1931 - Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Castaway is released. In this short, Mickey is alone on a raft and cast up on a desert island. Luckily there are plenty of bananas and of course ... a piano!

1947 - Actor John Ratzenberger, Pixar's "good luck charm" is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. All of Pixar Animation's feature films has included Ratzenberger's voice - such as Yeti in Monsters, Inc. and Hamm the Piggy Bank in both Toy Story features. According to director/screenwriter Andrew Stanton, Pixar actually has a rule stating that Ratzenberger must be in all Pixar films! His voice credits include Underminer in The Incredibles, Mack in Cars, and John in WALL-E. TV fans may remember Ratzenberger for his role of Clifford Clavin - the misinformed mailman on the hit comedy series Cheers. In 1990 Ratzenberger actually appeared on the TV special "Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration" ... as Cliff Clavin!

1959 - Disney is awarded 3 Academy Awards; one for the film Grand Canyon (Short Subjects, Live-Action Subjects), another for the People & Places short AMA Girls (Short Subjects, Documentary), and a third for the True-Life Adventure film White Wilderness (Documentary, Features). Although Oliver Wallace is nominated for Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (for his work on Disney's White Wilderness), Dimitri Tiomkin takes home the Oscar for his contribution to The Old Man and the Sea.

1971 - The cover of LOOK magazine features Mickey Mouse - the "first citizen of Florida" and the headline FLORIDA: The sweet life The powder keg and Your first look at the magical new DISNEY WORLD. Articles report on the near completion of Disney World and the booming development of Florida.

1975 - Damon Pampolina, a member of the Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club, is born in Houston, Texas.

1975 - Actor Zach Braff, the voice of Chicken Little, is born in South Orange, New Jersey. (TV fans will recognize him as Dr. John "J.D." Dorian from the hit series Scrubs.)

1990 - At Disneyland, the Blue Ribbon Bakery shop opens on Main Street replacing the Sunkist Citrus House.

1991 - Darkwing Duck, a new animated series, premieres on Disney Channel. Featuring a wacky superhero duck with the alter ego of Drake Mallard - voiced by Jim Cummings, it is the first of two spin-offs of the series DuckTales.

2001 - The Disney Channel airs the Lizzie McGuire episode "Misadventures in Babysitting" for the first time.

2002 - The first of three SuperSoap Weekends begin at Disney's California Adventure. Some of the stars of ABC-TV's All My Children are on hand to meet fans for the next two days.

2003 - Disney airs an exclusive look at their summer action-packed spectacular The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The event is shown across its owned-and-affiliated broadcast and synergy properties, and in all U.S. Disney theme parks.

2004 - NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and aspiring astronaut Sofi Collis appear at Epcot for ceremonies honoring the success of the Mars Exploration Rover mission. Ten-year-old Sofi submitted the winning essay in a naming contest for both of NASA's JPL rovers. She suggested the names Spirit and Opportunity. O'Keefe's quote, "We're back ... and we're on Mars," is added to a permanent collection of space-related quotations on the facade of Mission:SPACE.

2006 - George Britton, who was hired in 1969 to run the railroad at Walt Disney World, puts in his last day of work. Two years before Disney World opened, Britton was hired to restore discarded, turn-of-the-century steam engines. The day the park opened in October 1971, they were in pristine condition ... and they still are today! Britton (the only railroad foreman Disney World has ever had) is presented with one of their highest honors - a window to one day be put up along Main Street.

2007 - At Epcot, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros! opens replacing El Rio de Tiempo (which had closed January 2) in the Mexico pavilion. A gentle boat ride, the attraction features Donald Duck, José Carioca (the parrot), and Panchito (the Mexican charro rooster) from the 1944 Disney film The Three Caballeros.

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