I once had a conversation with a former Imagineer who told me something along the lines of, “Disney people are storytellers.” And boy, isn’t that the truth? Sometimes Disney fans, creators, and even Cast Members hear a story about something in Disney history and get so excited to hear a “secret” that they immediately pass it on as fact without tracking down the primary source (my professor husband will be proud of me for even uttering those words). In short, there is an incredible amount of misinformation out there about Disney, so much so that I could probably make a whole TikTok series about it (and probably will).
I will say that while I try my absolute hardest to research to the best of my ability before passing on information, I, too, have gotten it wrong a time or two in the past. So for all my fellow Disney nerds out there who have unwittingly perpetuated Disney rumors, know you are not alone and this is in NO way judging any particular person or creator.
There are many, many erroneously stated stories out there, but here are five that have been on my mind recently:
MYTH #1: The Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion was mainly inspired by the Harry Packer Mansion
FACT: The Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion was mainly inspired by page 59 of the Decorative Art of Victoria’s Era by Francis Lichten
While Walt Disney World’s version of the haunted mansion does indeed have some architectural elements of the Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, the original concept for the gothic revival castellated manor comes directly from a book the Imagineers used as a reference for many design aspects while creating the Haunted Mansion. And on page 59 of Decorative Art of Victoria’s Era by Francis Lichten, we find this:
Look familiar? Here’s the Magic Kingdom’s version just for reference:
Still not convinced? Flip to page 105 and you’ll find another familiar mansion’s inspiration:
I rest my case.
MYTH #2: The butterflies under glass in the Skipper Canteen are from Lillian Disney’s private collection
FACT: They were purchased online when the restaurant was constructed
This one breaks my heart a little because I so badly wanted it to be true. As amazing as the idea is that the Imagineers would link the Disney family to the Jungle Cruise-themed restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, I’ve heard from someone who worked on the project (and confirmed with the props team) that the butterflies were simply purchased online. All Distory is not lost though, one of the original Shrunken Ned’s Junior Jungle boats is on display in the restaurant, which was a remote control boat game that lived next to the Jungle Cruise from 1997 to 2012.
MYTH #3: The clock in Sleeping Beauty’s Castle points to the moment Walt Disney passed away
FACT: The time doesn’t have any special meaning
Hanging inside Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland is a beautiful iron-work clock that has been frozen in time (aka not operational) for as long as I can remember. Its electrical components no longer work so it is more decorative than anything else. While many swear that the time has a special meaning for Walt or park history, the truth is that the hands point to whatever time the last Cast Member who cleaned it left them on. It may have a significant meaning for them, or it’s always possible they could leave it at a time that is significant to Disney history, but it isn’t supposed to be any particular time.
MYTH #4: The chair in the Haunted Mansion endless hallway scene is called the “Donald Duck Chair”
FACT: There is no historical evidence that this chair was ever designed to resemble Donald Duck.
No doubt, many people do call this chair the Donald Duck Chair. Even Cast Members have been known to call it that, likely because they heard it from other Cast Members A side note: Cast Members are amazing, fabulous, extraordinary people, but some of them do NOT know the history of the parks terribly well. Almost anyone who has spent time researching Disney history and spent time in the parks will tell you, as well-meaning as CMs can be, they usually are passing along second and third-hand information and it’s like a game of telephone… it is elaborated and changed as it moves from person to person.
Primary sources, people.
ANYWAY, back to the chair at hand. This is a photo of said chair:
Which, admittedly, one could look at and see a Donald Duck face if you squint real hard and suspend everything we know about its history. You see, once upon a time, the original idea for this chair was birthed out of Rolly Crump’s delightfully creative mind alongside other bizarre objects from the abandoned Museum of the Weird concept. It would be a chair that would stand up and walk around, and it looked a little something like this:
Though we never got a full Museum of the Weird, we did get a few pieces adapted from it, one being the chair that sits just to the left of the endless hallway. Here are the original blueprints for its design:
As you can see, this face looks absolutely nothing like Donald Duck. It was designed to be a menacing demon-like face to go along with all the thousands of other ways the Haunted Mansion is watching you as you roll by in your Doom Buggy. There are also versions of this face in the chairs in the Magic Kingdom’s library and the one the grandmother sits on in the ballroom. None of which, by the way, look remotely like Donald. It’s only the endless hallway chair that has this slight resemblance.
Now, some have said, so what? Couldn’t it be an easter egg like Disney is so known for doing in attractions, like a hidden Mickey?
Yes, yes it could. And maybe somewhere in Distory, an Imagineer did intend to alter some iteration if it ever so slightly so that it would look more like Donald. Maybe.
BUT I don’t have any evidence for that. Not that I’ve ever seen. (If you’re an Imagineer who is reading this and has proof that this was the intention, I would LOVE to hear from you!) No, every indication I have is that it was never intended to be Donald Duck at all, but someone decided it looked a little like him one day and told someone else and…
Well, you know the rest. Telephone at its finest (worst?). You be the judge.
And so we come to our final myth…
MYTH #5: Everything people say about you is true
FACT: Just because someone says you are something, doesn’t make it true
As our society as a whole becomes more anxious/depressed/irritable from all of the changes in our world, I’m noticing more and more a growing trend of people being downright cruel to others. The sheer amount of gaslighting, criticizing, and straight-up hate is off the charts as our collective mental health deteriorates with each passing crisis.
I’ve watched almost all of the creators I know consider quitting at one point or another because of the negative comments… not about their content, but about them personally. Heck, even Elyse Myers made a TikTok recently about quitting because of the awful things strangers are saying about her on the internet, and she has got to be one of the kindest, most relatable people out there.
I’m not immune myself. I’ve had people tell me I’m a liar, that I make stuff up, or that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve also had people tell me I’m something I’m not and made me doubt myself more times than I can count.
I’d love to say that I let these comments roll off me, but that would be a lie. I don’t. I hold them for a while and look at them from all angles to try to discern if there is a truth in them I’m not seeing. Some are not worth holding, and they get tossed pretty quickly (see also: “Disney adults are the worst”). Others stick with me for a time, and I carry them around often a little longer than necessary.
But here is my gauge for whether or not to listen to words that are said to me: If someone who knows me really well would think that about me, then it could be true.
Maybe there have been some words spoken to you or about you that you’re carrying around like a pet rock. Maybe you know they aren’t true, but they have become so familiar that it’s hard to let them go.
I’m telling you now, you are not what other people say you are. You are not those negative words people have placed on you. And you are free to be just who you are, not what they think you are.
Don’t let anyone stop you from being you, because the world needs you.
Oh right, one last thing! I started a podcast (crazy, right?) exploring the history of the Disney Parks (with a dash of the ridiculous!) with my good friend Kirk from WalrusCarp. Distory with Kate and Kirk is an adventure into the fascinatingly obscure details that have made the Disney parks what they are today, and you can listen anywhere you normally listen to podcasts (Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, etc).
OR, if you want to chat with us LIVE during our weekly Distory discussion, you can find us on TikTok every Friday at 5:30 pm Pacific/8:30 pm Eastern!
Kate: @disneycicerone
Kirk: @walruscarp
And as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Do you call it the Donald Duck chair? Have you heard any other “Disney Secrets” that sound unbelievable? And which one of these myths surprised you the most?
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