Walt Disney

:For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. For other uses, see Walt Disney (disambiguation).

Trivia

• In the fifth grade, Walt memorized the Gettysburg Address (for fun) and surprised everyone by arriving at school dressed as Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. His costume consisted of his father's old coat and a homemade beard. He even pasted a putty wart to his cheek. His teacher was delighted. Little wonder that years later, when his studio created the first fully functioning audio-animatronic human figure for the 1964 New York World's Fair, the figure looked like Abraham Lincoln.
• Disney had very simple tastes in food. According to his daughter Diane, "He liked fried potatoes, hamburgers, western omelets, hotcakes, canned peas, hash, stew, roast beef sandwiches. He doesn't go for vegetables, but loves chicken livers or macaroni and cheese." Lillian Disney would complain, "Why should I plan a meal when all Disney really wants is a can of chili or a can of spaghetti?" http://www.jimhillmedia.com/articles/guest/korkis.05272003.1.htm
• Although a baptized Christian, Walt Disney was not a frequent visitor to churches. Religious people would occasionally ask him to make religious films but Walt declined.
• In 1940, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation recruited Disney as an Official Informant. He was later designated as a Special Agent in Charge contact.
• Walt had several hobbies over the years, among them model railroads, polo playing, and a backyard railroad.
• Walt spent countless afternoons, after his typical early morning inspection of the park, in the Main Street Station breakroom or on the line of the Disneyland Railroad (previously known as the Atcheson, Topeka, Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad). Among his closest friends in his last decade of life were Bob Hannah, the trainmaster, and Lorne Cline, lead brakeman, who later regaled park guests with stories about Walt into the late 1970s. Walt did not ever want to lose control of the railroad to the financial backers of Disneyland and so placed the steam train and monorail attractions into a free-standing company called "RETLAW" (which is "Walter" spelled backwards), which he and his wife were sole owners. Prior to its dissolution into the Disney Corp in the 1980s, he (and heirs) would recieve $0.60 for each person through the turnstile at the train stations, and supervisors could be seen currying favor with the owner by spinning the turnstiles to increase the count (and revenues) before park opening and after closing.
• 'Uncle Walt' could be seen around 1950s Disneyland doing menial chores, like getting strollers for people, tinkering under the hood of a car on Main Street U.S.A., fishing in Rivers of America, or piloting the Mark Twain Riverboat.
• In the fall of 1963, while seeking the site for Disney's new "Florida Project", Walt and Roy Disney first flew over a coastal area of Florida, and then the forest and swamps near Orlando which were selected as the site to become Walt Disney World. Shortly later, their plane landed in New Orleans on the way back to California where the Disney brothers learned of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States. He had been assassinated earlier that same afternoon in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
• One of the audio animatronic pirates on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride introduced in 1967 has Walt Disney's face. It was taken from the same life cast mold that was used to make the statue of Disney that adorns the central square.
• A number of rumors have been attributed to Walt Disney:

: "Walt Disney was an illegitimate child."

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: "Walt Disney received a dishonorable discharge from the military during World War I."

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: "Disney had his body frozen after his death and remains in cryonic storage."

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:These are all untrue. Widely spread and retold, like many other rumors, they have become urban legends.

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