Walt Disney World hosts its first Disneyana convention, as told by Dave Smith in 1992

Whether it’s early Mickey Mouse watches, original cartoon cels, recent limited edition figurines, or 1955 Disneyland guide­books, Disneyana collectibles have a fascination for Amer­icans young and old. And, with the opening of Disney Parks in Japan and France, and the expansion of The Disney Stores throughout the world, what started as an American hobby has grown to where it is enjoyed worldwide today.

Disney Archivist Dave Smith with the first Disneyland

attraction vehicle ever sold at a Disneyana convention

To provide an event where Disneyana fans could gather together for several days of collecting, guest speakers, good food, special merchandise, and the fun experi­ence of a Disney Theme Park, Walt Disney World Attractions hosted its first Disneyana Convention. Held September 24-27, the Convention Center drew over 750 Disneyana collectors and fans to Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Guests arriving on Thursday morning took care of their hotel check-in and convention registration, then rushed to the Disneyana Collectible Shop where special merchandise featuring the convention logo had been placed on sale. Eager collectors grabbed up ornaments, decals, buttons, T-shirts, spoons, and even stropping bags. The hottest items were a $25 plate—in a limited supply of just 500—and a watch. One watch had been given to each registrant, winch left less than 500 available for sale.

The convention began in earnest Thursday evening with a welcome reception Ice Cream Social. The Fantasia Lobby was decked out with banners flags, park benches, gazebos, and greenery, along with tables loaded with ice cream, pastries, and other delectable taste treats. Disney characters were on hand to greet guests, and as a special added attraction, three of the original Mousketeers—Bobby, Sharon and Sherry—were there to autograph photographs in a Mousketeer Clubhouse in the West Rotunda.

Friday dawned with a buffet breakfast outdoors in front of the Convention Center. Mickey Mouse and Dick Nunis, Chairman of Walt Disney Attractions, made a grand entrance in the LiMOUSEine. Other members of Mickey’s gang gathered with some of the Park’s singers and dancers for a couple of musing numbers to lead guests into the Fantasia Ballroom for the opening session.

After the surprise entrance of the Voice of Disney—Jack Wagner—to emcee the events, the morning got off to an exciting start with a kinetic audio-visual presentation covering the history of The Walt Disney Company. The morning speakers were Dick Nunis, reminiscing on his many years with Disney, landscaper Bill Evans sharing experiences in creating the natural scenery in all of the Disney Parks, Max Howard speaking on the expansion of the feature animation division in Florida and showing pre­views of Aladdin, and Esther Ewert of Disney Art Editions, relating the history of Disney animation art in the market­ place. The climax of the morning ses­sion was the introduction of the Al­addin characters in a festive parade complete with a live camel and horses.

For the afternoon, convention-goers had many choices. They could attend a Limited Edition sale and Artist Signing, where a number of very special pieces had been created especially for the convention by the likes of Lladro Goebel, Armani, R. John Wright, Ron I.ee, Laurenz, and others. Nearby was a Disneyana Fair, where Disney signs, artwork, and props—many never before offered for sale—could be purchased.

There was a preview of auction items, and, upstairs, a Disney Business Group Presentation included displays from Disney Art Editions, Disney Stores, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Gallery, Disney Classics Collection, The Disney Channel, Disney Publishing, the Magic Kingdom Club and other divisions of the Disney organization. Finally, down the hall was a Disneyana Trade Show where independent dealers displayed their wares. It was almost more than a collector could han­dle in one day.

The day was capped by a thrilling Disneyana auction, with selected pieces from the Disney vaults bringing record prices. An original Dumbo attraction unit from Disneyland brought $16.000, as did a bronze-cast Mickey Mouse statue. A Carousel horse brought $4,000 and the art for a Little Mermaid plate $8,250.

At Saturday morning’s session, my assistant, Robert Tieman and I had the thrill of being delivered into the banquet with Mickey Mouse it an armored truck, bring­ing 30 Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives for show and-tell. Tony Baxter, from Walt Disney Imagineering, brought insight into Euro Disneyland’s design, and a high­light was a conversation with 98-year-old Joe Fowler, builder of Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

The public was allowed to join conven­tioneers at the various fairs and trade shows on Saturday and then the convention culminated with a deli­cious banquet, followed by comments by Dick Nunis, and Bob Bowman and Bo Boyd of Disney Consumer Products. The Kids of the Kingdom brought the house down with The Best of Disney and each guest received a valuable medallion as a keepsake.

It was an exhausting three days, but those in attendance praised the conven­tion planners. The First Disneyana Convention had been a rousing success. Now, off to Anaheim for the next one in September, 1993.

From Disney News, Winter 1992.

The Pirates of the Caribbean Arrive at Walt Disney World

06.04.11 - Avast there, ye lubbers, for the saltiest adventure ever to shake your sails!

Pirates, pirates everywhere! And guests will find themselves part of the swashbuckling action when they "take to the high seas," in Walt Disney World's newest attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean.

Swaggering, singing, brawling, and bawling "it's a pirate's life for me!!' the rowdiest crew of swashbucklers ever to cheat Davy Jones's locker finally have made a spectacle of themselves at Walt Disney World.

Pirates of the Caribbean, long one of the most popular attractions at Disneyland, opened its doors in Florida for the first time last December. Located in the brand-new Caribbean Plaza in Adventureland, the new show literally plunges adventurers into the 17th-century world of a Spanish seaport besieged by marauding buccaneers.

Setting the mood for the adventure to come, the Caribbean Plaza marketplace invites guests to wander in and out of tiny shops settled under red-tile roofs reminiscent of old Spanish architecture. Once through the portals of the new attraction, guests find themselves in the musty dungeons of "El Castillo" — an old Spanish fortress. As they wander past arsenals en route to the landing dock where their flat-bottomed boats await them, the clank of steel and the occasional cry of a pirate echoes through the passageways.

Flickering lights on the walls of shadowy coves and an ancient ship riding at anchor on a moonlit bay greet seafarers as they prepare to cast off from the dock. The gentle sound of the surf and the lilting cries of seabirds are punctuated by the raucous laughter of unseen pirate crews, undoubtedly burying their ill-gotten loot.

Once underway, guests immediately find themselves in a misty grotto where a ghostly voice warns: "Dead men tell no tales!" And so it seems to be, for everywhere the eye can see rest skeletons in various stages of repose, some skewered through bony ribs with rusty knives of battles past, others collapsed alongside emptied treasure chests. A seagull, nesting on the cranium of his eyeless host, squawks angrily at the passing spectators.

As the boats pass into Hurricane Lagoon, howling winds, rain, and flashes of lightning startle even the most intrepid seafarers. And, as the eye adjusts to the spasmodically illuminated scene, a figure emerges at the wheel of a ship — steering no doubt into eternity, for his bones have lost all earthly thrust.

Suddenly, without warning, passengers plummet into a subterranean grotto and, as they disappear through a narrow cave-like passage, sinister voices warn them to "proceed at your own risk" for "ye may not survive to pass this way again!"

Once done cannot be undone, however. And for better or for worse, visitors who have ventured thus far soon will experience eye-to-eye confrontations with the rowdiest assembly of plundering blackguards since Blackbeard twirled his whiskers in ports of the Spanish Main.

Brought to life through the genius of the Disney-invented Audio-Animatronics® (an electronic system for animating three-dimensional figures), pirates of every description, Spanish grandees and winsome damsels, and a bevy of barnyard and domesticated beasts join together in an incredible re-creation of the sack of a portside town.

Guns thunder and pirates roar as a pirate galleon attacks a Spanish fort. With shells whistling around their heads and fizzles of steam escaping where hot shots hit the water near boats, guests drift through the initial battle for the taking of the town.

"Strike yer colors, ya bloomin' cockroaches!" yells the pirate captain from the afterdeck of his ship. "Aye! Take that you greengo peegs, you!" answers the Spanish defender of the fort.

The battle still rages as guests pass on to the next scene, where the magistrate of the town is being dunked unceremoniously in a well by pirates who want him to tell where the treasure is hidden.

"Do not tell heem, Carlos!" screams his wife from an upstairs window, hastily closing the shutters as pirates let go a shot in her direction.

Other pirates guard bound townsmen, still in their nightclothes, and one boisterous buccaneer pipes away at his flute, keeping time as the mayor bobs up and down in the town-square well. In other parts of the city, the pirates are engaged in commerce of a dubious sort and other sport involving the fairer denizens of the city. One scene depicts a gaily bedecked rogue, blithely auctioning off the none-too-reluctant maidens of the town. In the foreground, a gorgeous redhead advertises her own charms, much to the chagrin of her less-endowed sisters.

"Strike yer colors ya brazen wench, no need to expose yer superstructure!" orders the pirate auctioneer, anxious to unload his less-attractive cargo.

"We wants the redhead! Pipe the redhead aboard!" yell his revelous mates, while goats, chickens, and a donkey add their comments to the occasion.

Laughing, singing, and shooting their guns into the air in sheer exuberance, the roistering pirates chase squealing maidens, harmonize with pigs, and try to tempt hissing cats to join in the fun. As the boats pass through the burning city, the pirates join with a braying donkey and a howling dog to render their rollicking chantey at the top of their lungs.

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!" they bellow, as flames crackle and piles of booty litter the street.

But not all the pirates are so fortunate. As the strain of the pirates' theme song fades with the view of the burning city, guests find themselves in the dungeon area. Here, while charred beams overhead threaten to collapse, a group of jailed brigands attempt to get the keys from a friendly dog, which wags his tail and stands his ground, key ring held firmly in his mouth.

Swiftly, the boats pass through the town's arsenal and into the brightest scene of all. For here, where two Spanish guards sit firmly trussed together, is the enormous treasure of the town. Triumphant pirates sit midst towering heaps of glittering jewels, golden coins, and ropes of milky pearls.

Gleeful and inebriated with success, the plundering pirates scatter the treasure about and fire their weapons into the air. Ricocheting bullets zing off walls, falling dangerously near the passing boats, as a drunken parrot perched on a trunk sings his own version of the pirate song: "Yo ho, yo ho, a parrot's life for me... so, drink up me 'earties, yo ho!"

The pirate's expedition has ended in triumph, and as guests depart the final scene, a peg-legged, one-eyed pirate parrot with a tattoo on his close-clipped chest, warns disembarking adventurers to "keep a lookout for the movin' gangplank! Steady as she goes, lubbers! Ye'll be needin' yer sea legs on that rollin' gangplank!'

Premiered last December as the climax of Walt Disney Productions' 50th Anniversary Year, the Pirates of the Caribbean will remain the high point for visitors to Walt Disney World for years to come.

From Walt Disney World Vacationland Magazine, Spring 1974.

Behind the Screams at the Haunted Mansion

Disney Insider was just dying to scare up some trivia about Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction. So we hopped into a Doom Buggy and unearthed some spooktacular stories that answer visitors' most creepy questions.

Is the Haunted Mansion really haunted?
Aside from the official 999 happy haunts, cast members working on the closing shift have reported hearing strange sounds and seeing mysterious shadows after the attraction has been closed down for the night.

Do you know why the outside of the spooky house is so incredibly well kept?
When Disney Imagineers first pitched the idea to Walt, the sketches showed a house that had fallen into disrepair. Walt felt that the exterior should be kept clean yet mysterious, and said, "We'll take care of the outside, and the ghosts will take care of the inside."

Ever wonder what the names of the three hitchhiking ghosts are?
The little one with the ball and chain is named Gus; the tall, skeletal one is Ezra; and the hunched-over fellow with the top hat is known as Phineas.

Do you know who the woman in the crystal ball is?
That's Madame Leota. She uses her incredible mediumistic abilities to allow guests to see the spirited spooks. If you want to know the nuts and bolts, the face you see is that of a former Disney Imagineer known as Leota Toombs Thomas. The voice is provided by Eleanor Audley, who also voiced the wicked Maleficent ("Sleeping Beauty") and mean Lady Tremaine ("Cinderella").

The organ in the Grand Ballroom looks awfully familiar - where did it come from?
You should recognize it - it's the same one Captain Nemo played aboard the Nautilus in Disney's 1954 film "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

You've now got plenty o' trivia for your next visit to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. But beware! You may have such a ghoulishly good time, you'll never want to leave - or the permanent residents may not let you!

From May 2002, Disney Insider