Walt Disney just weeks after undergoing surgery collapses at his California home. He is revived by medics and readmitted to St. Joseph's Hospital (under an assumed name to avoid publicity) in Burbank. Disney's spokesperson said he was there for a "postoperative checkup."
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The first Mickey Mouse balloon appears in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Broadway and 105th Street in New York City. The giant Mickey Mouse balloon was a collaborative effort between Walt Disney and Macy’s Tony Sarg, who years earlier applied the principles of marionette puppetry to invent the type of parade balloons we know today. This Mickey was easily one of the biggest that Disney had produced yet, hand-painted and measuring in at 40 feet tall (the star on his chest is a nod to the Macy’s logo). Mickey was led in the parade by a team of 25 handlers who were festively dressed in Mickey/Minnie costumes. A smaller Pluto balloon, a 34-foot-tall Big Bad Wolf, a 31-foot-tall Little Pig, and a 12 ½-foot-tall Horace Horsecollar followed along in the 1934 procession.
Only four years after Elias and Flora Disney moved to Marceline, when Walt was only 8 years old, they had to sell their farm. On this farm young Walt and his brother Roy were expected to help out with farm chores and it was here Walt began drawing. Elias and his older sons had struggled to make the farm work but they couldn't. After they sold the farm they moved to Kansas City where Elias bought a newspaper delivery business. Walt and Roy were given jobs to deliver the Kansas City Starand other papers. Walt's memories of the farm would later serve as inspiration for the reconstruction of the family barn, which he used to house his minature steam train hobby, in the back yard of his mansion at Carolwood Estates.
The StarJets open for business in Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland. The new attraction will serve as the central focal point of the futuristic land. The two-passenger jets can be lowered or raised to a height of 80 feet by guests. (In 1994, as part of the major redesign of Tomorrowland, the StarJets will be refurbished and renamed the Astro Orbiter.)
Walt Disney, his brother Roy and other top Disney officials have a follow-up meeting about the recent plane trip earlier in the month - in which they searched for an ideal location for a new theme park. The group gathers in Conference Room 2E at the Walt Disney headquarters to discuss building a possible resort in Central Florida.
The "reawakened" Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough reopens at Disneyland after being closed since 2001. The attraction was also inspired by the Eyvind Earle style, but instead of animated dioramas, the updated attraction combines live animation with the static backdrop of each room, employing a number of special effects to animate the scene. Characters appear and disappear, the Good Fairies cast their magic spells, and a flaming dragon menaces from on high.
Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade comes to an end with two final performances. Disneyland Ambassador Chris Allen does a play by play "color commentary" with one of the local cable stations from atop Main Street's City Hall. It is estimated that some 75 million people have marveled at the bright lights of the procession since its introduction in 1972!
At Epcot Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, a multi-media 3-D movie experience, has an official opening. Already running since November 21, it replaces Captain EO at the Journey into Imagination pavillion. Wayne Szalinski (played by Rick Moranis) is receiving the Inventor of the Year Award for his shrink ray. When attempting to demonstrate it, it goes haywire and ends up shrinking the audience! The film also features Eric Idle as Dr. Nigel Channing and Marcia Strassman as Wayne's wife Diane.
Disney's The Muppets (the first Muppets theatrical release in 12 years) opens in theaters in North America. Walter (a new character performed by Peter Linz), the world's biggest Muppet fan, and his brother Gary (Jason Segel) and friend Mary (Amy Adams) must raise $10 million to save the Muppet Theater from Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), a businessman who plans to demolish the theater to drill for oil. Written by Segel and Nicholas Stoller, the film features six new musical numbers and three classic Muppet songs.
The 30th Disney animated feature film Beauty and the Beast, featuring the voices of Robby Benson as the Beast and Paige O'Hara as Belle, is generally released to theaters in the U.S. & Canada. Belle, whose father is imprisoned by the Beast, offers herself instead and discovers her captor to be an enchanted prince named Adam. The film is based on the fairy tale La Belle et la Bête by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. The all-star voice cast includes Richard White (as Gaston), Jerry Orbach (as Lumiere), David Ogden Stiers (as Cogsworth) and Angela Lansbury (as Mrs. Potts). The film's music will win 2 Academy Awards and 4 Grammy Awards and Beauty and the Beast will later be the first animated film ever to be nominated for best picture.
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