are nicknamed “Doom Buggies.”
  
• "Chief Nammie ” is the headhunter who shows up near the end of the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland.
  
• At 199.5 feet tall, Expedition Everest is the tallest artificial mountain at Walt Disney World Resort.
  
• William Windsor Jr. was the first guest to enter Disney's Magic KIngom when the theme park first opened its doors on October 1, 1971.
  
• The cover of Life magazine's October 15, 1971, cover depicts approximately 1,500 Disney characters and employees posing in front of Cinderella Castle.
  
• Epcot's Spaceship Earth rises 180 feet and weighs approximately 16 million pounds.
  
• The 14-story Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom boasts approximately 300 animal carvings.
  
• Cinderella's Golden Carrousel was originally built in 1917 and once stood at Olympic Park in Maplewood, New Jersey.
  
• Disney's Hollywood Studios features a replica of world-famous Mann's Chinese Theater.
  
• Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland weighs 200 tons and rises 60 feet.
  
• The six trains at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are named I.B. Hearty, I.M. Brave, I.M. Fearless, U.B. Bold, U.R. Daring and U.R. Courageous.
  
• The Walt Disney World Railroad is an authentic 1928 steam-powered train.
  
• Each space capsule at Mission: Space is equipped with motion sickness bags.
  
• At 30,500 acres, Walt Disney World Resort is approximately the same size as San Francisco, California.
  
• Disney's Magic Kingdom Park draws an estimated 17 million guests annually, followed by Epcot (10.9 million), Disney's Hollywood Studios (9.6 million) and Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park (9.5 million).
  
• Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - Starring Aerosmith at Disney's Hollywood Studios launches you at a speed of 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds.
  
• Intergalactic lounge singer Sonny Eclipse entertains diners daily at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland.
  
• Golf legend Jack Nicklaus captured the first championship at the inaugural 1971 Walt Disney World Open Invitational.
  
• The Atlanta Braves spend Spring Training at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, which features a 7,500-seat, state-of-the-art ballpark.
  
• Before Disney closed its Central Florida animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) in 2003, several animated films were worked on there such as Mulan (1998), Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Brother Bear (2003), among others.
  
• Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney World's largest theme park, opened on Earth Day - April 22, 1998.
  
• The now-defunct River Country opened at Fort Wilderness in 1976 as Disney World's first water park.
  
• Epcot is the only Disney World theme park that boasts two entrances (one being accessible via Disney's Boardwalk).
  
• Mickey's PhilharMagic in Fantasyland boasts the world's largest seamless projection screen.
  
• The theme and characters for Splash Mountain were inspired by the 1946 Disney movie, Song of the South.
  
• President Richard Nixon gave his famous "I am not a crook" speech during a convention at Disney's Contemporary Resort in 1973.
  
• Actress Judi Dench currently narrates the Spaceship Earth ride in Epcot (the original narrator was Walter Cronkite, followed by Jeremy Irons).
  
• According to legend, a total of 999 ghosts inhabit the Haunted Mansion.
  
• WEDway People Mover was the original name for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
  
• Surfing instruction can be arranged at the Surf Pool at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon.
  
• Despite an intense "Save the Toad" campaign, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1998.
  
• The fountain at Epcot Innoventions Plaza can reputedly shoot water up to 150 feet in the air.
  
• The 5.7-million-gallon tank at The Seas with Nemo & Friends is home to approximately 3,000 fish and other sea creatures.
  
• Epcot's France Pavilion contains a 103-foot-tall replica of the Eiffel Tower.
  
• The Earth Globe that provides the centerpiece for Epcot's "Illuminations: Reflections of Earth," weighs 350,000 pounds.
  
• Disney's Old Key West Resort is home to a bar called the "Gurgling Suitcase."
  
• Using a series of dummy corporations, Walt Disney purchased the land for Disney World at a cost of just over $5 million.
• Completed in July 1971, Cinderella Castle is 189 feet tall—more than twice the size of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.
• Walt Disney's parents, Elias and Flora, were married on New Year's Day, 1888 in Kismet, Florida (now a ghost town).
• The Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, which opened in 1975, later evolved into Downtown Disney.
• Summit Plummet at Disney's Blizzard Beach is a 120-foot high waterslide that speeds riders down the mountain at 50 to 60 MPH.
• The film "Dick Tracy," which starred Warren Beatty and Madonna, held its world premiere at Downtown Disney in 1990.
  
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