Steve Martin worked in Disneyland while he was a teenager.
Long before he was an SNL cast member, Martin worked on Main Street selling programs, according to Doyle.
"[He] eventually graduated into Merlin’s Magic Shop in Fantasyland," Doyle said. "He attributes much of his comedic timing to practice in the magic shop and to Disney Legend Wally Boag, the star of the long-running show, the Golden Horseshoe Revue."
Under the Candy Palace & Candy Kitchen window on Main Street there’s a small vent. This vent shoots the fantastic candy smells into the streets.
It's called the Smellitzer and is just one of the many areas where Disneyland purposely pumps smells into the park.
"The Smellitzer was named after the famous WWI shell launcher, the howitzer," Doyle said. "Instead of launching deadly shells, it launches glorious aromas."
“Many backstage buildings around the resort are painted a color called ‘no-see-um-green.’”
No color at Disneyland is chosen on accident, from the bumble gum pinks of Main Street to the deeper hues in New Orleans Square.
But there is one color Walt Disney and the Imagineers hoped park-goers would never notice — "no-see-um-green."
"The goal of this color is to cause the object to fade into your color spectrum so that your eye will miss it completely," Doyle explained. "The best example can be found on the outdoor lift hill of Big Thunder Mountain, where you can easily see backstage by turning your head to the right. Most guests simply don’t see this backstage area as everything is covered in Disney’s special green-colored paint."
Another example is the Disney private restaurant Club 33 which uses the color on its door.
When the Jungle Cruise originally opened, live alligators were kept in pens near the queue to entertain guests.
Originally, Walt Disney wanted the cruise to feature live animals. Since many of his choices were nocturnal, they would be sleeping as the boats passed by, which wouldn't make for an exciting ride.
Walt kept live alligators in cages next to the line, but Doyle told Tech Insider that many guests thought the animals were fake and would throw popcorn at them. Allegedly, the gators would even escape into the park.
"Trainers would have to be called from the nearby Buena Park Gator Farm to retrieve the animals," Doyle told us. Eventually, they decided to nix the idea and use animatronic animals instead.
Only Coca-Cola soda products are sold within Disneyland.
Anyone who has ever been to a Disney park will know there is nothing but Coca-Cola products. There's even a Coca-Cola store at Disneyland!
But what lots don't know?
"In return for this brand loyalty, Coca-Cola gives Disneyland free syrup to make all of the soft drinks," Doyle said, adding that Disney still has to pay for the containers and cups. That's a pretty sweet deal.
The ground when you first enter the park is red brick. Walt Disney wanted it to feel like you were walking in on a red carpet.
The Imagineers and Walt Disney thought about every single detail when they were building Disneyland, down to the smallest experiences like what the guests would walk on.
"In addition to the red brick/red carpet device, the tunnels entering the park are meant to represent the curtains opening on the stage," Doyle said. "Once you step through them, you have entered a new world."
Each Disneyland Cast Member name tag features their first name and hometown.
"Walt Disney ... wanted everyone to call him Walt," Doyle told TI. "He extended the first name basis requirement to all Disneyland Cast Members by issuing the nametags in 1962."
Before the nametags, the cast wore their employee number on their chest. Today, you'll see their first name and hometown proudly displayed.
"The queue of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is lined with big battery boxes" that make reference to special members of the Disney corporation.
The batteries are a tribute to Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative team behind the world's Disney parks.
The huge boxes are discretely labeled "Glendale, California, USA" in reference to where the Imagineers work. Pretty spot-on that they chose batteries to reference the Imagineers since without them, the parks wouldn't run the way they do!
The landmarks throughout the parks are called 'weenies' [because] they draw people toward different areas.
Disney historian Jim Korkis said that Walt Disney would make hot dogs or "wieners" after coming home late from work. Walt quickly realized he could use his snack to train his dog Lady.
"He found that he could make [Lady] perform all sorts of tricks and lead her about," Doyle said. "Perhaps he referenced this practice to an Imagineer working on Disneyland and the name stuck."
Sleeping Beauty's castle is a "weenie."
When Fantasyland initially opened, the star characters from 'Peter Pan,' 'Snow White,' and 'The Adventure’s of Ichabod and Mr. Toad' made no appearance in their respective attractions.
Walt and the Imagineers wanted each guest at Disneyland to feel like they were the star character. Instead of meeting Snow White, you were Snow White. As guests traveled around the park, Walt hoped they would feel like the first-person hero.
The princesses and other star characters were not a part of Walt's original vision, but "almost no one understood this concept, and the characters were eventually added," Doyle said.
The Partners statue [...] has several easily missed references to Walt.
One of the biggest photo ops at Disneyland is a statue of Walt Disney holding hands with Mickey Mouse as the gaze out at the future. It was erected in 1993.
The Imagineers who built the statue added a few special touches about Disney's founder.
"On Walt’s tie there is a small insignia for the Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs, CA," Doyle explained.Disney had a house there and had the logo stitched into many of his ties. On Walt’s right hand there’s a Claddagh ring in honor of his Irish heritage. Both Walt and his wife, Lillian, purchased Claddagh rings during their 1948 trip to Ireland and wore them often."
...from top executives to street sweeper, everyone goes through a training program called 'Traditions' before beginning work.
Everyone who works for Disney is called a "Cast Member," even if you work at Disney headquarters.
And each new hire must take a program that teaches them all about the past, present, and future of the Walt Disney Company.
"The goal of the class is to remind every Cast Member that they each play an important role in providing quality and magic to the guests who visit the park," Doyle said. "At the conclusion of the ceremony, Mickey Mouse presents each new hire with their official Disneyland name tag."
"Nothing is better than the sounds of Main Street, U.S.A. when the parks open" because the horses have special hooves to make the clip-cloping sound louder.
If the sound of the horses walking down Main Street seems louder than usual, it's because their horseshoes are specially designed to increase the volume.
"The horseshoes have a special polyurethane coating to give them better traction and to increase the clip-clop sound as they walk the streets," Doyle said.
"Originally, the Tiki Room was designed as a restaurant. Only later was it turned into a show guests could come watch." PS. There's a restroom inside that lots of visitors don't know about.
Nowadays, many Disney fans know the "Enchanted Tiki Room" show, but originally it was only a restaurant at the Disneyland park.
Another cool fact?
"The Tiki Room is one of two attractions in Disneyland that has a dedicated restroom," Doyle said. "Not only is it a cool secret, but also a great thing to know when there is a long line at the main Adventureland restroom just across the path."
The land across from the park increased in value from $10,000 to $100,000,000.
A year after Disneyland opened in 1954, the Fujishige family bought 56 acres of nearby strawberry fields for $10,000.
It was a good investment.
"When the Fujishige’s finally sold in 1998, 52.5 of the acres sold for $99.9 million dollars," Doyle said. "The family still owns 3.5 acres."
