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Do you have a Wish?' he asked, referring to this organization, The Genie Foundation, which is in the business of granting sick kids one wish.
'No' I said. 'I used my Wish pre-Miracle.'
'What'd you do?'
I sighed loudly. 'I was thirteen,' I said.
'Not Disney,' he said.
I said nothing.
'You did not go to Disney World.'
I said nothing.
'HAZEL GRACE!' he shouted. 'You did not use your one dying Wish to go to Disney World with your parents.'
'Also Epcot Center,' I mumbled.
'Oh, my God,' Augustus said. 'I can't believe I had a crush on a girl with such cliché wishes.
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John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
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Hazel GRACE!” he shouted. “You did not use your one dying Wish to go to Disney World with your parents.”
“Also Epcot Center,” I mumbled.
“Oh, my God,” Augustus said. “I can’t believe I have a crush on a girl with such cliché wishes.
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John Green
“
She should have a ride named after her at Epcot, man.
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Dennis Lehane (Sacred (Kenzie & Gennaro, #3))
“
Walt’s grandson, Walter Disney Miller, told me, “EPCOT was my grandfather’s biggest dream—the city of the future that would point the way to a better world. His dream remains unbuilt.
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Pat Williams (How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life)
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There was no Disney World then, just rows of orange trees. Millions of them. Stretching for miles And somewhere near the middle was the Citrus Tower, which the tourists climbed to see even more orange trees. Every month an eighty-year-old couple became lost in the groves, driving up and down identical rows for days until they were spotted by helicopter or another tourist on top of the Citrus Tower. They had lived on nothing but oranges and come out of the trees drilled on vitamin C and checked into the honeymoon suite at the nearest bed-and-breakfast.
"The Miami Seaquarium put in a monorail and rockets started going off at Cape Canaveral, making us feel like we were on the frontier of the future. Disney bought up everything north of Lake Okeechobee, preparing to shove the future down our throats sideways.
"Things evolved rapidly! Missile silos in Cuba. Bales on the beach. Alligators are almost extinct and then they aren't. Juntas hanging shingles in Boca Raton. Richard Nixon and Bebe Rebozo skinny-dipping off Key Biscayne. We atone for atrocities against the INdians by playing Bingo. Shark fetuses in formaldehyde jars, roadside gecko farms, tourists waddling around waffle houses like flocks of flightless birds. And before we know it, we have The New Florida, underplanned, overbuilt and ripe for a killer hurricane that'll knock that giant geodesic dome at Epcot down the trunpike like a golf ball, a solid one-wood by Buckminster Fuller.
"I am the native and this is my home. Faded pastels, and Spanish tiles constantly slipping off roofs, shattering on the sidewalk. Dogs with mange and skateboard punks with mange roaming through yards, knocking over garbage cans. Lunatics wandering the streets at night, talking about spaceships. Bail bondsmen wake me up at three A.M. looking for the last tenant. Next door, a mail-order bride is clubbed by a smelly ma in a mechanic's shirt. Cats violently mate under my windows and rats break-dance in the drop ceiling. And I'm lying in bed with a broken air conditioner, sweating and sipping lemonade through a straw. And I'm thinking, geez, this used to be a great state.
"You wanna come to Florida? You get a discount on theme-park tickets and find out you just bough a time share. Or maybe you end up at Cape Canaveral, sitting in a field for a week as a space shuttle launch is canceled six times. And suddenly vacation is over, you have to catch a plane, and you see the shuttle take off on TV at the airport. But you keep coming back, year after year, and one day you find you're eighty years old driving through an orange grove.
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Tim Dorsey (Florida Roadkill (Serge Storms, #1))
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In the epicenter of Epcot Center you’ll find me hiding, 333 miles away.
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Jarod Kintz (99 Cents For Some Nonsense)
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His life would become an ongoing effort to devise what psychologists call a “paracosm,” an invented universe, that he could control as he could not control reality. From Mickey Mouse through Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through Disneyland through EPCOT, he kept attempting to remake the world in the image of his own imagination, to certify his place as a force in that world and keep reality from encroaching upon it, to recapture a sense of childhood power that he either had never felt or had lost long ago.
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Neal Gabler (Walt Disney)
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I didn't want to let on how much firing the gun had effected me, but it had certainly turned my nuts into giant epcot centers of steel. the sense of power was unfathomable; suddenly I was the mightiest thing in existence, all men bowing before me. with the squeeze of a finger I could undo all goods creations.
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Ryan C. Thomas (The Summer I Died (The Roger Huntington Saga, #1))
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Horizons opened exactly one year after Epcot Center opened. Amusingly, the phrase in the attraction—“If we can dream it, we can do it”—that is often falsely credited to Walt Disney was in reality the creation of Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald, who modeled for the Audio-Animatronic “young man” character with the solo submarine.
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Jim Korkis (Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never Knew You Never Knew)
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the Disney organization hired me to help plan the dreams that went into Spaceship Earth, part of Epcot Center, a permanent world’s fair, now building to open in 1982. In that one building, I have crammed a history of mankind, coming and going back and forth in time, then plunging into our wild future in space. Including dinosaurs.
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Ray Bradbury (Zen in the Art of Writing)
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Lo que Disney decidió hacer, y es parte de la forma única de Disney de hacer las cosas, fue hacer que todos estos trabajadores se sintieran parte de la familia Disney: hacerlos que se identificaran con Epcot, aun cuando en realidad no formaran parte de la organización Disney. Esto no se había hecho nunca antes.
Así es como lo hicieron. Cerraron la obra un domingo al mes durante un año. Hay que tener en mente que se trataba del proyecto de construcción más grande del mundo y que se acercaba una fecha de entrega inamovible, por lo que cerrar la obra un día al mes era muy importante.
Disney trajo varias carpas de circo y las colocó en lo que a la larga sería el estacionamiento de Epcot. El servicio de alimentación se encontraba en una de las tiendas. Cocinábamos hot dogs y hamburguesas, y servíamos Coca - Cola, papas fritas, todo eso. En otras palabras, celebrábamos un día de campo.
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Tom Connellan (Inside the Magic Kingdom)
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FASCIA: THE TIES THAT BIND Imagine a collagen-rich, stretchy slipcover for every organ, nerve, bone, and muscle in our bodies, and you start to get a sense of how fundamental connective tissue—specifically fascia—is to the entire body. Suspending our organs inside our torso, connecting our head to our back to our feet, fascia protects, supports, and literally binds our body together. Fascia can be gossamer-thin and translucent, like a spider web, or thick and tough like rope. Ounce for ounce, fascia is stronger than steel. Other specialized types of connective tissue include bones, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and fat (adipose) tissue. Even blood, strictly speaking, is considered connective tissue. But to me, the most exciting aspect of the latest research on connective tissue relates to fascia. Fascia is the stretchy tissue that forms an uninterrupted, three-dimensional web within our body. Our body has sheets, bags, and strings of fascia of varying thickness and size, some superficial and some deep. Fascia envelops both individual microscopic muscle filaments as well as whole muscle groups, such as the trapezius, pectorals, and quadriceps. For example, one of the largest fascia configurations in the body is known as the “trousers,” a massive sheet of fascia that crosses over the knees and ends near the waist, giving the appearance of short leggings. This fascia trouser is thicker around the knees and thinner as it continues up the legs and over the hips, thickening again near the waist. When the fascia trouser is healthy, supple, and resilient, it acts like a girdle, giving the body a firm shape. Fascia helps muscles transmit their force so we can convert that force into movement. The system of fascia is bound by tensile links (think of the structure of a geodesic dome, like the one at Epcot in Disney World), with space and fluid between the links that can help absorb external pressure and more evenly distribute force across the fascial structure. This allows our bodies to withstand tremendous force instead of absorbing it in one local area, which would lead to increased pain and injury. Fascia is also a second nervous system in and of itself, with almost 10 times the number of sensory nerve endings as muscle. Helene Langevin, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has done landmark studies on the function and importance of connective tissue and its impact on pain. One of the leading researchers in the field today, Langevin describes fascia as a “living matrix” whose health is essential to our well-being.
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Miranda Esmonde-White (Aging Backwards: Reverse the Aging Process and Look 10 Years Younger in 30 Minutes a Day)
Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom)
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As conceived here, EPCOT will be a “Showcase for prototype concepts”, demonstrating practical applications of new ideas and systems from creative centers everywhere. It will provide an “on-going forum of the future”, where the best thinking of industry, government, and academia is exchanged to communicate practical solutions to the needs of the world community. It will be a “communicator to the world”, utilizing the growing spectrum of information transfer to bring new knowledge to the public. Finally, EPCOT will be a permanent “international people-to-people exchange”, advancing the cause of world understanding.
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Michael Crawford (The Progress City Primer: Stories, Secrets, and Silliness from the Many Worlds of Walt Disney)
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This is what EPCOT Center and its two major themes, Future World and the World Showcase, will be devoted to: the advancement of international understanding and the solution of the problems of people everywhere – through the communication of ideas.
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Michael Crawford (The Progress City Primer: Stories, Secrets, and Silliness from the Many Worlds of Walt Disney)
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The Hall of Presidents is host to the Great Seal of the United States, which is used with permission granted by an Act of Congress. Out of respect for this symbol, the seal must never be walked upon. Its placement on the floor of the Hall of Presidents makes this nearly impossible to avoid, so a fence was placed around it. However, there are parents who simply lift their children over the fence for a “priceless” photo. Take your photo of this great icon, but don’t be that person! It’s the real deal, deserving of respect.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Trivia: A Ride-by-Ride Exploration of the History, Facts, and Secrets Behind the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood ... Kingdom (Disney Hidden Magic Gift Series))
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The façade was based on Grauman’s Chinese Theatre’s actual blueprints and is the only building in the park that was built to full scale.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Trivia: A Ride-by-Ride Exploration of the History, Facts, and Secrets Behind the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood ... Kingdom (Disney Hidden Magic Gift Series))
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Has anyone who won a Dream Ticket actually made it to the finals on American Idol? Then seventeen-year-old Aaron Kelly won his Dream Ticket just four days after the American Idol Experience opened, and he made it to fifth place on the television show.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Trivia: A Ride-by-Ride Exploration of the History, Facts, and Secrets Behind the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood ... Kingdom (Disney Hidden Magic Gift Series))
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if you need some time away from the crowds, take a short stroll and enjoy the solitude along the walkway between Tomorrowland (to the left of Space Mountain's gift shop) and Mickey's Toontown Fair (to the right of the train station). Most guests never find this pathway, so it remains quiet all day.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom)
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Children should be a fairly mature 7 years old to appreciate the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom, and a year or two older to get much out of Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
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Bob Sehlinger (The Unofficial Guide: The Color Companion to Walt Disney World)
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Imagine That! As Manager of Entertainment Staffing, Gene Columbus knew how to create the kind of special events Disney does so well. But there was one event that stands out for him: “There are so many special events and productions to be proud of, but the one that sticks out in my mind was the twenty-fifth anniversary of Special Olympics. We kept adjusting the scope of the event so Disney could provide more experiences to the families attending the event, and as the producer I had to keep adjusting and working with my operational partners to find ways to reduce costs. Everyone worked hard to make it happen and I am sure many of those people share how proud they are for pulling this event off in such a grand scale with a small budget. As part of the program there was a drawing to select the Special Olympian to carry the torch to light the cauldron on stage, and this was done only hours before the big celebration. When the young man arrived at America Gardens stage in Epcot he was in a wheelchair, and as I briefed him he was very clear that he would not use his chair but would walk to the stage carrying the torch. I was so taken with this young man and his determination, and when that moment came he proudly stood up and began walking toward the stage. The audience jumped to their feet and you could see the joint emotion of the young man and this large audience. About halfway, it became apparent that he was having difficulties and was not going to make it, but his father came out of nowhere and grabbed his son before he fell and helped him to the stage. He did not take the torch as his son continued on his quest to light the cauldron. The moment the flame burned brightly the young man turned to the audience, with his father stepping backward to ensure the glory was for his son, and the brilliance of this young man’s smile and pride shined as brightly as the flame. I admit that tears were rolling down my cheek and each time I see the America Garden stage I have a flash of that very magical moment.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom (Disney Hidden Magic Gift Series))
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All of the natural elements that went into creating the murals at the pavilion's entrance were made from materials found on Walt Disney World property.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom)
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Disney, meanwhile, had been toying with the idea of basing a theme park at its Burbank movie studio even before it built Disneyland. Imagineers even proposed an entertainment-centered pavilion for EPCOT Center. Eisner suggested expanding the idea into a separate movie studio park. Beating Universal to the punch shouldn’t be difficult, since Disney World had ample land and, thanks to Reedy Creek, was guaranteed an expedited approval and construction process.
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David Koenig (Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World)
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Augustus Waters–style, I read him the letter in lieu of saying hello. “Wow,” he said. “I know, right?” I said. “How am I going to get to Amsterdam?” “Do you have a Wish?” he asked, referring to this organization, The Genie Foundation, which is in the business of granting sick kids one wish. “No,” I said. “I used my Wish pre-Miracle.” “What’d you do?” I sighed loudly. “I was thirteen,” I said. “Not Disney,” he said. I said nothing. “You did not go to Disney World.” I said nothing. “Hazel GRACE!” he shouted. “You did not use your one dying Wish to go to Disney World with your parents.” “Also Epcot Center,” I mumbled.
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Anonymous
“
Ideally, Disney hoped to staff the World Showcase pavilions at EPCOT Center using an international version of the College Program. They thought that having guests walk into an elaborate recreation of Japan only to be greeted by a blonde-haired teen with a Southern accent would spoil the entire show. Plus, the program could help promote the rationale behind the cultural exchange of World Showcase—foreign nationals could bring a little bit of their home countries to the U.S., and then return to their homeland with a little bit of the U.S. Planners envisioned the program as the “greatest U.N. ever created,” which would promote world peace.
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David Koenig (Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World)
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Many of the dozens of advisors worked for free, in hopes that EPCOT would provide real-life solutions for future generations.
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David Koenig (Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World)
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I didn’t ever want Disney characters in EPCOT,” said Jack Lindquist, who as vice president of marketing sold the idea to Card Walker. “The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are two separate places. I thought characters should only be in the Magic Kingdom. My feeling was each park had to stand on its own, and if you could see Mickey Mouse in EPCOT, why would you go to the Magic Kingdom? I think, more importantly, you should create new icons for new parks.
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David Koenig (Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World)
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He would explain that Disney began work on EPCOT on Day One. They put in the vacuum-powered trash system. “That’s EPCOT,” he’d say.
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David Koenig (Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World)
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Another woman claimed the Hydrolator chambers at EPCOT Center’s Living Seas pavilion descended so fast, they damaged her eardrums. Disney merely demonstrated that the pseudo-elevators only give the illusion of descending and actually let guests off at the same elevation as when they entered.
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David Koenig (Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World)
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Here, inmates would spend seven days and six nights being drilled on vacation etiquette. For example, they’d be taught how to read speed-limit signs; how to park within the parallel lines of a parking space; how to drink and dispose of alcohol; how to vomit inconspicuously; how to steer a Jet Ski and chew gum at the same time.… The drill instructors would be selected from an elite pool of former Highway Patrol troopers, ex–Navy SEALs, and retired tour guides from Epcot.
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Carl Hiaasen (Dance of the Reptiles: Rampaging Tourists, Marauding Pythons, Larcenous Legislators, Crazed Celebrities, and Tar-Balled Beaches: Selected Columns)
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There is a boat ride at Epcot across the World Showcase Lagoon and some could argue this is an attraction. However, there is a boat ride from the International Gateway at Epcot that goes all the way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The ride consists of stops at Epcot, Disney’s Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club, Swan and Dolphin Hotel, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s a lovely cruise that connects the two theme parks. Most folks who are not staying in the resorts have no idea this 30-minute ride even exists. It is a fun way to see the different parts of the resort and it gives everyone an idea of how close Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios really is (if you don’t have to drive.) For those adventurous types, there is a walkway too and along the way you could check out the interesting architecture of the buildings.
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Jodi Jill (Disney Freebies: 35 Freebies to Grab on Your Disneyland and Disney World Vacation)
Deirdre Sargent (A Humorous, Irreverent Guide Through Epcot)
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course, Disneyland in blue California was now Transtopia, with the “Small World” boat ride now called “Flotilla of Fluidity” and entirely devoted to the countless gender identities, while the Matterhorn had been converted into a huge fiberglass representation of a sex toy. In the red, Disney had been dissolved following a horrific pedophilia scandal not long after the Split. Disney World in Orlando was now Patriot Land, featuring Ernie Eagle and a muscular, flying version of the sixteenth president called Super Abe. EPCOT was converted into a huge beer garden, since the only interesting thing to ever do at EPCOT was drink.
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Kurt Schlichter (Overlord (Kelly Turnbull/PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC Book 8))
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-Los colores. John Hench diseña todos los colores. Fue uno de los artistas originales - hoy en día tiene más de ochenta años - y es el encargado de los colores para todos: París, Tokio, Epcot. También los hoteles.
John diseña el esquema de colores para cada hotel.
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Tom Connellan (Inside the Magic Kingdom)
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once. We’re not entirely sure why this happens, but several selections for previous
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Magic Guidebooks (Magic Guidebooks Walt Disney World Guide 2020: Insider Secrets, FastPass+ Hacks, Disney Dining Guide, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Planet, Hidden Mickeys)
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Stroll around Liberty Square taking note of the doors, which all have a two-digit number on them. They are designed to look like a street address, but if you put “18” in front of the number, you have the year that style of house would have been popular. The date over the entry door to the Hall of Presidents is the year the United States Constitution was ratified.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom)
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Disney Imagineers thoughtfully placed a bridge at the foot of the mountain so guests could watch the logs as they plunge into the briar patch, but beware, hidden dangers lay in wait! Every third log creates a splash, insuring riders get soaked and so do those watching from the bridge.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom)
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When your ride vehicle stops just before the Touch and Taste lab door, look directly to your right. See the open book on the table to the right of the bay door? When Cast Members working at Journey Into Imagination with Figment finish their Disney Traditions training, they get to sign the book.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Trivia: A Ride-by-Ride Exploration of the History, Facts, and Secrets Behind the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood ... Kingdom (Disney Hidden Magic Gift Series))
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when you reach the greenhouse area, watch for the tomato tree. It's a Guinness Book of World Records holder. The plant yielded a record-breaking 32,000 tomatoes in one year, a whopping 1,151.84 pounds!
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom)
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Christopher Robin, son of author A. A. Milne, really did have a pooh-bear—and a stuffed tiger, kangaroo, donkey, and piglet. Although Owl and Rabbit were added to the stories, the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood’s characters were based on Christopher Robin’s childhood toys. If you want to visit them, they “live” in the New York Public Library.
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Susan Veness (The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Trivia: A Ride-by-Ride Exploration of the History, Facts, and Secrets Behind the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood ... Kingdom (Disney Hidden Magic Gift Series))
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Typical Meal Times – If you don’t have a restaurant reservation, the times to avoid would be: Lunch: Dine before 11.30am and after 2.30pm Dinner:
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Magic Guidebooks (Magic Guidebooks Walt Disney World Guide 2020: Insider Secrets, FastPass+ Hacks, Disney Dining Guide, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Planet, Hidden Mickeys)
Magic Guidebooks (Magic Guidebooks Walt Disney World Guide 2020: Insider Secrets, FastPass+ Hacks, Disney Dining Guide, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Planet, Hidden Mickeys)
Magic Guidebooks (Magic Guidebooks Walt Disney World Guide 2020: Insider Secrets, FastPass+ Hacks, Disney Dining Guide, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Planet, Hidden Mickeys)
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Likewise, if you read us kvetching about a cartoon-based roller coaster in EPCOT, or that the adjective regal means “fit for a king” and absolutely shouldn’t be used in the name of a post-Colonial American restaurant next to an attraction literally dedicated to the republic, it’s because those things don’t make sense in the stories that Disney has already established. And as Disney says, it all begins with a story.
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Bob Sehlinger (The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2021 (The Unofficial Guides))