Spaceship Earth in Blue

Playing Tonight: Wishes

Happy New Year from Walt Disney World

Joyfull Featuring Divine Voice - Epcot & Spaceship Earth

A Christmas Castle

Christmas on Main Street U.S.A.

Happy Holidays at the Magic Kingdom

Pecos Bill Entrance

Considered by many as the meanest, toughest, roughest cowboy of them all, Pecos Bill has been credited for inventing all things Western from rodeos to cowboy dancing to spurs, hats, and lassoes. He can draw faster shoot straighter and ride a horse harder than any man alive.

Unfortunately, we don't know when and where he was born, just that he was raised by coyotes and that his name comes from the river in Texas. Over the years, Pecos Bill along with his trusty horse, Widowmaker, have made quite a name for themselves forging new trails and taming others.

Legend tells us several tall tales, like the time Pecos Bill jumped on a powerful twister and rode it like a bucking bronco. Then there was the time when Pecos Bill dug out a path to create the Rio Grande river during a severe drought that hit his beloved Texas. And then there was the day Pecos Bill was so bored that he took his handy six-shooter and shot out all of the stars in the sky except for one. That's why they call Texas the 'Lone Star State.'

In 1878, with the encouragement of his friends, Pecos Bill decided to open his own watering hole, a restaurant, whose motto very much reflects its one-of-a-kind owner, 'The Tastiest Eats and Treats This side of the Rio Grande.' Pecos Bill called it the Tall Tale Inn and Cafe and it quickly became a popular hang-out for some of his legendary friends.

As time went by, it became a tradition when each friend paid a visit they would leave something behind for Pecos Bill to remember them by. As you can see from the articles and artifacts that don the walls, many of which carry inscriptions, Pecos Bill had some mighty impressive friends.

Seems that every trail eventually led to the Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.

Mickey’s On Top of the World - The Construction of Disney's Hollywood Studios

This is Mickey Mouse walking on top of the world. You know which world I’m referring to, right? The Crossroads of the World landmark found at the entrance.

Based on the original structure from Sunset Boulevard, The Crossroads of the World at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has one noticeable difference, Mickey Mouse. While Mickey looks itty bitty from the ground below, you can get a better sense of his size from the photograph below taken on Dec. 21, 1988.

Mickey is 5’3” tall while the spinning globe he stands on is 6 feet in diameter. His right ear is made out of copper in order to serve as a lightning rod. Both Mickey and the globe were created by former Disney master sculptor Perry Russ.

Sitting on top of the world, Mickey has been walking and waving to every guest entering the park since opening day.

Christmas Tree and Spaceship Earth

IllumiNations in HDR - Fireworks at Epcot

This picture was not taken by me! If you own the rights for this pic, just let me know!

Ciinderella Castle View from Tomorrowland Entrance

ARTISTIC PAINTING - The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studios! Everyday! Starting at dusk :-D

Soldiers during the Christmas Parade [Magic Kingdom]

200,000 Lights Transform Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World

Christmas Tree on Main Street

Happy Birthday, Walt!

Disney Housing Operations

Credits: Luiza Saboia

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Magic Kingdom Utilidor

According to modern legend, Walt Disney was bothered by the sight of a cowboy walking through Disneyland's Tomorrowland enroute to his post in Frontierland.[1] He felt that such a sight was jarring, and detracted from the guest experience. When the Florida park was being planned, engineers designed utilidors to keep park operations out of guests' sight.

The utilidors are beneath the Magic Kingdom, but they are not a basement. Because Florida has such an elevated water table, most of these tunnels were actually built at ground level. That means the Magic Kingdom was built above that. All the guests of the park are one storey high. Parts of Fantasyland, including Cinderella's Castle, are at third-story-level (this is why the castle seems to loom so large as guests approach it via Main Street, USA). The ground's incline is so gradual that guests do not realize they are ascending to the second and third stories. The Magic Kingdom is built upon soil which was removed from what is now the Seven Seas Lagoon.

The utilidors are built on 9 acres (36,000 m2), and the floor plan is a circle with a path down the middle. The tunnel walls are color-coded to make it simple for users to determine their location. The utilidors can be accessed from a main tunnel entrance located behind Fantasyland, or through unmarked doors throughout the Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom cast members park about one mile (1.6 km) away and are transported via a Disney bus to the tunnel. Some shops, restaurants and attractions have direct access to the utilidors.

Happy 176th Birthday to Mark Twain

 Born November 30, 1835

Writer & humorist Mark Twain is born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the small town of Florida, Missouri. (He will be raised in Hannibal, Missouri.) Walt Disney admired Twain's writing and so the famous author's name and image can be found scattered throughout Disney theme parks all over the world.

 

Tom Sawyer Island - based on Twain's classic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - is the only Disneyland attraction that Walt personally designed!

Disneyland also features the Mark Twain Riverboat, which takes guests on a 12-minute journey around the Rivers of America.

Both Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland have versions of the Mark Twain Riverboat as well.

In Florida, Mr. Twain appears in Epcot's Audio-Animatronic stage show The American Adventure, and the Magic Kingdom features a version of Tom Sawyer Island (located in Frontierland).

Disney's 1990 animated The Prince and the Pauper is loosely based on Twain's classic novel The Prince and the Pauper, first published in 1881.

In 1991 The Disney Channel aired the Disney Channel Premiere Film Mark Twain and Me, about a young girl who befriends the famous writer.