How Disney’s hidden magic makes us look closer

As I shuffled around the MDE (My Disney Experience) app to make my next mobile food order, I found myself having walked to a completely new land without ever remembering how I got there.

I stopped abruptly and turned around, aghast at what I had missed.

Because every time I walk through Disney, I see something new. An unexpected detail I’ve never noticed before. A color palette I’d never fully appreciated. A sun-dappled patch of foliage perfectly landscaped to the area’s theme.

And it brought me up short. All the details I overlooked, right before me, because I hadn’t been looking closely enough.

Which brings me to ask this question… what Disney magic do we miss when we are distracted by our devices? Or by focusing on “what’s next”? Could there be magic we are missing by being efficient rather than present?

With our eyes cast down, it would be easy to ignore the Evil Queen pushing aside the curtains of her second-story window to gaze on those she despises below. Or to casually overlook the subtle humor of a Jungle Cruise Backside of Water jug nestled in the artifacts inside the Skipper Canteen.

These magic touches are the very reason why we engage so deeply in a day at the parks, and they were designed to fully immerse us in a world wholly unlike our day-to-day lives. But we have to first choose to put aside our distractions in favor of leaning in so we don’t miss a moment of the magic.

So today, let’s visit just 10 of the many (many!) details that are worth slowing down to observe. Because there is always hidden delight woven into your park day, even if you haven’t noticed it.

1. THE HIDDEN ENGAGEMENT RING (AND ALL THE HUSBANDS)

Look for Constance Hatchaway’s (aka the Attic Bride’s) engagement ring in the concrete in the queue for the Haunted Mansion. You’ll find it next to Captain Culpepper Clyne’s final resting place in the Magic Kingdom. When you ride the Haunted Mansion, keep an eye out for the bride’s pearl necklaces in the portraits in the attic… she gains a strand with each subsequent marriage.

In case you’re curious, here are the 5 names of her dearly departed spouses and the year they married:

• 1869 – Ambrose Harper: A farmer’s son
• 1872 – Frank Banks: An Eastern Banker and pillar of the community
• 1874 – The Marquis de Doome: A foreign diplomat and former military
• 1875 – Reginald Caine: A successful railroad baron, gambler, and gourmand
• 1877 – George Hightower: A (likely) relative of the wealthy hotel owner Harrison Hightower III

Constance, as you know, relieved each husband of their heads by “constantly hatching away”. She stores all of the evidence in the hatboxes you see in the attic, which is also where we get the storyline for the famous Hatbox Ghost.

Also notable is the tie-in to the elderly woman sitting atop the gravestone in the stretching room… this is said to be Constance herself after her fifth marriage. But this portrait wasn’t originally named after our dearly departed bride… X. Atencio called this character Abigail Patecleaver in the original 1968 script.

2. PERFECTIONISTS UNITE!

If you look up at the entrance of the Refreshment Corner on Main Street in Disneyland, you’ll find a light bulb that is half red and half white, simply to make the pattern repeat correctly.

3. (NOT) THE GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER

Have you found this brass marker just past the castle tunnel on your way into Fantasyland in Disneyland? Did you assume (like I have in the past) that it is the geographical center of Disneyland? Truth is, this is actually one of the Disney myths that have been floating around for a while. This is actually a survey marker to align the sightline from the castle to the end of Main Street USA. There used to be a matching one at the end of Main Street where the trolley tracks diverge, but it was removed/covered up in the 2018 track remodeling when they laid down new brickwork.

The actual geographic center (with the addition of Galaxy’s Edge) is northwest of the hub, in case you’re curious.

The geographical center of Disney World used to be on the plaza that heads to The Land in 1982, which is why you’ll see a bunch of circles inlaid in the cement. But because Disney is always buying and selling land, it’s not currently the exact center.

4. BEACON JOE, RENAISSANCE MAN

Say hello to Beacon Joe! He may look familiar to you because the Imagineers used the same audio-animatronics character for multiple attractions to save from reinventing the wheel. You’ll see him also as the pirate standing in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride when they are trying to entice the dog with the keys, and a different version of him in the haunted mansion sitting at the banquet table wearing a crown.

Beacon Joe was originally brought to life in Disneyland, and you can also see him quietly sitting on the porch in the Blue Bayou, peaceful as can be.

5. THREE SHOPS IN ONE

Take a moment to spot this heart outside Ye Old Christmas Shoppe next time you’re in Liberty Square! Kepple is the name of Walt’s great-great-grandfather, born in 1776 in Ireland.

While you’re in the Christmas Shoppe, notice that three shops are merged into one in this space. One is a music store owned by Ichabod Crane (of Sleepy Hollow fame), where they are busy preparing for a twelfth night concert, evidenced by traditional carol sheet music on stands. Another is the woodcarvers shop with handcrafted toys and ornaments on display. The third shop is the Silversmith, and it is the homage to the Kepple family, a Pennsylvanian German family who sells wares out of their home.

6. THE NAUTILUS

Next up, an homage to the now-extinct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction inside Pooh’s house in WDW! The tree itself used to be the centerpiece of a Pooh play area which previously housed a lagoon for the famous submarine ride (still alive and well at Disneyland, though re-themed to Finding Nemo).

The Pooh tree was relocated in the Fantasyland remodel to right outside the ride, but this relic remains. There is also a similar Nautilus in the rock work of Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, which currently stands on the site of the old lagoon, which is why the queue was designed with water as the centerpiece!

For an added layer of tribute, Mr. Toad can be seen handing Owl a deed to the property inside Winnie the Pooh attraction, a nod to the former location of the now-defunct “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.”

7. THE INCONVENIENT PLANTER

Ever wonder why the queue for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride curves strangely around this planter? It’s because that was where one of the support towers used to stand for the Skyway before it closed down in 1994. There also used to be a chalet that housed the Fantasyland station hidden behind Dumbo (and vegetation), but it was demolished in 2016 to make way for Galaxy’s Edge.

You can still see where the tram used to travel through the Matterhorn if you look closely enough (the holes were patched up in 1996).

One of the original skyway gondolas can be also be seen in the wreckage when you ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds!

8. THE LITTLE MAN OF DISNEYLAND

Have you found the Little Man of Disneyland’s house in Adventureland? Patrick Begorra’s residence is located at the base of a tree to the right of the entrance to the Indiana Jones ride.

This legend of Patrick is a fascinating tale, originally found in a little golden book published 1955. Read more about it here!

9. MISSING THE MINE TRAIN

Next time you’re on the Mark Twain cruising the Rivers of America in Disneyland, keep a sharp eye out for these tracks, leftover from the Mine Train through Nature’s Wonderland which toted its last passenger in 1977. You can also see an abandoned mine shaft from the ride when walking on the path behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, it looks like a hole in the rocks boarded up so you can’t enter.

If you’re nostalgic for this ride, no worries, the set of Rainbow Ridge from the mine train is now the loading area for Big Thunder. On Disney+, you can also watch an homage to this dearly departed ride in the Mickey Mouse cartoon episode “Nature’s Wonderland”.

10. GOOD OLD FRED

Last but not least, let’s talk about Fred Joerger. He was an Imagineer who made many of the original models for Disneyland’s attractions, including the steamboat Mark Twain, Main Street, the Matterhorn, and Sleeping Beauty Castle, but that’s not all. He became the “resident rock expert” as he created the rockwork for the Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the original waterfall in the Polynesian, and pretty much all of the rockwork for the Walt Disney World opening in 1971.

Fred oversaw the creation of this 30ft hand-crafted waterfall in the Canada pavilion in EPCOT, which was made from a styrofoam model created after the Imagineers flew over the Canadian Rockies and took pictures documenting the landscape. From their aerial photo collection, they formed a topographical map and computer model showing both depth, horizontal, and vertical features, and used that information to create their model.

Fred passed away in 2005, but his beautifully designed rockwork will live on. Imagineers placed a tombstone in the Haunted Mansion queue that says “Here Lies Good Old Fred | A Great Big Rock Fell On His Head” as a humorous tribute to this Disney legend.

Thanks, Fred. Your artistry lives on.

Friends, if I’ve learned nothing else in this pandemic, it’s to SLOW DOWN. To take in what’s around me. To put my phone away and look at my kids’ actual faces rather than their faces through my phone.

Disney is an invitation to do just that.

Walt’s desire was always to have everyone enjoying themselves in the parks, adults and children alike. And that requires choosing to be present in the moment, together.

So the next time you cross that tapstyle, I challenge you to look for details you’ve never seen before. Not to photograph them, but rather to share them with someone near you.

Because by looking closer and slowing down, we gain the most magical moments of all…

Memories.

I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below of delightful details you’ve found while exploring the parks! ?

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