Fact for the Day
Herbie, also known as The Love Bug, is an L87 pearl white 1963 Volkswagen Type 1 Deluxe Sunroof. The car wears a yellow-on-black California license plate OFP 857. The Love Bug (the first in a series of films about Herbie) was released in December 1968.
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1924 - 
Director
Bernard McEveety is born in New Rochelle, New York. His Disney film credits include Napoleon and Samantha (directing actress Jodie Foster in her film debut), One Little Indian, and Donovan's Kid. Primarily known for his TV work, McEveety directed 31 episodes of the classic series Combat!, as well as Rawhide, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza.
1933 - Disney's
Mickey Mouse cartoon The Mail Pilot is released. When
Mickey the mail pilot is entrusted with a chest of money, he must battle rain, snow, and
Pete - who has a plane equipped with a machine gun and a harpoon cannon!
1942 - Disney's animated feature Pinocchio is released in Switzerland.
1971 - Singer-songwriter Elton John visits Disneyland for the very first time during his second U.S. tour. He is to perform at the neighboring Anaheim Convention Center the following day.
1992 - Disneyland's FANTASMIC! - a nighttime spectacular - is officially dedicated in Frontierland.
1993 - 
Actress
Debby Ryan, best known for her role as Bailey Pickett on the Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life on Deck, is born in Huntsville, Alabama.
1997 - The London production of Disney's "Beauty and the
Beast" premieres at the Dominion Theatre.
1997 - Disneyland's Light Magic has its first dress rehearsal at a special premiere party for Annual Passholders. (Unfortunately Light Magic will be a disappointing failure and only play until Labor Day 1997.)
2000 - The Disney Channel original movie Miracle in Lane Two, featuring Frankie Muniz and Patrick Levis (who will win a Young Artist Award for his performance), airs.
2001 - The Wonderful World of Disney airs "Child Stars: The Shirley Temple Story."
2002 - For security reasons,
Walt Disney World no longer allows guests to bring water coolers into the water parks.
2004 - The New York City Disney Store (located at 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan) closes for renovations. (It will re-open in October as World of Disney.)
2004 - Disney congratulates this year's winners of the Jiminy Cricket Environmentality Challenge - a fifth grade class from West Gate Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Florida!
2005 - The "Herbie and Friends Cruise America Tour," to celebrate Volkswagen's 50th anniversary and the release of Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded, kicks off with a ceremony at the Santa Monica Pier in California. The cross-country caravan tour (made up of all Air-cooled VWs) will make stops in over a dozen states.
2006 - Disney's Animal Kingdom celebrates International Migratory Bird Day, an annual event to celebrate and support migratory bird conservation.
2008 - Kerry Butler, currently the star of Broadway's Xanadu releases her debut solo album entitled "Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust" - which features 12 Disney tracks. (Butler also played the role of
Belle on Broadway in Beauty and the
Beast.) On this same day she is nominated for a Tony Award - Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Musical (read more below).
2008 - The 2007-2008 Tony Award nominations are announced by Tony Award winners Sara Ramirez and David Hyde Pierce at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City. Disney Theatricals' The Little Mermaid receives two Tony Nominations - Best Original Score (Music: Alan Menken and Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater) and Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz).
2008 - Disney Press publishes Camp Rock: the Junior Novel, by Lucy Ruggles, the novelization of the Disney Channel film.