Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/awesome-hidden-gems-you-must-experience-at-disneyland">http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/...sneyland</a> Lots of interesting stuff here. I had no idea that at one time real human skeletons were used as props in Pirates. O.O
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 I didn't know about the skeletons either. I also didn't know about the cheshire cat in the mirror at Mad Hatters...I will have look for that next time. Thanks for that post!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Glad you liked the post Princessjenn. Did you know about the Haunted Mansion death certificates? That was another surprise for me.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros According to what I've read, real skeletons were used when the ride opened because the artificial ones of the era looked so fake (it was also common to have real ones in classrooms). As the artificial ones improved, Disney replaced the real ones and donated them for medical study (at UCLA Medical Center maybe?). I didn't know that they still had real bones above the bed I also didn't know about the death certificates, or the Jungle Cruise maps. Neat info! (And pet peeve - several of these shots are from DLP, not DL: the castle in the header, the big boat on Rivers of America, and the queen over the Snow White entrance)
Originally Posted By ecdc That actually wasn't half bad. With the internet, nearly anytime I read an article about "secret" or "hidden" or "insider" things about, well, anything, it's already stuff I know. "Hey, did you guys know there's an entire secret club inside Disneyland!?!"
Originally Posted By Mr X ***"Hey, did you guys know there's an entire secret club inside Disneyland!?!"*** lol. No doubt. But I'm sure you've never heard about the secret tunnels under Tokyo Disneyland!!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The full skeleton in bed may be less than life-sized - scaled to fit the bed, which in turn was scaled to fit the room, which in turn was scaled to fit the space available for that tableau. The skull above the bed does look real to me. It looks dirtier and less perfect than commercially-available fake skulls (even the newer improved ones) usually look.
Originally Posted By danyoung I think that the skull above the bed in Pirates was removed, according to an in-depth online discussion a few years ago. The only thing in this article that I didn't know about was the purple teacup, a feature that I look forward to testing for myself!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Didn't they slow down the spinning of all the teacups a few years back? Did they leave the purple one alone? Or just slow it down less than the others?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Don't they all travel around the turntable at the same speed? Turning the disk in the center is what makes them spin.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think the article means that if you apply an equal force to spinning the various teacups, the purple one would go fastest While that may be true on any particular day, it likely has to do with how the teacups were all oiled and maintained. With constant routine maintenance, it's doubtful that any one cup would have a noticeable difference from the others for more than a day or two. Plus, if you don't try to spin it very fast, it won't go very fast; watching other guests spin only tells you who is actually spinning fastest, not which one is easiest to spin
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Turning the disk in the center is what makes them spin.> Yes; what I think the article is saying is that the purple one spins (on its own axis) faster than the others, assuming equal strength is applied to spinning. There was a big hue and cry a few years ago that all the teacups were "stiffened" - in other words, you couldn't get them to spin as fast as you used to, no matter how hard you tried. Think of Roger Rabbit - you can spin the cabs, but not particularly fast. Supposedly, the teacups were stiffened somewhere between that and where they used to be. The article seems to be saying either that they left the purple one alone, or at least it's easier to spin than the others.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>The article seems to be saying either that they left the purple one alone, or at least it's easier to spin than the others.<< Or that all the people who ride in the purple one apply more effort than the others, making it spin faster. While I've noticed some appear to spin faster while watching, I really don't think there's a built-in advantage to any of them. Watch the ride for a couple cycles, and you'll see each one can go really fast or really slow, depending how hard people are turning the disc in the middle
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Of course it matters how hard people spin the disc. The matter in question is whether the purple one is easier to spin, allowing for faster spin with relatively less effort compared to the others. Obviously, if you barely budge the purple one, it won't move fast either.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I'm pretty sure we've sat in the purple one mearly everytime we've rode, lol. Purple is my daughter's favorite color and she always wants to be in the purple one. I didn't know it was faster though! I hate spinning and getting dizzy though, so I offer no help to make the thing spin quicker.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The Mad Tea Party is kind of brilliant themed attraction if you think about it. Does anyone know the history of that type of amusement ride prior to it being customized for Walt Disney. Or is it the first of its kind?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "Rollercoasters, Flumes, and Flying Saucers" chronicles the early years of Arrow Dynamics, and spends several chapters discussing the rides they did for DL's opening. While it's been several years since I read the book (and it's currently at my parent's house so I can't check it), I remember reading that the teacups were a fairly standard amusement ride of the day. It mentioned that there were several different ride vehicles in various places (teacups, sombreros, barrels, etc), but that teacups weren't unique to Disney. Given how inconsequential the mad tea party scene is in the Alice movie, I can't imagine anybody coming up with the idea for the ride mechanism (and/or cup-shaped vehicles) unless it was already fairly common. But in a case of classic Disney, they took something that anybody else could do just as easily, and made it an iconic part of their experience
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "But in a case of classic Disney, they took something that anybody else could do just as easily, and made it an iconic part of their experience" This is pretty much what I meant by brilliant. The Mad Tea Party is the definitive version of this type of ride. Although it is an inconsequential attraction it just wouldn't be Disneyland without it.
