http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7CIjbmjSas

Disneyland officially opened on July 17th 1955.  Hear from the first two kids to enter the park on that hot day in Anaheim.  Michael Schwartner and Christine Vess (now Kristina Graef) were chosen to be the first two kids and official visitors to Disneyland when the park opened to the public on July 18, 1955 – the day after its launch for the media. They spent time and posed for photos with Walt Disney and got lifetime passes. They were 7 and 5 years old at the time. It was also recorded on this rarely seen film.

Video by Mark Eades, ocregister.com.

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Disneyland: First Two Kids to Enter the Park appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeiaA43eD_o

Walt Disney comments on the time Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party, tried to visit Disneyland during his United States visit in 1959. With Disneyland having recently opened on July 17, 1955 in Los Angeles, the mayor of Los Angeles felt his county could not guarantee Khrushchev’s safety and thus denied his visit. Disney says how he had planned for a photo op with the Soviet leader next to Disneyland’s “Submarine Voyage” ride so he could tell him: “Well, Mr. Khrushchev, here’s my Disneyland submarine fleet!”

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Walt Disney on Nikita Khrushchev’s Trip to Disneyland appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7c5EZwZLFA

Walt Disney explains how the television industry can be a competition to the movie industry. Disney describes how he “diversified” his wheelhouse of movie-making because of the excess talent he worked with–he went from cartoons into making nature films, then to putting humans such as “Mary Poppins” into his animation projects.

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‘Not Labeling Anything as Educational. It’s All Entertainment.’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHquRFccyCg

Disney legends Marty Sklar, Xavier Atencio, Alice Estes Davis, and Bob Gurr discuss the first time they ever met Walt Disney and what it was like to work for him at the Walt Disney Company. This special panel came together on August 11, 2013 for the D23 Expo Imagineering Panel.

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‘He’d Pay Us for 5 Days & Expect Us to Work for 6′ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKNFge-8dX4

Alice Davis, American costume designer, discusses what it was like to help develop costumes for Walt Disney during the time when Disney was moving his animation industry into technicolor. Davis talks about what Disney was like as a boss: “He was always very kind as long as you were trying.” Xavier Atencio expresses appreciation for being able to work with such talented people as an animator for the Walt Disney Company. Watch the full interview here.

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What Walt Disney Was Like As a Boss appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDAvRJVDRTY

Hear Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey Mouse in this historic behind the scenes footage of the beloved cartoon creator. Disney records several scenes with Mickey’s arch nemesis Black Pete, voiced by actor Billy Bletcher. Mickey Mouse premiered in the cartoon “Plane Crazy” on May 15, 1928.

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Footage of Walt Disney as the Voice of Mickey Mouse appeared first on Witnify.