Louise Orlando, Florida

I am pleased that you found it. Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, so in order to have a television commercial available for showing in France before the opening, when the park was still under construction, they used one produced at Walt Disney World. The dialogue and narration of the commercial are actually in French. Michael …

Avi, Irvine, California

According to Jason Surrell in his Haunted Mansion book, “The moving bust illusion was one of [Imagineer] Rolly Crump’s so-called happy accidents. As part of their research and development for The Hall of Presidents [which had been going on since the late 1950s], Imagineers had created a mold of Abraham Lincoln’s face, an artificial life …

Paul, Evanston, Illinois

Tony Baxter and his team at Walt Disney Imagineering found that the prime Plaza Gardens area of Disneyland was underutilized and thought that it would make for a nice expansion to Fantasyland. Tony recruited Dutch ride designer Michel Den Dulk, formerly from Europa Park, to join Walt Disney Imagineering and become creative director of Fantasy …

Gredo, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Gardner Games Co. of Chicago was indeed a Disney licensee for those six years. The 20,000 Leagues game from 1955 had a list price of $1. The Treasure Island game listed at $3. Other Disney games Gardner produced include a basketball game, a beanbag bucket game, a Casey Jr. game, and a Davy Crockett Adventure …

Avi, Irvine, California

Composer Richard Sherman consulted with the filmmakers.

Lexi, Seattle, Washington

Discovery Bay, announced in 1976 for Disneyland, is a project I would like to have seen. The project, planned for Frontierland where Big Thunder Ranch is now located was described: “Having as its roots a ‘San Francisco of the 1850s-1880s,’ the theme area would bring to life a time and place that climaxed an age …

Keith, Port Orchard, Washington

Yes, those two attractions both had the same narrator: Paul Frees. Walt Disney had some voice actors whom he especially liked, so he tended to pick them when he had a project that could use their talents.

Avi, Irvine, California

I did rescue a collection of the toy soldiers from the film in searching through a studio-building attic more than 40 years ago. The Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum included Tommy Sands/Tom Piper’s wedding costume and Annette Funicello/Mary Contrary’s red velvet cape. The other items …

Louis, Rego Park, New York

Walt Disney was well along in planning Walt Disney World when the New York World’s Fair closed in the fall of 1965, so he would have had no interest in building a theme park in New York. Besides, he insisted that sites for Disney parks have weather conditions that supported year-round operation. The two-year fair …

Randy, Lithia Springs, Georgia

John Grant in his authoritative Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters, refers to him as a “rogue cat.” According to Grant, this differs from his earliest appearances in the Alice Comedies before his look was changed, where he was “most probably a tail-less rat or oversized mouse.”