1967:
The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction opens in New Orleans Square at
Disneyland, California. The debut kicks off with great excitement, as a
group of marauding sea-dogs, led by Wally Boag, first shanghai the
sailing ship Columbia before bursting through the new attractions' doors
with a battering ram! All the figures in the attraction are designed by
Imagineer Marc Davis and the lavishly detailed sets are by artist & color
stylist Claude Coats. (It is the largest audio-animatronic project to date and the
last attraction Walt Disney himself worked on extensively before his death.)
1985:
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) announces plans to merge with Capital Cities Communications to form Cap Cities/ABC. The $3.5 billion merger is the 11th largest corporate merger in U.S. history. (A decade and a few months later, the Walt Disney Company will announce that it has reached an agreement to merge with Cap Cities/ABC to form the largest entertainment and television production conglomerate in the world in a deal worth more than 19 billion dollars.)
2005:
Walt Disney World hosts the 2005 Doll & Teddy Bear Weekend
at Epcot.
Disney's feature film Ice Princess opens in theaters. Starring
Michelle Trachtenberg as a teen who dreams of being a
champion ice skater, it features the Aly & AJ song "No One."
The Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,
starring identical twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse, premieres with
two episodes - "Hotel Hangout" and "The Fairest of Them All."
1858:
Kepple Disney marries Mary Richardson. The following year, they will have a child named Elias (the future father of Walt Disney).
1933:
The Disney film Mickey's Mellerdrammer, directed by
Wilfred Jackson, is released. In this cartoon, Mickey and
his friends put on a production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
1960:
The ABC-TV series Walt Disney Presents airs "Elfago Baca: Friendly Enemies at Law." It is the 9th episode of the 10-part mini-series starring Robert Loggia.
1962:
The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
airs part 2 of "The Prince and the Pauper."
1979:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs the 2-hour "The Omega Connection."
2000:
The Disney Channel airs the original movie Alley Cats Strike!
2001:
The world's first-ever digitally transmitted and projected feature film premiere, of Dimension Films' Spy Kids, takes place at Disney's California Adventure as part of a benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Children's Diabetes Center at UCLA. Boeing Satellite System, a unit of The Boeing Company, hosts the event and uses its Boeing digital cinema system to deliver Spy Kids to the park's Hyperion Theater. (Boeing digital cinema is a network system that digitally transmits first-run films directly to movie theatres via satellite-based and fiber-optic networks.) Prior to the premiere, park visitors are treated to a parade
up Main Street, featuring several of the stars of Spy Kids.
"Travel Channel Secrets: Inside Disneyland Paris" airs for
the first time in the U.S.
The Wonderful World of Disney airs the television movie "Bailey's Mistake" starring Linda Hamilton.
2003:
Disney Records releases the soundtrack from Piglet's Big Movie, featuring music by Carly Simon.
Good Day Live on FOX-TV features a segment on the newly renovated King Arthur's Carrousel in Disneyland.
Imagineering legend Orlando Ferrante receives a Window on Disneyland's Main Street.
2006:
The Disneyland Resort picks up 2 Thea Awards (presented by TEA - a worldwide nonprofit association representing the creators of compelling places and experiences) at a ceremony at the
Disneyland Hotel.
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1955:
A ground breaking ceremony takes place at 11:15 a.m. in Anaheim, California for the Disneyland Hotel. Among the guests in attendance are Roy Disney (Walt's brother), C. V. Wood (Disneyland's vice-president & general manager), Anaheim's Mayor Charles Pearson, and members of the Wrather family (owners of the Disneyland Hotel).
2007:
The Pirates of the Caribbean 40th Anniversary Product Release & Signing takes place at the Disney Gallery in New Orleans Square, Disneyland.
Also, the trailer for Pirates 3: At World's End premieres at Pirates Ultimate Fan Events across the country.
1989:
At Disneyland, 150 visitors are stranded 40 feet in the air in cable cars! The skyway cable cars come to a stop after someone in one of the four-passenger gondolas begins rocking the car vigorously! Firefighters from the Anaheim, Orange County and Garden Grove Fire Departments assist in the rescue - which thankfully results in no injuries.
On a happier note - Disneyland's "Blast to the Past," a 3-month long 1950s event,
kicks off on this day.
A popular misconception is that Walt Disney World exists in Orlando. In fact, the entire Disney property is outside Orlando city limits. Most of Disney World's Central Florida land, and all of the public areas, are located in the cities of Bay Lake & Lake Buena Vista - located southwest of Orlando and a few miles
northwest of Kissimmee.
MAR
1954:
Disney animator Ward Kimball appears as a contestant on Groucho Marx's television quiz show You Bet Your Life.
1837:
Grover Cleveland, the twenty-second and twenty-fourth United
States President, is born in Caldwell, New Jersey. The only president
to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms, Cleveland was also the only president to
be married in the White House. Visit him and all the U.S. Chief Executives at Disney
World's The Hall of Presidents.
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MARCH 18
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MARCH 18
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean opens
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2009:
The 16th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival kicks off for 75 days.
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Ward Kimball meets Groucho Marx
