Today In Disney History ~ August 9th
The Haunted Mansion opened on August 12, 1969. The ride was first announced in 1961, and advertised to open in 1963, with construction beginning in 1962, but Disney’s involvement in the 1964 World’s Fair slowed this progress. Walt’s Death in 1966 also delayed the ride as it was redesigned after his passing.
The first images of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion showed the house as a run down manor on a hill above Main Street. Walt it seems didn’t like the idea of a run down home in his park, haunted or not, so they instead built the mansion in a more grand manner modeling it after the Shipley-Lydecker home that was built in Baltimore in 1803.
In 2001 the Nightmare Before Christmas seasonal layover appeared and on May 9, 2015 the Hatbox Ghost that had originally part of the attic scene when the Mansion first opened. The Hatbox Ghost was removed shortly after the attraction’s debut because the effect that his head to vanish from atop his shoulders and reappear alternately inside his hatbox just didn’t work well enough for Imagineers.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame awards people and fictional characters of notability in the film, television, music, radio and theater industry a star a a permanent public monument in honor of their achievements. There are fifteen fictional characters that has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Of the fifteen eleven were for motion pictures and four are in television. All five of the Disney fictional characters that have received a star in the Motion Picture category of the Walk of Fame. Mickey Mouse was the the first animated character to receive a star in 1978 in honor of his 50th anniversary.
Donald Duck was inducted on August 8, 2004,and received the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 2,257th star in honor of his 70th birthday. His star can be found at 6840 Hollywood Blvd in front of the Walt Disney-owned El Capitan Theatre and Disney store in Hollywood. Daisy Duck, Mickey Mouse and were in attendance for the ceremony.
Other Disney characters with a Walk of Fame star include Snow White (1987); Winnie the Pooh (2006); and Tinker Bell (2012).
TMSM Today in Graphic by Sherry Rinaldi DeHart, additional images from toptenz.net
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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