Disney announces the acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. As a result of the $19-billion merger, Disney will add the entire ABC television network, key affiliates, ABC radio networks, publishing enterprises, and much more to its rapidly expanding roster of business units. (Ironically Disney's relationship with ABC began in 1954 when Walt Disney agreed to produce a TV series in return for ABC's investment in Disneyland.)
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The Casey Jr. Circus Train (based on the train of the same name from the 1941 Dumbo) debuts at Disneyland. Located in the back of Fantasyland next to Dumbo, the train was to open with the rest of the park on July 17 but it wasn't operating properly. Click the link below to take a ride and see what the ride is like today. Disney's Flight of the Navigator, starring Joey Cramer, is released in theaters. A 12-year-old boy named David is abducted by an alien space craft and sent 8 years into the future. The film also features Paul Reubens, Veronica Cartwright, Sarah Jessica Parker and Howard Hesseman. Click the link below to watch the trailer for the film. Walt Disney World's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith opens with a special, invitation-only party, with Aerosmith as the guests of honor at Disney-MGM Studios. An enclosed steel roller coaster ride, it is located at the end of Sunset Boulevard. Invited guests are treated to an all-you-can-eat buffet and bar, and get a chance to ride the roller coaster with a member of Aerosmith. (Rock 'n' Roller Coaster will officially open to the public the following day. The Mickey Mouse short The Shindig, directed by Burt Gillett, is released. Mickey, Minnie, Horace, and Clarabelle are off to a wild barn party. There Mickey plays the harmonica and dances with gigantic Patricia Pig, then joins Minnie in a duet on "Pop Goes the Weasel." It is first cartoon where Clarabelle is named on-screen. Click the link below to check out the short. The first Laugh-O-Gram cartoon Little Red Riding Hood is released. A silent black & white short, it is written, produced, and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Rudolph Ising. It is considered Walt's first full-length short cartoon as prior to this only minute-long cartoons have been produced. Click the link below to watch the short. Disney's first cruise ship The Magic, is christened by Patricia Disney (Roy E. Disney's wife) in Florida. Built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, the Disney Magic can hold approximately 2,400 passengers. The ship boasts 10 expansive decks, a total length of 964 feet, a maximum width of 106 feet and an astonishing gross tonnage of 83,000. Patty Disney christens the ship by remote control, flicking a switch that sends a 3-foot-tall bottle of champagne crashing into the ship's hull. The Magic then sets sail with a star-studded manifest that includes Star Wars director George Lucas, San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson and country singer Travis Tritt, on a two-day trip to Disney's private island in the Bahamas. The ship's last test run, it will embark on its official maiden voyage two days later. Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Cat's Out, directed by Wilfred Jackson, is released. The plot centers around a cat who after being struck on the head begins hallucinating all sorts of creepy things! Click the link below to check out the short. Jennings Osborne, the creator of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, passes away at the age of 67 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Known as the man with the dazzling lights outside his home in Arkansas and each year at Christmas time at Disney World, Osborne was a successful business man and self-made millionaire who started a medical research facility with his wife in 1968. (A microbiologist by training, he opened a prescription drug testing laboratory that grew to become one of the premier human-trial research facilities in the industry.) A holiday tradition at WDW, Osborne first lit up Residential Street at Disney-MGM Studios (today known as Disney's Hollywood Studios) back in November 1995. Click the link below to check out the awesome display. Disney's Pluto cartoon Canine Casanova, directed by Charles A. Nichols, is released. Pluto (voiced by Pinto Colvig) is smitten with Dinah the dachshund ... but unfortunately she ignores him. Click the link below to check out the Short. |