Circle of Parks Podcast: Talking all things Walt Disney World
Because there's far too much to see and do. We're here to help guide you through. We are a married couple with two boys age 9 and 6 talking all things Disney World. This podcast will cover the tips and tricks we've learned along our journey, history of the parks and attractions, and most importantly why and how Disney makes us feel how we do while in the parks and that it's ok to feel that way.
Circle of Parks Podcast: Talking all things Walt Disney World
Episode #181: The Secrets of the Magic Kingdom Part 2
Unlock the secrets of Magic Kingdom with us as we explore the enchanting tales and intriguing trivia behind one of Disney's most iconic parks. Ever wondered about the story behind the Liberty Bell at Liberty Square, or how the Liberty Tree found its home six miles from where it stood? We're sharing captivating stories like these, alongside quirky anecdotes about Sleepy Hollow Refreshments, inspired by Washington Irving's home, and the mysterious silhouette of Ichabod Crane himself. Join us as we navigate through the historical and architectural wonders that make Magic Kingdom a truly timeless experience.
In this whimsical episode, we're spilling the beans on the fascinating decisions made by Michael Eisner, who even involved his teenage son in the creative process for attractions like Star Tours and Splash Mountain. Discover the surprising origins of Splash Mountain's name, and how it has a curious connection to the movie "Splash." Plus, get ready for some trivia, including the story behind Fort Langhorne and a playful tidbit about Rosita from the Tiki Room. We'll also touch upon the mystical Society of Explorers and Adventurers and their links to Big Thunder Mountain, rounding off with a nod to the Tiki Room's groundbreaking role in the evolution of audio animatronics. Don't miss this episode packed with Disney magic and lore!
#1 B2B Travel Podcast. Execs, Start-Ups, Major Trends
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Hello and welcome to Circula Parks Podcast, episode number 181. Today we are going to continue with our Secrets of the Magic Kingdom episode from last week. There is far too much to see and do. We are here to help guide you through, but before we do that, we must talk Disney merch. So this week, disneystorecom I was just looking at some stuff because of the new Moana 2 movie and even though this isn't necessarily a new item, if you've seen Moana 2 or even the first one, pua, pua, pua, pua, he is just Pua's adorable. And so there is a Pua Squish Mellow Plush that is priced at $24.99. Super cute. Or you can get a Pua Plush, moana, a medium-sized stuffed animal, for $26.99. Just super cute. I think I'm going to end up having to get something Pua very soon. There's even a really cute a couple of cute t-shirts out there now for adults featuring Pua, priced at $29.99 each. So go check that out at DisneyStorecom.
Speaker 1:Thank you everybody for joining us. Episode number 181, part two of Secrets of the Magic Kingdom yes, part two, partrets of the Magic Kingdom. Yes, part two. Part two we had a lot last week. We're going to continue with this week and, yeah, if you're just now joining us, thank you, I'm Zach.
Speaker 1:I'm Brittany and we do this show every week and we just hope to take you to Disney, help you plan a better vacation and just give you a break. Yes, that's all we really want to do, right? Yes, All right, so let's get right into it. Last week, we stopped at. Where did we stop at? We got through Haunted Mansion we stopped at the Haunted Mansion and I wanted to go back and correct one thing.
Speaker 2:I thought you said you had to correct a couple.
Speaker 1:Well, one thing I for sure remembered was I said we would talk about the contemporary more in the episode when we were talking about town square blocking the contemporary resort right there is one place in the magic kingdom where you can see the contemporary, and there's a very good reason for that okay, and where is that? It is from tomorrowland because the architecture of the contemporary is of obviously contemporary right futuristic looking. So it goes with the background and just the overall scene of tomorrowland the aesthetic, the aesthetic.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you, so you can see the contemporary from tomorrowland and that, again, that is the only place in the magic kingdom that you can see outside of the park.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because you're in a story. Yes, you cannot see the outside world from the park, right yeah? Except the contemporary From Tomorrowland. If you look carefully, you can see it from the Tomorrowland.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, that's interesting, but it fits with the explanation that you just gave.
Speaker 1:I think the other thing was and I might be putting you on the spot there was a name you were wanting to correct. Oh, I was saying Michael Katzenberg, and it's Jeffrey Katzenberg who was the head of animation during the Disney Renaissance. He went on to found DreamWorks and the Trek and all that.
Speaker 2:But you did want to correct that it was.
Speaker 1:Jeffrey Katzenberg. Sorry about that. If he's listening, which I'm sure he's probably not All that Okay, but you did want to correct that it was Jeffrey Katzenberg. Sorry about that. If he's listening, which I'm sure he's probably not.
Speaker 2:But still.
Speaker 1:So, all right, we're moving on from Haunted Mansion and I want to talk about the Liberty Bell, which is in Liberty Square.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would hope so.
Speaker 1:It is cast from the same mold of the real Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. That's awesome. Mold of the real liberty bell in philadelphia.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, pretty cool and actually kind of an interesting story there, but that's in the book oh, of how they they came to get it. Oh, I was looking forward to you sharing a little tidbit well, when we get to disney trivia, we'll show an excerpt.
Speaker 1:well, well, I'll read an excerpt from from the book regarding disney trivia. Okay, all right, but uh, also the liberty tree, that huge tree next to the Liberty Bell. Yes, so the original Liberty Tree dates to 1764. Actually, this is from the book. The original Liberty Tree dates to 1765, where the Sons of Liberty would gather in Boston to protest the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act. I forgot the exact amount, but it was only like a very small amount of taxes on their tea that they just completely revolted against, right? Yes, compared to now, it's like a very minuscule amount, but at the time, at the time.
Speaker 1:Yes, so the Liberty Tree in Liberty Square is a live oak tree and was found elsewhere on property and moved six miles to its current location. There were also 13 lanterns hanging on the tree representing the 13 colonies. It was found near where animal kingdom park is now the tree.
Speaker 1:The tree was okay, yes, and it almost did not make the trip from, but they they got it right, yeah, so keeping in Liberty Square, we're going to talk about the architecture of Sleepy Hollow Refreshments Very unique. All the buildings in Liberty Square are accurate to that time period.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, they are for sure.
Speaker 1:So the building. Again, this is also from my book, so you're getting some book stuff here. The building is a New York Dutch version of a colonial gabled house inspired by Washington Irving's actual house. Who is Washington Irving? You ask who is it. He is the author of the Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, which this quick service is themed after.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, so I thought that was kind of cool, a little tie in there A little tie in there and across the way at the ye olde christmas shop love that shop at night. You can see ichabod's crane ichabod crane's silhouette in the windows above the actual place where you get silhouettes drawn oh, it is right over that it's right above it oh, yeah, yeah, and it like shows them like what, getting ready for dinner or eating dinner and stuff, yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Also, ye olde christmas shop is actually three stores in one. Yes, it's a christmas shop, of course, but the first portion is ichabod crane's music that's why he's above the windows so he was a music teacher and inside you'll see like musical themed displays and stuff like that. The second portion is a woodworking shop and then displayed in there you'll see different woodworking tools and like an old rocking horse, stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And then the third portion is a. It used to be called the Keppel family house, so it was like an old farmhouse. Keppel was Walt's grandfather's name.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 1:That is no longer. That little tidbit is no longer there, but I thought that's kind of cool. Yeah, for sure, all right. So, zach, what is that? Brown path you don't want to know, in liberty square that goes right down the middle right, I don't know. You don't want to know what it represents so on the edges of it is like red, and then you see this brown pea, grass pea, gravel path, right. So back during colonial times they did not have bathrooms, right? So what people did?
Speaker 1:they had chamber pots in their house yeah and whatever they got full, they just dump them out dumped them in the street yeah, that's like you don't want to know what it represents. So this represents that Human waste, human waste. Fun fact, there are no public restrooms in Liberty Square, right? I think we touched on that a little bit last week, you like?
Speaker 2:pushed and, pushed and pushed for it.
Speaker 1:We finally got there. There are no public restrooms in Liberty Square. Keeping with the theme, now there are restaurants in Liberty Square, right.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:By law, restaurants have to have restrooms right.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:The restrooms in Liberty Tree Tavern are extremely tiny, really really tiny, and the restrooms in Columbia Harbor House are not in Liberty Square.
Speaker 2:It's in Fantasyland, they're actually in Fantasyland.
Speaker 1:Pretty cool, it is in Fantasyland, they're actually in Fantasyland, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Pretty cool.
Speaker 2:It is Again detail.
Speaker 1:Very detailed there Also. All right, so now we're going to cross the Mississippi River into Frontierland.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But before we do that, we're going to talk about the Diamond Horseshoe, which is a nod to the Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland, but this Diamond Hors.
Speaker 1:about the diamond horseshoe, which is a nod to the golden horseshoe in disneyland, but this diamond horseshoes at last building the restaurant on the left, right before you go into frontier land, and it is a represents a saloon in st louis at that time in the 1800s right, and st louis was the gateway to the west, right. Yes, so this is what this is a nod to, and that bridge that you walk over actually has a little stream running underneath it, representing the Mississippi River.
Speaker 2:Interesting. So yeah, I don't know if I remember seeing that. Well, you have to look for it, Right?
Speaker 1:right, yeah, you have to look for it. So, as we make our way into Frontierland, if you look above the frontier style architecture buildings, you will see Davy Crockett's clothes on a clothesline.
Speaker 2:I have seen that, yes.
Speaker 1:But if you go there, there is something very unique missing from the clothes that are hanging on the clothesline.
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't looked at it that much.
Speaker 1:His coonskin hat is missing, his famous coonskin hat that he's famous for, right. Do you know where it?
Speaker 2:is, I do not.
Speaker 1:It is in New Fantasyland.
Speaker 2:Okay. Go to Gaston's Tavern, you will find it hanging on the antler chandelier, that's what I was picturing, so maybe I have seen it. Yeah, okay, I was picturing it hanging up high, okay, so this I want.
Speaker 1:I've just finished this portion of the book and I really want to talk about this because I find it just so fascinating that tall Pecos Bill, tall telling and cafe. Now I'm not going to talk about him, I go into that story in the in the book. But the quick service restaurant is amazing, just styled perfectly for the transition from the Spanish influence of the Caribbean Plaza in Adventureland to the Spanish influence of the American Southwest in the 1800s. That confluence of time and architecture comes together beautifully as you transition from the Caribbean Plaza in Adventureland and Frontierland, that corner right there, the way they did it is just beautiful. You don't even notice it, right.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, no.
Speaker 1:They did such a great job of theming the exterior of Pecosville Tall Tale Linen Cafe on that corner. I just thought that was just great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I mean they definitely know what they're doing and how to encompass it.
Speaker 1:I think it's one of my most, it's one of my favorite transitions there, because it's so subtle, you don't even think about it, but you're like, wow, you went from Spanish influence of the Caribbean to Spanish influence in the American Southwest. And you didn't even realize it.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, no, you don't I just think that's so cool.
Speaker 1:All right, so we're going to get to Tiana's Bayou Adventure, which previously was Splash Mountain. Yes, designed by famous, legendary imagineer Tony Baxter. Did Splash Mountain. Did Big Thunder Mountain. Did Star Tours. Funny story of how Star Tours and Splash Mountain came about, and I've recently listened to an interview from Tony Baxter.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So when Michael Eisner came on as CEO, he brought Tony Baxter in in a room with Eisner's 14-year-old son and he told Tony what do you got for me? Show me what you've got. And Tony was kind of taken back by this. He's like I've never actually presented ideas to a 14-year-old, which is the audience that they have. They always pitched them to shareholders and the board and whatnot.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So he told him about Star Tours, which at the time no one had even heard of, that Right. But it was very like oh, this virtual reality motion thing, right, it was very like oh this virtual reality motion. Thing right.
Speaker 2:No one even knew that right.
Speaker 1:Right 14-year-old son loved it, and he told him about the flume, the idea for Splash Mountain, which was not called Splash Mountain at the time, and he even said, oh, I love it even more. And so that's how Michael Eisner finished the meeting with you take care, do those too, like he greenlit those from the get-go which you take care, do those too. Like he would greenlit those from the get go, which I thought was kind of cool. But the original name was supposed to be Zippity.
Speaker 1:Zippity River Run. That just doesn't like roll off the tongue or doesn't just sound right, does it?
Speaker 2:No, but I mean, had it been named that we wouldn't have known any different.
Speaker 1:Hey, let's go, we got a fast pass for Zippity Zippity River Run.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So at this time that it was being in development, the movie Splash was hitting theaters, which was a 19 early 1980s movie about mermaids. Yes, with what's his name.
Speaker 2:Tom Hanks. Yeah, tom Hanks, um, uh, what's?
Speaker 1:his name, tom hanks. Yeah, tom hanks, and there was a mermaid and tony baxter was like, well, mermaid and spot, like the story for splash mountain, don't really doesn't really go together, but they wanted to. You know, eisner wanted to promote the movie right and so he was like just put splash somewhere in there in the name and then splash mountain just sounds great.
Speaker 2:It's a mountain, you get splashed right, and there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1:It was splash mountain was born or came to be originally to promote the movie splash, which no one even knows of right, yeah, no, but I mean the, the thinking of it's a mountain and you do get splashed on. That makes sense, yeah yeah, uh, so the name of the fort on tom sawyer's island which we do not know when it's going to be going away, but eventually it will is named fort langhorne. Fort langhorne is named after samuel clemens, tom sawyer's real name. Langhorne is his middle name, so so Samuel Langhorne.
Speaker 2:Clemens Interesting, okay so yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1:The Liberty Bell Riverboat is on a track and the water is dyed so you can't see the mechanical stuff underneath it. Now when they drained. Remember when they drained it a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2:You could see it then you could see it. Yeah, but it makes sense why the water's darker.
Speaker 1:All right, so we're going to move on to Adventureland.
Speaker 2:That's really all you're talking about there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, interesting. Well, okay, we'll talk about Big Thunder Mountain. Yeah, I was like you didn't touch on Big Thunder. Okay, so we know where Rosita is from the Tiki Room.
Speaker 2:Ah, yes.
Speaker 1:So if you've been in the oh. I'm sorry, go ahead. You tell the story. I don't know the story. You tell the story. No, I don't know the story. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:I don't. I just know that she's in the. Yeah, she is in the queue.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe we don't know, Still up in the air.
Speaker 2:Okay, so if you've been Well, she is up in the air. Okay, go ahead. Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So if you've been to the enchanted Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room in the beginning part, you'll hear them say where is Rosita? Yes, if you're in the queue for Big Thunder Mountain, when you go through the part that has the bird cages hanging in the queue on one of the bird cages one of the fancier bird cages on the bottom part says Rosita. So that is Rosita's bird cage.
Speaker 2:Oh, but we don't know if she's in it. We don't know if she's in it.
Speaker 1:Now, what did they use canaries for? In mines, I don't know, to see if the air was toxic or not, because the canaries would die first. Oh why, if the air was toxic or not, because the canaries would die first, why do you have to say that we don't she?
Speaker 2:we don't. She still may be alive, we don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's in the birdcage, okay also in the queue for big thunder mountain, that big portrait hanging above where you go down to get into the final queue. That is looks like a very mean old, like corporate, like corporate CEO mind person, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:That's actually Tony Baxter.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's been a while since. I've actually paid attention to that picture, but okay, I can see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's a huge backstory with the Society of Explorers and Adventurers tied into the Big Thunder Mountain. We could you know whole episodes, episodes plural.
Speaker 2:They touched on that, on something we watched too, didn't they? Yeah, but like behind the attraction, right, right, yep, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. So we're going to move on into Adventureland and we're going to go to the Tiki Room, if you like, audio animatronics. Think the Tiki. Thank the teakiver.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's full of them. Well, not only is it, full of them.
Speaker 1:These were the very first audio animatronics. So without these little birds, we don't get Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, right, we don't get the Hall of Presidents. We don't get the shaman in Pandora, we don't get Hondo Inaka in Star Wars we don't't get any of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this that's because of these little birds.
Speaker 1:Now, these aren't the original birds, but but still, that's where it started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah and so walt had the idea of buying the robotic up. Sorry, he had the idea to animate these birds after buying a robotic bird on a trip in New Orleans. And so he went to his Imagineers and I don't think they were even called Imagineers at the time, but anyway went to them and said, hey, we need to develop something with these birds, we need to animate these birds more. And so they got to working on it and when the show got done he was like I can't see them breathing, their chests aren't expanding like they're breathing. And they were like well, how do we do that? So Mary Blair, famed artist Mary Blair, was in a meeting with Walt and he was wearing a cashmere jacket or sweater, I can't remember, and noticed how the cashmere subtly just moved around with the skin, with Walt's body, and didn't look like it was really moving that much, but it just looked natural. So all the audio-animatronic birds in the Tiki Room have cashmere chests. So it looks like you can see them breathing. Oh, interesting, okay.
Speaker 2:So I thought that was really cool. Yeah, sure, and you know it is a a show to see and to definitely get out of the heat and sometimes, if you time it right, you can eat your dole whip in there too you can.
Speaker 1:You can also bring your dole whip in there. Uh, and so before 2020, talking about Dole Whips you could only get Dole Whips in Walt Disney World, disneyland and the Dole Farm in Hawaii and the only places you could get them. Now you can buy them in stores. Probably not the same, it's frozen and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Dole Whips yummy, yummy, and I mean my favorite is still the pineapple, like half pineapple, half coconut. But any flavor I've tried has really been good and, like the boys, are starting to try some different ones as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also in Adventureland is the smallest hidden Mickey can be found here in the Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So in the ground of Adventureland, not in the Caribbean Plaza, in the Aladdin.
Speaker 2:Right, I just I don't think I've seen it still yet, but I knew it's over there.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll show you when we go, Okay, and by across from where the Magic Carpet of Aladdin is, in that seating area where it's kind of sometimes you'll see Aladdin meet there.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:If you look in the pavement or on the ground, you'll see a lot of like rocks and jewels and little trinkets and whatnot Inside. One of those little trinkets is a hidden Mickey, so you got to find it.
Speaker 2:Okay, so it's away from the spitting camel.
Speaker 1:It is on the other, to the right. So if you're looking at Carpets of Aladdin and the spitting camels on your left, it's going to be on the right hand side.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Alright. So the shop when you first walk into Adventureland from the hub. It's called Bawana Bob's. Bawana Bob's. Do you know who that's a nod to.
Speaker 2:I did not, until you told me it is a nod to Bob Hope.
Speaker 1:Call Me Bawana is a 1963 British comedy based largely in Africa starring Bob Hope. So it's kind of like a spoof of a James Bond movie.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:So I thought that was.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's kind of a callback, but it's kind of cool. Right, for sure All right, so that's all I got. Do you have any you would like to add to that?
Speaker 2:No, because I mean we touched on a lot and I'm sure there's more that we have left out. Because it's Disney, it's the Magic Kingdom. There's going to be a lot of little secrets here and there, reasons why they've added things to it.
Speaker 1:There's a reason for everything. Well, and if you look at the queue for Tiana's Bayou, there's so many items in the queue that you could do a whole episode just on what's in the queue for Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and all of it has meaning it does from the movie yeah well, it's pat like this is beyond the movie, right. Yeah, yeah. But I mean it still has things that like to reflect back on what her dad like, her dad's letters and everything and recipes and all that stuff. So but no, I mean, if you are looking at something while you're in any of the Disney parks, there is a reason it's there.
Speaker 1:Whether you can tie it into the movie if it's based on a movie or you know, imagineer someone that's worked with disney there's always a reason it's there yeah, so yeah, all right, we're gonna go to disney trivia this week and I found this one while researching for the book and I think it's a really, really good one. All right, so what attraction has the nickname Walt's Last Laugh?
Speaker 2:I got this wrong. When I guessed what did you guess? I said Splash Mountain and the Laughing Place and all that.
Speaker 1:So Walt did have a laughing place and it was in his office. It was when he was really sick. His assistant would go in and massage his shoulder and neck and stuff like that and they would always tell goofy stories and stuff like that and that was called his laughing place. Yeah, so everybody has to have a laughing place. Yeah, that's a good tie-in to that.
Speaker 2:But no, right no.
Speaker 1:It is not that, it is Country Bear Jamboree. Yeah, didn't see that, did you? I did not. So here is an excerpt from my book, and I find this just really, really good. So, as the story goes, walt Disney walked into Mark Davis's office one day in late 1965 to review the concept art for the show. Upon seeing the artwork, walt began laughing hysterically. After a moment he walked out simply saying goodbye to Mark. This would be the last time Mark ever saw Walt. As Walt passed away on december 15th 1966, this poignant story earned the country bear jamboree the nickname walt's last laugh. So walt didn't say that to people normally right like goodbye goodbye.
Speaker 1:He didn't say that, and so every imagineer or person that I've watched interviews with that talks about the last time they saw. Walt says the same thing that he said he said well, so if you uh I watched the Richard Sherman documentary and he said to uh, last time he went into uh Richard Sherman's office he said keep up the good work.
Speaker 2:And that was his own way of saying bye.
Speaker 1:He didn't he didn't give a praise very much. It was very subtle and very small when he did give it. So when he was saying stuff like everybody says kind of the same thing. It's like he sensed it, he knew, and so, yeah, country Bear Jamboree, which has just been reimagined. We're going to go watch it when we go in June.
Speaker 2:All of us, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:It's more up to date now it's all right, all right we can't say we haven't. We've done everything in walt disney world and we have not seen. It's not the country bear jamboree anymore. I can't think of the name, but yeah yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, the reason why I question I'm like okay in june, like all of us, or like in february, when it's you and me, but we're not going.
Speaker 1:I don't think we're going to Magic Kingdom in February, are we?
Speaker 2:No, nope.
Speaker 1:That's for another show. Yeah, all right. So this week's winner. We've missed him for a few weeks. It's from X Sweeney back on top. So, congratulations, sweeney, and a lot of people answered this correctly, so a lot of people on Instagram and X both all answered this correctly, so thank you. I did not think this was going to be one that was well known.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but this time stamp said Sweeney, sweeney.
Speaker 1:I mean, he was on it, congrats but, uh, for those that did answer on on Instagram and X, thank you, uh, they were all correct yay, well, good, so thank you all right, thank you everybody for joining us. Uh, I really enjoyed doing this episode next week. Week we will be doing the Secrets. Which other part do we want to do next week? Ooh, stay tuned.
Speaker 2:This is going to be a new series.
Speaker 1:All right, but thank you so much for joining us. If you want to support the team, the best way to do that is to share the show and leave us a five-star rating review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps us to grow. The show lets us know you're listening. Really appreciate it. You can email us circularparks at gmailcom. Our website's wwwcircularparkscom, and we're on Facebook, instagram and X all at Circular Parks. Thank you so much for listening. Really hope you enjoyed these episodes on.
Speaker 2:We can tell, but we love it, yeah, so talk to you soon. Thank you, bye.