2004:
The US Civil Engineering Research Foundation announces the addition of Dr. Ben Schwegler Jr, vice president and chief scientist of Walt Disney Imagineering, to its board of directors. (Schwegler has been involved in nearly all of Disney’s construction projects over the past 21 years and directs the environment, materials and infrastructure group for the theme park operator.)
1902:
Singer-actor Harry Stockwell (father of actors Dean and Guy Stockwell) is born
in Kansas City, Missouri. He supplied the singing voice for the Prince in Disney's 1937 classic
animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
1932:
Announcer and voice actor Casey Kasem is born in Detroit, Michigan.
In 1969, he and Paul Frees recorded a series of comedic radio ads promoting the debut of
Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction. (Kasem was best known for his syndicated radio show American Top 40
from 1970 until his retirement in 2009. He was also the original voice of Shaggy for the animated Scooby Doo.)
1956:
Disney's animated short Hooked Bear, featuring Humphrey the Bear, is released. Directed by Jack Hannah, the cartoon features the voices of Jim Macdonald (as Humphrey) and Bill
Thompson (as Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore). Humphrey doesn't have much luck with his fishing ...
every time he catches one, he gets distracted and drops it!
1964:
Walt Disney writes a letter to Robert Moses, the president of the New York
World's Fair, 6 days after the fair's opening day. Walt explains the technical
problems plaguing his "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" exhibit (which hasn't opened with the rest of the
fair). He is confident that the bugs will be worked out very soon. (The exhibit will open May 2.)
1989:
The Disney Channel airs the 4th episode of MMC. Today is Party Day!
1992:
American Express Travelport, located in Epcot's CommuniCore West, closes.
The attraction had touch screens that allowed guests to preview vacations anywhere in the world.
1999:
At the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) 14th Annual
Film and Television Music Awards, songwriters Matthew Wilder and David Zippel win for
their work on Disney's Mulan. Wilder and Zippel penned the songs "Honor To Us All," "Reflection," "A Girl
Worth Fighting For" and "True To Your Heart."
2001:
Disneyland's Rocket Rods, a ride that was the brash new star of Tomorrowland when the aging fun zone got a $100-million face lift in 1998, closes forever. Although shuttered since September 2000 for a refurbishment that was to last until Spring 2001 ... no work was ever actually seen on the attraction. Despite efforts by designers and mechanics, the Rocket Rods was plagued with problems. Essentially a faster version of the PeopleMover, Rocket Rods took riders through the building housing Star Tours, the Star Trader, and the Starcade, offering views of all three through glass panes in a tunnel.
The Lizzie McGuire episode "I Do, I Don't" airs for the first
time on Disney Channel.
2006:
Cast members from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Broadway musical kick off the U. S. Postal Service’s commemorative stamp dedication celebrating The Art of Disney: Romance stamp featuring Belle and the Beast from the Disney animated film. The dedication ceremony takes place at the
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City.
There are more than 4 million
trees, plants, shrubs, ground-covers, vines, epiphytes and
grasses from from every
continent (except Antarctica)
at Walt Disney World's
Animal Kingdom!
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2007:
The second annual Disney's California Food and Wine Weekends at
Disneyland Resort kicks off in Anaheim. The four extended weekends
(running though May 20) will feature culinary demonstrations, cooking and wine-tasting seminars and a "Taste of California" Marketplace.
Disney Channel airs the Hanna Montana episode
"I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak" for the first time.
Disney's Hollywood Pictures releases The Invisible, a supernatural thriller starring Justin
Chatwin, Margarita Levieva, Chris Marquette, Marcia Gay Harden, and Callum Keith
Rennie. By mistake, a high school senior is attacked and left for dead in a forest, but his ghost appears and starts shadowing the people who attacked him, led by a feisty and angry girl who is an outcast in the school.
2002:
Disney's stage production of The Lion King kicks off its first national tour in
Denver, Colorado.
2005:
The ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards are presented
at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, California. Among the
winners for Top Box Office Films is The Incredibles.
"Anytime in radio that you can reach somebody on an emotional level, you're really connecting." -Casey Kasem
1822:
Ulysses S. Grant, the eighteenth United States President, is born in Point
Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. A military commander during the Civil War and post-
war Reconstruction periods, Grant helped the Union Army defeat the Confederate military and end
the Confederate States of America. Visit him and all the U.S. Chief Executives at Disney World's
The Hall of Presidents. Actor Hayden Rorke portrayed General Grant in Disney's 1963 television
presentation Johnny Shiloh (about a Union drummer boy who runs away from home to join his
hometown unit during the American Civil War).
2008:
A massive crowd of teens turn out in Long Beach, California for the first open casting call for ABC's new summer reality TV series (tentatively titled),
Disney's "High School Musical: Summer Session."
1962:
Actor and playwright Patrick Page - who played the role of Lumiere in 1999 and 2003 in
Disney's Broadway hit Beauty and the Beast - is born in Oregon. He also played the role of Scar in
the Broadway production of The Lion King. Page is married to Paige Davis (best known as host of the reality television
series Trading Spaces) who played Babette the Feather Duster in the national touring company of the Broadway musical
Beauty and the Beast.
APRIL 27
APRIL 27
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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2009:
"Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo, A Centennial Celebration" is held in the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater. A
celebration of the life and career of animator Milt Kahl, one of the famous "Nine Old Men," the event is hosted by
animator Andreas Deja with special guests animators Floyd Norman, Ron Clements, and John Musker.
"I started at the studio about 1974. I was 20 when I started. Milt was very frightening. He intimidated a lot of people. He was like
the Simon Cowell of animation. I was working on a Cruella De Vil animation test. I showed him my test and he was relatively kind.
He gave me some advice and made a few drawings for me." -animator Ron Clements
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DCA Food & Wine Weekend
Rocket Rods closes
1958:
Disneyland's first "Zorro Days" wraps up with live performances by the
cast of the popular ABC-TV series. The cast, including Guy Williams, appears in
parades each day and performs in Frontierland for four shows daily. There will be 2 more major Zorro
appearances at Disneyland in 1958 ... May 30-June 1 and November 27-30.
In 2002 the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund contributed more than $750,000 to help fund the global work of scientists whose work focuses on protecting wildlife and wild places. The nearly 50 projects funded involve protecting and studying endangered species and their habitats in more than 25 countries. In addition, most programs include educational or community components to ensure long-term conservation success.
1990:
Touchstone Pictures releases the science fiction comedy Spaced Invaders.
Directed by Patrick Read Johnson, the film stars Douglas Barr, Ariana Richards and Royal Dano (the voice
of Abraham Lincoln for Walt Disney's Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln). As the armed forces of the planet Mars
fight a vast interstellar war, the idiotic & incompetent crew of a small Martian spaceship intercept a rebroadcast of
Orson Welles' 1938 The War of the Worlds radio dramatization. Mistaking this for the real thing, they land the
ship in a podunk, drought-stricken farming community in Illinois and ineptly attempt to conquer Earth.
1951:
Disney's Goofy short Cold War, directed by Jack Kinney, is released. Goofy
learns that a cold is nothing to be sneezed at.
"Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."
2010:
The Angels' newest addtion to their Anaheim baseball team, Hideki Matsui visits
Disneyland for the very first time. Prior to his debut against the Cleveland Indians, Matsui poses for a picture
with Mickey Mouse in a baseball uniform and experiences It's A Small World with a few Angels fans. Originally signing with
the NY Yankees in 2002, he became an Angel last December when he signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim club.
1960:
Disney's 17th (and final) People & Places short The Danube is released in CinemaScope. The people who live along the Danube (Europe's second longest river) are the focus of this film.
2018:
Avengers: Infinity War, a superhero film based on the
Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced
by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney
Studios Motion Pictures, opens in U.S. theaters. The
sequel to the 2012 The Avengers and the 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron,
Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Captain America and the rest of the Avengers
unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet -- the evil Thanos. The cast
features Karen Gillan (Nebula), Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man), Tom
Holland (Spider-Man), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Scarlett Johansson
(Black Widow), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Chris
Hemsworth (Thor), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki).
Avengers: Infinity War (Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack) by Alan Silvestri is released digitally by Hollywood Records. (The physical version will be released the following month.)
1994:
The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, the original motion picture
soundtrack for the 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King, is released for the
very first time. It contains songs from the film written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and a score composed
by Hans Zimmer. It will become the biggest-selling soundtrack ever from an animated film. (An expanded version
of The Lion King soundtrack, featuring 30 minutes of previously-unreleased material, will be released 20 years later.)
2013:
The 2013 Radio Disney Music Awards are held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California. Among the winners-
-Best Female Artist: Selena Gomez
-Best Male Artist: Justin Bieber
-Song of the Year: "I Knew You Were Trouble" – Lostprophets
-Best Music Group: One Direction
-Breakout Star: Austin Mahone
2019:
Disney Channel Fan Fest returns to the Disneyland Resort on this Saturday. Disney
California Adventure guests enjoy live, interactive main stage sessions, Q&A, musical performances, presentations
by talent and creators from Disney Television Animation, sneak peeks from the highly anticipated Disney Channel
Original Movie, Descendants 3, and meet-and-greets.
1957:
Actor Robert Curtis Brown is born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His film credits include the role of Vance Evans in High School Musical 2 (2007), High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) and Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure (2011).
1987:
Actor William Moseley is born in England. He played the role of Peter Pevensie in both Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008). Moseley also reprised the role for a 3rd film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but it was not a Disney production.
2011:
Anthropologist, teacher and actor Oscar Kawagley passes away at age 76 in Fairbanks, Alska. One of Alaska's most influential teachers and thinkers, he was the voice of adult Denahi in the 2003 Disney film Brother Bear. An Associate of Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Liberal Arts for more than
25 years, Kawagley also appeared in the television series Northern Exposure.
2015:
A soundtrack album for the first season of the web television series Daredevil, composed by John Paesano, is released by Disney's Hollywood Records. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios.
1959:
Actress, singer and songwriter Sheena Easton is born in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland. A two-time Grammy Award winner, her Disney television credits include the series Gargoyles (1994–1997) as the voices of Robyn Canmore, Banshee, Molly, & Finella, two episodes of The Legend of Tarzan (2001) as the voice of Dr. Robin Doyle, and 1 episode of Phineas and Ferb (2009) as Doofenshmirtz's Girlfriend. Easton is the first recording artist in history to have a top 5 hit on each of Billboard's primary singles charts, with "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" (both pop and adult contemporary), "We've Got Tonight" with Kenny Rogers (country) and "Sugar Walls" (both R&B and dance).
1950:
Animator, film producer and musician Randy Fullmer is born in Richland, Washington.
In 1987, he was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation (later known as Walt Disney Animation Studios) for a three-month contract to animate on the "Toon Town" section of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a job that turned into an 18-year career at The Walt Disney Studios. Fullmer's animation film credits include: effects animator on Oliver & Company; effects animator on The Little Mermaid; effects supervisor on The Rescuers Down Under; visual effects supervisor on Beauty and the Beast; artistic coordinator on The Lion King; artistic coordinator on The Hunchback of Notre Dame; producer on The Emperor's New Groove; and producer on Chicken Little.
2021:
Disneyland Resort welcomes its Cast Members back to Disneyland Park for a special soft opening. Reopening to the public on April 30, it comes after a historic Disney theme park closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
1967:
Seventeen-year-old super-model/actress/singer Twiggy (Lesley Hornby) and her entourage spend a day at Disneyland, filming segments for her upcoming June 1967 television show, Twiggy: Why? A British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during the swinging sixties in London, she is enjoying her visit to the U.S.
