Your best WDW Secret!!

"Originally Posted by crashbunny
Here's one that may not be a secret but it's often overlooked. Don't just rush by Canada - take the time to walk around to the back of the Pavilion and look at the gardens - they are just beautiful and a great resting and relaxing spot. Someone told us about this a few years ago and we never realized it was there. Worth a peek if you're into flowers and gardening.!! "

I'd say the same thing about England. We discovered that England has a "side street", simulating a typical English village...a well-kept park, which had a maze in the shubbery, was found to be a wonderful way to keep the children occupied while you sat on a bench to rest. Also, there is a small stage set up in the middle of the garden, where a Beatles "tribute" band plays Fab Four favorites every hour on the hour. The fact that I was drinking a 1/2 yard of British beer comlpleted the experience;)

My WDW secret has been there for a long time, but very few people check it out. It's the theatre behind the Kodak store in the MK on the right side of main st. Immediately after you come out from under the RR to the Main St. Circle there's a white gingerbread trim walkway with an unmarked entrance door. You go down a short hall and there's the small theatre playing old Disney cartoons, some in black and white. This is where they used to show The Disney Story, which is now in MGM. They have plywood cutouts of Snow White & the seven dwarves, Steamboat mickey, etc. that you can get your picture beside as well as a photography museum there. On our last visit Jan 2005 we also found this area is where the characters who are about to go out on Main St. gather before their big appearance. We literally ran into Fairy Godmother, Wendy, Clopin,Esmerelda,Cinderella,&Cruella all at once. Since we were the only ones in the hallway, they each signed our autograph book and posed for individual pictures as well as a big group photo. It was JACKPOT charactertime!!! And I was thrilled more than my daughters.

Wow, thanks for that little secret - we will be sure to check that out!!!

There is also a hidden mickey in the haunted mansion, when you go by and you see the ghosts in the dining area dancing look down at the table and you will see the plates, they are the hidden mickeys, (i found this out from people i know that work in dw)

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Originally Posted by wdw4us2

If you want to know the backstory of the HM in detail, you should read "The Haunted Mansion" by Disney Imagineer Jason Surrell. It gives the history of the mansion all the way back to the 1950's. It covers the mansions in all four parks as well as the movie.

After seeing and hearing Jason at the first 999 Happy Haunts Ball in 2002, I knew the book would be good. I have been to all three of the events, and learn more about the mansion at each event.

Look for a hidden Mickey at the end of the Haunted Mansion ride through. As you're about to leave the cemetary, right before the opera singer look to your right into a crypt. Inside there is Grim Reaper holding a scepter. The top of the scepter is the Hidden Mickey. This is the only "official" hidden Mickey in the mansion.

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:welcome2: to the boards, samiam185.

The plates are often arranged as a mickey, but this has been done by the Cast Members, and they are occasionally rearranged. At least that's what my Keys to the Kingdom guide told us. It's one of the more popular "Hidden Mickeys" so I think they leave it that way almost all the time now.

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Originally Posted by disneydame2004

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The plates are often arranged as a mickey, but this has been done by the Cast Members, and they are occasionally rearranged. At least that's what my Keys to the Kingdom guide told us. It's one of the more popular "Hidden Mickeys" so I think they leave it that way almost all the time now.

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When did they first start to put them that way? Was it intentional the first time? :scratchin

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Originally Posted by BelleGurl

When did they first start to put them that way? Was it intentional the first time? :scratchin

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I don't know! :question: Maybe Mr. Barrett has some insight????????

The official scene does not include the Mickey. When the scene is 'reset' there will be no Mickey, until those CM's get back in the room. :D

Thanks Jason! (and Pat!)

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not...
The Haunted Mansion is the only attraction to be in a different land at every park its in. (I learned this right after the movie came out & there were trivia things about the movie before it.)

Hi Jarod - the experience didn't change my perceptions of the parks, just makes me a little more aware of things now - if I ever am the last person in line, I'll be sure that the person I'm talking to looks me right in the eyes and answers me!!!:D

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Originally Posted by angelmaker

I will never be the last person in line again.

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Wowsers... that musta been really creepy. Did they give you any kind of compensation for it, being that you didn't get to experience the attraction as you should have. I know a friend of mine who got a full day pass to come back into EPCOT simply because his family was the next in line to ride Test Track before it broke down and they were upset that they wouldn't get to see it. Disney liked to keep it's guests happy, as we all know.http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com/for...ies/smile1.gif

I've never been closed up inside a ride like that, but I have been stuck on a few for short intervals. Never anything too long though. The longest one was probably one time when I was stuck on the boat in Small World for about an hour. Something jammed the conveyor at the loading/unloading dock, and I got to listen to that catchy little tune for what seemed like a lifetime.

By the way, I see a lot of people commented on taking pics of SM with the lights on, but nobody has shared any yet (granted I'm new to the boards here and haven't ventured as far as the photos section to see if there are any over there), so I'll throw one of mine at you all. I've taken a few of them on my last couple trips. I find the lights always seem to be on during the last 1/2 hour before closing time. Ride the Peoplemover/TTA during that time and check it out yourself.

http://img44.exs.cx/img44/7607/spacemtn3qv.th.jpg

We didn't ask for any type of compensation when it happened. My husband "gave them the business" and then it was time to leave the park. The girls were so upset and really so was I since I hate being closed in and especially in the dark - we figured it was best to just let it go.

We had already been on the ride several times during our stay so we know what it was like to ride it in the dark. I hope nothing like that ever happens again.

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Originally Posted by neu318

Not really a secret but a tip, duringMickeys very merry christmas and during new years eve fireworks to avoid getting stuck in a large crowd exiting the park they open an exit that goes through the stage in tomorrowland and goes through the back of main street which leads to the main exit. Also on the way you can see the CM's parking, the back of all the shops, plants used in the park, media crew, etc..

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I once entered the park while the "Spectromagic" parade was taking place on Main Street, and unlike during Wishes, where the guests are encouraged to stay in the street and keep the sidewalks clear for passing, the sidewalks were full during the parade and of course you can't walk up the street because of the parade itself. So as I started trying to make like a salmon swimming upstream on the sidewalks, I and several other guests were re-routed by a small team of CMs. They brought me through a gate (it had something about bicycles or something written on it) on the right side of the circle just before you head up main street. our detour brought us around the backside of the shops, and we could see a large parking lot full of WDW security vehicles and vans and such, as well as many other buildings I'd never known existed. It looked really different. Cool, but deffinitely nothing like the "fantasy" we are used to seeing inside the parks. It was like a cold dose of reality. We were eventually dumped back out into the park someplace on the far end of MainStreet i think (i didn't even really pay attention to where we came back into the park, come to think of it). I bet this is probably some of the same route you were taken on.

You can also see this area from the WDW railroad between Mickey's Toon Town Fair and MainStreet. You will go past a break in the trees where you can look to your right and see this parking lot and the buildings I was routed past during the parade.

They mainly do that during peak periods. They take you behind main st towards tomorrowland