2006:
In observance with the Tournament of Roses “Never on Sunday”
tradition, the 117th Rose Parade in Pasadena, California takes
place on a Monday. Disney takes part in the event with a float
featuring recreations of all 5 castles from each of its theme parks.
1898:
Animator, story director, writer & Disney Legend Dick Huemer is born in New York City. His vast Disney credits will include The Wise Little Hen,
The Reluctant Dragon, Peter and the Wolf, Dumbo, Fantasia, Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom and Alice in Wonderland.
1937:
Disney's Mickey Mouse film The Worm Turns - featuring the voices of Walt Disney as Mickey and Billy Bletcher as the dog catcher - is released.
1938:
The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air debuts coast-to-coast on the NBC
radio network. Sponsored by Pepsodent Toothpaste, the series stars
Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey Mouse, Thelma Boardman as
Minnie, and Clarence Nash as Donald Duck. (After a few weeks, the
studio will be inundated with requests for tickets to the live broadcasts!
Originally scheduled for 13 programs, the series will be extended to 20.)

Conductor Leopold Stokowski arrives in Los Angeles for a
session for Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
1941:
Original Mouseketeer Bonni Lou Kern - who appears for the entire first season of The Mickey Mouse Club - is born in
Los Angeles, California.
1967:
Actress Tia Carrere - the voice of Nani in Disney's 2002
Lilo & Stitch - is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1977:
At Disneyland's Frontierland, the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland attraction closes. (It will later be replaced by Big Thunder Mountain.)
1979:
Disney World's Dumbo's Circus Parade kicks off down Main Street, USA.
1984:
The Astuter Computer Revue - a show in EPCOT Center's CommunCore East - closes. The attraction took place on a second-floor terraced theater that overlooked a large room housing some of the computers used to operate the park. It was hosted by a projected host who sang and danced his way across computer banks in the foreground of the room in an attempt to explain the role of computers at Walt Disney World. The Astuter Computer Revue will be the first attraction ever to be removed from EPCOT. It will be replaced in February 1984 by Backstage Magic.
1996:
Today is World of Motion's final day of operation at Epcot. An opening day
attraction, visitors traveled on Omniover vehicles through humorous technology-themed scenes. (Test Track will eventually take its place.)
2001:
Disney unveils its Grand Californian Hotel, offering a few hundred guests a preview of the high-end rooms and service the company hopes will transform the updated Anaheim vacation spot. The hotel is the first in the U.S. to be located inside a Disney theme park. The Grand Californian Hotel features 2 full-service restaurants (Storytellers Cafe and Napa Rose) and a snack bar (Whitewater Snacks). Although its grand opening will be in February, the first paying guests are welcomed on this day.
2002:
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa tape their TV program Live! With Regis and Kelly from Disney's California Adventure.
1963:
Julie Piekarski is born in St. Louis, Missouri. A member
of Disney's 70s TV series The New Mickey Mouse Club, Piekarski also appeared on such hit shows as The
Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, and Three's Company.
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JANUARY 2
JAN
The work Disney did for the 1964 New York World's Fair was of tremendous use to him for planning a second theme park.  The fair proved that people on the East Coast were receptive to Disney-style attractions.
JANUARY 2
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2008:
Disney Legend & Imagineer Joyce Carlson passes away in Florida. She is 84. Retired since February 2000, Carlson helped create the original it's a small world attraction (for the 1964-65 World's Fair & later for its Disneyland refitting). She also helped create a new version of the attraction for Disney World in 1971 and Tokyo Disneyland in 1983.
"I always wanted to be in the creative end and I got my dream." - Joyce Carlson
Sadly on this same day, Brice Harvey Mack, who painted backgrounds for such classic Disney features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio, passes away in Hollywood, California at the age of 90. Spanning the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, Mack’s career at Disney also included work on Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Song of the South and Lady and the Tramp, in addition to the Oscar-winning 1942 short film Lend a Paw. Mack also worked as a writer in the story department at Disney and created illustrations for children’s books based on the studio’s films.
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