Frugal Mouse header image

Frugal Mouse

Save Money on Your Next Disney Vacation
≡ Menu

Disney World Secrets From Each Park You Never Knew About

mickey_fireworks

Disney World has many hidden secrets that most guests never know about or get to experience. That’s one of the things that makes Disney so unique – it spends time, money and effort on many of these little touches (like hidden mickeys – can you find one in the image above?) that make Disney World so unique.

I could list literally hundreds of secrets but I wanted to focus on a few of may favorites – one from each park.

Here are a few of my favorite secrets from each Disney park!

Magic Kingdom

One of my favorite (and free!) things to do at the end of the day after touring the Magic Kingdom is to enjoy the kiss goodnight show at Cinderella’s castle.

After closing each night at the Magic Kingdom gives its guests a “kiss goodnight” which is a music/light show on the castle put to music and a narration. Instead of fighting the crowds out of the park it’s a great way to put an end to the night at the Magic Kingdom.

After closing just hang around the central hub for 10-15 minutes, you won’t be disappointed by the show then you can enjoy a nice stroll out of the park without having to fight the crowds.

Hollywood Studios

At Hollywood Studios – Fantasmic is one of the best (if not THE best) nighttime show that Disney has every created – the story, pyrotechnics, lights, lasers, water screens and live characters make it entirely too entertaining.

With all of those moving parts needed for the production of the show inevitably things go wrong which calls for a Plan B sometimes.

We all know the Florida weather can be notoriously wet, especially during the summer which caused delays and issues for the live outdoor shows such as Fantasmic. One amazing thing that Disney does is show show a “rain version” of Fantasmic when the rain is too much and would put the performers in danger. Check out a video of the rain show below:

Why even bother with the rain show?

Prior to each show the technical staff sets and arms all of the pyro that goes off during certain points of the show. Because of safety reasons they can’t re-use the fireworks for another show, they have to be set off.

During the rain show you’ll be able to see all of the fireworks set off along with some music, lights and lasers. It’s a Fantasmic Light – something that will leave guests not completely disappointed when shows are cancelled due to weather.

 Animal Kingdom

Over at Animal Kingdom the centerpiece of he park is the 14 story tree of life that houses It’s Tough to Be a Bug as well as has thousands of Animals carved into it trunk and roots. The tree didn’t always look so beautiful, did you know that the tree of life started out as an ocean oil rig frame?

That’s right, when imagineers were looking to build a structure that would support the massive tree structure they said why build it ourselves when there are pre-built options already available!

ToL

Luckily the size and shape of the Tree of Life matched almost exactly to that of an inverted ocean oil rig which is what was used as the base for the tree. You can see it as a mockup as one of the early models before construction began.

You can see how the oil rig was used as the base of the tree, from there they attached the hundreds of branches that make up the top of the tree.

So next time you’re sitting watching It’s Tough To Be a Bug just think that you’re sitting under an ocean oil rig!

Epcot

This Epcot secret comes to use from our friends over at Disney World Secrets and is one of my favorite new ones. When the imagineers were building the Tower of Terror over at Hollywood Studios it became apparent that it would be visible from many areas within Epcot because of the two parks close proximity to each other.

Well those genius imagineers came up with an idea to help fix that issue – have the Tower of Terror blend in with Morocco in World Showcase! I’ve always wondered why they chose that interesting color of “pink” for the outside of the tower but now it all makes sense!

Take a look at the picture below and see how well it blends in with Morocco – I’ve seen it from that same exact spot but never noticed until it was pointed out to me.

Blends right in!

Blends right in!

If you’ve seen California or Tokyo’s Tower of Terror they don’t share the same color because they didn’t need to. Thanks again to Disney World Secrets  for that awesome secret!

0 comments… add one

Leave a Comment