Fun Facts and Secrets About Walt Disney

  1. "Disney" is actually a changed version of Walt's family's original name. The original name was D'Isigny. It was around the year 1044. Originally from France, Isigny-Sur-Mer was the area that Walt's relatives came from. Can you imagine planning a trip to D'Isignyland?
    REPORTED: Leia 29 JUL 96
  2. Walt Disney produced a series of cartoons entitled "Alice in Cartoonland", which combined live action and animation. These cartoons were long before Mickey.
    REPORTED: Ruffian 12 AUG 97
  3. In 1945 Walt Disney designed the insignia for Fighter Squadron VF-84 while the squad was getting ready for the attack on Japan. See the book.
    REPORTED: Will S. Arburn 30 JUL 96
  4. My grandmother served as a Women's Air Force Service Pilot (WASP) in WWII, and she has many items bearing the picture of "Fifinella", a cartoon character created by Disney. My grandmother told me she was a lucky charm of sorts for the women pilots.
    REPORTED: anon 28 MAR 99
    Mounted on the roof of the administration building at Avenger Field in 1943 was a 10-foot-high sign with a giant portrait of Fifinella, the Walt Disney gremlin who served as mascot to the Women's Airforce Service Pilots.
  5. While stationed at the US Navy submarine base in New London, CT, a fellow sailor who worked at the USS Nautilus museum relayed an interesting piece of information to me. There had been some recent thefts at the museum. Some older submarine insignias that were made of gold were removed along with other stuff. I commented that they must have been worth a lot of money due to gold and their age. The other sailor informed me that the thieves had no idea what they had passed up though. In one of the offices (The head honcho's, I believe) is an original drawing of the design for the insignia of the USS Nautilus. It shows a submarine reared up on its tail with a nuclear symbol and some other navy stuff. The kicker of it all is that it was designed by and signed by Walt Disney himself!!!
    REPORTED: Mike McCarthy 16 JUL 98
  6. How far apart are the trash cans? Walt Disney ate a hot dog in Disneyland and counted how many steps it took to finish it. It took him 17 steps (I think), which is the spacing used in every Disney park today.
    REPORTED: Sean Henderson 26 JUN 96
    While on a behind the scenes tour, I found out that the trash cans are no more than 25 paces apart
    CONFIRMED: Timothy G Klees 23 SEP 96
    They average 20 paces
    CONFIRMED: Tom & Renée Shaw 29 MAR 98
  7. There are many hidden Mickey's if you go to Walt Disney's former home in Beverly Hills. The iron gate to the mansion seems to have a curly design in the ironwork...but tilt your head slightly and notice that these curls are Mickey's head.
    REPORTED: glynis rogers 08 DEC 96
  8. As I heard from a Cast Member, Goofy was Walt's favorite character.
    REPORTED: anon 31 JUL 96
  9. Disney in the late 60's put out some educational films. I only know about two of them. One was describing a female's monthly cycle. The other was about syphillis, and gonorrhea. The one about syphillis and gonarrhea had both "VDs" grouped together like an army unit. They had oval bodies with berets on. Syphillis were red and they wore red berets and had an S somewhere on them. Gonorrhea were green and they wore green berets, they had a G somewhere on them too.
    REPORTED: Josh C. 03 MAR 97
    About Disney producing the female reproduction film. Its totally true. When they rounded us (the girls) up in fifth grade, they showed us a film, and it was DISNEY!! It was old, too. I would say 60's or 70's. It kind of disturbed me that Disney was teaching me about my monthly cycle.
    CONFIRMED: Brandy Karl 10 MAY 97
    CONFIRMED: Sha415 12 JUL 98
    Disney did produce educational films for sex ed classes, but not just for the women. In fifth grade we got to see two films, one geared toward female growth and development, one geared toward males. Both of these were produced by Disney.
    CONFIRMED: Grant Anderson 09 OCT 98
  10. Walt Disney was so passionate about trains that he built a 1/8-scale railroad running through his backyard and the rose gardens of his Holmby Hills home, much to his wife's dismay. Because of his love of trains, Walt Disney built an eighth scale railroad at his home. He took the Carolwood Pacific name from the street the house was located on, Carolwood Drive. This authentic steam railroad, which Walt himself helped to build, served as the inspiration for the larger steam trains at Disneyland. The engine that Walt built was No. 173 Lilly Belle. This 4-4-0 engine was named after his wife, Lillian. It is now on display, along with the caboose, inside Disneyland's Main Street Station.
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