by Jim Korkis
Just at that one temporary location, sales were constant for the next two weeks straight. When Videopolis opened, two churro carts were placed there and again became so popular that the carts were expanded to other areas.
Originally, the warming ovens, like the traditional one that Lowman first saw, were propane powered and that created a problem. Because of the popularity of the churros, even with six full propane tanks in each cart, they would run out of fuel, often by midday, and had to be replaced. Of course, propane is also explosive.
By the end of the first summer, the propane was replaced with electricity. The carts became part of Disneyland’s Outdoor Vending Team, the same group that sells popcorn and ice cream around the park.
When asked about the seemingly exorbitant price for a little bit of cinnamon and sugar like a doughnut, Lowman (who has been working at Disneyland for fifty years) proposes that guests get so many things for free like fireworks, clean restrooms, and live entertainment that those items have to be paid for in other ways. As he told an interviewer in 2015:
It’s either low food prices and pay to watch shows and watch entertainment, or higher food prices so that all of that can be wrapped up into one.
Lowman is constantly on the look-out for new food items including the barbecue foods and skewers he brought to Bengal Barbecue located near the Indiana Jones attraction at Disneyland.
He said:
That’s the fun of restaurant management. You can look at county fairs, you can look at different restaurants, you can look at what’s sold in grocery stores and think, “How can that translate to my business?”
WDW History
Do You Remember Harry Holt?
Harry Holt passed away at the age of 93 on April 14, 2004. He was born in April 1911 and at the time of his death, he lived in Casselberry, Florida.
His wife of twenty-seven years, Barbara said:
He was a very simple man, very quiet and modest, but he knew his trade. Disney was his life. He used to love to show other artists how to draw characters. He always drew. It was just a part of him.
Holt was a Disney animator and sculptor who officially retired from the company in 1982. However, thanks to his friend, Imagineer and marketing artist Ralph Kent, Holt got a new Disney career in 1987 at the age of 76 in a nook in the lobby of the Disneyana Collectibles Store (Exposition Hall beginning in 1998) in Main Street’s Town Square at the Magic Kingdom.
Until he turned eighty-three years old, he sat behind an animator’s desk interacting with guests. Originally, the job was to promote the opening of the Disney-MGM Studios with its new animation studio, but Holt proved so popular and beloved that he remained there for seven years working limited hours five days a week.
During that time, many a Disney fan would delight in getting a well-done 8” by 11” photostatic drawing done by Harry in pencil of Peter Pan battling Captain Hook, Lady and the Tramp dining out, Snow White dancing with the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi surrounded by his friends, Cinderella, Pinocchio, or even Ariel.
Harry would sketch in some additional details that he intentionally omitted as he chatted with the guests and then signed in the bottom right-hand corner. Sometimes he would chat about working at the Disney Studio or do an original sketch.
Most guests had no idea that he was not just a friendly, elderly “ Disney show artist,” but had a rich and varied career at Disney and as an animator in general.
Holt joined the Disney studio in 1936 as an in-betweener. He quickly worked his way up to assistant animator (to animators like Les Clark and Eric Larson) and finally a full animator.
From 1943–1956, Holt worked as a full-fledged Disney animator primarily on the shorts, with many credits on the Pluto cartoons (The Purloined Pup and Pluto’s Housewarming) and the Donald Duck cartoons (Chips Ahoy,Donald’s Diary, and In the Bag ), among many others.
Holt left Disney in 1956 to explore new opportunities with a television production company in Chicago. After four years, he returned to California and worked at Hanna-Barbera on their new animated television shows like The Flintstones.
In 1966, he returned to Disney to work at WED on sculpting maquettes for the audio-animatronics characters.
His sculpture work included figures for Country Bear Jamboree, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and “probably fifty percent of the figures for the Mickey Mouse Revue.” Holt didn’t just do figures, but also some of the Aztec art that appears on the front of the pyramid in the Mexico pavilion at Epcot.
In 1981, he also worked on the Tokyo Disneyland project for several months in art direction at the facilities where they manufactured and assembled most of the shows, props, and figures for installation.
The thing he remembered most about Walt Disney was:
If he had a chance to expound on the plans he was working on, he would [do it] anywhere whether it was to me or a janitor or a boy bussing tables. Walt would light up when he did so. He was so excited you couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
WDW History
Dick Tracy
The world premiere of the movie Dick Tracy was held at the Pleasure Island AMC 10 on the night of June 14, 1990. For the premiere there was a limited edition t-shirt (limited to the number of seats in the theater) that was the ticket for admission. It featured a drawing of Dick Tracy firing a tommy gun.
Warren Beatty, who was the producer and director of the film, as well as the star, led a procession down a red carpet into theater No. 5. The crowd was decked out not only in their t-shirts but yellow fedoras given out by Disney.
Besides Beatty, the stars at the premiere included Dustin Hoffman (Mumbles), Glenne Headly (Tess Trueheart), Estelle Parsons (Tess’ mother), Paul Sorvino (Lips Manlis), Ed O’Ross (Itchy), and Charlie Korsmo (The Kid).
The theater was filled to its 3,000-seat capacity with not only the celebrities, but press, local dignitaries, and other invited guests for the showing. The Island Depot at Pleasure Island was transformed into a Dick Tracy store filled with merchandise supporting the film and remained that way for several months.
After the premiere, the stars were escorted by the police to the big bash celebrating the film held at the Disney-MGM Studios.
On the Backlot Tour were New York City sets, inspired by Dick Tracy as well. A side street of brownstones had been painted in vivid primary colors (just like the film) and as the trams rounded a corner, there were mini-dramas with police and villians. Elements from the actual movie were also included on the tour, including examples of the matte and painting effects, giant “stone” bears from the drawbridge finale, displays of costumes and make-up, and Madonna’s skin tight, black sequined dress.
In addition, guests were invited to experience Diamond Double Cross, a stage show at the Theater of the Stars (when it was located where the entrance to Sunset Boulevard is today) based on Dick Tracy. The show had originally premiered May 21 to build anticipation for the premiere.
The show also premiered June 15 at Disneyland in the Videopolis Theater as part of Disneyland’s 35th anniversary celebration. It only lasted until the end of December 1990 at Disneyland and until nearly the end of February 1991 at Disney MGM Studios.
Like the film itself, the stage show was controversial, with some Disney fans loving it and others hating it. Only having an early draft of the film script, a few rough-cut sequences on videotape, a few photos and concept drawings from the movie, an early music track, and some knowledge of the comic strip itself, director Robert Jess Roth, writer Tom Child, art director Stan Meyer, and choreographer Matt West were charged with creating an elaborate 25-minute stage show that would capture the spirit of the film. It would be the first time in history that nearly identical shows were staged at the same time at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
The primary difference between the two was that since Videopolis was a larger theater, some of the scenic elements were changed to actual sets from just signage (like Mike’s Diner and the Ritz Club), Breathless made her entrance sitting on a crescent m
oon lowered from the fly gallery, white spotlights flashed around the set during the chase, etc. The script and the general staging were the same in both shows. Bob McTyre was executive producer and Mike Davis was producer as well as Disneyland director of entertainment, and Bruce Healey was musical director.
WDW History
Attraction Tributes
Many Imagineers are huge Disney fans as well and sometimes include little tributes to a former location in a new venue they are designing.
In the new AbracadaBar at the BoardWalk Resort is a framed copy of a newspaper on the wall that provides the back story of the magicians who mysteriously disappeared from there over seventy years earlier. However, in the lower right-hand corner is an odd little news item:
Twin Sisters Advance in Beauty Pageant
The Sweets Invited to Seashore Finals
The Boardwalk’s “sweetest” sisters have been invited to compete in the final round of the Miss Seashore beauty pageant. Their special talent? Serving confections with affection, of course! Wish the ladies luck as they lead a celebratory rolling chair parade this Sunday on the Boardwalk. At this pace, they may be on their way to becoming twin Miss America(s).
The location used to be the home for a shop called Seashore Sweets supposedly run by two former Miss America contestants, the fictional Sweet sisters. The sign outside the shop proclaimed that it sold “confections with affection” and inside were all sorts of candy, ice cream , and related items.
The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wise Acres Farm was a mini-roller coaster designed for children as a homemade “multiflex octo-plane” that was a popular attraction at Mickey’s Toontown Fair at the Magic Kingdom. A barnstormer was a term for a stunt pilot who traveled to rural areas to perform shows in a bi-plane.
In fact, it was so popular that when the area was redesigned as Storybook Circus for the New Fantasyland, the attraction was reconfigured as The Barnstormer featuring Goofy as the Great Goofini as one of the circus acts.
The back of the new sign for the attraction was designed to look as if the old sign had been taken apart and reformatted to make the new one.
In addition, the front of the sign states “An Acrobatic Skyleidoscope” which is a reference to the name of a daytime show that ran from 1985–1987 on the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot. The small sea gulls in the top right corner of the new sign are meant to be a subtle tribute to the similar looking gulls found in the extinct Tomorrowland attraction If You Had Wings.
The Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid attraction in the Magic Kingdom is on the spot where the former 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction used to be located. In the queue line, on the left hand side, is a “carving” in the faux rockwork of the silhouette of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus submarine from the original attraction.
Before the original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction was removed, Imagineers bottled up some of the water from the attraction and kept it stored safely for nearly two decades when it was poured into the waters of the new attraction as part of the official opening.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction in Fantasyland was originally the home for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. In the room meant to be Owl’s house is a framed picture on the left hand side of J. Thaddeus Toad handing over the deed of the land to Owl. On the floor to the right is a picture of Pooh greeting Moley, one of Toad’s closest friends.
In the pet cemetery at the exit of the Haunted Mansion attraction in Liberty Square in the upper part is a statue to Mr. Toad (actually, one of the Big Fig merchandise items designed by artist Kevin Kidney).
Many other similar tributes are scattered throughout the vacation kingdom.
WDW History
Turkey Legs
One of the iconic food treats at Walt Disney World is the infamous, enormous turkey legs that made their debut in Frontierland in the late 1980s. Originally, they were sold at only one food cart location, but the demand grew so large that they expanded to other Disney parks, including Disneyland.
Weighing roughly one-and-one-half pounds each, the legs have a taste that vaguely resembles ham thanks to being cured in a similar salt and sugar solution. The legs cost up to twelve dollars each.
Each leg is roughly 730–1,136 calories with a minimum of 36–54 grams of fat, according to the size of the leg. Orginally, Disney sold legs that were 22 ounces, but today the “jumbo” leg is closer to 34 ounces.
The turkey legs are not unique to Disney and are sold at carnivals, state fairs and other amusement venues around the United States.
A persisent urban myth was that the legs were so huge that they couldn’t possibily be from an actual turkey and must be from another bird like an emu or an ostrich.
Keith M. Williams, a vice president at the National Turkey Federation, an industry trade group, said:
People are accustomed to Thanksgiving turkeys, which are female birds, or hens which are traditionally much smaller; the males, called toms, are bigger—up to fity pounds apiece—and their legs are the ones that Disney serves.
Federal law prohibits the use of steroids to make turkeys and their legs meatier. However, farmers are raising larger turkeys because of demand and so the legs are larger as well.
Turkey legs are a favorite food of Andrew Zimmern, host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, who stated during an episode about Walt Disney World:
With the turkey, I can walk, I can gnaw, I can pull pieces off, I can put it down. And I just love salty, smoky, meaty. … It’s an American classic. It’s Americana.
I can put everyone’s mind at rest. It can’t be emu. I’ve eaten emu. It’s too big, And the meat would be a little more beefy. Emu has the consistency of turkey leg but the flavor of roasted veal. It’s got mild beefiness to it and a little more metallic.
In general, an emu leg would be about eight times the size of a turkey leg.
Marc Summers of Food Network’s Unwrapped: Walt Disney World stated:
Many guests aren’t familiar with smoked poultry, so they pick up on the salty flavor. Disney injects their legs with a salt--water cure for moisture, then smoke them. Turkey legs have pink meat because of the six-hour smoking process. It flavors the legs and keeps the inside meat pink and moist.
The food treat became so popular that in 2010, Disney created a line of merchandise souvenirs including hats, pins, magnets, t-shirts, and even air fresheners featuring an image of the turkey leg and the slogan “Nice & Juicy!” Disney bakeries even produce Rice Krispie Treat versions with chocolate icing as the skin.
By 2013, it was estimated that in Disney’s North American theme parks over two million of the jumbo turkey legs were sold and consumed each year. Turkey legs are no longer available at Disney’s Animal Kingdom since March 1, 2016.
Disney has stated that the legs are meant to be shared and that the average park visitor walks about seven miles during a visit or enough to burn most of the calories from eating the leg. They state that the popularity of the food item is due to its novelty and its “comfort food” factor.
WDW History
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party did not exist when the Magic Kingdom opened, but two highly popular events inspired its creation.
The very first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was held on December 16, 1983, for one night only, but then expanded to two nights in 1989, then three nights in 1990, and its popularity continued to increase so that today, it runs for multiple weeks.
This separate, hard-ticketed event offered to a limited number of guests after the Magic Kingdom closed for the night was a great guest satisfier with new things added to it each year.
Halloween Horror Nights began at Universal Studios Florida in 1991 for three nights and was instantly popular. Today, it also runs for multiple weeks. Designed as the ultimate in an interactive scary experience, it sparked the creation of similar events at amusement venues not only in central Florida but also in southern California.
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br /> The Disney company decided that perhaps a family-friendly alternative celebration to the Universal event along the same lines as the Christmas party might appeal to people. Those holiday offerings were generating tens of thousands of additional sales from theme park guests and local residents.
WDW has experimented with some small Halloween-themed promotions as early as 1972, but most often in the individual resorts. In 1975, to help attract locals and guests to the new Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, the Village Halloween Party was introduced where children (encouraged to attend in costume) could go with their parents trick-or-treating at the various stores and restaurants.
Another experiment was the one-night ticketed Halloween Hysteria event at the Magic Kingdom held after operating hours in 1979. It wasn’t until October 31, 1995, that the first Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party debuted. Like the first year of the Christmas party, it was held for only one night to determine if there was any interest. The cost was $16.95.
By October 1997, it increased to two nights and in 1999 increased again to three nights. Two years later, in 2001, it grew to five nights, and two years after that, in 2003, to ten nights. By 2005, it was boosted to fifteen nights and in 2016 there were twenty-nine nights. Just like the Christmas party, new offerings were introduced each year.
There are many reasons for the popularity of the event. First, it provides a safer and more magical environment for young children to go trick-or-treating for quality candy than visiting their local neighborhoods. Second, the limited number of people in the park provides easier access to favorite attractions.
