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By Michael Aronson – 05/14/06
May 14
- 1989: Big kids get a place to call their own as Pleasure Island opens at Downtown Disney in Walt Disney World
May 15
- 1908: Happy Birthday Joe Grant. Born in New York City, the Disney Legend He will become interested in drawing while watching his father who was an art director for William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. Grant was was doing celebrity caricatures for the Los Angeles Record when Walt Disney was looking for someone to do caricatures of current celebrities for ‘Mickey’s Gala Premiere’. During the studio's first Golden Age, Grant was head of the Character Model Department. He worked on the studio's first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as Saludos Amigos, Make Mine Music and Alice in Wonderland. With Dick Huemer, Grant was in charge of story for Fantasia and Dumbo. Grant left Disney in 1949, but returned to the studio in the '90s, to contribute conceptual art for today's seemingly endless string of Disney blockbusters. In fact, one of Grant's conceptual ideas became the basis for "Carnival of the Animals," a segment in the upcoming Fantasia 2000. This makes Grant the only Disney artist to have worked on both Fantasia's. Joe passed away in 2005.
- 2001: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California, features "Walt Disney - The Man and His Magic," an exhibit about Walt. The exhibit will run through September.
May 16
- 1928: A mouse is marked. On this day Walt Disney applied for a trademark of the character "Mickey Mouse" for use in motion pictures.
May 17
- 1950: Award winning lyricist Howard Ashman (1950-1991) is born. He would co-write songs for Aladdin, the Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast.
- 1991: The Port Orleans Resort Opens at Walt Disney World.
May 18
- 2003: ‘Finding Nemo’ premiers. It will go on to be the second most successfull animated film of all time taking in over $340 million at the box office.
May 20
- 1973: Tom Sawyer Island opens at Walt Disney World.
- 1973: The Plaza Swan Boats open at Walt Disney World.
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