Ask the Disney Freak!

Cafe Society
41

Actually the People Mover is called the Tomorrowland Transit Authority now. I didn’t forget about the other three (Paris,Tokyo and California)I do consider myself a Disney freak, even though I have not been to the Cali park…yet. I do plan on going one day, just haven’t made it yet.
Exactly how does Disney determine which films will be one of their “animated classics” and which ones won’t be. Lilo & Stitch, for example is one, while the Goofy Movie, OTOH, isn’t on the list.–I don’t know how they determine what will and will not make the cut as far as “Animated Classics”,although it seems to me that the ACs are stories that will connect the world throughout history and go farther back in time than the ones they just concoct for the heck of it (including an Extremely Goofy Movie,which IMHO sucked). The ACs tend to be Disneyfied versions of either historic stories (Pocahontas) or fairy tales (Beauty and the Beast,Cinderella,Snow White) which are known in one form or another around the world.

**Which Disney Villian do you yourself most identify with, and why?

Which version of the Journey into Imagination ride do you think was best?**
Which Villain do I identify most with myself? That’s hard to say although my favorite is Ursula from the Little Mermaid simply because she is both overweight (although I’ve never really SEEN a skinny octopus)and gorgeous. I also really like Maleficent who IMO is the most beautiful bad girl Disney’s ever created.
And as far as the JIM ride, I really can’t say. I was looking forward to riding the new one last time I was there but it was shut down.
:frowning: So I’ll tell ya after I ride it the next time.:slight_smile:
Einmon–if stupid people wouldn’t do stupid things…:rollseyes: I really don’t believe it is the fault of the TTA.It’s the fault of stupid people doing stupid things at Walt Disney World.
Same goes for those lame-oid and totally juvenile “Flash” Mountain pictures. I mean c’mon people…this is WDW,not Six Flags for chrissakes. If you wanna show the world your boobies, film a porno and distribute it on the internet.:confused:

** (1)I’m told that there are only two animated Disney movies where both of the main characters/s’ parents are alive, and present the entire time. I remember that 101 Dalmatians was said to be one of them. Can you name the other one?**
101 Dalmations is one of them. Then of course there is Jim Dear and Darling the human ‘parents’ of Lady in Lady and the Tramp,but I’m not sure if you’d want to count them,as they are humans and not dogs as Lady is.

(2) Is it true that Disney only canceled “Chip’n’Dale’s Rescue Rangers” and “Tale Spin” because of a clause in a contract with Fox that would have allowed them to broadcast the aforementioned shows if they had been produced past a second season?
I am not sure why they canceled either one of those shows (in syndication on Toon Disney),but I’m sure it’s because those shows weren’t as popular as Disney had hoped and therefore didnt’ merit a second season.

3) How many people have died in the OTHER Disney theme parks, besides Disneyland? Including Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris? Good question.Don’t know but will find out.

4) Have they made any changes to Splash Mountain since I was there in 1992? Other than t he addition of the Fast Pass system which was added around 2000,no.

5) What’s with the stories about massive animal deaths during the establishment of the “Animal Kingdom” park?
I don’t know for sure. I’m sure that as with any startup with an animal park, there were a few animals that due to the stress didn’t survive. But the animals there are now alive and healthy as can be and AK is a great park in the making. I say ‘in the making’ because I don’t feel as though it’s quite finished yet. When I last visited, the new carnivaly section of Dinoland,USA(Chester and Hester’s Din-O-Rama)wasn’t yet completed. I’ve seen the park in two stages of evolution…from the first when the gates opened and now with the more involved and better developed Harambe Village,Anandapur,Camp Minnie-Mickey(although why Minnie gets top billing on this I don’t quite understand.Mickey was always the star from the first…:frowning: )and my favorite Rafiki’s Planetwatch(formerly Conservation Station).

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42

I do remember that there were massive losses of animals in the early days of Animal Kingdom, but I don’t recall the explanation. Needless to say, the problem has since been remedied and it’s not really an issue (or at least, as big of an issue).

And I like the Tomorrowland Transit Authority! After walking all over hell and back in the blazingly hot Florida sun, it’s a nice, relaxing, air conditioned diversion. I usually go through it twice at a time.

43

:smack: I was re-reading the question about the Disney movies where both parents are present and realized how many I’d forgotten!
Mulan-- Fa Zhou and Fa Li
Sleeping Beauty–King Stefan and Queen Leah
Hercules–Herc is lucky…not only are his adoptive parents both alive but his ‘real’ parents Zeus and Hera are present as well!
Tarzan–granted his ‘real’ parents are killed at the beginning of the movie but then there’s always his adoptive parents,Kerchak and Kala who are present throughout.

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who confesses to secretly love the It’s A Small World Ride:stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

44

And if you start going into Direct to video sequels, we can add Lion King 2 and Lady and the Tramp II.

45

You know,SC,I didn’t even think about those because I don’t even consider them to be movies they suck so bad.:slight_smile:

46

There’s also Peter Pan II, where Jane’s parent’s (Wendy and her husband) are mentioned in the movie,both alive.

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47

How many people have been killed at Disneyland, and how did they die?

48

There are a total of 5 that I know of.
One on the Matterhorn(because he tried to stand up),one on the People Mover(aka Tomorrowland Transit Authority)(again because he wasn’t following safety precautionsand attempted to switch cars),two young kids on the River of America(they hid out on Tom Sawyer Island until after the ferrys stopped traveling between it and the mainland and then attempted to swim across and drowned) and one teenager also on Rivers of America(he stole a rubber raft and tried to pilot it down the river when he struck a rock which capsized the boat and caused him to drown). I have also heard that in April of 2000 a girl was seriously mangled on Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. Another report also says that in January of last year, a man was seriously injured while repairing the Skyway to Tomorrowland at Disney World and that’s why it was closed when I last visited.
I know that on 8/29/02 at DL that one of the rockets on Space Mountain blew their breaks and the ride to be closed,but there were no deaths involved there. I also have found out that as late as 12/27 of last year that one of the ferrys at WDW was crossing the Seven Seas Lagoon,failed to stop and slammed into the dock,causing several injuries but no deaths.It is rumoured,however,that an elderly woman who attempted to board Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin fell when she failed to get onto the ride even though she already had one foot in the car.She fell and was taken to the hospital and it is rumored she later died there due to complications from the fall but it is unknown at this point whether or not the fall itself caused her death or whether it simply exacerbated her fragile condition which caused her to die.On Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Tokyo DL(TDL),a boy got his foot caught between the car and the platform while attempting to exit and supposedly died from gangrene that arose from the injury.This is an unconfirmed report,however so I can’t verify the validity of it.
If you’d like to learn more about these accidents and any other theme park accidents, go [a href=“http://www.themeparkinsider.com/accidents/”] here[/a].

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49

Got one more for you. It happened in Tomorrowland, in the ride that used to be Carousel of Progress and was refurbished into America sings. The audience actually rotated around the central hub, through about 5 different scenes. One of the attendants thought she could make it and tried to jump between the rapidly closing stage and audience area and was crushed. Thank you for a very thorough answer though.

50

I thought that happened at Disney WORLD not Disney LAND.:slight_smile: You specifically asked for deaths at DL,not WDW.:slight_smile:
I"m glad the answer was thorough enough for ya tho.I do whut I can ta please da masses.:smiley:

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Oh,BTW…the Carousel of Progress is still there.:slight_smile: Rode it last time I was at WDW.

51

This has bothered me for years. How come in FANTASIA, the bare-breasted centaur girls in the “Pastoral Symphony” have no nipples–but the harpies in “Night on Bald Mountain” do?

52

On a more management level, it seems to me (and I have no cites about this) that the ABC tv network has declined in both the ratings and quality of shows since Disney purchased it. What are Disney’s for the network?

Is the Disney company still trying to sell the Anaheim Angels? (I recall reading this in the magazine “Baseball America” some time last year but again I don’t have a link or cite.) Did the World Series win change the minds of any of the suits?

Isn’t “The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim” still the stupidest name for a pro sports franchise?

53

Sorry, forgot to proof read again.

Please make my first question read: “What are Disney’s plans for the network?” Thank you.

54

What do you think about Carl Barks and the “Disney Treatment” he received while working for them and even after he had retired?

Do you know of Don Rosa?

55

Patrick M–what Disney’s plans for the network I do not know. I think there are some programs that it would like to put on and others it would like to stamp out. On the whole, I think the only reason Disney purchased ABC is because Micheal Eisner is a greedy SOB and that he wanted another ‘toy’ for his toybox. I do think that Disney is trying to get rid of the Anaheim Angels AND the Mighty Ducks, as they have no use for professional sports teams.I do not think that the World Series changed this,or maybe it did.I am not a sports analyst so I can’t tell you what exactly would be gained or lost by Disney giving up the Angels.

SnugTheJoiner–that topic was discussed here.http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=156619&highlight=nipples Please refer to that thread as to why harpies have nipples but the centaurs do not.

mazirian–I knew OF Carl Barks but not quite of what you were referring to so I googled it and came up with not much.I"ll get back to you. Don Rosa, if I remember correctly, was like Carl Barks in that he also drew the multitude of Disney Ducks like $crooge,Huey,Dewey,Louie and the rest of the Duckburg gang.Whereas Carl Barks worked for Disney doing the animated series and the early comic books,Don Rosa has created a NEW Donald Duck and co comic book which had been previously published in the US in limited numbers.Don Rosa created the Capt. Kentucky comic strip while still in college and went on from there to a comic called Pertwillaby Papers.Not long after that he is hired to do Donald comics and the rest is history.:slight_smile:

56

According to Snopes there have been 8 guest deaths at Disneyland.

Also according to Snopes the America Sings crushing was in Disneyland.

57

Yookeroo–Thanks for the info. Snopes is right and I am wrong.bows to their wisdom

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58

24 December 1998: In a tragic Christmas Eve accident, one Disneyland cast member and two guests were injured (one fatally) when a rope used to secure the sailing ship Columbia as it docked on the Rivers of America tore loose the metal cleat to which it was attached. The cleat sailed through air and struck the heads of two guests who were waiting to board the ship, Luan Phi Dawson, 33, of Duvall, Washington, and his wife, Lieu Thuy Vuong, 43. Dawson was declared brain dead two days later and died when his life support system was disconnected.
This accident resulted in the first guest death in Disneyland’s history that was not attributable to any negligence on the part of the guest – the accident was the result of a combination of insufficiently rigorous ride maintenance and an insufficiently experienced supervisor’s assuming an attraction operator’s role – and prompted a movement for greater government oversight of theme park operations and safety procedures.

http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/deaths.htm

59

I saw that at Snopes too.Thanks for pointing it out again,Phallacy.:smiley:
Yeah there have been a few deaths over the years,but considering how many people visit the parks overall it’s piddly stuff. They do pretty good about keeping their stuff safe. After all, Walt designed it for the children and he wanted it to be fun and safe at the same time. Safe does not always equal boring, ya know.:wink:
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60

Archive Guy–Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you about those questions you asked. I had to go through my Disney a to z book three times before I found the answer.And the answers are…
Disney now has won 91 Oscars all together, with 32 of those won personally by Walt Disney. Most of the awards were won in the early days for cartoon short subjects and documentary short subjects. It was for the latter type that James Algar did the direction for at least nine shorts that I counted. Most of these were produced for the True-Life Adventure Series. Coming in at a close second was Wilfred Jackson with six films that were awarded academy awards. Mr. Jackson was more widely known because he was involved with the animated features, from Snow White to Lady & the Tramp.
As far as Question# 3 is concerned, the obvious answer is Beauty and the Beast, the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture in 1991. Without doing a lot more digging, I was not able to find any other non-musical nominations prior to this one. Other Disney movies, such as Mary Poppins and Song of the South, which contained animated segments, were nominated for academy awards.
As for Q2:Disney now has won 91 Oscars all together, with 32 of those won personally by Walt Disney. Most of the awards were won in the early days for cartoon short subjects and documentary short subjects. It was for the latter type that James Algar did the direction for at least nine shorts that I counted. Most of these were produced for the True-Life Adventure Series. Coming in at a close second was Wilfred Jackson with six films that were awarded academy awards. Mr. Jackson was more widely known because he was involved with the animated features, from Snow White to Lady & the Tramp.
As far as Question# 3 is concerned, the obvious answer is Beauty and the Beast, the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture in 1991. Without doing a lot more digging, I was not able to find any other non-musical nominations prior to this one. Other Disney movies, such as Mary Poppins and Song of the South, which contained animated segments, were nominated for academy awards.
As for Q2:Treasure Planet: Emma Thompson
Hercules: Charleton Heston (narrator)
Hunchback of Notre Dame: Kevin Kline
Pocahontas: Linda Hunt
The Lion King: Whoopi Goldberg & Jeremy Irons
Aladdin: Robin Williams
Rescuers Down Under: George C. Scott
Fox and the Hound: Mickey Rooney & Jack Albertson
Rescuers: Geraldine Page

And for good measure, if you include Pixar:
Toy Story: Tom Hanks
Monsters, Inc.: James Coburn

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