2003:
The Lion King Special Edition Soundtrack is released.
It features a new song from Elton John and Tim Rice plus a remix of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."
The Orlando Magic open their 2003-04 training camp at
Disney's Wide World of Sports.
Mickey's PhiiharMagic, a new computer-animated
3-D film attraction at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, opens to guests. (An official grand opening ceremony will be held October 8th.)
1961:
Legendary trumpet player & vocalist Louis Armstrong performs at Disneyland for the shooting of an upcoming television episode - Disneyland After Dark (to be broadcast in April 1962).
2005:
Disney's The Greatest Game Ever Played, starring
Shia LaBeouf, is released in theaters.
Haunted Mansion Holiday returns to the Disneyland Resort
for another frightening season.
Down at the Magic Kingdom in Florida, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is held for the first time this season.
Epcot's 10th Annual International Food and Wine Festival begins.
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1913:
Writer/producer & Disney Legend Bill Walsh - known for his work on classic Disney live-action films like Mary Poppins (for which he shared an Academy Award nomination), The Love Bug, That Darn Cat!, and Flubber - is born in New York City.
1933:
The Mickey Mouse cartoon The Steeplechase, directed by Burt Gillet,
is released.
1939:
Actor Len Carious - who portrays Walt Disney in the 1995 TV movie A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story - is born in Canada.
1962:
The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World
of Color airs part 1 of "Escapade in Florence."
1963:
The Babes in Toyland Exhibit, located on Disneyland's
Main Street, closes after a near 2-year run.
1971:
Walt Disney World's Preview Center, located on Buena Vista Boulevard, closes. It featured displays of models and drawings of Disney's new Florida theme park - which will open the following day. (The boulevard will later be renamed Hotel Plaza and the Preview Center will become the headquarters for the Amateur Athletic Union.)
1973:
Television's Wonderful World of Disney airs the episode
"Fire on Kelly Mountain" starring Larry Wilcox.
1975:
One of Walt's "Nine Old Men," animator Les Clark retires from Walt Disney Productions. An employee since February 1927, Clark's large body of work includes Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and
Lady and the Tramp. He is the only one of the "Nine Old Men" whose career spanned the silent-movie era and the age of TV!
1982:
Pepsi-Cola's sponsorhip of Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue ends. (A sponsor since July 1955, Pepsi's relation with Disney had been damaged in 1971 when Coca-Cola signed on for co-sponsorship of other attractions.) Eastman Kodak will take up the sponsorhip of the
Golden Horseshoe Revue the very next day.
1990:
The Magical World of Disney airs "Fantasia: The
Creation of a Disney Classic" on the Disney Channel.
1991:
U.S. President George Bush and his wife Barbara speak at a luncheon in the Grand Harbor Ballroom at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort in Walt Disney World. The event is for participants in the Daily Points of Light Celebration.
1993:
General Electric's contract as sponsor of the Horizons Pavilion
at Disney World's Epcot runs out on this day. (Even though GE
decides not to continue sponsorship of Horizons, Disney will continue
to operate the attraction until it is closed in late 1994.)
Top of the World (also known as the Top of the World Supper Club) closes at the Contemporary Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World. It featured celebrity entertainers, dancing, dinner, a lounge, and Sunday brunch.
(It will become the California Grill in May of 1995.)
The Dapper Dans (the popular Disney barbershop harmony group) are heard on a TV episode of The Simpsons. A clip includes the Dapper Dans (Shelby Grimm - lead, Mike Economou - tenor, Jim Campbell - bass, Dan Jordan - baritone) singing "Baby On Board" (which they arranged and co-wrote with Jeff Martin).
1999:
Reedy Creek Energy Services, Incorporated (originally
known as Reedy Creek Utilities Company, Incorporated) is
merged into the Walt Disney World Company.
2004:
Bob Iger, Disney’s President and Chief Operating Officer, speaks at the Merrill Lynch 2004 Media and Entertainment Conference.
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2006:
Today marks the final day
of Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration.
Dream Along With Mickey a new live show debuts at Disney World. It is part of the Year of a Million Dreams celebration and will be performed daily at the Castle Forecourt stage in the Magic Kingdom.
Christy Carlson Romano appears at the Disney Store in New York City to sign her new semi-autobiographical novel "Grace's Turn".
SEPTEMBER 30
Get your Disney tickets at Maple Leaf Tickets!
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1928:
A second recording session for Steamboat Willie takes
place in New York with conductor Carl Edouarde and
a 15-piece band. The first session on September 15 was a disaster as the
musicians couldn't play in time with the animated film. This time Walt is prepared to deal with the problem of synchronization. Ub Iwerks has made a special print of the film with an animated bouncing ball - on both the sound track and the film. The ball rises and falls to the accent of the beat, thus creating a visual signal and a soft audio click. Instead of being projected above the band, Iwerks's print is projected directly down onto Edouarde's printed score. The session takes place in just three hours and is a complete success!
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"The day before the brand-new Haunted Mansion opened at Walt Disney World in 1971, the first custodial crew cleaned out all the cobwebs. The Imagineers had to go back in and reapply all the cobwebs!" - Wayne Culver
(a fixture of Disney's clean team in Orlando and Anaheim for 39 years)
SEPTEMBER 30
1970:
The Disney theatrical feature Dad, Can I Borrow the Car? is released. Directed by Ward Kimball, the live-action short (which uses avant-garde film techniques) looks at American car culture from the late 1960s. It is narrated by Kurt Russell. (It will later air on television on The Wonderful Wold of Disney.)
"On this eve of Walt Disney World's opening day, may I thank all of you for your spirit - your cooperation and the fine job all you have done in getting ready for our opening."
- Roy O. Disney
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