22 Details You Missed on Disney World’s Most Popular Rides

Disney World is full of hidden secrets that you may not ever notice unless you pay special attention (or you have a favorite Disney website that gives you a heads up)!

With everything from Imagineering details to hidden Mickeys, there is so much thought put into the parks!

Today, we’re sharing the best details that you probably missed on Disney World’s most popular rides. 

Haunted Mansion

• Take a look at the ride building while you’re waiting in the queue — it’s covered in various chess pieces. All of the typical chess pieces are there except the knight. That’s because it’s always “night” at the Haunted Mansion!
• The grandma in the ballroom scene is the same animatronic as the grandma in Carousel of Progress.

• The bride in the attic’s name is Constance, and she has murdered all five of her husbands. If you check out her portraits in the attic, you’ll notice that each time she murders a husband, she gets a new set of pearls. By the end, she has five pearl necklaces!
• But Constance isn’t just in the attic of the ride, you’ll also see her in the stretching room before boarding the attraction. Look for the portrait of the old woman with five pearl necklaces on — that’s her! And fittingly, she’s sitting on a tombstone.

Avatar Flight of Passage

• As you’re leaving the ride, you may spot three red handprints with initials on a wall to your right. These are the handprints and initials of James Cameron, Jon Landau, and Joe Rohde — the director of Avatar, the producer of the film, and the legendary Imagineer behind the ride, land, and Park as a whole.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

• The vultures that you spot on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train are the same vultures recycled from Snow White’s Scary Adventures. That ride was formerly in Fantasyland as well, in the spot where Princess Fairytale Hall now stands.

Splash Mountain

• As you reach the top of the big hill before the drop, look to the left. There in the rock formation, you’ll see a hidden Mickey. But it’s not your typical Hidden Mickey; it’s his side profile!
• When you spot the little gopher dropping out of a hole in the ceiling, you may not be able to tell, but he says “FSU.” This is because the Imagineer who worked on that section of the ride went to Florida State.

Test Track

• As you head into the Efficiency room of the ride, look for a URL printed on the schematics. If you type that URL into a browser, it leads you to a JPG of Mickey Mouse. Basically the coolest hidden Mickey ever!

Frozen Ever After

• In the last scene of the ride, take a look to the side and you’ll spot some little puffins. These same puffins were recycled from Maelstrom, the ride that was formerly in this spot before Frozen Ever After.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

• If you’ve been on this ride before, then you know that the ride vehicles are super-stretch limos. There are multiple limos, each with a different license plate and a different Aerosmith song as a soundtrack.
• One of the limos plays the song “Love in an Elevator,” except the lyrics have been changed to “Love in a Roller Coaster.”

Tower of Terror

• The inspection certificate in the elevator is signed by Mr. Cadwallader, who was revealed to be the devil in an early episode of The Twilight Zone. And the number on the certificate is 10259, a reference to October 2nd, 1959 when the show first aired.

Kilimanjaro Safaris

• Next time you ride, take a closer look at the island with the flamingos on it — it’s a giant Hidden Mickey!
• The large baobab trees that you spot throughout the savanna are actually fake. They’re made of concrete!

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

• There are two ride setups, and they each spin in a different direction. One going clockwise is symbolic for looking toward the future and making more memories, the one going counterclockwise is to remind everyone of the past, including memories of riding Dumbo as a child.
• The one going clockwise is the only Disney spinner ride in the world that doesn’t go counter-clockwise.

Expedition Everest

• This is a pretty well-known fact, but the yeti animatronic on the ride is actually broken. It used to move, but it broke shortly after the ride opened, and now Disney just puts a strobe light effect on it to make it look like it’s moving.
• You won’t actually notice unless you look at Expedition Everest on Google Maps, but the entire ride is a hidden Mickey. The mountain makes his head, with two round ride tracks coming out of the side to form the ears.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

• The train whistle from the pre-show is the same one used in Steamboat Willie.
• This ride has more hidden Mickeys than any other Disney attraction in the world. 
• You’ll find many Disney history references throughout, like 1928 on a sign for the year that Mickey Mouse was first drawn, “The Great Moving Ride” on a poster to honor The Great Movie Ride, or “Yensid Valley” on a sign, which is Disney spelled backward.

Disney World Imagineers have added in so many interesting details that you may have never noticed — they really think of everything! Stay tuned to AllEars for more ride secrets, hidden details, and fun history facts from around Walt Disney World.

Click Here to Learn Some Amazing Hidden Secrets of the Walt Disney World Hotels!

Which of these secrets surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments!

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