Blog Posts Tagged History

Attraction Spotlight: It’s a Small World

12/11/2020 • Blog, Disneyland, Holidays & Events, Walt Disney World • There’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware, it’s a small world after all! It’s one of the most iconic and recognizable attractions at the Disney parks, and its accompanying song is known the world over, but do you know the history behind “the happiest cruise that ever sailed?” Back in 1964, Walt Disney was given the task of creating an attraction for the World’s Fair in New York with the theme “peace through understanding.” After much thought, he decided featuring children from all over the world would be the basis for carrying out this theme. Walt turned to famed artist Mary Blair to design what would become the most recognizable Disney attraction ever built. Mary had worked on other Disney projects, namely the storyboards for a number of animated feature movies, but this would be her biggest undertaking of all. For Small World, she created stylized […]

Attraction Spotlight: Spaceship Earth

11/24/2020 • Blog, Walt Disney World • In today’s attraction spotlight, I am going to feature my favorite attraction on all of Disney property, Spaceship Earth. This attraction is near and dear to my heart because, during my time as a Disney Cast Member, this is where I got to create Disney magic. Spaceship Earth is a large geodesic sphere and is the icon of Epcot theme park. It opened with the theme park on October 1, 1982. Spaceship Earth stands at 180 feet tall, 160 feet wide, and is covered by 11,324 triangles. Many Disney guests comment about how it looks like a large golf ball. If you were to hit Spaceship Earth like a golf ball, you would need to be 7,714 feet tall! A concern many guests always inquired on was how it holds up with the Florida hurricanes and rain. Spaceship Earth’s 6 legs are connected to pile groups that go down 160 […]

Brightening Up Our Small World

6/19/2020 • Walt Disney World • I think we are all ready for some sunshine in our lives, so today, my blog post will focus on a woman who brightened things up and helped our world become a little smaller after all! I’m talking about Disney Legend, Mary Blair who is best known for the design of It’s A Small World, concept art for Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Cinderella, and the large mosaic mural in the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. Her style and design is revered by artists across the world and is still an inspiration for Disney artists and Imagineers today. Blair joined Disney Animation in 1940 and a year later traveled South America with Walt and his wife Lilly on a research trip. On that trip, she created watercolors of the destinations, impressing Walt who then appointed her art supervisor of Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. She worked on […]