2005:
Disney Channel's Get A Clue
is released to DVD and VHS.
Composer-conductor Jamie Mendoza-Nava, who scored the music for
Disney's Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro 1950s television series, passes
away at age 79 in Woodland Hills, California. Over his 40-year career, he composed
music for movies, documentaries, commercials, and the animated television series Mr. Magoo.
1967:
Buddy Baker and 45 musicians record some 47 different pieces of music - that
Baker has scored - for Disneyland's new Adventure Thru Inner Space attraction
(which will open to park guests in August).
1971:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs "One Day at Teton Marsh" on NBC-TV.
Based on the novel by Sally Carrighar and narrated by Sebastian Cabot, this episode originally aired in 1964.
1981:
Disney's Wonderful World airs "Baseball Fever" on NBC-TV.
1989:
Disney Channel airs the 28th episode of MMC. Today is Anything Can Happen Day!
1991:
Disney Press publishes its first book,
"Walt Disney's 101 Dalmatians: A Counting Book."
1993:
Donn Tatum, senior executive and the first non-family member to head Walt Disney Productions, passes away in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 80. Born in 1913, Tatum
was first recruited by Walt Disney in 1956, as production business manager. He later served on the Company's Board of Directors and as vicepresident and administrative assistant to Roy O. Disney. As the first president of Walt Disney World Co., Tatum helped build Walt Disney World and EPCOT Center. He will be named a Disney Legend the following October.
1998:
The Wildhorse Saloon, a 27,000-square-foot entertainment venue, opens at Downtown Disney Pleasure Island, Florida. The Wildhorse Saloon (located at 1630 Buena Vista Drive) sits on the former site of the Fireworks Factory restaurant.
Disney holds a wrap party at the Florida Animation Studio for its newly completed feature Mulan. (It will have its world premiere 5 days later.)
The 5th Annual International Flower & Garden Festival comes to an end at Epcot.
2003:
The ABC Super Soap Weekend begins at
Disney's California Adventure.
1997:
The eighth annual Discover Magazine Awards for
Technological Innovation are presented at Epcot.
A gala awards ceremony featuring celebrity presenters LeVar Burton (of "Star Trek:
The Next Generation"), astronaut Story Musgrave, Dr. Michael Guillen (of ABC News)
and Miss America Tara Holland takes place at America Gardens Theatre.
Disney's Nightmare Ned airs on ABC-TV with two new episodes -
"House of Games" and "Willie Trout."
1908:
Veteran actor Don Ameche is born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His Disney
credits include the live-action Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (as the voice of
Shadow the dog) and The Boatniks (portraying Commodore Taylor - pictured right).
The Academy Award-winning Ameche is known for his appearances in such features as
Corrina, Corrina, Cocoon, and Trading Places.
2008:
WALL•E (the star of Disney/Pixar's newest animated feature set to open June 27)
appears at a special Family Day celebration at the Newseum in Washington,
D.C. WALL•E greets visitors in the New York Times—Ochs-Sulzberger Family Great Hall of News, part of
the "world's most interactive museum."
"Science of Disney Imagineering" takes place at NYU in New York City. The sold-out
event allows guests to interact with Lucky the Dinosaur, ask Finding Nemo's Crush questions, and meet the
Imagineers, the scientists and engineers of Walt Disney Imagineering.
Buzz Lightyear blasts off to the International Space Station as
"a member of the crew" of space shuttle Discovery. The toy
space traveler is part of a program that Disney’s Youth
Educational Series and NASA have developed. Buzz's mission
coincides with the opening of "Toy Story Midway Mania!," a new
4-D interactive attraction opening on this day at Disney World.
1969:
Actress & singer Sarah Uriarte Berrry - who starred as Belle in Disney's Broadway hit Beauty and the Beast, is born in California. She first played Belle in 1995, replacing original Belle Susan Egan (a former college room-mate). In September 2006, she reprised the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast replacing Sarah Litzsinger.
2002:
Disney Channel airs "Raiders of the Lost Sausage," the 50th episode of
Even Stevens. It is directed by Fred Savage.
MAY 31
Buzz Lightyear heads into space
The Great Movie Ride (an
original opening day attraction
at Disney's Hollywood Studios),
featured a scene from Fantasia
that includes swirling winds. Why the wind? That portion of the ride was originally designed to be the
tornado scene from The Wizard
of Oz, but was changed to
feature Sorcerer Mickey at
the last minute.
Mulan wrap party
"To infinity ... and beyond!" -Buzz Lightyear
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MAY 31
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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2009:
The 2009 MTV Movie Awards are handed out. Zac Efron wins Best Male Performance for High
School Musical 3: Senior Year while Ashely Tisdale is awarded Breakthrough Performance Female, also for
High School Musical 3.
The 2009 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival ends.
1943:
Original Mouseketeer Lonnie Burr is born in Dayton, Kentucky. An actor, dancer/choreographer, singer, director and author, Burr was signed to a seven-year contract by Walt Disney Studios as one of twenty-four original Mouseketeers back in 1955!
2010:
Today is Memorial Day, a United States federal holiday commemorating U.S. men and
women who lost their lives while in the military service.
American Idol season 9 champion Lee DeWyze takes part in a special motorcade at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Afterwards he makes a guest appearance at The American Idol Experience.
Workers from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany cut free the final building block for the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, Disney Dream. The final block
placed is a 260-ton portion of the ship’s bow. With all 80 building blocks for the ship in place, the focus will now
shift to outfitting the interiors spaces. (Its maiden voyage is scheduled for January 2011.)
1990:
Disneyland's Grad Nite '90 takes place. The entertainment lineup includes Jody Watley,
Seduction, Stevie B, and Kevin Paige.
1895:
California, is born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. His great interest in and knowledge of
ecological sciences, led him to write Storm (first published in 1941). The first ever ecological novel, it was
dramatized as "A Storm Called Maria" on a 1959 episode of Disney's television series. Stewart's book
prompted the National Weather Service to use personal names to designate storms!
MAY
Mulan, Disney's 36th full-length animated feature, was the first to be produced primarily at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida (once located at
Disney-MGM Studios). It was also the first Disney animated feature made anywhere outside of Burbank, California. The Florida unit was first established
in 1989 with approximately 40 employees. As part of the Disney-MGM Studios complex, park visitors were able to take a tour of the studio and actually observe the animators at work. In 1998, the unit moved into a new $70 million faculty. At the studio’s height in the mid-1990s, it employed
approximately 400 artists and technicians. Closed since 2004, Walt Disney Feature Animation's credits also included the musical segment "I Can’t Wait
To Be King" for The Lion King, the feature films, Lilo And Stitch and Brother Bear, the three Roger Rabbit short features Tummy Trouble, Rollercoaster Rabbit and Trail Mix-Up and the short John Henry.
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Photo by Bernie at Disney.Rocket9.net
2012:
Today is the final day of operation for Walt Disney World's Snow
White's Scary Adventures. An opening-day Magic Kingdom dark ride, Snow White is being replaced
with Princess Fairytale Hall, a royal meet-and-greet area set to debut in 2013 as part of the redesigned Fantasyland.
(Snow White isn't leaving WDW ... a new ride based on Disney's first animated feature film is coming to Florida.
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a "mine cart" style steel roller coaster ride, is scheduled to open in 2014.) The last
guest to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures is Disney fan Ben Miles. Born in 1993, he has experienced the
attraction over 3,000 times!
The first phase of Disney's Art of Animation Resort opens at Walt Disney
World. The value resort will eventually feature 1,120 family suites and 864 standard rooms in
sections themed to four of the most popular Disney and Disney-Pixar films of the last 25 years.
The first phase opening on this day features a theme based on the Pixar film Finding Nemo which
includes 320 "family suites" with room for as many as six people each. All the rooms at Disney's Art
of Animation are keyless ... instead of inserting room cards into a slot, guests merely hold the
cards within a few inches of an electronic reader to unlock their doors! (The second phase, themed after Cars, is
scheduled for a June 18 opening.)
Toy Story Midway Mania opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. A carnival-inspired 4-D
interactive attraction, it is based on the Toy Story films. Park guests wear 3-D glasses, or Carnival Games
Goggles, as they ride spinning vehicles that travel through virtual environments based on classic carnival
Midway games. (The following month, a second version will open at Disney California Adventure.)
May 31
1976:
Actor Colin Farrell is born in Ireland. He portrayed Travers Goff (the troubled father of writer P.L.
Travers) in the 2013 release Saving Mr. Banks and Holt Farrier (a former circus star) in the 2019 live-action Dumbo.
2015:
Starting this day, guests can enjoy brunch daily at Chef Mickey's at Disney's
Contemporary Resort. The popular Walt Disney World Resort restaurant is already a favorite breakfast and
dinner spot where guests can meet Chef Mickey and his pals, who make a stop at each table during dining service.
1996:
The sports comedy film Eddie, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Frank Langella, is released by
Hollywood Pictures. Chauffeur Edwina "Eddie" Franklin (played by Goldberg) is fanatical about the New York Knicks basketball team. After she wins a contest to be their honorary assistant coach, Eddie so impresses the team's owner Wild Bill Burgess (Langella) that he fires the head coach, John Bailey (Dennis Farina), and replaces him with Eddie. She is instrumental in turning the floundering team around, just in time to make the playoffs. The cast also includes Richard Jenkins, Lisa Ann Walter, John Benjamin Hickey, and many professional basketball stars and coaches.
2019:
Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens to the public for the first time. The new land features 2 attractions... Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run (an interactive motion simulator), and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (a lengthy hybrid walk-through and trackless dark ride).
Actor Jim McMullan passes at age 82 in California. Originally from Long Island, New York, he played the role of Lt. Powell in Disney's 1967 live-action feature The Happiest Millionaire. From 1998-2002, he portrayed the title role in "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," a show which played in a 1000-seat dinner theatre at Disney Village in Disneyland Paris. McMullan was perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Terry McDaniel on the 1960s series Ben Casey and as Senator Andrew Dowling on the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas.
2018:
Festival of Pirates and Princesses ends at Disneyland Paris. Running since the end of March, young park guests could become a princess or a pirate!
1965:
Actress/model Brooke Shields is born in Manhattan, New York. First garnering widespread notoriety in such films as Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, in 1980 she became the youngest guest star to ever appear on The Muppet Show. She later appeared in 3 episodes of Disney Channel's Hannah Montana as well as the 2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie (playing Susan Stewart, the late mother of Miley and Jackson, who appears in dreams and old home movies).
Television fans will know her from her starring roles in NBC's Suddenly Susan and Lipstick Jungle, and for her appearances on such sitcoms as CBS's Two and a Half Men and ABC's The Middle. In 2008, Shields vacationed at Walt Disney World with her husband & 2 daughters, and in 2007 attended the grand opening of Disneyland’s Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride.
1987:
Actor and musician Shaun Fleming is born in Westlake Village, California. Known for voicing Young Max Goof, his credits include Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999), the series Teacher's Pet (2000–02), the series The Legend of Tarzan (2001), the series Kim Possible (2002–06), Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003–06), Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time (2003), Teacher's Pet (2004), The Lion King 1½ (2004), Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004), and Kim Possible: So the Drama (2005). He is best known as the former live drummer of the indie rock band Foxygen and the creator of his solo project Diane Coffee.
1955:
Stand-up comedian, actress, writer and television producer Susie Essman is born in The Bronx, New York. Best known for her role as Susie Greene on Curb Your Enthusiasm, she was also the voice of Mittens in Disney's 2008 animated feature Bolt and Sadie for a 2003 episode of Kim Possible. In 2017, she appeared on an episode of the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs.
2021:
Today is Memorial Day in the USA.
1985:
WED Enterprises announces a project concept for expansion of Disneyland's Frontierland.
To be called Big Thunder Ranch, it will features an outdoor petting zoo, a walk-through log cabin, and a variety of scenery meant to create the atmosphere of a Western ranch. It is scheduled to open in June 1986.
