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Fun & Strange Facts about Parks.


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I've heard that the dancing ghost in the Haunted Mansion. (he ball room scene with the cake and the two painting shooting each other.) are not projections like most people think. They're animatronics in front of a light, and behind a mirror. However, the animatronics are built backwards, because if they're normal, the women would be leading the men. (or so i've heard.)

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Some random stuff that I've heard over the years.

 

- SFGAdv is one of the largest parks in the world in terms of area. Apparently the park was originally planned to be a major resort similar to WDW.

- There was once a Busch Gardens in Houston that was Asian-themed next to one of the AB Breweries. It only operated for a few years in the 70s before all the rides were removed. The park reopened with just the animal exhibits for a short period of time until it closed for good. It would've been interesting to see how the park could survive through the 90s.

- There was also a Sesame Place theme park that operated in Texas for a short period of time in the 80s before it shut down. A Wal-Mart stands where the park originally sat.

- If you find a way into WDW's River Country, you can still hear music piping out of some of the rocks despite the park being closed for many years now.

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I know a bit about the whales that used to be at SFDK before Shouka...

 

Nepo was the last male orca that was at the park. He died before the move to the Vallejo, which means that no male orcas have ever been in the current tank.

 

Here's a little more about him per. wikipedia:

Nepo was captured with several other orcas on December 11, 1969. He and a capture mate Yaka* were sold to a place called Marineworld Africa in California. The two orcas joined another female Kianu* who had been at the park since 1968. Kianu wanted Nepo all to herself and she would attack Yaka whenever the other female was with Nepo. Nepo who was very close to Yaka protected her from Kianu's attacks. It got so bad that Kianu was transferred to a park in Japan. Nepo and Yaka continued to bond and even starred in the 1977 horror film Orca. Sadly Nepo died from Pneumonia on July 10, 1980. Yaka stayed by his side as he took his final breaths. Even when trainers arrived to take Nepo's body away Yaka refused to leave him and it took the trainers a while to separate the whales. Nepo was about 15 years old.

 

Nepo and Yaka starred in the opening scene of the horror movie Orca. I downloaded that movie one time just for that scene, honestly that scene was the best scene of the movie and probably the only scene that used footage of real whales.

 

Yaka died in 1997. Vigga, the other female that performed with Yaka, was slightly smaller than Yaka and had a white scar on her snout. If you ever see old photos of the two of them, it's easy to tell them apart because of that little white scar.

 

Vigga was also featured in a chapter of a book. Here's the book:

That's a photo of Yaka and Vigga on the cover; Yaka is jumping over Vigga.

 

I have a few more interesting things about this park pre-Six Flags but I'll wait until later for that...

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Did you guys also know that there are tunnels beneath Walt Disney World where employees and characters can get from one land to another? The tunnels, believe it or not, are also public to people 21 and over!! The tunnels were originally made so that guest wouldn't think it was weird when a person from WDW with themed clothes would walk into another themed land with their original themed clothes so the tunnels were designed to let the employees travel from one land to another without a weird reaction from the guests.

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^Someone probably knows more about this than I do, but from what I know, the city of Aneheim would not let Walt Disney build something (Matterhorn) that big, unless it was a sports complex or arena. To get around this, Walt built a half court basketball court inside the mountain.

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Did you guys also know that there are tunnels beneath Walt Disney World where employees and characters can get from one land to another? The tunnels, believe it or not, are also public to people 21 and over!! The tunnels were originally made so that guest wouldn't think it was weird when a person from WDW with themed clothes would walk into another themed land with their original themed clothes so the tunnels were designed to let the employees travel from one land to another without a weird reaction from the guests.

 

The tunnels are not under all of WDW just the magic kingdom and are not public at all (unless you take part in a special tour), they are just for cast members. And you are correct, walt thought up the tunnels after watching a cowboy walk through tommorowland at disneyland.

Edited by kidcoaster 2
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Did you guys also know that there are tunnels beneath Walt Disney World where employees and characters can get from one land to another? The tunnels, believe it or not, are also public to people 21 and over!! The tunnels were originally made so that guest wouldn't think it was weird when a person from WDW with themed clothes would walk into another themed land with their original themed clothes so the tunnels were designed to let the employees travel from one land to another without a weird reaction from the guests.

 

 

I think you may be a bit off base with your "Open to the public" statement, at least currently. Nowadays the only way to get down there is through one of Disney's Guided Tours, or sneaking into them. Technically the "Utiladors" were built on ground level, with the park being built up on the "second level"

 

Really fascinating stuff.

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Legoland Facts:

 

In any of the Legoland parks, if you see a Lego Bunny Holding a Chainsaw by a particular attraction/area, that means the area in question is going to be changed. (See Spellbreaker in TPR index)

 

Miniland's defunct New England Harbor area lives on inside the Lego Factory Tour, as many of the park figures retired there when the areas was razed for Los Vegas. Sad too considering the Harbor was the star of Miniland.

 

The Dragon at Legoland CA no longer runs three trains because slow moving guests in the station would cause the third train the stop on the lift because the brake run had another train already on it. When the train stopped, idiot GP were trying to leave the ride vehicles.

 

The Upper Deck Cafe in Imagination Zone does not fit the theming, because the original attraction/land it went with closed due to low attendance and high costs. The area was a sports activity place and Land Of Adventure now sits on the plot of land.

 

You could not originally get to Castle Hill through Imagination Zone. A pathway was not built until somewhere in the Early 2000s.

 

The Legoland Showplace Theater (4D Cinema) used to also be used for live Christmas shows during Christmas time.

 

While not a secret, SpellBREAKER sucked, and was the first attraction to be removed from the park.

 

Here's one of the more infamous days I think management hopes to forget: Due to no prior testing, when the Soak and Sail area of Pirate Shores opened on June 6 2006 (I believe that was the date), they didn't realize the concrete had been improperly surfaced and caused massive amounts of slipping. The log ride did not open for another 6 months or so due to a part not working/having to be reordered.

 

The Coast Cruise used to have water cannons right before and after the Lion's Bridge that could be set off by guests.

 

The entrance to the Sky Cruiser used to be at the bottom of the Hill by Miniland, and when it was moved, the area of the park was, and to this day still is, completely abandoned. The new entrance replaced a Maze, and reused many of the maze walls for the new queue.

 

Dino Island did not open on time.

 

The model builder viewing area in Miniland used to have a "Lego Art" attraction on the roof that also gave fantastic view of Miniland. It was removed late 2010 and has only been used as a VIP area during the Star Wars Miniland opening since then.

 

The Dune Racer slides had to be slowed down because kids were going down them too fast and nearly flying off at the end.

 

Three noticeable "effects" seem to have been permanently removed from Legoland. The Spike Wall on Lost Kingdom no longer slides toward you, Knights Tournament no longer has water cannons and the rocking Chandelier with the sword wielding Knight is completely gone on Dragon.

 

I have dozens more that I'll probably think of later.

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Did you guys also know that there are tunnels beneath Walt Disney World where employees and characters can get from one land to another? The tunnels, believe it or not, are also public to people 21 and over!! The tunnels were originally made so that guest wouldn't think it was weird when a person from WDW with themed clothes would walk into another themed land with their original themed clothes so the tunnels were designed to let the employees travel from one land to another without a weird reaction from the guests.

 

 

I think you may be a bit off base with your "Open to the public" statement, at least currently. Nowadays the only way to get down there is through one of Disney's Guided Tours, or sneaking into them. Technically the "Utiladors" were built on ground level, with the park being built up on the "second level"

 

Really fascinating stuff.

 

Terribly sorry to you and kidcoaster1 but you guys are correct, the tunnels are private. Thanks for noticing the error guys!! and keep posting the fun facts

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A few random facts about SFGAm-

- When Little Dipper opened, it was the parks newest and oldest coaster.

- The old Skyride station is now a funnel cake stand.

- Whirligig has moved three times

- After 10:30, Vipers lift chain slows at the top of the first drop

- Whizzer used to run 5 trains

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^I always thought that there was something mechanical involved, I've been on without the sound working correctly and I swear I could hear them moving around... But maybe that's just me.

 

Here is a link that shows you exactly how the effect works! No Mechanics, just physics!

 

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