This Week in Disney History (June 29-July 5)
1865: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson publishes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland under the pen name Lewis Carroll.
1898: Actor Johnny Lee (the voice of Br’er Rabbit) is born in Los Angeles.
1908: Disney legend and artist, John Hench (Fantasia, Dumbo) is born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1910: Marcellite Garner (the voice of Minnie Mouse) is born in Redlands, California.
1914: Disney composer George Bruns (composer of “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)”, and songs from Sleeping Beauty) is born in Sandy, Oregon.
1935: Artist John Lounsbery (One of Walt’s Nine Old Men) is hired by the Disney Studios.
1947: Disney’s Song of the South is released in Australia.
1951: Comic book writer and illustrator Don Rosa (Donald Duck and Scrooge comics) is born in Louisville, Kentucky.
1951: Broadway star Terrence Mann (the original Beast in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway) is born in Kentucky.
1956: Disneyland’s Indian War Canoes debuts in Critter Country.
1966: Primeval World debuts at Disneyland.
1966: Cartoonist Carl Barks retires after 3 decades of drawing Donald Duck.
1967: Disneyland’s Rocket Jets, Peoplemover, the Carousel of Progress, and the Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant all open in Tomorrowland.
1974: The America Sings attraction debuts in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland.
1975: The WEDway PeopleMover opens at Disney World.
1981: The Broadway at the Top show opens in the Top of the World at the Contemporary Resort.
1985: Actress/singer Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical Series, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, A Bug’s Life) is born in Monmouth, New Jersey.
1986: Disney’s 26th animated film, The Great Mouse Detective, is released in the U.S.
1986: Actress Lindsay Lohan (The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Herbie: Fully Loaded) is born in New York City.
1988: The Norway Pavilion opens at EPCOT. The Maelstrom opens a few days after the pavilion’s opening.
1993: Disney acquires the Miramax film studio.
1994: The Lion King Celebration Parade debuts at Disneyland. This is the first parade to include an animatronic character on a moving float.
1994: At EPCOT, Innoventions East and West replaces CommuniCore.
1996: The last of the planned Epcot resorts, Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, opens.
1997: The ABC Sound Studio opens at the Disney-MGM Studios.
1998: Innoventions debuts at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland.
2000: The refurbished Chevron Autopia opens in Disneyland.
2005: The United States Postal Service releases the second set of The Art of Disney stamps.
2007: Ratatouille, Pixar’s 8th animated feature, is released.
2007: Jim MacPhee, Epcot’s Vice President, announces that the Mickey Mouse arm and wand on Spaceship Earth will come down.
