Quirky Secrets of WDW

MadEye · Post by **MadEye** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 9:45 am

rknrlrcstr wrote:Thanks MadEye.

No problem.

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 10:25 am

Why doesn't Disney sell gum?!?!?! I've never noticed that!!!

MadEye · Post by **MadEye** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 11:52 am

Walt hated gum.

Post by **horizons1** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 12:19 pm

Not strictly Disney, but you made me think of this with all the gum talk:

The Orlando airport does not allow the sale of gum either.

Coincidence?!

happysneakers · Post by **happysneakers** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 1:22 pm

Not only did Walt dislike gum, it is also an amusement park nightmare! If gum is sold, you will soon see it end up on the ground, under tables and on rides. Now you have a germy mess that you have to hire more people to clean.

Mr.ToadWildRider · Post by **Mr.ToadWildRider** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 2:18 pm

Hmm after the recent where in the world I figured I'd post some HM stuff.

First, the roof is decorated w/ (arguably) Chess Pieces. The only piece missing is the Knight and there are a couple explanations. The first, is the knight is the most defined piece and the imagineers never intended to make "chess pieces" but it was by chance. You can't really chance horse heads too well, but it's possible i suppose. The second, and my favorite, is that it's always night inside so no knight outside

The third is that the knight's armor inside the endless hall is the missing knight.

Second, there is a somewhat macabre interpretation of the HM's story. Many believe the bride is a key figure in the HM lore, and it seems more evident now that the entire attic is dedicated to her. Although, the current HM story-line is somewhat different than the popular version that is the bride was to marry Master Gracey, but his being a cold and heartless man threw herself out the attic window. The rider supposedly experiences this as well. The story (not official just one that has been circulated places like doombuggies.com) is that the guests fall/leap out of the attic window (when you exit the attick, spin backwards and float/fall into the graveyard) resulting in your own demise. The explanation for this story is that 1) the caretaker and his dog are terrified to see YOU as you pass signaling your own ghostly visage and 2) the ghosts seem more friendly to you as guests in the graveyard whereas earlier you a) can't see them until Leota calls them and b) only see them from afar.

Now I'm not sure I buy that story because the hitch hiking ghosts "will follow you home" and Little Leota urges you to bring your death certificates as proof of your end but it's a bit quirky of a story/twist on the mythology. And it's true, you clearly do descend from the attic of the mansion to the ground level as you exit the attic, which is supposedly how the bridge dies.

Who knows?

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 3:08 pm

is that the guests fall/leap out of the attic window (when you exit the attick, spin backwards and float/fall into the graveyard) resulting in your own demise. The explanation for this story is that 1) the caretaker and his dog are terrified to see YOU as you pass signaling your own ghostly visage

That's an interesting way of looking at it. I never interpreted it that way before. I caught on to the "falling out of the attic window" part, but I always thought the caretaker was just frightened of the events taking place in the graveyard and that he was kind of warning you not to go inside...even though it's the only way out.

There are so many ways to analyze the story behind the ride, I think the Imagineers created it so there would be a constant mystery...kind of like a choose your own adventure book. The rider can come up with their own conclusions.

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 10:53 pm

Going back to the gum topic.....my thought was that gum is very messy! Did Walt not like gum himself, or just thought it was a mess?! I usually bring my own supply of gum for our trip, so I never noticed it's not sold. I always have to have gum!

yodiwan1 · Post by **yodiwan1** » Aug Mon 24, 2009 11:50 pm

Ok, to end the gum rumors, this si what I was told about it when I was a CM, and being in custodial I realy heard about it alot. It is not that Walt did not like gum, it's because when he went to other parks he saw it all over the floors and attractions. he did not want his park to look like that. He originally wanted to ban gum all together and if poeple brought it in security would take it, but he didnt want to be a complete jerk. As it is now, custodial staff all have a scrapper on them if they see gum they are to get it right away. There, I hope that ends all of this sticky conversation, lol.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Aug Tue 25, 2009 7:46 am

Mr.ToadWildRider wrote:Although, the current HM story-line is somewhat different than the popular version that is the bride was to marry Master Gracey, but his being a cold and heartless man threw herself out the attick window. The rider supposedly experiences this as well. The story...is that the guests fall/leap out of the attic window...resulting in your own demise.

It seems now that the bride is a "black widow." The interpretation now could be that the guest is her next victim being thrown from the attic window.

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Aug Tue 25, 2009 11:56 am

It seems now that the bride is a "black widow." The interpretation now could be that the guest is her next victim being thrown from the attic window.

The last time I was on the ride, it was HMH, so I haven't seen the updated attic scene (it sounds like perhaps the same changes happened in DL as WDW). I would love to go on it when it is its normal self and see what conclusions can be made with the scene.

That sounds like a good storyline agingerbugg

MadEye · Post by **MadEye** » Aug Tue 25, 2009 12:08 pm

agingerbugg wrote:It seems now that the bride is a "black widow." The interpretation now could be that the guest is her next victim being thrown from the attic window.

Or pushed. At least that is how I interpret the drop backwards.

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Aug Tue 25, 2009 12:48 pm

Or pushed. At least that is how I interpret the drop backwards.

I guess it could go either way since you start out of the window going forward and then roll backward...kind of like a stuntman

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Aug Wed 26, 2009 3:49 pm

yodiwan1 wrote:Ok, to end the gum rumors, this si what I was told about it when I was a CM, and being in custodial I realy heard about it alot. It is not that Walt did not like gum, it's because when he went to other parks he saw it all over the floors and attractions. he did not want his park to look like that. He originally wanted to ban gum all together and if poeple brought it in security would take it, but he didnt want to be a complete jerk. As it is now, custodial staff all have a scrapper on them if they see gum they are to get it right away. There, I hope that ends all of this sticky conversation, lol.

That makes sense! The Disney parks are very clean. I always make sure to throw my gum in the trash, I would never disrespect the World!

Fantastory · Post by **Fantastory** » Aug Thu 27, 2009 8:23 pm

The storyline I was told for HM on the Keys to the Kingdom tour (which is fantastic - I highly recommend it) was that the bride was supposed to marry the owner of the mansion (Gracey? no names were given) but the night of the wedding he caught her upstairs with another man. The men fought and I can't remember if one got his head cut off (hence the ghost with a hatbox in DL) or got pushed out the window, and the bride, distraught, threw herself out the window after him. That's the only time I've heard that version anywhere. When I returned as a CM, other CMs looked at me funny for it.
Now though, the bride is apparently named Constance (for some reason I thought she was Emily or something) and clearly killed her 5 husbands by chopping their heads off. Possibly A) she threw the bodies out the window afterwards, B) we are escaping from the homicidal bride out the window, or my personal opinion C) the Ghost Host is simply leading us on a tour of the mansion, so we just see what is going on as we travel "among" the ghosts.
One of my friends (also a CM) pointed out that some of the princesses and their princes are dancing in the Swinging Wake room. It doesn't look exactly like them and the dresses are different but you can pick out some definite hairstyles. I know I saw Cinderella and Belle...possibly Aurora.
And in the new endless stairways room, the glowing footsteps each stop near a candellabra, and the candellabra is blown out as soon as they reach it, as though they died there.

I noticed the ToT glasses but wasn't sure if they counted as an official Hidden Mickey. I took a pic just in case!

On the Jungle Cruise, I heard the disco thing on the Keys to the Kingdom tour, but haven't heard it since because once somebody was texting on the boat and the cell signal shut the natives down and every other time the skipper has been shrieking bloody mary.
Fun fact: the crashed plane has a Hidden Mickey in rivets near the bottom...and the front half of the plane is in the Great Movie Ride in the Casablanca scene.

The snack cart next to the Indiana Jones stunt show is called Dig Site #1138. This is a number that George Lucas slips into all of his movies, since the title of his first film was THX 1138. And a very strange film it was, too...

And one of my favorites: the "road" in Dinoland in the Animal Kingdom has a sign labelling it as route 498. It was the 4th park built in WDW, and it opened on Earth Day - April, 1998.