8 Shocking Disneyland Secrets You Never Knew
Yes, Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth. It’s still capable of keeping secrets, though. Some of the best parts of a theme park visit here are shrouded in mystery. They’re places to see and things to do, ones that only real Disney fanatics know. Would you like to be an insider? Read on to learn some carefully guarded Disneyland secrets.
1. The Sleeping Beauty Castle Drawbridge Is Functional
Many of the best Disneyland secrets are hidden in plain sight. For example, you can’t help but notice Sleeping Beauty Castle when you walk through the park. The very design of the place emphasizes this gorgeous park wienie.
What you wouldn’t expect is that the drawbridge works. You likely presume that it’s a cosmetic effect rather than a functional device. That’s not the case. The drawbridge is absolutely capable of going up and down…or it once was.
Disney has operated it twice: on opening day in 1955 and for the opening ceremonies of the new Fantasyland in 1983. In 2014, park officials added safety precautions to protect guests near the moat. The belief is that the new bars, chains, and wooden planks prevent the drawbridge from working now, although there’s some debate on this point.
2. Figment Is Trapped at Disney California Adventure
This secret’s kind of dark. Back in 2017, Disney finished the repurposing of Twilight Zone Tower of Terror into Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!. Understanding that the wait-times would be significant for the new version of the drop tower attraction, Imagineers built an extensive, highly detailed line queue.
Part of this queue shows off some of the items that The Collector has, well, collected over the years. These “subjects” aka kidnapping victims are in cases that hang from the ceiling. Alert viewers might notice that a couple of them are familiar.
Yes, in some dystopian future, poor Figment has become a part of The Collection. The imaginary dragon isn’t even the only famous Disney character on display. Harold the Yeti from Matterhorn Bobsleds has also fallen into enemy hands.
3. You Can Get Front-Row Seats on the Monorail!
The Walt Disney World version of the monorail once allowed guests to ride in front with the conductor. In recent years, changes to the monorail system eliminated this possibility. At Disneyland, however, you can still sit in the nose cone section aka the front.
How do you pull off this trick? You ask! Yes, when you wait in line for the next monorail ride, you’ll see a cast member depart the monorail train and help guests on and off the vehicle. Speak with this person and, as politely as possible, ask to sit in the front.
Presuming that the nose cone has open seating, the cast member can place you in the front of the monorail! To increase your odds, you’ll want to stand on the left side of the first gate at the station. It’s the equivalent of being the first in line.
PS: You can also request a seat in the back car. Fewer people do this, which I think makes it more unique.
4. The Fujishige Family Drove a Hard Bargain
In an era when Japanese people weren’t allowed to purchase land, Hiroshi Fujishige and his brother, Masao, did so. They managed to buy a small tract of seemingly worthless land in Anaheim.
Hiroshi Fujishige had survived a poisoning attempt by his dentist, bitter over the loss of a loved one during World War II. The American government was apologetic about the situation and looked the other way on a vaguely illegal business transaction.
As fate would have it, those 56 acres that he purchased in 1953 were right beside similarly cheap land that Walt Disney was buying. Yes, the Fuishige farm resided half a mile away from what would become the Happiest Place on Earth.
You can imagine the value of these 56 acres. Early on, Uncle Walt offered $10,000 for the extra space, as he coveted additional Disneyland land. The brothers refused to sell and maintained their stance for decades.
Their resistance proved difficult. Some of the most powerful corporations and individuals in the world made offers for this land. Even after Masao died in 1986, Hiroshi stood firm for many years. Then, he suffered an unfortunate bath mishap that forced him into a coma.
During this time, his children, along with Hiroshi’s family, finally agreed to sell. The purchase price for 52.5 acres was…$99.9 million. Rejecting that first offer of $10,000 proved to be a savvy financial decision.
For Disney, the new space allowed them to construct an employee parking area, thereby allowing more room for future Disneyland attractions. Yes, whenever cast members park, they’re doing so on the most expensive property at Disneyland. As for the Fujishige family, they kept 3.5 acres of land and still operate an extremely popular fruit stand.
As an aside, you’ll find the occasional discussion of Fujishige’s net profit against opportunity cost in college economics books. The subject is that fascinating to business analysts.
5. The Explanation for the Wienie
Earlier, I described Sleeping Beauty Castle as a wienie. Disney uses this term synonymously with landmark. It indicates the attention-grabbing man-made structures that Imagineers build at the parks. Literally every Disney theme park features at least one wienie.
How did this term come into being? Well, that’s an adorable story involving a beloved family pet. Walt Disney was the ultimate family man, and that’s not a marketing myth. He cared deeply about his wife, children, and pets.
Uncle Walt even loved to share dinner with the family dog, a poodle named Lady. And Lady loved hot dog wienies. Her human would stock the refrigerator with cold hot dogs. When he’d come home, he’d rush to the kitchen and grab a couple. Then, he would tease Lady, who would dutifully beg for her meal.
The human who built Disneyland and his faithful puppy would happily scarf down a hot dog. The mental image of these bonding moments warmed Uncle Walt’s heart. When he’d think of jaw-dropping, attention-grabbing structures, he’d equate them to his puppy’s love of tubed meats. Thus, Disney landmarks became wienies.
And here’s a final note for Disney film fans: despite her name, Lady was not the inspiration for the hatbox scene in Lady and the Tramp. Yes, Disney named the character after her, but the hatbox scene was based on a real-life gift from Uncle Walt to Lilly. That adorable puppy was named Sunnee.
6. Disneyland Jail Is Real
Have you ever heard someone complain that they spent time in Disneyland Jail? They’re not speaking metaphorically. Such a place exists at the Happiest Place on Earth.
Sometimes, guests misbehave. When this happens, park officials put the guest in Disney’s version of Timeout. There’s a holding area where nogoodniks receive stern lectures from Disney’s security team.
Anyone who winds up in Disneyland Jail isn’t in a jail cell, though. It’s more of a waiting room where business gets conducted. Almost everyone who goes here gets ejected from the park for a day. On rare occasions, people even receive a long-term suspension or possibly even a lifetime ban from Disneyland! Oh, the horror!
7. C-3PO and R2-D2 Are Real!
Here’s a strange little trivia note. The next time that you’re at Disneyland’s version of Star Tours, pay special attention to the droids. This is another colossal secret hidden in plain sight.
The Disneyland models of C-3PO and R2-D2 in the line queue are the real thing! Star Wars director George Lucas was so worried about the authenticity of the Disney ride that he provided a gift. He gave Imagineers actual props from the Star Wars franchise.
These life-sized versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 were actually used in Star Wars movies! You’ve walked past a huge part of movie history many times but never realized it!
8. Refreshment Corner has a split light bulb
Finally, here’s a funny anecdote about how much Walt Disney cared about every little detail of his theme park. At Disneyland, Refreshment Corner has anchored Main Street, U.S.A. since opening day in 1955.
During the days prior to the park’s debut, Uncle Walt agonized over the small stuff, wanting Disneyland to be perfect. Refreshment Corner caused a little problem. You see, every light bulb on the restaurant’s ceiling is painted either red or white.
What happens when the restaurant has an odd number of lights? Most people would say to shove in an additional light. Alternately, just pick one color or the other for the extra light. It doesn’t really matter, right?
Au contraire! Walt Disney wouldn’t allow an uneven number of painted lights. Instead, he requested that the final light get painted half-and-half.
When you stare at the corner light at Refreshment Corner, you’ll see something that you’ve never noticed before. Half of that light is white while the other half is red. Even more impressively, the painting is done such that the red half is next to a white bulb, while the white half is next to a red bulb. It holds the theme all the way across the ceiling.