On this date in 1966, Walter Elias Disney passes away at St. Joseph’s Hospital of acute circulatory collapse (caused by lung cancer) just ten days after his 65th birthday. When the news of Walt’s death reaches Disneyland in Anaheim, consideration is given to closing the park for the day, but instead it is kept open (as Walt would have wanted), but the flags on Main Street USA are lowered to half-mast. Mr. Disney will be cremated two days later. (His 74-year-old brother Roy O. Disney will postpone his planned retirement and start construction in Florida on Walt’s latest project, Disney World.)
On the CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite, commentator Eric Sevareid states this about Mr. Disney: “He was a happy accident, one of the happiest this century has experienced. And judging by the way it’s behaving, in spite of all Disney tried to tell it about laughter, love, children, puppies, and sunrises, the century hardly deserved him.”
That evening Disneyland’s Fantasy on Parade (a special presentation for the holiday season) steps off for the first time. An unusually cold night for Anaheim, a somber Disneyland experiences a light snow.
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Source: ThisDayInDisneyHistory
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On this date in 1988, Actress/singer Vanessa Anne Hudgens – Gabriella Montez on Disney Channel’s High School Musical – is born in Salinas, California. She also appeared in 4 episodes of Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
On this date in 1971, Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks, starring Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, and Roddy McDowall opens in major U.S. theaters. An apprentice witch, 3 kids and a cynical con-man search for the missing component to a magic spell useful to the defense of Britain during World War II. A musical shot entirely on the Disney Studio lot in Burbank, California, the film features live- action and animation. (It will win an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.)
On this date in 1971, Walt Disney World’s first Christmas will be a spirited two-week holiday full of gaiety, tradition, colorful Disney character parades, and commemorative religious pageantry of the season. Yuletide decorations will bring added sparkle to the already fun-filled Magic Kingdom — ‘decked out’ literally for Christmas with a giant tree and hundreds of wreaths of hemlock and holly. Special daily Holiday Parades and two mammoth candlelight processionals are part of the spectacular events scheduled for the holidays.
On this date in 1992, Walt Disney Pictures releases The Muppet Christmas Carol – the fourth feature film to star The Muppets, the first distributed by Disney, and the first produced after the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson. The film is directed by Jim Henson’s son Brian and stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge.
On this date in 2003, Walt Disney World begins placing motion-sickness bags in the capsules of their newest Epcot attraction, Mission:SPACE. It is the first time Disney has put motion-sickness bags on any of its thrill rides.
On this date in 1957, Singer, actor, TV talk show & game host, and former teen idol Donny Osmond is born in Ogden, Utah. As a member of the Osmond Brothers, Donny performed many times at Disneyland (the singing siblings were actually discovered at the Anaheim park). Healso supplied the singing voice for Captain Li Shang in Disney’s Mulan, and between September 2006 and July 2007 played the role of the villainous Gaston in the Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast. Donny also supplied the voice of a farmer for Disney’s animated 2009 short Handy Manny’s Motorcycle Adventure and appeared in the 2008 comedy feature College Road Trip. He and Kym Johnston, winners of ABC-TV’s 2009 Dancing With the Stars, made an appearance at the very first D23 Expo.
On this date in 2008, International recording artist Josh Groban hosts BBC Radio 2 Celebrates the Music of Disney held live at London’s Lyceum Theatre. The concert, which is recorded for a December 26 broadcast, features the 70-piece BBC Concert Orchestra performing Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award-winning music spanning over 65 years of the Disney songbook. Broadway and West End performers include Ashley Brown (Broadway’s original Mary Poppins and a take-over Belle in Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast), Tituss Burgess (original Broadway casts of The Little Mermaid), Kerry Butler (a Broadway Belle for Beauty and the Beast), Heather Headley (Broadway’s original Aida and Nala in The Lion King), Adam Pascal (original Broadway casts of Aida), and Drew Sarich (original Quasimodo in the stage version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
On this date in 1941, Walt Disney hears the news over the radio of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He receives a phone call from his studio manager telling him that army troops are moving onto their Burbank lot! The troops are going to provide an anti-aircraft installation to protect the nearby Lockheed factory (which manufacture airplanes for the U.S. armed forces).
