One of my favorite things to do when I visit a Disney theme park is to seek out all the hidden gems.

While most other park guests are making a beeline to the next attraction or show – heads down, dodging strollers and wheelchairs with the skill of an NFL running back – I can be found checking out the smallest detail, the tiniest nugget left behind by those clever folks at Walt Disney Imagineering.

I’m fascinated by things that are hidden in plain sight. I have been known to stop in my tracks as I walk down Main Street, U.S.A. to snap a photo of a second-floor window. “Why did you stop back there?” I’ll be asked. “To get a shot of Tom Nabbe’s window,” I’ll respond.

During my last two visits to Walt Disney World, I became obsessed with two items that have managed to ignore modern technology and have weathered everything Father Time has thrown at them:

Mailboxes and public telephones.

Talk about old-school.

Yes, virtually everyone entering the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom is carrying a cell phone. And with those handy handheld devices, they can call or text message anyone, anywhere, at any time.

So why are there still public telephones in the parks? Well, the phones – usually located near each park’s entrance – allow a guest to make local calls for free, should he or she feel so compelled (or if their cell phone’s battery is low). An operator can also be reached by dialing 0.

If you’re just looking for general information about the parks or have questions about ticketing, you can also use these phones. But if you want to call a number that isn’t local, you need to use a calling card.

The public phones aren’t very portable – the receivers have cords attached to them – and you do have to punch in the number using the buttons on the face of the phone. But hey, when you’re desperate …

We did find a phone that’s located deep in the heart of a park, in this case Hollywood Studios. We were standing outside the restroom near the entrance to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror when we stumbled on a public phone sitting innocently in a small nook. To our chagrin, it was not a direct line to another dimension …

And then there are mailboxes located throughout all four parks. I know. Mailboxes are as outdated as … well, public telephones.

Most of the folks who use the mailboxes located in Walt Disney World are looking to have their letters or postcards stamped from Walt Disney World. Many consider that a unique – and inexpensive – souvenir.

The mailbox located on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom features its maker’s engraving on the side: The Danville Stove and Manufacturing Co. of Danville, Pa., which has a unique history.

It seems that seven shareholders formed a corporation in 1882 with a capital investment of $20,000 and named it the Danville Stove and Manufacturing Co. In addition to making stoves, the company branched out and crafted cast iron mailboxes for the U.S. Post Office.

The cast iron mailboxes had a familiar beaver logo on them, a nod to one of the company’s major stockholders, Thomas Beaver. Danville Stove and Manufacturing Co. went out of business in the 1940s, so the mailbox on Main Street may be among the park’s oldest residents.

And then there are the often subtle messages sent to us by those clever Imagineers, who enjoy paying homage to one another in some very odd ways.

At the Haunted Mansion, for instance, there are headstones aplenty with the names of some of Imagineering’s most revered members.

On the hill near the entrance to the attraction, one particular headstone stands out. It’s to “our dear friend Martin,” a reference to the late Marty Sklar, former head of Imagineering.

Sprinkled throughout the interactive queue are other Imagineers who helped develop the beloved attraction. Etched into tombstones are the names of Yale Gracey, Claude Coats, Marc Davis, Fred Joerger and Leota Tombs, whose image on the headstone periodically opens her eyes “with ghoulish delight” as guests walk into the mansion. Midway through the tour, Ms. Tombs’ talking head can be seen encased in a crystal ball during the séance sequence. And her miniaturized figure near the exit implores you to “hurry back.”

Another of the Imagineers’ favorite places to play is along the queue of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Here, you’ll find all kinds of hidden homages to the crafty Imagineers who worked on the attraction.

At one point along the queue, there’s a list of some of them:

Little Big Gibson, Jolley The Kid, Buckaroo Burke, Calamity Clem, Skittish Skip, Wild Wolf Joerger, Match Stick Marc and Mama Hutchinson.

Those Imagineers being honored, according to retired Creative Director Kevin Rafferty, are:

Blaine Gibson (sculptor), Bob Jolley (scenic production, theming/aging), Jeff Burke (production designer/model shop), Clem Hall (illustrator), Skip Lange (production design and show producer), Fred Joerger (model shop and production), Marc Davis (one of Walt Disney’s legendary Nine Old Men) … and “I don’t know who Mama Hutchinson is.”

Curiously, Tony Baxter, the lead Imagineer for the attraction, isn’t mentioned.

“My guess as to why Tony isn’t listed is because he most likely created this list to honor key members of his team. Perhaps like me, Tony doesn’t add himself into his attractions. The only reason you see “hidden Kevs” in attractions is because other members of the team sneak them in without me knowing – like “Kevin’s Aloha-ha Shirts” in Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Disneyland.”

Another interesting tribute to a Disney Legend can be found across the way from the Journey of the Little Mermaid attraction in Fantasyland. Here, above a Disney Vacation Club “discovery desk,” is a sign that reads: H. Goff, Cartography.

Harper Goff enjoyed a wide-ranging career working behind the scenes, specifically in set and art designs. Among Goff’s many credits for Disney was the design work he did for the exterior of the Nautilus submarine for the Academy Award-winning movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He even designed the sets for every compartment within the submarine.

Goff, who was named a Disney Legend in 1993, also made significant contributions to the design of the pavilions in World Showcase at EPCOT.

The placement of the H. Goff sign is brilliant: It’s located on the site of the former 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine voyage attraction.

Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist and retired Disney cast member who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored seven books on Disney, including his On the Disney Beat and Disney’s Dream Weavers for Theme Park Press. He has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, since 2015.

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