May 27:

1933 Three Little Pigs was released

1966:

The 'it's a small world' attraction (direct from the World's Fair) opens in Fantasyland at Disneyland. The ride (sponsored by Bank of America) features 297 animated children, 256 toys, and a canal filled with 233,000 gallons of water. It is the park's first continually loading high capacity ride. The day is marked by special ceremonies attended by Walt Disney.

1993:

Groundbreaking begins for the Tower of Terror attraction at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in Florida.

1994:

Disney's Wilderness Lodge (located at 901 Timberline Drive) opens at Walt Disney World. The 728-room lakeside lodge, inspired by the beautiful early American National Parks, features an 80-foot tall fireplace in its lobby.

1999:

A new Main Street Electrical Parade makes its debut at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. (The parade was first brought to life at Disneyland in Anaheim, California from 1972 to 1996.) The preview party is attended by 5,000 Floridians and celebrity guests like actors LeVar Burton, Lacey Chabert, Carrie Fisher, Jonathan Lipnicki and Judge Reinhold. (Longtime Walt Disney World fans may recall a version of the Main Street Electrical Parade that performed at the

Magic Kingdom beginning in 1977.)

2002:

Disney releases Rascal, The Journey of Natty Gann, and

Cheetah all on DVD.

Eastman Kodak Company announces that it signed a multi-year agreement with The Walt Disney Company that renews the company's long-standing relationship as the exclusive imaging supplier of film and related products at world-renowned Disney theme parks and resorts in the U.S and Paris, as well as for the Disney Cruise Line.

2004:

The 3rd of 5 consecutive Star Wars Weekends kicks off at the Disney-MGM Studios. Special celebrity guests over the next 3 days include Anthony Daniels (who played C-3PO) and

Andy Secombe (who portrayed Watto).

The animated Disney short Lorenzo has its nationwide release, playing in front of Raising Helen. Lorenzo, about a fat cat whose haughty manners become the cause of his own undoing, is based upon pencil sketches and a story idea created by Disney veteran Joe Grant 20 years ago.

MAY 28
When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was first released in the United Kingdom, it was considered too intense and

scary for small children!

May 30

1927 Alice's Channel Swim released

1936 Thru The Mirror (starring Mickey Mouse) released

1941 Canine Caddy released

1953 Don's Fountain of Youth (starring Donald Duck) released

1967 Site preparation began at WDW

1998 The Wildhorse Saloon opened at WDW's Pleasure Island

1924 Alice's Fishy Story released

1989 Typhoon Lagoon opened

1989 Pleasure Island opened at WDW

1994 Mickey Mania Parade opened at WDW's Magic Kingdom

1995 Space Mountain : From the Earth to the Moon opened at Disneyland Paris

1997 The Lion King Celebration parade performed for the final time at Disneyland

2002 The Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris began it's Disney Cinema Parade

1982 Dead Poets Society released

1972:

Rod Serling creator & host of Night Gallery

(and The Twilight Zone) appears on the cover of TV Guide.

1984:

The Bistro de Paris restaurant in the France Pavilion in

Epcot's World Showcase opens.

1987:

Actress/singer-songwriter Lalaine (Vergara-Paras), who portrays Miranda Isabella Sanchez on the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire, is born in Burbank, California.

Her other Disney credits include the Disney Channel original movie You Wish and the Disney movie Annie.

2001:

Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire premieres in Hollywood

1968:

Actor Scott Wolf, the voice of Scamp in Disney's 2001

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, is born in

Boston, Massachusetts. (TV fans may recognize him

from the series Party of Five and Everwood.)

1990:

The Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel (operated by Sheraton) opens in Florida between the Disney MGM Studios and the

Epcot resort area.

1992:

Euro Disneyland reports that since opening,

1.2 million people have visited.

1999:

Walt Disney World's newest attraction "Adventures With Winnie the Pooh" opens in the Magic Kingdom.

2000:

Cirque du Soleil, the internationally acclaimed producers of permanent and touring shows around the world,

including La Nouba at Downtown Disney West Side,

hold auditions in Orlando, Florida.

Disney's Broadway show Aida wins 3 Tony Awards.

2005:

The Disney Magic sets sail from California on the second of

12 cruises to the Mexican Riviera this season.

1881:

Dr. Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren, industrialist, financier,

and philanthropist, is born in Sweden. His company Alweg

will be best remembered for developing the original

Disneyland monorail.

1905:

Actor John Abbott, the voice of the Wolf in Disney's 1967 classic The Jungle Book, is born in London, England.

1925:

Actor-singer Bill Hayes, who earned a gold record for "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," is born in Harvey, Illinois. He also had a minor follow-up hit with "Wringle Wrangle", from the 1956 Disney movie Westward Ho, The Wagons.

1934:

Walt Disney Productions is granted a trademark of "Mickey Mouse" for use in books and newspaper comic strips.

1961:

Voice artist Mary Kay Bergman, whose talents can be heard

in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Mulan and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, is born in Los Angeles.

(She also gained popularity for voicing most of the female characters on the animated TV series "South Park.")

1972:

Walt Disney World's If You Had Wings attraction, sponsored by Eastern Airlines (the official airline of Walt Disney World) opens. It is located in Tomorrowland across from the Mission to Mars attraction. The ride takes guests on a journey through some of Eastern's tourist destinations, such as Mexico City, New Orleans and the Bahamas. If You Had Wings will entertain millions of visitors for the next 15 years.

1976:

Actor Marc Worden, a member of the 90s television series

MMC (The Mickey Mouse Club) for seasons 3-7,

is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1989:

Today is Music Day on Disney Channel's MMC.

1995:

Walt Disney World formally announces its newest project ...

Animal Kingdom. (Construction will begin in August.)

1998:

Disney's animated feature film Mulan premieres at the Hollywood Bowl in California.

2000:

The 3 1/2 minute Disney/Pixar short For The Birds is released

at the Annecy Film Festival in France.

2001:

Disney's Oliver & Company is released on VHS and DVD.

2004:

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performs the score to Plane Crazy (a 1928 Mickey Mouse short) live at UCLA's Royce Hall. It is preceded by a screening of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. (the film that influenced Walt's first

talking Mickey short Steamboat Willie).

Ronald Reagan, our 40th U.S. president, passes at the age of 93 at his Bel Air, California home. An actor and governor of California (for 2 terms), Reagan took part in the TV broadcast

of Disneyland's grand opening in July 1955.

At 4:30 on this day, the American flag in Disneyland's

1944:

In the early morning hours, Allied forces invade the Nazi-held Normandy coast of France as D-Day (or the Normandy Invasion) begins. "Mickey Mouse" is used as a password by the Allied forces. This important World War II event will be the greatest invasion mankind has ever seen.

1952:

The Disney cartoon Susie, the Little Blue Coupe is released.

1955:

Sandra Bernhard, the voice of Cassandra on Disney's TV version of Hercules, is born in Flint, Michigan.

1959:

The Submarine Voyage attraction opens in Disneyland's new Tomorrowland. (It will be officially dedicated 8 days later.)

It is one of the first rides to require an E-ticket.

1962:

The Disney live-action family film Big Red

(starring Walter Pidgeon) is released.

1964:

Allison Fonte, a member of the 1977-1978 TV show

"The New Mouseketeers," is born.

1967:

Actor Max Casella, the voice of Tip in Disney's Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and Timon in Disney's Broadway show

The Lion King, is born in Washington, D.C.

(TV fans may recognize him as Vinnie Delpino

on the series "Doogie Howser, M.D.")

1975:

America on Parade, a special American Bicentennial event, debuts at Walt Disney World.

(It will run through September 6, 1976.)

1987:

The Delta sponsored If You Could Fly replaces the

Eastern Airlines If You Had Wings attraction in

Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland.

1989:

Hulk Hogan appears as himself on Disney Channel's MMC.

Today is Guest Day!

1997:

At Disneyland Paris, Festival Disney is officially renamed as Disney Village at a big party for hotel guests, cast members and 600 other invitees. The all-day party includes live rock music and an evening fireworks display.

2001:

Darkhorse Comics publishes Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The full color 56-page comic book features a cover by

Mike Mignola, whose artisitc vision inspired the Disney

animated feature.

2002:

After a complete mechanical and exterior restoration, the

Walt Disney World's Mission to Mars attraction (developed

in conjunction with NASA) debuts in Tomorrowland.

It replaces the Flight to the Moon attraction.

1989:

The Disney Channel airs episode 33 of MMC.

Today is Anything Can Happen Day!

1999:

Bear in the Big Blue House - Live on Stage opens at

Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.

2002:

Disney's animated series Kim Possible premieres

on the Disney Channel.

2004:

1902:

In Chicago, Elias and Flora Disney baptize their son Walter at the St. Paul Congregational Church. The Disneys are loyal members of the church (Flora plays the organ and Elias, a carpenter by trade, has helped build the church).

1917:

Walt Disney graduates from Benton Grammar School

in Kansas City.

1925:

Actor Charles Tyner, who portrayed Merle in Disney's 1977 Pete's Dragon, is born in Danville, Virginia.

1944:

Original Mouseketeer Don Grady is born Don Agrati in

San Francisco, California. Besides being a member of TV's "The Mickey Mouse Club" in 1957, he also wrote music for game animation for Disney's Lilo and Stitch, Return to Neverland, and The Santa Clause. The actor-turned-award-winning-composer also wrote 56 minutes of original music for the games featured on the limited edition release of Beauty and the Beast DVD-set. TV fans will recognize him as Robbie Douglas on the classic "My Three Sons" series (for which he appeared on for 11 years).

1984:

Donald Duck and Clarence Nash (the voice of Donald) host the opening of a Donald Duck film festival in New York. The festival is in celebration of 50 years since Donald's film debut.

1989:

Today is Party Day on Disney Channel's MMC.

1996:

The MTV Movie Awards are held at the Walt Disney Studios

in Burbank, California.

2001:

Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire opens in

Los Angeles and New York theaters.

The Disney Channel Original Movie Jett Jackson: The Movie

premieres as does the Lizzie McGuire episode

"Random Acts of Miranda".

2003:

Disney-MGM Studios' Great Movie Ride reopens after a

lengthy refurbishment.

Arlo Guthrie closes out the 2003 Flower Power Concert series with a final show at Epcot.

2004:

Walt Disney Records releases the soundtrack to the

Disney Channel Original Movie Zenon: Z3.

1934:

Donald Duck makes his very first film appearance in

The Wise Little Hen, a Silly Symphony short by Walt Disney.

Donald's appearance in this cartoon, as created by animator Dick Lundy, is similar to his modern look except his features are more elongated, his body plumper, and his feet bigger.

Directed by Bert Gillet, the short features the voice of

Clarence Nash as Donald Duck.

1939:

The Donald Duck short Beach Picnic is released.

1989:

The Disney Channel airs episode 35 of MMC.

Today is Hall of Fame Day!

1961:

Actor Michael J. Fox, the voice of Milo James Thatch in

Disney's 2001 release Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is born

in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

1963:

Actor Johhny Depp, the star of Disney's

2003 live-action feature

Pirates of the Caribbean, is born in Owensboro, Kentucky.

1984:

Laserphonic Fantasy, a show at Disney's EPCOT, begins.

(The show is essentially a less sophisticated version of Illuminations, without the spotlighting of individual countries.)

Donald Duck and Clarence Nash (the voice of Donald) lead

a ticker-tape parade through Disneyland. The event

celebrates 50 years since Donald Duck's film debut in

The Wise Little Hen.

2002:

Toon Disney celebrates Donald Duck's 68th birthday with a special event called "A Whole Darn Day of Ducks." Starting at 10 a.m., the channel broadcasts nine hours of cartoons

starring ducks.

Starting on this day, a credit card is required to secure priority seating for Walt Disney World's very popular Cinderella's Royal Table Once Upon a Time character breakfast.

2004:

Donald Fauntleroy Duck celebrates his 70th birthday

with a party at Disneyland Paris.

1895:

Actress Hattie McDaniel (Tempy in Disney's Song of the South and the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award) is born in San Fernando Valley, California.

(Movie fans may recognize her for her classic role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind.)

1908:

Actor Bob Cummings is born in Joplin, Missouri. In July 1955

he will help host the grand opening of Disneyland.

1910:

Imagineer and Disney Legend Bill Evans is born in Santa Monica, California. He will go on to landscape Disneyland as well as consult on the landscape design of Tokyo Disneyland.

1995:

About 110,000 people attend an outdoor premiere of Disney's Pocahontas in Central Park, New York. It is the largest ever opening for an animated film.

1998:

The BET Soundstage Club, offering rhythm, blues, jazz, soul, and hip-hop, opens at the site of the former Neon Armadillo Country & Western Club at Disney's Pleasure Island. The amenities include an expanded dance floor, an outdoor terrace, and a Caribbean-style finger food menu.

2000:

To mark the return of The Indiana Jones Spectacular to Disney-MGM Studios after a six-month hiatus for refurbishments, Disney invites 500 Floridians, mostly from the Orlando area, with the last name "Jones" to be in the

audience for the grand reopening show.

2003:

Disney's The Jungle Book 2 is released on video and DVD.

1912:

Director, writer, producer, narrator & Disney Legend James Algar is born in Modesto, California. After receiving his master's degree in journalism, he will join the Walt Disney Studios in 1934. (At Disney he will create many nature and animal motion pictures, such as The African Lion. Algar will also pen 5 Academy Award-winning films for Disney, including

The Living Desert.)

1928:

Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit silent black & white short Sky Scrappers is released.

1929:

Walt Disney's trademark application for the image of Mickey Mouse is filed with the United States Patent Office.

1960:

Disney's The Sign of Zorro, starring Guy Williams, is released.

1961:

The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs the segments

"The Titlemakers" and "Nature's Half Acre."

1969:

Disney's family film Rascal, starring Steve Forrest and

Bill Mumy, is released.

1975:

Recording artist Mylin Brooks, a member of the Disney Channel's "The All New Mickey Mouse Club," is born

in the Philippines.

1977:

Walt Disney World's version of the Main Street Electrical Parade debuts. (It will run through September 1992 when it is

replaced with Spectromagic, and then return to the park

again in May 1999.)

1986:

Actor Shia LaBeouf, the star of Disney Channel's

Even Stevens, is born in Los Angeles, California.

1993:

At Disneyland, the Motor Boat Cruise located on the border of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland (& opened since June 1957) closes permanently.

2004:

The Disney Channel Original Movie Zenon: Z3 premieres.

2005:

The National Kidney Foundation of Florida hosts the Gift of Life 5K Race for Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness at Epcot. (The race is designed to raise financial donations as well as awareness for organ donations.)

1616:

Pocahontas arrives in England.

1901:

Clyde Geronimi, the director of many Disney films including Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan, is born in Italy.

1928:

Richard Sherman is born in Manhattan, New York.

(He and his older brother Robert will go on to write many memorable songs for countless Disney features & attractions.)

1942:

Disney's Donald Duck short Donald's Garden is released.

1957:

At Disneyland, the Monsanto House of the Future opens in Tomorrowland. The walk-through attraction provides a

glimpse of living in the future.

(It will remain open until December 1967.)

1975:

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln returns to Disneyland after being replaced in 1973 with The Walt Disney Story. On this day the Main Street Opera House becomes home to The Walt Disney Story featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

1989:

Pop singer Tifffany appears on Disney Channel's MMC.

1999:

Disney's animated feature Tarzan premieres at the

El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

2004:

Disney's animated Lorenzo wins the coveted short film grand prize at the 28th International Festival of Animated Film at Annecy (France). The award is presented to director

1892:

Actor Basil Rathbone is born in South Africa. His Disney voice credits include the 1986 The Great Mouse Detective and

the 1949 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

(Movie fans may know him best for his role of Sherlock Holmes in countless features produced during the 1940s.)

1910:

Character actress Mary Wickes is born in St. Louis, Missouri. (She will go on to be the animators' live-action model for

Cruella DeVil in Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and the voice of wisecracking gargoyle Laverne in

The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)

1913:

Bill Thompson, the voice of many animated Disney characters (such as Uncle Waldo in The Aristocats, and King Hubert in Sleeping Beauty) is born in Terre Haute, Indiana.

1920:

Actor Rex Everhart, the voice of Maurice in Disney's 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast, is born in Watseka, Illinois.

1926:

Actor Paul Lynde, who played the sportscaster in Disney's

1963 Son of Flubber, is born in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

(TV fans may remember him for his many TV appearances on "Bewitched" and "The Hollywood Squares.")

1931:

Disney's 8-minute Mickey Mouse cartoon

The Delivery Boy is released.

1949:

Actor Simon Callow, the voice of the Grasshopper in Disney's 1996 James and the Giant Peach, is born in London, England.

1953:

Comedian-actor and Disney Legend Tim Allen (Tim Taylor on TV's "Home Improvement" and the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Disney's Toy Story series) is born in Denver, Colorado.

1962:

Disney's live-action feature film Big Red, starring Walter Pidgeon is generally released.

1963:

Disney's short Yellowstone Cubs (narrated by Rex Allen)

is released.

1989:

Comedic actress Betty White appears on Disney Channel's MMC. Today is Guest Day!

2000:

The Broadway cast album of Disney's "Aida" is released.

(It will win best Musical Show Album in 2001 at the

43rd Annual Grammy Awards.)

2002:

Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter Randy Newman (who wrote the music for Disney's Monsters, Inc. and the song "You've Got a Friend in Me" for the 1995 classic Toy Story) is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during a dinner and ceremony in New York City. Other inductees include Michael Jackson, Sting, Ashford & Simpson, and Barry Manilow.

President Bush assembles corporate America heavyweights (including Disney Chairman Michael Eisner) at the White House to encourage businesses that foster volunteerism among their workers. Eisner tells Bush: "We're all committed to showing what corporate America can do to lead and show by example that not only it is good business, it's good for the community, it's fun, it's rewarding and it is unbelievably helpful to the country."

2003:

Bering Strait (the Grammy-nominated Russian group)

kick off a lineup of global performers for the

Epcot World Music Concert Series.

The Lizzie McGuire episode "The Gordo Shuffle" debuts on the Disney Channel as does the Disney Channel Movie

The Even Stevens Movie.

JUNE 13
A new Fantasyland opened at Disneyland in 1983. The medieval fair design of the original Fantasyland was converted into elaborate themed facades.

1895:

Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Crickett in Pinocchio and the voice of Jim Crow in Dumbo, is born in Hannibal, Missouri. He will be named a Disney Legend in 2000.

(When Edwards dies in 1971, nearly broke and alone, Walt Disney Productions, remembering his many contributions to their films, will pay for his funeral.)

1909:

Singer-actor Burl Ives, who appeared in Disney's 1963 film Summer Magic, is born in Hunt, Illinois.

(TV fans may recognize his voice from the classic TV special "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.")

1916:

Actress Dorothy McGuire, who appeared in Disney's 1960 film Swiss Family Robinson, and the 1963 Summer Magic,

is born in Omaha, Nebraska.

1951:

The Disney TV special Operation Wonderland airs.

Walt presents clips and interviews from his next film

Alice in Wonderland.

1958:

Disneyland's Columbia ship is christened on the Rivers of America. It is a full-scale version of the first ship to carry the American flag around the world. It actually was built in large part from the plans for the HMS Bounty (of mutiny fame). Disney's shipbuilders couldn't find plans for the original Columbia, so they relied heavily on those of Captain Bligh's ship, which had similar dimensions. It has cost $300,000 to build. Fowler's Harbor (named after Admiral Joseph Fowler, who helped to build Disneyland) is also officially opened on this day to dock the new ship.

The Disneyland attraction Alice in Wonderland debuts in Fantasyland. Actress, Kathryn Beaumont, voice of Alice in the 1951 animated movie, provides the voice for the attraction.

1959:

The first urban monorail system in the U.S., the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail System, begins operation in California's Disneyland. The two Mark I trains run on a .8 mile track around Tomorrowland. Walt Disney and vice president Nixon and his family are on hand for the dedication of the

"Highway in the Sky."

(In June 1961, the Monorail will become a true transportation link instead of just a sightseeing ride. With an extended 2 1/2 mile track, Disneyland Hotel guests will be able to board the Monorail at the hotel and begin their park visit in Tomorrowland.)

Also on this day at Disneyland, the Matterhorn Mountain with its Matterhorn Bobsleds, the first roller coaster to use cylindrical rails and urethane wheels (which will become standard in the roller coaster industry) opens.

The Submarine Voyage ride is officially dedicated on this day as well in Anaheim. (The attraction has cost about $2.5 million to create.) The Nautilus and seven sister submarines - the Triton, Sea Wolf, Skate, Skipjack, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Ethan Allen allow 38 Disneyland guests at a time to take their own voyage to the North Pole.

Visiting Disneyland this day is Ronald Reagan, his (first) wife actress Jane Wyman, and their son Michael.

1975:

Disneyland's and Disney World's new parade America on Parade both debut. The parade features the "People of America" - eight-foot-tall characters with doll-like heads (including Ben Franklin, Miss Liberty, Uncle Sam, and Pilgrims).

1989:

The Disney Channel airs episode 38 of MMC.

Today is Anything Can Happen Day!

1994:

Dave Brubeck's 1957 Disney-themed record album,

Dave Digs Disney, is released on compact disc.

1997:

Disney's Hercules has its world premiere at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City. (It will be officially released in the U.S. 13 days later.) Disney's Main Street Electrical Parde comes out of retirement to brighten up the festivities through Times Square.

1999:

The computer controlled sign that welcomes guests to the main entrance of Disneyland's parking lot is removed. Its site will be absorbed into the new California Adventure area.

2000:

Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 250 millionth visitor,

Mrs. Hisae Do.

2001:

Lightning strikes a wire box controlling power to a monorail at Walt Disney World in Florida, forcing the train to shut down temporarily. The monorail, which is filled with scores of tourists, is towed back to its destination.

2002:

The Lizzie McGuire episode "Just Friends"

debuts on the Disney Channel.

2003:

Mickey's Toontown of Pin Trading takes place at Disney World.

2004:

The Disneyland Monorail System is re-dedicated and honored for its achievement in the world of modern transportation on its 45th anniversary.

2005:

Disney's Tarzan II is released to DVD and VHS.

1913:

Writer and composer Tom Adair is born in Newton, Kansas.

His Disney credits include the 1978 television special NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney and the 1959 animated feature Sleeping Beauty.

1917:

Art director, set designer and Disney Legend Bill Martin is born in Marshalltown, Iowa. He will go on to help Walt Disney create such classic Disneyland attractions as Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Snow White's Adventures, and Peter Pan's Flight.

1943:

Mouseketeer Eileen Diamond (who appeared during the

1956-1957 season) is born.

1944:

This day's Disney Studio Labor-Management Commission newsletter notes:

Ward Kimball's Huggajeedy 8 is doing a swell job of entertaining the boys in the hospitals. Next trip will be to the Norconia T.B. Ward, where they'll try a new act, complete with "chalk-talk," skits and jam session.

This is in refernece to Kimball's musical group which will eventually turn into The Firehouse Five Plus Two.

1949:

Actor Jim Varney (famous for his "Ernest" character) is

born in Lexington, Kentucky.

He will go on to supply the voices for Jebidiah Allardyce 'Cookie' Farnsworth in Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Slinky Dog in Disney's Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

1957:

At Disneyland, Don DeFore's Silver Banjo Restaurant in Frontierland opens.

1959:

"Kodak Presents: Disneyland '59" airs on the TV series

Walt Disney Presents.

1964:

Gavin Greenaway is born in England. He will go on to

compose "Tapestry of Nations," used for the spectacular

parade procession that winds through Disney's Epcot center, and "Reflections of Earth" used to accompany Disney's Millennium Fireworks/laser show.

1989:

Today is Party Day on Disney Channel's MMC.

1990:

The Disney short Roller Coaster Rabbit (featuring the voice of Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit) is released along with the Touchstone/Disney feature film Dick Tracy, starring

Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, and Madonna.

Patented Pastimes opens on Disneyland's Main Street.

1994:

The TV special, "The Lion King: A Musical Journey With Elton John" is shown on ABC the same day that the animated motion picture The Lion King premieres in the U.S.

1999:

Disney's Tarzan has its world premiere in Singapore.

2001:

The National Lum and Abner Society (an organization formed to preserve and document the history of Lum & Abner - two radio comedians of the 1930s and 40s) host four special Disney guests at their 2001 convention in Mena, Arkansas. The guests; Sam Edwards (known for the long line of albums he made on the Disneyland Records label during the 1960s and early 1970s), Rhoda Williams (the voice of Drizella in Cinderella), Robie Lester (who performed countless characters for the Disneyland Records label), and Dick Beals (who played the parts of Huey, Dewey and Louie in several of the 1960s Disney productions) are honored at the Lime Tree Inn Motel.

Disney's 40th animated creation Atlantis: The Lost Empire

(featuring the voices of Michael J. Fox, Claudia Christian, Leonard Nimoy, James Gardner, and Jim Varney) is released nationwide. This is Disney's first 70mm animated film since 1985's The Black Cauldron.

2002:

SHOCKWAVE (a new musical show from the creator of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Blast!) debuts at Epcot.

2003:

Former major league pitcher Jim Morris, the subject of the hit Disney film, The Rookie and actor Angelo Spizzirri, who portrayed catcher "Joel De La Garza" in the film, both

appear at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in

Cooperstown, New York.

2005:

A digitally enhanced version of Disney's classic animated feature Bambi is screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in California.

1907:

Writer Helen Aberson is born in Syracuse, New York. Her book "Dumbo, the Flying Elephant" (which she co-wrote with Harold Perl) will inspire the 1941 Disney classic Dumbo.

1934:

Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Steam Roller

is released.

1945:

Walt Disney's wife Lillian christens the SS Rice Victory,

a 10,500-ton U.S. warship.

1955:

Disney's 15th animated feature film Lady and the Tramp has its world premiere in Chicago. It is the first Disney cartoon feature filmed in CinemaScope.

(It will be generally released 6 days later.)

Actress Laurie Metcalf (the voice of Andy's Mom in both of Disney's Toy Story movies and the voice of Sarah in Treasure Planet) is born Carbondale, Illinois.

(TV fans may remember Metcalf for her role of

Jackie on Roseanne.)

Tony Anselmo, Disney animator and voice of Donald Duck, is born in London, England. (He will join the Disney staff in

1980 and learn Donald Duck from Clarnece Nash,

the original voice.)

1956:

At Disneyland, Tom Sawyer's Island and the Rafts to Tom Sawyer's Island debut in Frontierland.

1957:

At Disneyland, the tent that housed the Mickey Mouse Club Circus becomes part of the new Holidayland picnic area.

1961:

Walt Disney purchases the film rights to the Winnie the Pooh stories from Mrs. Daphne Milne, wife of the late author A.A. Milne. (The first film, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree, will appear in 1966 as a twenty-six minute short.)

1964:

Aerial photographs of a location east of the Hollywood Bowl in California are shot for Walt Disney. He is forming the new CalArts college and a plot of land has been suggested for

the campus.

1977:

Circus performer and actor Ricky Luna, a member of the Disney Channel's "The All New Mickey Mouse Club," is born

in Los Angeles, California.

Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who had helped Walt Disney produce a series of space-related TV shows in the

mid-1950s, passes away in Alexandria, Virginia. He was one of the most important rocket developers of space exploration between the 1930s and 1970s.

1989:

The Disney Channel airs episode 40 of MMC.

Today is Hall of Fame Day!

1998:

Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the Music of Disney's Mulan airs on ABC-TV.

1999:

A DisneyQuest opens in Chicago, Illinois.

(Due to poor profits it will close in September 2001.)

2000:

Totally Circus (a documentary/adventure series) premieres on the Disney Channel.

Fantasia/2000 (the sequel to the Disney classic) opens at

movie theaters nationwide.

2002:

Father's Day

The premiere screening of Lilo & Stitch takes place at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Among the guests in attendance for the event are actors Jason Scott Lee (the voice of David Kawena), David Ogden Stiers (the voice of Jumba), Kevin McDonald (the voice of Pleakley), country singer Wynonna Judd (who performs the Elvis Presley song "Burning Love" on the film's soundtrack), Phil Collins, Fred Willard, Olympian Bruce Jenner, and Danny Bonaduce.

The Pyewacket (a vessel owned by the Disney Corporation and skippered by Roy Disney) wins the Newport to Bermuda Yacht race. The yacht breaks the record by 3 hours, 52 minutes, and 22 seconds; crossing in 53 hours, 39 minutes, and 22 seconds.

2004:

Around the World in 80 Days

(a Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media film) is released in theaters. It is a remake of the classic 1956 film.

1930:

William Banks Levy becomes Disney's representative in England. He is authorized to license Mickey and

Minnie Mouse character merchandising.

1933:

Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Mechanical Man

is released.

1938:

Disney's Donald Duck cartoon Polar Trappers

is released.

1946:

Singer-songwriter Barry Manilow is born Barry Alan Pincus in Brooklyn, New York. He will go on to co-write the musical score for Disney's 1988 animated feature Oliver and Company.

1957:

Holidayland, a picnic and tent area located to the left of Disneyland's main gate, opens. (It had been originally built

for the now closed Mickey Mouse Club Circus.)

1971:

Valerie Suldo (from New Jersey) becomes the 100-millionth guest to enter Disneyland.

1972:

The Main Street Electric Parade opens at Disneyland.

1977:

Jason Minor, a member of the 90's TV show "The All New Mickey Mouse Club," and part of the country act Shiloh,

is born in Maryland.

1997:

A touring exhibition of design art (from the Walt Disney Imagineering archives) called Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance is displayed at the

Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.

2000:

The Disney Channel series Even Stevens debuts.

2002:

Authentic memorabilia from the Estate of Elvis Presley and exclusive VIP vacation experiences to Elvis Week in Memphis, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death, are auctioned at Disney Auctions (presented by E-Bay) from this day through July 4. The auction surrounds the June 21 nationwide theatrical release of Disney's Lilo & Stitch, an animated comedy with an exuberant and quirky lead character named Lilo, who is crazy for Elvis and his music.

2005:

Disney releases Howl's Moving Castle in theaters. An animated love story set in a fantasy world, the feature is directed by

1943:

Mouseketeer Charley Laney (who appeared on "The Mickey Mouse Show" during the 1956-1957 season) is born.

1954:

Disney's 8-minute animated short Casey Bats Again

is released.

1956:

Disneyland's Storybook Land (including Canal Boats of the World) premieres. The canal, located in Fantasyland, contains 465,000 gallons of water in which 13 boats (powered by outboard motors) sail. The vessels are named Cinderella, Daisy, Aurora, Alice, Faline, Flora, Fauna, Flower, Katrina, Merryweather, Wendy, Snow White, and Tinkerbell.

The ride is partly based on Madurodam, a tourist attraction in Holland that Walt Disney had visited.

1959:

Disney's Eyes In Outer Space is released in theaters.

The combination live-action and animated program explains the future of satellite's ability to forecast and control

the weather.

(It will later win the 1960 Thomas Edison Foundation Award.)

1983:

The Disneyland parade Flights of Fancy debuts.

1988:

Mickey's Hollywood Theatre opens in Walt Disney World's

Magic Kingdom.

1995:

The first wedding performed at Walt Disney World's

Wedding Pavilion (a Victorian-style structure located next to the Grand Floridian) previews on the Lifetime cable network show, Weddings of a Lifetime.

1996:

The Haber family become the first to move into Disney's newest Florida community, Celebration.

1998:

The Walt Disney Company becomes an even bigger part of

the Internet with the purchase of a 43% stake in Web search engine company Infoseek Corp.

(Disney Plans to launch an Internet portal.)

1999:

The Disney animated feature Tarzan is released in the U.S. (The soundtrack features five tracks by Phil Collins - who will win an Academy Award and a Grammy Award.)

2002:

Disney's direct-to-video Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch is released. (It is the fourth film in the series.)

2004:

The Disney Channel's newest show Phil of the Future premieres with four back-to-back 30-minute episodes.

1915:

Pat Buttram, the voice behind many Disney animated characters (including Chief in the 1981 release The Fox and the Hound, and Luke in the 1977 release The Rescuers)

is born in Addison, Alabama.

1942:

Mouseketeer Nancy Abbate (who appeared on TV's

Mickey Mouse Club for the entire first season) is born in

Los Angeles, California.

1946:

Actress Jennifer Darling is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her Disney voice credits include Brother Bear, Treasure

Planet, Lilo & Stitch, Monsters Inc., The Emperor's New Groove, A Bug's Life, and Aladdin.

1948:

Actress Phlicia Rashad, who appears in the video pre-show for Disney's Dinosaur! attraction, is born in Houston, Texas.

1957:

The Disney cartoon The Story of Anyburg, U.S.A. is released.

The Disney adventure film Johnny Tremain (about a young silversmith's apprentice who is drawn into the American Revolutionary War) is released.

1960:

Freedomland U.S.A. (New York's answer to Disneyland) opens its doors. Built in the shape of the United States, this 205-acre park's main theme is American history.

(The park will only remain in business for 4 years.)

1964:

After 5 seasons on television, The Twilight Zone airs its last episode, "The Bewitchin' Pool." (Rod Serling's popular series will later be the inspiration for Disney theme park attractions.)

1965:

Actor Sean Marshall (Pete in Disney's 1977 Pete's Dragon)

is born in Canoga Park, California.

1966:

Legendary comedic actor Ed Wynn, who appeared in such Disney live-action classics as Mary Poppins, Those Calloways, and That Darn Cat! and was the voice of the Mad Hatter in the animated Alice in Wonderland, passes away in Beverly Hills.

1995:

A bronze statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, called the Partners Statue, is installed at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney Word. It is identical to the statue created by Blaine Gibson first installed at Disneyland in November 1993.

1996:

Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame has its world premiere at the Superdome in New Orleans, utilizing six enormous screens, and a parade through the French Quarter.

(The film will have its general release 2 days later.)

1998:

In Florida, DisneyQuest opens in the West End area of Downtown Disney. Packed with four floors of high-tech, interactive virtual adventures, DisneyQuest is the first in a national chain of interactive entertainment centers.

Disney's 36th animated feature Mulan (featuring the singing voice of Donny Osmond) is released in the U.S. It is the first film primarily produced at Walt Disney Feature Animations Florida, Disney's state-of-the-art animation studio in Orlando.

(The film will earn an amazing 10 Annie Awards.)

2002:

The Travel Channel's Great Hotels series

(hosted by Samantha Brown) features Disney's

Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.

2005:

Voting begins for Discovery Channel's Greatest American.

Among the top 25 nominees ... is Walt Disney!

1929:

Disney's Mickey Mouse short Mickey's Choo Choo is released.

It features the singing debut of Mickey and the song

"Minnie's Yoo Hoo" (written by Carl Stalling and Walt Disney).

1936:

Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoons Moving Day and

Mickey's Rival are both released.

1941:

The Disney animated and live-action feature film

The Reluctant Dragon debuts. The premiere, held at

the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, is disrupted by a mob

of Walt's striking Disney cartoonists. The police actually

cordon off Hollywood Blvd. around the theater for fear of

what the rampaging cartoonists might do. (This is the first Disney animated feature to incorporate extenisve

live-action footage.)

1944:

Original Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides appearing on "The Mickey Mouse Club" from 1956-1959, she also portayed Julie Foster on the classic "Leave It to Beaver" TV series.

1947:

Disney's Donald Duck cartoon Clown of the Jungle

is released.

1952:

Actor John Goodman, the voice of James P. Sullivan in Disney's 2001 Monsters, Inc. and the voice of Pacha in Disney's 2000 The Emperor's New Groove, is born in

Affton, Missouri.

1953:

Disney releases the animated Goofy short

Father's Weekend.

1976:

Walt Disney World's River Country (a water park adjacent to Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground) opens.

It is Disney's first attempt at a themed water park.

1995:

The Walt Disney Company announces plans for a fourth theme park in Florida, called Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom.

The park is expected to cost $760 million to create.

The Walt Disney World attraction ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter begins operation in Tomorrowland

(it replaces Flight to the Moon).

1999:

At Disneyland, the 20th Century Music Company opens

on Main Street.

2002:

The Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter honor

Walt Disney Music President Chris Montan, singer Janet Jackson, and film/TV composer Thomas Newman at its annual Membership Awards Luncheon. (Montan is responsible for overseeing music for a wide variety of Disney projects including animated features, theatrical stage productions, video premieres, musical event programming as well as other corporate and theme park-related shows.)

2003:

The That's So Raven episode "A Dog by Any Other Name"

airs for the first time on the Disney Channel.

2004:

The Food Network airs "Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings"

hosted by Sandra Pinckney.

1930:

Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Frolicking Fish

is released.

1957:

Disneyland's Viewliner (a predecessor to the monorail) debuts.

It is the first attempt at "mass-transit" in the park.

1961:

Disney's The Parent Trap, starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara, and Brian Keith, is released.

Also the combination live-action and animated The Litterbug, featuring Donald Duck, is released as is the animated short Donald and the Wheel.

1985:

Disney's live-action feature film, Return to Oz is released in

U.S. theaters.

1988:

The Touchstone/Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York. It will be generally released in U.S. theaters the following day.

1991:

The Disneyland parade Celebration U.S.A. debuts.

The Rocketeer starring Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, and Timothy Dalton, premieres at the El Capitan Theatre.

1995:

Tokyo Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade ends its run.

1996:

Disney's 34th feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame

is generally released. (It is taken from the Victor Hugo epic novel, first published in 1831.)

2000:

DisneyQuest unveils two new attractions at the Indoor Interactive Theme Park at Disney World: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold" (which allows guests to fulfill their fantasy of becoming a pirate and interacting in a pirate world) and "Songmaker" (which allows guests to become a record producer and create their own song).

2002:

Disney's 41st animated feature Lilo & Stitch opens

in U.S. theaters the same day ABC-TV airs

Disney's Lilo & Stitch Aloha From Hollywood.

1917:

Walt Disney's older brother Roy enlists in the U.S. Navy.

1920:

Paul Frees, one of the most successful voice actors of all time, is born in Chicago, Illinois.

His Disney work includes Goofy's Freeway Troubles, The Absent-Minded Professor, the voice of Ludwig Von Drake for TV shows and a number of voices for park attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion.

(He was also the voices of both John and Paul in the cartoon version of The Beatles and the voice of Burgermeister in the 1970 TV special "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.")

1955:

Disney's Lady and the Tramp, the first feature-length cartoon produced in CinemaScope, is generally released.

(The idea for the film comes from a short story by Ward Greene entitled "Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog.")

1970:

The Walt Disney Archives is established on the studio lot in Burbank, California (with a little help from David R. Smith) and charged with recording and preserving the history of Disney. Smith's connection with Disney dates back to 1967 when, as a librarian at UCLA, he compiled an extensive bibliography on Walt Disney, spending over a year researching all Disney publications and productions.

1976:

Terra McNair, a member of the Disney Channel's

"The All New Mickey Mouse Club" (for seasons 4-5)

is born in San Jose, California.

1977:

Disney's 23rd animated feature film The Rescuers is released in U.S. theaters. The movie features the voices of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, and Joe Flynn. The song "Someone's Waiting For You," written by Carol Connors (lyrics), Ayn Robbins (lyrics), & Sammy Fain (music), will be nominated for an Academy Award.

1985:

Videopolis (a high-tech nightclub style outdoor entertainment venue) opens in Disneyland's Fantasyland.

1988:

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is generally released.

1997:

Disney's Hercules has its California premiere at

Cal Arts in Los Angeles.

2001:

Disney's animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released. The film includes the voice-over talents of Leonard Nimoy, Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Jim Varney, Don Novello, and David Ogden Stiers.

The Disney Channel debuts the Lizzie McGuire episode

"Lizzie's Nightmares."

2004:

Walt Disney Records releases

"The Cheetah Girls Special Edition," the soundtrack from

the Disney Channel Original Movie.

Six classic Disney tunes are chosen as part of The American Film Institute's top 100 songs. Broadcast on CBS-TV,

AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs is hosted by John Travolta. Disney is represented in the list with

"When You Wish Upon A Star" (from Pinocchio) at #7

"Some Day My Prince Will Come" (from Snow White) at #19

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (from Mary Poppins) at #36

"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" (from Song of the South) at #47

"Beauty and the Beast" (from Beauty and the Beast) at #62

"Hakuna Matata" (from The Lion King) at #99.

2005:

Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store on Hollywood Boulevard, adjacent to the historic El Capitan Theatre, begins serving the public the same day Herbie: Fully Loaded premieres at the El Capitan.

1925:

Disney's Alice Comedy Alice is Stage Struck premieres at

the Rivoli Theater in New York City.

1944:

Disney's short Springtime for Pluto is released.

1956:

Disneyland's Skyway to Fantasyland and Skyway to Tomorrowland begin transporting guests across the park. Guests take off from a small Alpine chalet in Fantasyland and travel through the Matterhorn mountain on their way to Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland guests seated in Skwyay buckets pass over such attractions as the Richfield Autopia and the Goodyear PeopleMover on their way to Fantasyland.

1963:

At Disneyland, the Enchanted Tiki Room (the first attraction

to feature Audio-Animatronics figures first developed by

WED Enterprises) opens.

1967:

Disney's The Happiest Millionaire starring Fred MacMurray opens in Hollywood, California.

1989:

Disney's Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (starring Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer and Marcia Strassman) is released along with the Disney short Tummy Trouble featuring Roger Rabbit and

Baby Herman.

The Walt Disney World attraction Dreamflight

(located in Tomorrowland) opens to guests.

1995:

Disney's 33rd full-length animated feature Pocahontas is generally released in the U.S. the same day The Spirit of Pocahontas opens at Disneyland's Fantasyland Theatre.

(The film's music will win 2 Academy Awards and

1 Grammy Award.)

1999:

In Disneyland, Tarzan's Treehouse opens in Adventureland replacing the Swiss Family Treehouse.

2000:

Sotheby's in New York City hosts a 6-day exhibition of the art of Disney's Tarzan and Fantasia/2000.

The National Jump-Rope Championships begin at

Disney-MGM Studios.

The Walt Disney World Summer Jam Concert, featuring a

lineup that includes Christina Aguilera and Enrique Iglesias,

airs on ABC-TV.

2004:

A set of four 37-cent postage stamps, 23-cent postal cards and printed stationary that comes with 37 cents of postage

featuring Disney characters are issued by the

United States Postal Service.

(They will go on sale nationwide the following day.)

1893:

Roy Oliver Disney (older brother of Walt Disney) is born

in Chicago, Illinois. He will be the middle of 5 children.

(Roy will go on to serve as president of Walt Disney Productions from 1945 to 1968 and chairman of the board

from 1964 until his death in 1971.)

1904:

Phil Harris, the voice behind many of Disney's animated characters (including Baloo the Bear in the 1967 classic

The Jungle Book) is born in Linton, Indiana.

1913:

Alan Alexander Milne marries Daphne de Selincourt. (In 1920, they will have a son and name him Christopher Robin.)

1942:

Actress Michele Lee (Miss Carole Bennett in Disney's

The Love Bug) is born in Los Angeles, California.

1949:

Disney's Pluto cartoon Bubble Bee is released.

1956:

Walt Disney appears on Ed Sullivan's 8th

Anniversary Show. Walt along with Ronald Reagan,

Natalie Wood, Robert Walker, Lucille Ball and Desi

Arnaz sing "Happy Anniversary" in a tribute to Sullivan.

1959:

Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People premieres in

Dublin, Ireland.

1977:

Disney's Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, starring

Dean Jones and Don Knotts, is released.

1994:

Disney's The Lion King is generally released in U.S. theaters. With award-winning music by Hans Zimmer, Elton John and Tim Rice, the film features the voices of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Cummings, and Nathan Lane.

(It will rapidly becomes the most successful Disney film ever and one of the top ten highest-grossing movies of all time.)

1998:

Jacqueline D'Ambrosi, a 9-year-old from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, becomes the 600-millionth person to walk through the turnstiles of the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

With a click of the turnstile at 7:37 a.m., Jacqueline is immediately mobbed by Mickey Mouse and a cast of other Disney characters. She is awarded lifetime passes to the vast Florida amusement park, and to Disney's three other theme parks, for her and her family.

At Disneyland Paris, a number of parade and show cast members (mainly costumed roles) strike over pay and recognition. Their main concern is that they should be recognized as performing artists, rather than simply theme-park workers, resulting in substantially higher rates of pay. The strike impacts somewhat on parades, shows and character greeting sessions at the park. (The strikers will return to work mid-July, apparently without achieving their goal.)

2002:

The June 24th issue of TIME includes an article on Disney's newest animated feature Lilo & Stitch.

2003:

Disney's direct-to-video sequel Air Bud Spikes Back

is released.

2005:

Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded hits the big screen.

1927:

Publisher and Disney Legend Didier Fouret is born in Paris, France. He will play a key role in bringing Disney's cast of characters to children and their parents throughout France.

In 1979 he will develop a restaurant for the French pavilion

in EPCOT's World Showcase.

1928:

Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit black & white silent short

The Fox Chase is released.

1948:

Disney's animated feature Dumbo is released in Denmark.

1966:

Disney's live-action comedy feature film

Lt. Robinson Crusoe, U.S.N. (starring Dick Van Dyke)

is generally released in the U.S.

1967:

A new version of the CircleVision 360 film

America the Beautiful debuts in Disneyland. The film has

been re-shot using the 9-camera CircleVision format

(as opposed to the old 11-camera Circarama format).

1980:

Disney's live-action films Herbie Goes Bananas

(starring Cloris Leachman) and The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (starring Elliott Gould) are both released in the U.S.

1999:

Mo Vaughn, the popular Anaheim Angels first baseman, along with boys and girls from the "Gene Autry RBI League," participate in a mini cavalcade and ceremony with the Dapper Dans on Main Street in Disneyland. The Dapper Dans lead the audience in "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."

1909:

Animator-director Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman (one of Walt's "Nine Old Men") is born in Munich, Germany.

1952:

Disney's family adventure film

The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (starring

Richard Todd, Joan Rice, and Peter Finch) is released.

1956:

At Disneyland, the Mule Pack (one of the park's original attractions) is renamed the Rainbow Ridge Pack Mules.

1957:

Viewliner opens in Disneyland's Tomorrowland. Guests can take a ride on a streamlined train powered by an

Oldsmobile V-8 "Rocket" engine.

1959:

Disney's Donald Duck film Donald in Mathmagic Land

is released as is the live-action feature film

Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

1968:

The Disney live-action film Never A Dull Moment (starring Dick Van Dyke and Edward G. Robinson) is released.

1989:

Delta Dreamflight (an attraction that depicts the history of aviation) debuts at Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland.

(When Delta drops it's sponsorship in January 1996, the name will be changed to Take Flight.)

1999:

Disneyland hosts a two-day celebration honoring the

Haunted Mansion's 30th Anniversary. On this evening, over

1000 guests witness a panel discussion at the Fantasyland Theater with some of the people who brought the mansion to life. The Dapper Dans (the park's popular singing group) materialize as the Hitchhiking Ghosts and the Grave Digger

to sing a rendition of the attraction's theme song,

"Grim Grinning Ghosts."

2002:

Walt Disney World (and other Orlando, Florida attractions)

are featured in "Family Vacations in Orlando"

1889:

Moroni Olsen, the voice of the Magic Mirror in Disney's

1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,

is born in Ogden, Utah.

(He was also the voice of the senior angel in the 1946

holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life.)

1907:

John McIntire, the voice of Grumpy Badger in Disney's 1981 film The Fox and the Hound, and Rufus in the 1977 release The Rescuers, is born in Spokane, Washington.

1930:

Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Arctic Antics is released. This is animator Ubi Iwerks' last cartoon at Disney as a director.

1936:

A story conference for Snow White is held at the Disney Studio. Walt, Frank Churchill, Charles Philippi, Joe Grant, Bill Cottrell, Larry Morey, and Bob Kuwahara discuss the sequence in which the Huntsman, having taken Snow White into the woods, is supposed to kill her. Walt wants to develop the scene in such a way that the Huntsman loses his nerve.

1938:

Actress and Disney Legend Kathryn Beaumont is born

in London, England. Her Disney credits include

Alice in Wonderland (as the voice of Alice) and

Peter Pan (as the voice of Wendy).

1952:

Disney's Goofy short Teachers are People is released.

1979:

Disney's The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, starring

Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Tim Matheson, Harry Morgan and Ruth Buzzi, is released.

1985:

Disney and MGM/UA sign a 31-page, 20-year agreement, giving Disney the exclusive rights to use most of the MGM/UA film studio's movies.

1986:

Disney's Ruthless People, starring Danny De Vito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, and Helen Slater, is released.

1991:

Mickey's Mart (a Walt Disney World souvenir shop in Tomorowland) closes. It will later be known as

Mickey's Star Traders.

1997:

Disney's 35th animated feature film Hercules is officially

released in the U.S. and Canada, the same day

Disneyland's Hercules Victory Parade debuts.

(The film will earn 4 Annie Awards.)

1998:

The Disney Channel Original Movie You Lucky Dog

airs for the first time.

1999:

The two-day celebration to honor the 30th Anniversary of the Haunted Mansion continues at Disneyland.

1929:

Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Plow Boy is released.

It is the first cartoon appearance of Clarabelle Cow

and Horace Horsecollar.

1932:

Actor Pat Morita, of The Karate Kid movies and the voice of the Emperor in Disney's 1998 feature Mulan, is born in

Isleton, California.

(TV fans may remember him for his role as Arnold

on ABC's Happy Days.)

1940:

Disney's Pluto cartoon Bone Trouble is released. It is the first cartoon directed by Jack Kinney.

1975:

Writer Rod Serling, best known for creating

TV's Twilight Zone series, dies at age 50 after

open-heart surgery in Rochester, New York.

1988:

The opening of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort ushers in an

era of accelerated hotel building at Disney World, during

which 10 new resort hotels have been added to date. It is the

third Magic Kingdom monorail resort located on the beaches

of the Seven Seas Lagoon between the Polynesian Resort

and the Magic Kingdom. The luxurious Grand

Floridian (the crown jewel of the Disney World

resorts) is themed to be reminiscent of turn-of-

the-century Florida. (In 1997, its name will be

changed to The Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.)

1999:

At Disneyland, the Main Street Window is dedicated to the former Chairman of the Walt Disney Attractions, Dick Nunis. (Receiving a window on Main Street is the highest honor any Cast Member can achieve.) Mr. Nunis and Mickey Mouse ride out from the gate beside the Mad Hatter in a little blue motorcar while the Disneyland Band plays Zip A Dee Do Dah.

2002:

The Lizzie McGuire episode "Those Freaky McGuires" debuts on the Disney Channel as does the

Disney Channel Original Movie Get a Clue.

2003:

The world premiere of The Pirates of the Caribbean:

The Curse of the Black Pearl takes place at Disneyland.

2004:

Adam Pascal, who created the role of Radames in the long-running Broadway musical Aida, returns to the Disney show.

He plays the role of the ill-fated Egyptian captain who falls

for the Nubian princess.

2005:

Disney's The Pacifier is released on DVD and VHS.

1901:

Singer-actor Nelson Eddy, the narrator of Disney's 1946 film Make Mine Music, is born in Providence, Rhode Island.

1908:

Disney Legend & artist John Hench is born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He will make pioneering contributions to such Disney films as Fantasia and Dumbo, and become senior vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering.

1915:

Actress Ruth Warrick, who portrayed Sally in Disney's 1946Song of the South, is born in St. Joseph, Missouri.

1935:

Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Who Killed Cock Robin?

(featuring the voice of Billy Bletcher) is released.

1957:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet record tracks

for a Disney-themed record album titled

Dave Digs Disney. (The album is inspired

by a Brubeck family visit to Disneyland.)

1966:

Disney's live-action short film Run, Appaloosa, Run

is generally released.

1974:

At Disneyland, the America Sings attraction debuts in Tomorrowland's Carousel Theater. Sam the Eagle (voiced by Burl Ives) guides visitors through four big musical acts, each with a medley of period tunes. The attraction, featuring 115 Audio-Animatronics animal characters, replaces the

General Electric Carousel of Progress

(which moved to Walt Disney World).

2000:

The renovated Chevron Autopia opens at Disneyland.

2001:

The Lizzie McGuire episode "Obsession" debuts on

the Disney Channel.

2002:

Mickey's Star Spangled Pin Event takes place at

Disney World's Contemporary Resort.

2004:

Walt Disney Records releases "America's Heart & Soul" soundtrack from the Buena Vista documentary film (featuring artists such as John Hiatt, George Woodard

and Joel McNeely).

1931:

Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Busy Beavers

is released.

1939:

Disney's Donald Duck short Sea Scouts is released.

1950:

Disney's Goofy short Motor Mania is released.

1957:

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his trio finish up a 2-day recording session for a Disney themed record album to be called Dave Digs Disney. (For many years the Quartet had played various Disney tunes at live performances. During a Brubeck family trip to Disneyland, Dave suddenly realized

he should gather them together into an album.)

1966:

Cartoonist Carl Barks voluntarily retires after 3 decades of drawing Donald Duck comic books for Disney.

1978:

Disney's The Cat from Outer Space, starring Ken Berry, Sandy Duncan, Harry Morgan, McLean Stevenson (making his film debut) and Roddy McDowell, is released.

1993:

Disney acquires the independent film production house, Miramax Films. From the deal, Disney will gain the rights to Miramax's library of more than 200 films and agree to finance all future Miramax productions.

2000:

An armed man, distraught over a marital dispute, surrenders to Florida police after holding his 4-year-old son and a room-service waiter hostage in a room at a Walt Disney World Hotel for over nine hours. The drama at The Boardwalk Inn hotel ends shortly after midnight when the 39-year-old man gives himself up peacefully.

2003:

Singer Toni Braxton makes her debut appearance in Disney's Broadway show Aida.

2005:

The United States Postal Service releases the second set of The Art of Disney stamps entitled "Celebration." They feature

Mickey & Pluto, Alice & The Mad Hatter, Ariel & Flounder and

Snow White & Dopey.

Entertainer Charles David Thomas is born in Lewistown, Montana. (Better known as "Bub," he will go on to become one of the original singing Dapper Dans of Walt Disney World.)

1924:

Disney's Alice Comedy Alice and the Dog Catcher

(a silent black & white short that mixes live-action and animation) is released.

The short features Virginia Davis as Alice.

1932:

Walt Disney signs a merchandising arrangement with

Herman Kay Kamen. This makes Kamen the sole representative for Walt's company.

1933:

Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premiere

is released.

1946:

Original Mouseketeer Karen Pendleton is born in

Glendale, California. She also appeared in the 1956 Disney feature Westward Ho the Wagons!

1959:

Disney's Donald Duck film How to Have an Accident at Work

is released.

1966:

Primeval World debuts at Disneyland. Originally featured as part of the Ford Magic Skyway attraction for the 1964-1965 World's Fair, guests aboard the Disneyland Railroad travel through a dinorama featuring animatronic dinosaurs.

1970:

Disney's comedy film The Boatniks, starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers, Phil Silvers, Norman Fell, Wally Cox, Don Ameche and Bob Hastings, is released.

1975:

At Walt Disney World, the WEDway PeopleMover, a futuristic way of shuttling people around Tomorrowland, opens. It is located at Rockettower Plaza, where passengers enter and exit onto a circular moving platform. The ride is based on Disneyland's PeopleMover.

1986:

Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom celebrates Bub Thomas (of the popular Dapper Dans barbershop quartet) turning 75.

1994:

The Lion King Celebration Parade debuts at Disneyland. Moving down the street to the music of "I Just Can't Wait to be King," the parade features detailed floats that depict artist interpretations of various African landscapes, and stars all the characters from the animated hit "The Lion King." (It is the first parade to include an Animatronic character on a moving float.)

At Disney World's EPCOT park, Innoventions East and West open replacing the outdated CommuniCore with all new exhibits. Innoventions is a showcase of new products and ideas covering 100,000 square feet.

1996:

At Walt Disney World, the last of the Epcot resorts planned around Crescent Lake, Disney's Boardwalk Inn opens. The resort re-creates the vacation charm of the Mid-Atlantic coastal cottages of the 1930s. It is located on a small lake on the Epcot-Studio waterway, visible to and just across from the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. The resort's

Atlantic Dance Nightclub and ESPN Club also debut.

The Boardwalk Villas (a Disney Vacation Club property)

opens on this day as well.

1997:

The sound effects demonstration attraction ABC Sound Studio opens at the Disney-MGM Studios Park in Florida.

1999:

The Dapper Dans are invited to perform a set on the SPEBSQSA International Convention contest stage after the

quartet semi-finals. After a warm reception from the audience, Mickey Mouse enters to greet over 10,000 barbershoppers who had come to Anaheim. The Dapper Dans then officially receive the Charter and Resolution for the Honorary Main Street U.S.A. Disneyland Chapter from SPEBSQSA President Ed Waesche.

(SPEBSQSA stands for Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America.)

2002:

The Atlantic seaboard-inspired Disney's Beach Club Villas opens in Florida.

2003:

The Florida Indoor Clean Air Act takes effect at Walt Disney World. It requires all enclosed indoor workplaces (including resort lobbies, convention spaces, common areas, dining locations and enclosed backstage areas) to be designated as non-smoking.

At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Goofy's New Country Dance Party premiers at The Diamond Horseshoe.

2004:

Villain's Lair, a shop in Disneyland's Fantasyland opend

since October 1998, closes.

2005:

Disneyland's improved Space Mountain begins soft openings.

1935:

Artist John Lounsbery is hired by the Disney Studio. As his starting salary is only twelve dollars a week, he must take a second job at night in store decorations at Sears.

(He will go on to become one of Walt's Nine Old Men and

work at Walt Disney Productions until 1976.)

1941:

Variety runs an ad by Walt Disney accusing the leaders of the animators' strike to be employing "Communistic agitation."

1958:

Maynard Smith, the greatest Disneyland

Cast Member of all time, is born.

1959:

Disney files a lawsuit against ABC. The network had advised Disney that they would not televise Zorro or The Mickey Mouse Club next season. ABC also informs Disney that these TV shows cannot be offered to other networks. Disney asks the court to invalidate the contracts between the two companies under provisions of the federal anti-trust laws.

1967:

Disneyland's Rocket Jets, PeopleMover, and the General Electric Carousel of Progress all open in Tomorrowland. The Rocket Jets (a 12 two-person attraction) sits above the PeopleMover (a train of cars that transports guests around Tomorrowland) in the Tomorrowland plaza area.

1972:

Although it has been up and ruinning since June 5,

Walt Disney World's If You Had Wings attraction is formally

unveiled during a dedication ceremony in Tomorrowland. Sponsored by Eastern Airlines (the official airline of the Disney resort) it will be the last Omnimover ride Disney will

build for over ten years.

1977:

Actress Jennifer McGill, a member of the Disney Channel's "The All New Mickey Mouse Club," is born in Texas.

1986:

Disney's animated film The Great Mouse Detective (based on the children's book series by Eve Titus, Basil of Baker Street)

is released in U.S. theaters. The score is written by composer Henry Mancini who also collaborated on two of the three featured songs with lyricists Larry Grossman

and Ellen Fitzhugh.

Actress Lindsay Lohan is born in New York City.

Her Disney credits include the 1998 The Parent Trap,

the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday, the 2004

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and

the 2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded.

1993:

Aladdin's Oasis opens in Disneyland's Adventureland.

1999:

Actor and Disney legend Dick Van Dyke plays the Deagan Organ Chimes (a novelty musical instrument) with the Dapper Dans during a special barbershop performance at the Carnation Plaza Gardens Stage in Disneyland. The performance is part of a ceremony naming Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. an Honorary Chapter of the Barbershop Society, with all the Dapper Dans, past and present, as founding members.

2004:

Disney's documentary film America's Heart and Soul

(by filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg) is released.

2005:

Hollywood Bowl Celebrates 50 Years of Disneyland is performed for the first of 3 nights at the famous California venue by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

1906:

Actor George Sanders, the voice of Shere Khan the Tiger

in Disney's 1967 classic The Jungle Book, is born

in St. Petersburg, Russia.

1908:

Author, journalist and newspaper editor Joel Chandler Harris, famous for his collection of Uncle Remus stories, passes away in Atlanta, Georgia. (In 1946 Disney will release Song of the South - an animated feature based on Harris' work.)

1910:

Marcellite Garner, the voice of Minnie Mouse beginning in 1928, is born in Redlands, California. She originally worked in the ink and paint department at the Disney Studios prior to

doing voice work.

1914:

Disney composer George Bruns is born. His work can be heard in the 1954 Disneyland TV series, the 1955 Mickey Mouse Club TV series, and in dozens of animated Disney features including Sleeping Beauty. His "Yo Ho (A Pirates Life for Me)," originally used for the Disney theme park attractions can also be heard in the 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Bruns played tuba with the Firehouse Five Plus Two

(a band led by Ward Kimball made up of Disney employees).

1937:

Rhoda Williams, the voice of Drizella in Disney's 1950

classic Cinderella, is born in Birmingham, Alabama.

1942:

Disney's Pluto short The Sleepwalker is released.

1957:

Disney's People & Places documentary Lapland is released.

Tamara Scheer, Walt Disney's granddaughter, is born to Ron Miller and Diane Disney in Los Angeles County, California.

1994:

The Lion King soundtrack hits #1 on the Billboard chart, where it will stay for nine consecutive weeks.

1998:

1862:

A mathematics professor named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson goes rowing with Alice Lidell (the young daughter of a friend) and her sisters Lorina and Edith. Dodgson creates a story on the spot to amuse Alice & her sisters. Much of the story he invents is based on a picnic a couple of weeks earlier in which they had been caught in the rain.

(He will eventually write this story down and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland will be published three years later under

Dodgson's pen name ... Lewis Carroll.)

1927:

Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit film Trolley Troubles premieres at the Criterion Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

1956:

Disneyland's Indian War Canoes attraction debuts

in Critter Country.

1968:

Mindy Feldman, sister of actor Corey Feldman and a member

of the 1977-1978 TV show "The New Mouseketeers,"

is born.

1975:

Disney's comedy feature The Apple Dumpling Gang, starring Tim Conway and Don Knotts, is released.

1979:

The first baby is born at Disneyland, California. Six-pound,

10-ounce Teresa Salcedo is born to Rosa and Elias Salcedo on a bench behind Plaza Inn.

(Mickey Mouse will later honor the Los Angeles family with a

"Disneyland Birth Certificate No. 1.")

1984:

"American Journeys" (a Circle-Vision film) debuts in Disneyland's Tomorrowland. The film, "All Because Man

Wanted to Fly" debuts as the preshow attraction.

1987:

Tokyo Disneyland's version of Big Thunder Mountain sends its first run-away mine train flying over the tracks in Westernland.

Over 87,000 guests visit Disneyland on this holiday

(an all-time record up to this time).

1988:

"Walt Disney World 4th of July Spectacular"

is broadcast on television.

1992:

CBS-TV airs Celebrate the Spirit! Disney's All-Star 4th of July Spectacular. Hosted by John Ritter, the 2-hour show features musical acts like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Celine Dion. The program switches back and forth from the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Epcot Center,

Disney-MGM Studios and Disneyland. The new nighttime spectacular, Fantasmic! is also highlighted.

1996:

"Phase One" of Disney's newest Florida community, Celebration, has its grand opening.

1998:

Many towns across Florida including Walt Disney World cancel firework celebrations due to risk of setting additional forest fires in that state's worst fire disaster in fifty years.

1999:

Fantasy in the Sky, the nightly fireworks spectacle at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, gives way to Red, White & Blue, an 18-minute show boasting patriotic music and more than 900 pyrotechnic devices. "Stereo" fireworks surround guests viewing from the shadows of Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom and points all around the Seven Seas lagoon. Plus the colorful Main Street Electrical Parade brightens the streets of the Magic Kingdom twice during the evening.

2000:

At Walt Disney World, a giant 1 and a half-ton, 24 by 13 foot cherry cobbler (that resembles the Star-Spangled Banner)

is dished out to guests.

2001:

Disney's Electrical Parade returns to Anaheim, California, with nightly performances at Disney's California Adventure. Disney's Electrical Parade (formerly called the Main Street Electrical Parade) originated at Disneyland back in 1972.

2002:

At Walt Disney World 500 immigrants from 89 countries

are sworn in as U.S. citizens.

2003:

Walt Disney World guests are treated to a special edition of

Fantasy in the Sky fireworks featuring patriotic music.

2004:

A special Fourth of July fireworks show is held at Disney-MGM Studios. (This Florida park normally doesn't host fireworks.)