2004:
Fess Parker (known for his Disney role of Davy Crockett and later Daniel Boone) appears in Washington, D.C., to donate one of his original caps as well as a buckskin ensemble to the Smithsonian National Museum.
Disney's Brother Bear is released on DVD and video.
The Orlando Sentinel runs an article in which Walt Disney World president Al Weiss gives some insight into how the parks are maintained.
1822:
The unified government of Florida is established with William P. Duval
from Kentucky as its first Territorial Governor. (Florida had becomes a U.S. territory in 1821 after the U.S. acquired it from Spain as part of a deal to cancel $5 million in debts owed by the Spanish.)
1838:
Mary Richardson (Walt Disney's paternal grandmother) is born in Ireland.
1889:
Character actor Herman Bing - the voice of the Ringmaster in Disney's 1941 Dumbo - is born in Germany.
1913:
Disney animator Marc Davis - one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" - is born in Bakersfield, California. He will go on to help create such memorable Disney characters as Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell, and Cruella de Vil. He will also play a key role in the development of many theme park attractions - such as Pirates of the Caribbean.
1930:
Actor John Astin - Bill Andrews in Disney's 1976 Freaky Friday - is born in
Baltimore, Maryland. He also supplied voices for such Disney TV series as Higglytown Heroes and
Recess. (TV fans will recognize Astin from the 1960's classic sitcom The Addams Family.)
1955:
Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea wins two Oscars at the 27th Academy
Awards (hosted by Bob Hope & held at the RKO Pantages Theater in Los Angeles).
John Meehan and Emile Kuri win Oscars for Art Direction, Color, and Walt Disney Productions wins for Special
Effects. Disney's True-Life Adventure The Vanishing Prairie is also awarded an Academy Award for Best
Documentary, Feature. Walt himself receives the award for Best Documentary from Grace Kelly.
1968:
Two children come across the lifeless body of a homeless man in an abandoned tenement building on East 10th Street in New York City. Because no one identifies the body, the deceased is buried in an unmarked pauper's grave on Hart Island.
(A fingerprint check in 1969 will identify the corpse as Bobby Driscoll, 31, the voice of Disney's Peter Pan. It is also discovered that the cause of death is a heart attack. Sadly his long history of alcohol and drug abuse was a strong contributing factor to his early death.)
Singer Celine Dion, who in 1992 released the Disney duet with Peabo Bryson "Beauty and the Beast" (which won a Grammy and an Academy Award) is born in
Quebec, Canada. She also made a cameo appearance in Muppets Most Wanted and sang the film's theme song "Something So Right." In 2009, Dion performed "Don’t Save It All for Christmas Day" and "O’ Come All Ye Faithful" in the lobby of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa for the annual Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade television special. In 2017, she attended the Beauty and the Beast premiere in Los Angeles. Celine had recorded "How Does a Moment Last Forever," an all new original song by Alan Menken & Tim Rice, for the new version of the classic film. Renowned for her powerful, technically skilled vocals, she remains the best-selling Canadian recording artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of over 200 million worldwide!
1992:
Canadian singer Celine Dion celebrates her 24th birthday singing with
Peabo Bryson on their Oscar-nominated theme song "Beauty and the
Beast," at the 64th Annual Academy Awards (held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion). The tune, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, later wins Best Song (beating out "Belle" and "Be Our Guest" also both by Ashman & Menken). Ashman wins his (second) Oscar posthumously as he had passed away in 1991. It is the first Oscar given to someone who has died in the AIDS epidemic. The animated feature gains an Oscar for Original Score too (also composed by Menken). Although it doesn't win, Beauty and the Beast is nominated for Best Picture ... a first for an animated feature. The Academy awards an Oscar (Scientific and Technical, Scientific and Engineering Award) to the Walt Disney Feature Animation Department for the "CAPS" production system for feature film animation.
2003:
Disney's first Inline Marathon (a 26.2-mile event) takes place at Walt Disney World. The event, created by Disney Sports Attractions in conjunction with International Inline Skating Association and National Skate Patrol, winds through the theme parks and the resort areas.
2006:
The Disneyland Resort 50th anniversary celebration takes to the skies
over Tucson, Arizona with a 100-foot tall, Mickey Mouse-shaped hot air
balloon dubbed "The Happiest Balloon On Earth." With golden ears
high atop its head, the Mickey balloon will travel throughout the western
United States and Canada during an 11-week tour.
2007:
Disney's newest animated feature Meet the Robinsons, featuring the voices of Tom Selleck, Laurie Metcalf, Angela Bassett, Nicole Sullivan, Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Tom Kenny, and Adam West, is released in the U.S. Lewis, a brilliant young inventor meets a mysterious stranger named Wilbur Robinson, who whisks him away in a time machine. Together they team up to track down Bowler Hat Guy, who has stolen one of Lewis's inventions.
Playing in front of Meet the Robinsons is the short Working for Peanuts, noted for being one of their first shorts filmed in 3D. Originally released in 1953, it has been remastered for digital 3D purposes. Working for
Peanuts finds Chip 'n Dale trying to steal peanuts from an elephant called Dolores. Zookeeper Donald Duck attempts to stop them.
On the same day, Steven Anderson, director of Meet the Robinsons (and the voice of Bowler Hat Guy)
appears at Animation Gallery at Disney-MGM Studios to sign his new book "The Art of Meet the Robinsons."
Animator Marc Davis
was employed at
Walt Disney Productions from
December 2, 1935 until his
retirement in 1978!
"The first professional training I received of any kind was when I was 14 years old and we were in Kansas City, Missouri. I attended the Kansas City Art Institute for one summer." -Marc Davis
Think your family's weird?
2008:
Seasons Of The Vine, an opening day attraction at Disney's California Adventure,
closes. A film presentation which took viewers through the journey of producing wine in California, it is shut
down due to low attendance.
The Young Artists Awards are handed out in Los Angeles, California. Best Performance in
a Voice-over role goes to Paul Butcher for "Meet the Robinsons". "Ratatoulie" wins Best Family Feature Film
(Animation) while Miley Cyrus wins Best Performance in a TV Series for her role in "Hannah Montana."
MARCH 30
MARCH 30
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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Marc Davis born this day 1913
1945:
Disney's Donald Duck short The Eyes Have It, directed by Jack Hannah, is released.
Donald uses hypnotism on Pluto and convinces him he is a mouse, turtle, chicken and finally a lion!
1987:
The 1986 Oscars are handed out at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Paul Newman wins Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Touchstone Pictures' The Color of Money.
2011:
The Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children has its grand opening ceremony. Hundreds are on hand to celebrate the occasion (including Bob Iger, president and CEO of The
Walt Disney Company, and Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts), which includes a moving dedication ceremony featuring inspirational stories from former pediatric patients.
MAR
MAR
1957:
Members of the Santa Fe Railway Co. visit Disneyland. Walt himself hosts Bob Waller, a Santa Fe
attorney; Hank O'Leary, special representative of the public relations department of the Santa Fe; James P. Reinhold,
assistant to the president of the Santa Fe; and; Ralph Thomas, manager of communications for the Santa Fe. (Back
in 1953, the Walt Disney Company had solicited major railroads for corporate sponsorship of the attraction. The
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway was the only company to respond.)
March 30
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
2016:
Walt Disney Records releases the compilation album Everybody Loves Disney. The album features YouTube stars with a combined 14 million subscribers and 2.7 billion views, delivering their own unique interpretations of classic Disney songs.
2018:
Disneyland Paris kicks off Festival of Pirates & Princesses (as part of the park's 25th anniversary celebration). Guests can embark on an enchanting fairy tale or a buccaneering adventure through May 2018.
2012:
Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade gives its final performance at Disneyland Paris. The parade, running since March 2007, featured eight floats and puppetry, acrobatics, juggling, and stilt walking.
1958:
Actor & comedian Maurice LaMarche is born in Toronto, Canada. His voice credits include the live-action Ed Wood (1992) as Orson Welles, the direct-to-video Inspector Gadget's Last Case: Claw's Revenge (2002) as Inspector Gadget, the direct-to-video 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003) as Horace, Wreck-It Ralph (2012) as Root Beer Tapper, Frozen (2013) as King of Arendelle, Zootopia (2016) as Mr. Big, and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) returning to the role of Tapper. Best known for supplying voices for the animated television series
Futurama, his long list of Disney TV credits include DuckTales, TaleSpin, The Little Mermaid, Recess, Mickey Mouse Works, House of Mouse, Kim Possible, and Avengers Assemble.
The late Roger Broggie, Disney's original Imagineer and a 1990 Disney Legend, is honored with a window on Disneyland's Main Street. A creative mechanical engineer, Broggie's genius touched many attractions including the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, the Disneyland Monorail, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the motion picture format Circle-Vision 360. His window is located on the east side of
Main Street USA - appropriately above the Magic Shop.
1949:
Raymond Francis "Ray" Magliozzi is born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and his older brother Tom were the co-hosts of NPR's weekly radio show Car Talk, where they were known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers". Their show was honored with a Peabody Award in 1992. Ray and Tom both lent their voices to the Pixar films Cars (2006) and Cars 3 (2017). (Tom's role in the 2017 film was accomplished through archival recordings, as it was produced after his death in November 2014.) They played the owners of Rust-eze who discovered Lightning McQueen and gave him his first big break. Ray appeared as a 1964 Dodge A100 van. Tom appeared as a 1963 Dodge Dart convertible, a reference to a car that he owned for many years and often mentioned on Car Talk.
2020:
It is reported that Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger will forgo his salary and new CEO Bob Chapek will take a 50% pay cut as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hit businesses around the world. (Iger has long been among the top paid executives in the entertainment and media industry. In 2019, the former Disney CEO earned $47.5 million, down from $65.6 million in fiscal 2018.)
1999:
The PJs: Music from & Inspired by the Hit Television Series,the soundtrack to the animated sitcom The PJs, is issued by Hollywood Records.
1981:
Actress Katy Mixon is born in Pensacola, Florida. First known for her role of Victoria on the CBS sitcom
Mike & Molly, she supplied voices for both Disney animated series Big Hero 6: The Series and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. From 2016-2021, Mixon appeared in 96 episodes of the ABC sitcom American Housewife as Katie Otto.
1950:
Actor Robbie Coltrane is born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, Scotland.
Gaining worldwide recognition as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011), Disney fans know him as the voice of Lord Dingwall in the 2012 animated Disney/Pixar film Brave. He also played the Duke in The Adventures of Huck Finn, a 1993 live-action comedy-drama produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
