Completely Fabricated Trivia about Walt Disney World

• At any given moment, there are 49 people dressed up in Mickey Mouse costumes somewhere in the park.  Three employees are responsible for coordinating the movements of each Mickey to ensure that no two are within sight of any guest at any one time.
  
• The Maintenance Department has 4 different kinds of sawdust for soaking up vomit.   Requests for cleanup must describe the consistency of the mess.
  
• When it debuted in 1968, the "It's a Small World" ride was called "International Puppet Jamboree Hoedown."
  
• More employes have been caught engaging in sexual intercourse in the computer closet of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" than anywhere else in the park.
  
• In 1974, the Department of Defense approved a $75,000 study of the submarine technology used in the "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" ride. The DoD staffer responsible for proposing the study was later fired.
  
• Every employee is required to sign a symbolic oath declaring the staff of Sea World to be their mortal enemies. 
  
• A 1993 geography textbook published by McGraw-Hill mistakenly identified   "Space Mountain" as the highest point in Florida.
  
• Workers in the surface areas of the park refer to employees in the underground offices and control centers as "Mole People."
  
• Male employees willing to grow and maintain a moustache like Walt Disney's are given a $25 annual bonus.  Female employees are entitled to the same bonus upon executing an affidavit stating that if they could grow a moustache, they would grow one like Walt's.
  
• Each year, a little-known contest is held to find the nuclear family in America that best embodies the ideals of Walt Disney World.  The winning family is relocated to a three-bedroom apartment on an upper floor of Cinderella's Castle and confined to the park for the duration of their reign.  Their children are granted special waivers by the state of Florida, certifying that park exhibits on science and history are sufficiently educational to substitute for regular school attendance.
  
• In 1990, Walt Disney World unsuccessfully petitioned for membership in the United Nations.
  
• Approximately 1 out of every 6 "guests" in the park is a paid plainclothes security guard.  To achieve anonymity, these guards come in all ages and appearances, including specially trained children.  However, because of restrictive child labor laws, many "families" in the park must replace their children approximately every 4 hours.
  
• A little-known park rule prohibits entry to anyone wearing a football helmet.
  
• More people have been killed by contaminated hamburgers sold at the park's snack bars than on all of the rides combined.
  
• Members of Congress are entitled to free admission at any time by showing their Congressional i.d. badge.  Justices of the Supreme Court are not.
  
• Each ride is assigned a unique code word that, if whispered to the supervising attendant, will allow one to immediately move to the head of the line.  Employees escorting handicapped guests are given a copy of the list of code words for that day.   To avoid malfeasance, the codes are changed every three days.
  
• Merchandise from Disney movies that fail to achieve at least $100 million in box office receipts is prohibited from being sold in park gift shops.  Guests inquiring about such merchandise are politely referred to the company's mail order division.
  
• Four different Snow Whites have filed sexual harassment lawsuits against the company in the last 15 years.  Three were settled out of court.  The fourth is still pending.
  
• Each year, a charity basketball game is played by employees in their character costumes. Five of the last seven games have been won by whichever team had Pluto playing for it.
  
• Since the park opened, more than 40 people have been prosecuted for spitting off the Skyway ride.  On average, they are fined $50 each.
  
• There are more than 200 instances of the number "78" being used conspicuously throughout the park.  Walt Disney believed that that number held mystical significance, and actually had it tattooed in small numerals just behind his right ear.
  
• Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, spent the summer of 1986 as a cast member of the Diamond Horseshoe Revue.  He played a vaudeville man who told several corny jokes before being pulled offstage by an oversized hook.

Posted: 5/30/01