Disneyland Secrets

As promised, here are some secrets or facts about Disneyland that you might not know of. Hope you enjoy them!

1. Walt’s private apartment–When Disneyland was being constructed Walt Disney wanted to be able to stay nearby to supervise. Anaheim where Disneyland is located was about an hour away from where he lived so Disney had an apartment built above the fire station on Main Street where he could spend the night.

Everyone knew when Walt was there because of the light left on in the window of the apartment. After Disney died a light has been left on in the apartment window in his memory. The apartment has been left the same way it was when he died but it isn’t open for public viewing.

Next time you go to Disneyland look for the light on above the fire station. The fire station is located on Main Street near the entrance. The fire station like all of Main Street resembles what it would have looked like in 1910 Middle America complete with an old time fire engine and Dalmatian dog.

2. Coca-Cola only–
Coca-Cola products are the only soft drinks that you can buy at Disneyland. Coca-Cola made a deal with Disney to sell their products exclusively. Coca-Cola gives Disneyland all their Coca-Cola products for free as long as they don’t allow any of their competitors to be sold at Disneyland. So don’t try to order a Pepsi, Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew because you won’t find any Pepsi products sold at Disneyland.

Disneyland makes pure profit from their Coca-Cola sales and they also get other products free with similar partnerships with other companies.

3. Hidden Mickey’s–Disneyland is all about taking care of the details. Walt Disney supervised every detail and included many special surprises to add to the magic. When you first enter Disneyland you enter a tunnel. There is a plaque on the top of the tunnel that reads, “Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy.” Walt wanted to take park visitors to a new world of fantasy. After guests pass through the tunnel they enter the magical world of Disneyland.

Part of creating a fun and magical land was installing hidden Mickey Mouse Ears all over the park. There is at least one hidden Mickey in each land. Sometimes guests might notice the shape in a wrought iron railing has a Mickey Mouse ear shape or a hedge might be pruned to resemble Mickey Mouse Ears. Make a game of it and see which one of your friends can find the most hidden.

4. Club 33–In Disneyland there is a private members only club called Club 33. It is located in New Orleans Square on the second floor near the Bayou Restaurant.

Walt Disney wanted to provide a private place to entertain his guests. Unfortunately he died before it was completed. When it was completed it was instead opened up as a private club with limited membership.

There are about 400 members and the annual membership is about $1,000. There is a long waiting list to join that usually takes more than 5 years for an opening to become available. Recently the cost of joining was between $7,500 to 20,000 depending on the type of membership.

Members who have reservations for Club 33 are given free passes to enjoy Disneyland for the day of their reservation. They also have a special parking area and of course are treated as VIPs.

Club 33 is decorated in early 20th Century style and some members have been amused by the bordello red velvet decor. There are special Club 33 emblazoned items all over the club that many members take as souvenirs such as the napkins and other items that can be purchased such as club rings.

Club 33 is also the only place at Disneyland where alcohol is served.

5. Main Street–The buildings of Main Street, USA, were built with one idea in mind: leaving the park. All the buildings on Main Street were built using an optical illusion that utilizes making one end of a building slightly shorter than the other end. By using this method of construction, Disneyland created an effect that you don’t notice until your tired family leaves the park. The next time you enter Disneyland, make note of the distance that it appears you have to travel to get to the “Partners” statue. Then look at the exit of the park from the statue. That’s correct. The distance appears to be shorter entering the park than exiting. The intention was to keep guests from wanting to take the long walk out. Try this the next time you are there.

6. Indiana Jones–Another “secret” in the Indiana Jones Adventure – Temple of the Forbidden Eye is that near the end of the attraction the vehicle appears to move backwards. Really, the walls are moving forward. It is easy to see this if you turn around and look backwards during this portion of the attraction.

7. Haunted Mansion–The ride portion of the Haunted Mansion actually is outside the Disneyland park. You unknowingly leave the boundaries of the park after taking the elevator down (the stretching room) and walking to the Doom Buggies.

8. Mad Hatter–The oval mirror in the Mad Hatter’s Shoppe will reveal the Cheshire Cat (from Alice in Wonderland) every few seconds. This effect is achieved by using a type of mirror, widely used by law-enforcement, known as a “50%” mirror. The representation of the Cheshire Cat, a solid animatronic piece, is in a room behind the mirror which is left dark. To expose the cat, the room is slowly lit. The image of the cat comes through the mirror and then the room is slowly darkened, making the cat diappear. If a forgetfull cast member forgets to cover the back of the mirror you may just catch them changing the bulbs in the light from the other side of the mirror.

More Disney facts later…