The Disney Look... to the Past! (06/21 - 06/27)

Here's this week look at Disney's Past!

This Week in Disney History: June 21-27

June 22, 1988 - Touchstone Pictures releases Who Framed Roger Rabbit

In 1947 Hollywood, human actors and cartoon characters coexist, and a private investigator with a grudge is called to investigate when Maroon Studios' biggest star, Roger Rabbit, suspects his wife Jessica is "playing patty cake" with someone else. Turns out, she was (literally) - and Roger becomes the prime suspect when the other man is found dead. The truth will put everyone in Toontown at stake as an evil judge schemes to wipe the Toons out. With Steven Spielberg co-producing, Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis filmed the live-action sequences while Richard Williams directed the animation, winning a special Academy Award for his work (one of four the film collected in total.) The downtown sections of Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland Park and the dark ride Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin were both inspired by the film.

June 21, 2002 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Lilo & Stitch 

Experiment 626 is an ultra-intelligent, indestructible alien laboratory creation bent upon destroying anything he touches. When he escapes incarceration by the Galactic Federation, he crash lands on a quiet Hawaiian island - where he ends up in a dog pound. Luckily, his adopter Lilo is an eccentric young girl who needs help mending her broken family, and she eagerly welcomes her new "dog" Stitch into the fold. Unfortunately, his creator and captors are out to reclaim him. Co-director Chris Sanders voiced the mischievous alien, and the cast of offbeat characters includes the goofy Inspector Pleakley (Kids in the Hall vet Kevin McDonald) and the mysterious Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames.) Magic Kingdom Park guests can experience their own alien encounter with Experiment 626 in Stitch's Great Escape!

Also this week in Disney history:

June 21  

1961 - "The Litterbug" (the last Donald Duck cartoon made) debuts

1961 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Parent Trap

1991 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Rocketeer

1996 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Hunchback of Notre Dame

   

June 22  

1955 - Disney's Lady and the Tramp is released

1970 - The Walt Disney Archives are established 

1977 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Rescuers

1985 - Videopolis opens at Disneyland Park

2005 - Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store open on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles 

1996 - Dreamflight officially becomes Take Flight at Magic Kingdom Park

   

June 23  

1944 - "Springtime for Pluto" (Pluto cartoon short) debuts

1956 - The Skyway attraction opens at Disneyland Park

1963 - The Enchanted Tiki Room (first Audio-Animatronics ever created) opens at Disneyland Park 

1967 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Happiest Millionaire

1989 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Honey I Shrunk the Kids

1995 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Pocahontas

1999 - Tarzan's Treehouse opens at Disneyland Park

2005 - The No. 5 Ward Kimballengine is dedicated on the Disneyland Railroad 

   

June 24  

1893 - Roy Oliver Disney, Walt Disney's brother, is born 

1994 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Lion King

1994 - The Electric Umbrella restaurant opens at Epcot

2006 - Disneyland Park hosts the world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

   

June 25  

1930 - "The Fire Fighters" (Mickey Mouse cartoon short) debuts

1967 - "America the Beautiful" (CircleVision 360 film) opens at Disneyland Park

   

June 26  

1957 - The Viewliner train opens at Disneyland Park

1959 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Darby O'Gill and the Little People and Donald in Mathmagic Land

1989 - Delta Dreamflight officially opens in Magic Kingdom Park

2006 - Pirates of the Caribbean officially re-opens at Disneyland Park with Audio-Animatronic figures from the films added to the attraction 

   

June 27  

1986 - Big Thunder Ranch opens at Disneyland Park 

1997 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Hercules

All these informations are subject to the copyright of the Walt Disney Company. All rights are reserved.