Fun Find Friday
April 19, 2013
Location: Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom
If you are like most Disney fans you have seen the
1964 classic film, Mary Poppins. According to Walt they used every
trick they had in the book to make the film possible. That included
special effects, animation, live action, and as we can see in the
picture below, Audio-Animatronics:

Audio-Animatronics made their debut the previous
year in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and to make Julie Andrews'
character seem practically perfect in every way, they had a robin
land upon her finger which she sang "A Spoonful of Sugar" with. To
make this effect possible, Julie had to wear special clothing filled
with wires galore to make the robin work properly.
So how does this connect with Tomorrowland? Well,
1964 was a very big year for the Disney Company. With Mary Poppins
being a huge hit in theaters, Disney also had a huge hit in New York
in the 1964 World's Fair. Using every trick he had to make popular
shows like It's a Small World and Carousel of Progress possible by
borrowing ideas and unused items around the studio. One of those
unused items? A robin that was used in the filming of Mary Poppins
the year before.
As the Carousel of Progress eventually made its way
to Disneyland and eventually Walt Disney World several parts of the
set were changed, but our dear friend the robin remained. So next
time you hear John point out that it "looks like the robins are
getting ready to celebrate Valentine's Day" take a look out the
window on your left. Here you will find the robin he is referring to
which is the same that once sat on Mary Poppins finger while singing
about A Spoonful of Sugar!

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