Fact for the Day
The World Showcase Lagoon (at Disney World's Epcot) covers 40 acres and is surrounded by a 1.2 mile promenade.
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1903 - 
Actor
Stuart Erwin is born in Squaw Valley, California. His Disney credits include The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, Son of Flubber, and Moochie of the Little League.
1913 - 
Disney Legend
Roberto de Leonardis is born in Naples, Italy. Starting in 1947, he will go to work for Disney to translate and dub films like
Bambi and Pinocchio for Italian audiences.
1915 - 
Songwriter
Iriving Gordon is born in Brooklyn, New York. His song "Two Brothers" can be heard in Epcot's The American Adventure. Gordon's best known work is Nat King Cole's hit "Unforgettable" - first published in 1951.
1919 - Alan Alexander Milne (future creator of Winnie-the-Pooh) is discharged from the Brtish Army. He has served as a signals officer during the world war.
1919 - Also discharged, but from the U.S. Navy, on this day is
Roy O. Disney, one of
Walt's brothers. (He will return to Kansas City and resume his job at the First National Bank.)
1923 - 
Skating star
Donna Atwood (known for her performances with the Ice Capades) is born in Newton, Kansas. She will be the ice skating model for
Thumper in Disney's
Bambi.
1929 - The original Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant opens at 1624 Vine Street in California. The Brown Derby restaurants began as the brainchild of Herb Somborn, Wilson Mizner, and Sid Grauman. Somborn will ask Bob Cobb (later the creator of the famous Cobb Salad) to manage the Vine Street establishment. Eventually Cobb will take over all the restaurants after the deaths of the original owners. (The Hollywood Brown Derby will serve as the inspiration for the restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios.)
1941 - The Disney
Mickey Mouse short The Little Whirlwind is released.
Minnie wants
Mickey to clean up the yard - or else he won't get a piece of her freshly baked cake.
Mickey cleans the yard .. but then wrecks it trying to get rid of a pesky tornado!
1957 - Disney re-releases
Cinderella in theaters for a second time.
1973 - Disney's live-action film The World's Greatest Athlete, starring Tim Conway, Jan-Michael Vincent, and John Amos, is released in theaters. Much of the film was shot on the campus of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. (It will be the 10th-top grossing film released in 1973, just ahead of American Graffiti.)
1995 - A couple gets married at
Walt Disney World's Tower of Terror attraction in Florida, as part of a Disney promotion featuring Valentine's Day weddings.
1998 - The Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop has its grand opening at the Downtown Disney Marketplace in Florida.
1999 - The first Disney Cruise Line wedding occurs on Castaway Cay.
2001 - Dick Cook, chairman of the
Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, announces that its Academy Award-winning animated motion picture Beauty and the
Beast will be released in IMAX and other large-format venues around the world in March 2002.
Walt Disney Feature Animation has spent a year in production on the film, enhancing the image and refining character faces, backgrounds, and special effects, in order to let the film shine brightly on the giant screen. In addition, the filmmakers have added an extraordinary, never-before-seen musical sequence. (The film will wind up being released in January 2002.)
2002 - The acclaimed Napa Rose restaurant (located in the Disneyland Resort) offers a tempting special four-course Valentine feast.
2003 - Disney's The Jungle Book 2 (featuring the voices of John Goodman and Haley Joel Osment) opens.
2003 - The Magic Kingdom's Liberty
Belle (an old-fashionedpaddle-wheelcruiser) is re-launched. The
Belle and Tom Sawyer's Island (the attraction's main dock) have been refurbished.
2004 - Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball takes place at Disneyland.
2004 - Filmmaker John Lasseter, the director of Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2, and the executive producer of Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, is given the Art Directors Guild's coveted honorary Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award.
2004 - The Lizzie McGuire episode "Magic Train" debuts on the Disney Channel.
2005 - "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)" - the first single from the CD Disneymania 3, premieres on Radio Disney on its first day of release. Performed by the Cheetah Girls, the song (written by Alan Menken and David Zippel) originally appeared on the Hercules soundtrack in 1997. Disneymania 3 will be released the following day.
2006 - A groundbreaking ceremony for a new hotel in Tokyo Disneyland takes place.
Mickey,
Donald,
Goofy and
Chip &
Dale appear in a safety prayer festival held at the planned construction site in front of the entrance of the park. The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is scheduled to open in 2008 and will have about 700 guest rooms. (It is considered to be the final episode of the series starring Hilary Duff.)
2007 - Atlanta Brave pitchers and catchers report for spring training at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. It is the Braves 10th season at the Florida facility.
2009 - Disney's Hollywood Studios celebrate the grand opening of its newest attraction, The American Idol Experience. Guest park Vanessa Quillao takes home the first ever 'Dream Ticket' - with her rendition of "No One" (by Alicia Keys).