2004:
Disney's animated short Lorenzo has its European premiere in Annecy, France.
It is based upon pencil sketches and a story idea created by Disney
veteran Joe Grant 20 years ago!
1975:
Walt Disney World's version of Mission to Mars - developed with NASA -
debuts in Tomorrowland. It replaces the Flight to the Moon attraction (which opened
in December 1971). Guests first enter a viewing area known as Mission Control, which is modeled after a typical
mission control center with chairs and control panels for about ten seated Audio-Animatronic "technicians" whose
backs are to the audience. Facing the audience is the Audio-Animatronic flight director Mr. Johnson (voiced by radio
& TV announcer George Walsh) who shows film clips and explains how man has made numerous advances in
space travel. After the pre-show, guests board their spacecraft - a circular theater with stadium-like seating featuring
circular flat screens on the ceiling and floor. Third Officer Collins (voiced by veteran Pete Renoudet) serves as the
guests' in-flight narrator.
(Mission To Mars will close its doors October 4, 1993 and later re-open as the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien
Encounter. Today the area is known as Stitch's Great Escape!)
1989:
Disney Channel airs episode 33 of MMC. Today is Anything Can Happen Day!
1999:
Bear in the Big Blue House - Live on Stage opens at Disney-MGM Studios
in Florida. The interactive stage show will run through August 2001.
2002:
Disney's animated series Kim Possible premieres on Disney Channel with 3 back-to-back episodes. The series revolves around the life of Kimberly Ann Possible (voiced by Christy Carlson Romano), a junior adventurer who deals with super-villains trying to take over the world and her own family &
school life. The debut episode "Crush" finds Kim taking on the evil Dr. Drakken - who is using stolen Japanese
game technology to build a giant robot! In episode #2 "Sink or Swim," Kim, on her way to a cheer competition with
the Middleton Cheer squad, gets stranded at an old camp with Ron Stoppable. "The New Ron" - episode #3 - finds Ron gaining attention with a haircut Kim convinced him to get.
The action comedy thriller Bad Company, starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock, is
released by Touchstone Pictures. A CIA agent (Hopkins) transforms a street-wise punk (Rock) into a spy.
1946:
BBC-TV in England returns to the airwaves after a
near 7-year absence (due to the second World War).
In an attempt to emphasize continuity, the first day's program includes
the cartoon Mickey's Gala Premier - the same Disney cartoon that
had aired on September 3, 1939 (two days after the Nazi
invasion of Poland). Originally released July 1, 1933, the cartoon features several famous Hollywood film actors from the 1930s.
1894:
Alexander P. de Seversky, an aviation pioneer, inventor, and
influential advocate of strategic air power, is born in Tbilisi
(the capital and the largest city of Georgia; a sovereign state
in the Caucasus region of Eurasia). He is famous as the author of the
influential 1942 book,Victory Through Air Power, which Disney adapted into
a motion picture and released in July 1943. Seversky served as the film's technical
consultant. Appearing less than six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
and the United States' entry into World War II, his book was extremely popular,
influential, and controversial. Major Seversky advocated the formation of an
independent air force, the development of long-range bombers
and a commitment to strategic use of air power to win World War II.
2006:
Disney World announces that the Cinderella Castle apartment will be
completely decorated and upholstered as a 'royal bedchamber', which
can sleep up to four people. It will become available as a once-in-a-lifetime experience
during the Year of a Million Dreams celebration taking place at all eleven Disney theme parks. An
overnight stay in the apartment will be a prize randomly awarded to a guest at the Magic
Kingdom, or any park at the Walt Disney World Resort.
1993:
Actor Jordan Fry, the voice of Lewis in Disney's 2007 Meet the Robinsons, is born in Spokane, Washington. Two actors were needed to voice Lewis—Daniel Hansen began recording the voice in 2003, but as he grew and his voice changed, the producers had to find another boy, and they were lucky to find Fry, a young actor who sounded much like Hansen. (Fans of the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will recognize Fry as Mike Teavee.)
1950:
Walt Disney pens a letter of agreement between himself and writer Cameron Shipp, who is to write a serialized biography of Disney for the Saturday Evening Post.
(It will take another 6 years before the series of articles appears in print.)
1940:
Disney's Donald Duck film Mr. Duck Steps Out, directed by Jack King
and written by Carl Barks, is released. Donald visits the house of his new love
interest for their first date. But their time alone is soon interrupted by Huey, Dewey and Louie who
have followed their uncle and compete with him for the attention of Daisy! Clarence Nash supplies the voices for
Donald as well as Daisy, and Huey, Dewey & Louie.
Singer Tom Jones is born Thomas John Woodward in Wales. He voiced Theme Song Guy in Disney's 2000 The Emperor's New Groove. Having sold over 100 million records, with 36 Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and 19 in the United States, his hits include "It's Not Unusual," "What's New Pussycat," "Green, Green Grass of Home," "Delilah," and "She's a Lady."
1990:
The Disney Channel Premiere Film Back Home debuts on American television. A British-American made-for-television drama film based on Michelle Magorian's novel of the same name, the film stars Hayley Mills, Hayley Carr, Brenda Bruce and Jean Anderson. During World War II, young Virginia "Rusty" Dickinson (Hayley Carr) was sent to America for safety. It's now five years later and she returns to her native country, England. From the family she hardly remembers to snobby classmates and rule-filled boarding schools, she must adapt to a whole new way of life. Mills plays Peggy Dickinson, the mother she hardly knows. (The film was first broadcast on ITV, a British televison network, last July 1989.)
2005:
Disney Channel debuts the That's So Raven episode "Mismatch Maker." The
episode is directed by Fred Savage (star of the TV series The Wonder Years.)
Disney releases the album Disney Girlz Rock featuring Hilary & Haylie Duff,
Raven, Everlife, Christy Carlson Romano, Christina Aguilera, and Aly & AJ.
Mighty Sound releases Got No Strings, the newest album from singer
Michelle Shocked. The most kid-friendly of Michelle Shocked's three simultaneous June 2005
releases, Got No Strings is a collection of Disney soundtrack tunes.
JUNE
1969:
Actress Kim Rhodes is born in Portland, Oregon. Fans of The Suite Life of Zack &
Cody know her as Carey Martin, a headlining singer at the Tipton Hotel as well as the mother of Zack and Cody.
Although she played Professor Jeannie Elast / Elastic Girl in the 2005 Sky High, her character was never shown in the final cut of the film. (Soap opera fans will recognize Rhodes from both Another World and As the World Turns.)
JUNE 7
JUNE 7
THIS SITE MADE
IN THE
USA
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WDW's Mission to Mars debuts
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard our McDonnell-Douglas DC-88 space liner for today's Mission to Mars. The captain has asked that you remain in your seats at all times. And please, no smoking."
-Tomorrowland Cast Member
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1997:
Disney's Nightmare Ned airs on ABC-TV with two new episodes -
"Girl Trouble" and "Canadian Bacon."
Celebration, Florida (the town that Disney built) is located on the south side of Route 192, five miles south of Walt Disney World at the intersection of I-4 and
U.S. Highway 192 East.
Kim Possible premieres
2010:
Toy Story 3 is featured in Apple's iPhone OS 4 Event with Steve Jobs demoing a
Toy Story 3 themed iAd written in HTML5.
1980:
"Disneyland presents Top 40 Night" takes place in Anaheim to help celebrate the
park's 25th birthday. Nighttime entertainment includes K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Shalamar, Papa Doo
Run Run, and Teddy Buckner & His Jazz All-Stars.
1918:
Disney storyman and artist Del Connell is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. First hired at
Disney's Hyperion Ave studios in 1939, Connell worked under Joe Grant in the Character Model Department.
His contributions included sculpting animation models for Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia and The
Reluctant Dragon, and creating, writing, and storyboarding the short The Pelican and the Snipe. Just prior to
being drafted into the U.S. army, Cornell (along with Bill Peet) spent a year adapting Lewis Carroll’s "Alice in
Wonderland" into a feature film. From 1954-1987 he wrote and/or edited thousands of stories for Western
Publishing comic books for various studios including Disney. Connell also wrote and sketched the very earliest
drafts of Disneyland's first guest brochure.
1998:
The Tony Awards (honoring distinguished achievement in Broadway theater) are
presented at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Disney's The Lion King takes home 6
awards for Best Musical, Director, Choreography, Scenic Design, Costume Design, and Lighting Design. Director
Julie Taymor becomes the first woman in Broadway history to win the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical!
The cast of The Lion King performs "Circle of Life."
52nd Annual Tony Awards
2012:
Tron: Uprising, an animated science fiction television series and part of the Tron
franchise, premieres on Disney XD. Set between Tron and Tron: Legacy, Uprising features the voices
of Elijah Wood, Bruce Boxleitner, Mandy Moore, Lance Henriksen and Paul Reubens.
June 7
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
The Mickey Mouse cartoon Squatter's Rights,
directed by Jack Hannah and featuring the voice of Jim Macdonald as Mickey, is released. Chip 'n' Dale take up residence in Mickey's stove while Pluto tries to chase them out!
1916:
Milt Albright is born in Kearney, Missouri. He will begin to work for Disney in 1947
as a junior accountant. In 1953 he will become Disneyland's first official employee.
Future Disney Legend (Class of 2005)
1978:
Actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director Bill Hader is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His Disney voice credits include Referee/Slug in Monsters University (2013), Fear in Inside Out (2015), Fear/Jordan's Joy in Riley's First Date? (2015), The Bloodbottler in The BFG (2106), Stan in Finding Dory (2016), J.P. Spamley in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and Axel the Carnie in Toy Story 4 (2019). Hader also played the role of Bobby, the assistant manager in the 2009 feature film Adventureland and co-starred in the 2019 television Christmas comedy Noelle. First rising to fame as a cast member on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live (2005–2013), Hader has had roles in such films as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and Trainwreck.
2016:
Taking advantage of the city of Anaheim's new policy giving tax incentives for building luxury resorts, Disneyland submits plans to add a fourth themed-hotel. Disney proposes a
700-room, four-diamond hotel and a parking structure on 10 acres at 1401 Disneyland Drive, at the north end of the Downtown Disney parking lot. Construction on the hotel would start in 2018 with a slated opening in 2021.
Actress Mary MacLeod passes away in England at age 78. She voiced Nanny in the direct-to-video
film, 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003).
Zootopia is released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and Digital HD platforms.
2018:
Marvel's Cloak & Dagger, a new superhero series starring Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph,
debuts on Freeform. Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, two teenagers from very different backgrounds, find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers which are mysteriously linked to one another.
Richard Gerth, the Grand Floridian's beloved longtime greeter, passes away at age 92.
The Walt Disney World cast member served as a greeter at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa for nearly 30
years, starting in 1991, and earned the Disney Legacy award in 2013. Known for his straw hat – which he would tip
to welcome guests – Gerth became seen as a grandfatherly figure for visiting families, who would come back to visit
and take photos with him year after year.
"With his trademark smile, a twinkle in his eye, and a tip of his straw boater hat to
everyone he met, Richard Gerth was an indelible part of millions of Walt Disney World memories, and we will all miss him greatly."
-Walt Disney World president George A. Kalogridis
"This guy was just about as important as any attraction at Walt Disney World – Richard was there with a handshake and a smile that could get you through the day – and beyond. We’ll miss you Richard. RIP." -Actor & Disney fan John Stamos
1972:
Actor Karl Urban is born in Wellington, New Zealand. He played the role of hunter and lumberjack Gavin Magary in Disney's 2016 Pete's Dragon.
1996:
The Rock, an action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, is released by Disney's
Hollywood Pictures. The film stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, with William Forsythe
and Michael Biehn co-starring. FBI chemical warfare expert Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) is sent on an urgent
mission with a former British spy, John Patrick Mason (Connery), to stop Gen. Francis X. Hummel (Harris)
from launching chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco.
The soundtrack to The Rock, featuring composers Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams, is released.
2019:
Dark Phoenix, a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters, produced
by 20th Century Fox and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, hits
U.S. theaters. It is the twelfth installment in the X-Men film series, a direct sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and
the seventh and final installment in the main X-Men series. Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner, begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world. The cast includes James McAvoy (as Professor Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (as Raven / Mystique), and
Nicholas Hoult (as Hank McCoy / Beast).
The outdoor musical production "Tale of The Lion King" makes its official debut at Disney
California Adventure's Palisades Stage (overlooking Paradise Bay & Pixar Pier) on this
day, after a soft-opening yesterday. The theatrical-style show combines live music, drama, and dance in
tribute to Disney’s original The Lion King animated feature from 1994 and its highly anticipated upcoming CGI
re-imagining due out summer 2019.
Disneyland Forever, a nighttime spectacular at Disneyland (that originally ran from May 2015 to September 2016) returns to the Anaheim park. Produced by Walt Disney Creative Entertainment, under direction of Steve Davison, Disneyland Forever incorporates fireworks, projection mapping, fire, lasers, and searchlights to depict scenes from Disney films. It will run through September 2019.
2013:
The third (and final) season of the animated series Fish Hooks kicks off on Disney Channel with the episode "Milo vs. Milo." The series revolves around a fun-personified fish named Milo (voiced by Kyle Massey), his nervous brother Oscar (Justin Roiland), and their "overly dramatic" best friend Bea Goldfishberg (Chelsea Kane), with whom Oscar is infatuated.
1984:
Comedian and actor George Givot, best known to Disney fans as the voice of Tony in the 1955 Lady and the Tramp, passes away at age 81 in Palm Springs, California. Known for speaking in comedic fake foreign dialects, Givot sang "Bella Notte (This Is The Night)" in the animated classic.
1992:
Actor, director and producer of radio, television and film Bob Sweeney passes away at age 73 in Califronia. His Disney film roles include Harry Tupper in Toby Tyler (1960), Sen. Henry McGuire in Moon Pilot (1962), and Mr. Harker in Son of Flubber (1963
1966:
Film director, screenwriter, and actor Tom McCarthy is born in New Providence, New Jersey. His Disney writing credits include Up, Million Dollar Arm, and Christopher Robin. McCarthy directed, wrote and produced the Disney+ movie Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made.
1970:
Film director, screenwriter, and animator Dean DeBlois is born in Ontario, Canada. Best known for writing and directing the Oscar-nominated animated film Lilo & Stitch for Walt Disney Animation Studios (with Chris Sanders), his credits also include The Lion King, Mulan, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
1898:
Animator and comic artist Earl Duvall is born in Washington, DC. Starting as a layout artist and later as a member of the story department at Walt Disney Productions, he worked on a few shorts before becoming a cartoonist on the Mickey Mouse daily strip and the Silly Symphony Sunday comic strip. He left Disney in 1933 to join Warner Bros. Cartoons.
1943:
Actor Ken Osmond, who played the duplicitous teenager Eddie Haskell on the long-running sitcom Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963), is born in Glendale, California. Typecast by the role, he found it hard to get other acting work and became a Los Angeles police officer. After retiring from police work, he resumed his acting career when he reprised the role of Eddie for the sequel The New Leave It to Beaver (also known as Still the Beaver). The series aired on the The Disney Channel from 1984 to 1985 (before being picked up by WTBS).
1893:
Vesey Walker, Disneyland's first band director, is born in Sheffield, England. Moving to the U.S. in 1912, he eventually settled in Hollywood in the 1930s where he conducted musical scores for films. Vesey’s Disneyland engagement as the marching band director started as a two-week run for the Park’s opening in 1955, but he was "held over" by popular demand for 15 years. Walker retired in 1970.
1952:
Actor Liam Neeson is born William John Neeson in Northern Ireland. Known for his work on both screen and stage, he has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards. For Disney, he portrayed Charles Mayeaux in the 2000 black comedy "Gun Shy" (distributed by Disney's Hollywood Pictures), supplied the voice of Aslan in the first two "Chronicles of Narnia" films under the Disney banner (along with a 3rd film outside of Disney), and voiced the character Fujimoto in the 2008 Studio Ghibli/Disney English dub version of "Ponyo" (a Japanese animated film). Nesson also portrayed Ben Ryan in "Before and After" (a 1996 crime drama co-produced by Hollywood Pictures), Leo in the 1988 Touchstone Pictures film "The Good Mother," and "Priest" Vallon in Scorsese's 2002 epic historical crime film "Gangs of New York" (co-produced by Touchstone & Miramax). "Star Wars" fans know Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn in the 2019 "Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker," and episodes of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and "Tales of the Jedi."
