Disney Cicerone

Disney Cicerone Obscure Disney history with a dash of encouragement šŸ’œ
šŸ“šAuthor
šŸŽ™ļøPodcaster
āœØ Content creator
(9)

Here's what you'll find at Disney Cicerone:

- Deep-dive into Disney history you've probably never heard of before
- Comparisons of Disneyland vs Disney World (I'm a passholder at both!)
- Disney parks-inspired words meant to encourage & motivate
- Fun vlogs of days in both Disneyland & Walt Disney World

Cicerone literally means "a guide who gives information about antiquities and places of inter

est to sightseers" and that's all I'm here to do, to be your personal tour guide through the most obscure Disney history! If you're someone who LOVES Disney and has heard all the usual facts and secrets already and is ready for more

- OR -

If you're someone who just wants to learn a few fun facts to appreciate the Disney parks you know & love even more, let's explore Disney history together!

08/25/2026

THE REDHEAD RETURNS! šŸ™Œ

I meanā€¦ kinda. šŸ˜‚

But how fantastic is it that the Imagineers threw in this little nod to a classic character for the fans of Pirates of the Caribbean. If we canā€™t have the Redhead fully back, at least we get this. šŸ“ā€ā˜ ļø

ā€œWhen I went to work on the pirateā€™s costumes, these figures were mostly pipes and tubes. The girl in the auction sceneā€”the redhead with her right hand behind her hip? Right behind the bust to the top of the pelvic bone, thereā€™s nothing but just a tube. So I had to build corsets that would make the shape of the body, and then do the clothes over the top of it. so the dress had nothing to fit it to!ā€ - Alice Davis

(Note: It does seem like they have since reshaped the redhead so she did have a torso before she was removed, but it was likely after Alice Davisā€˜s time at WED)

There was also recently added a portrait of the skeleton pirate atop the treasure, likely at the same time as the Redhead portrait addition.

What do you think of this new addition to Pirates of the Caribbean?

-

08/21/2026

Easily one of the CUTEST details in all of Pirates of the Caribbean, and hardly anyone realizes heā€™s there (or knows why he exists) šŸ¦œ

Here is the full script of phrases this little parrot would have offered us:
* Morgan says the streets are paved with gold!
* Storm the fort and steal a fortune!
* Drink up, me cut throats time to sail!
* Avast there, mates wait for dark!
* Quick now our fortunes made lads
* Weā€™re keepinā€™ the ladies waiting!
* Aye captain, your heart is as black as your beard
* Weā€™ll have a hot time in the old town tonight

The 1963 continuity script, most likely written by Marty Sklar, also described these details in the grotto meeting room: ā€œThere is a table loaded with Fruit bowls and fine gold goblets, and on the wall is an old time map with the exaggerated shapes of continents and oceans according to 15th and 16th century beliefs.ā€

Even though the Pirates concept changed quite a bit after 1963, the grotto meeting room still seems to be alive and well on the right side of the captainā€™s quarters.

You can find more obscure details on our Pirates of the Caribbean series on Distory with Kate & Kirk (watch on YT @ DisneyCicerone or listen wherever you enjoy p0dcasts!)

Have you ever noticed this cute little parrot with a nightcap?

08/19/2026

Nothing inspires me more than hearing from creatives how hardship shaped their work. šŸ„¹

One of my favorite moments of that D23
Alan Menken concert was hearing about how nervous he was flying to London to work with a new lyricist after the loss of Howard Ashman. But even though something looked terrifying and impossible after having grown-up creatively with Howard by his side, he still found creative synergy with a new lyricist, Tim Rice, for Aladdin. The very first song they ever composed together was A Whole New World. How apt and fitting that that song should be his first to write when he himself was stepping into a whole new world without his friend by his side. šŸ’œ

I'm not great at celebrating milestones, but I'm so thankful that our Distory community showed up to celebrate 200 episo...
08/18/2026

I'm not great at celebrating milestones, but I'm so thankful that our Distory community showed up to celebrate 200 episodes with us! They asked some great (and diverse!) Disney history questions, and Walrus Carp and I had a blast answering them all šŸŽ‰šŸ„³

From Beauty and the Beast animation origins to Liberty Square's "brown river" to a lost BeatlesLand concept, this episode explores some real hidden corners in Disney history.āœØ

We also debate which pieces of Disney should remain untouchable, discuss some persistent myths, and answer questions about our favorite pieces of architecture, ride vehicles, and years to visit the parks (historically speaking, of course).

(šŸ”— to watch below!)

Can I be honest for a moment? Most people probably donā€™t know that Iā€™ve come very close to giving up recently. Iā€™ve eve...
08/18/2026

Can I be honest for a moment?

Most people probably donā€™t know that Iā€™ve come very close to giving up recently. Iā€™ve even looked into other careers, because doing this Disney Cicerone thing is truly a labor of love, and sometimes it feels like Iā€™m sending my work out into the void and wondering if it matters.

But this weekend, you all reminded me that it does.

That YOU all matter. And that what I do has meaning, possibly even far greater than I ever imagined.

This past Sunday at D23, Alan Menken said that there must be some sort of collective consciousness that makes everyone who meets him say he created ā€œthe soundtrack to their childhood.ā€

And this weekend, I witnessed a similar phenomenon, with person after person coming up to me and saying the same exact words.

ā€œAn inspiration.ā€
ā€œEncouragement.ā€
ā€œIā€™ve learned so muchā€
ā€œThank you for what you do.ā€

Some of you made me laugh with joy. Some of you made me cry. Some of you left me speechless.

But all of you inspired me to keep moving forward.

Thank you all for a truly life-changing D23. For listening to these stories I share. For holding this history close to your heart.

You are the magic for me, and youā€™ll never know how truly grateful I am for each and every one of you. šŸ’œ

08/15/2026

The merch, freebies, and photo ops are all fun. But the heart of D23 is much more than that, and that is what I spend my days searching forā€¦ the stories that remind us that our dreams really can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. šŸ’œ

I love how Tania Norris pointed out that everyone on the stage was from a different part of Waltā€™s world (MAPO, Animation, and WED) and even though all of them came from different worlds, they were all parts of Walt Disney. She said, ā€œThatā€™s Walt did. He got people together from all over the world.ā€

And that is what D23 is all about. Gathering those of us who love Disney together from all over the world to have a moment when we can celebrate the stories and culture that has shaped us and brought us hope and joy. šŸ„°

08/12/2026

History is more than documents and databases. šŸ’œ

Something I love most about the ā€œold wayā€ of Imagineering was the depth of research they would do to understand what they were creating. Sifting through Eddie Sottoā€™s auction recently and seeing his library gave me context into how much he cared about getting the historical details right, like so many Imagineers before him. It wasnā€™t one or two books on architecture and design, it was dozens.

We know that Marc Davis often checked out National Geographic magazines for his inspiration while creating for the Disney parks (and Tony Baxter did the same). We also know books like the Decorative Art of Victoriaā€™s Era was an inspiration for the Haunted Mansion.

I worry that the art of research and understanding context is slowly disappearing from our society as technology increases. Itā€™s much easier to type in a prompt than open a book or find primary sources. But the things we love most about Disney often came from the humanity and experience of the person who created it. Itā€™s pieces of themselves poured into the story. Without interpretation, the pieces get lost over time. Without full context, information gets distorted and watered down until it feels uncomfortable and unnatural because something is missing we canā€™t quite put our finger on.

What to you think about the new JARVIS tools at Imagineering? Do you think it will be an asset to the Imagineers?

08/10/2026

Still a little surprised I stumbled into this in my research. Disney history really is the gift that keeps on giving šŸ˜‚

The only other pirate I think the captain could possibly be is Blackbeard himself in skeleton form, for a couple of reasons:

1. Marc Davisā€™s Rogueā€™s Gallery concept for Blackbeard featured a parrot that talks for him and ā€œtells his tales,ā€ which was planned for the captainā€™s quarters for Pirates of the Caribbean as well in some deleted narration. The skeleton parrot is still next to the captainā€™s bed, but he no longer tells any tales.

2. Blackbeardā€™s hat in that same concept art is similar to the one perched on top of the wig in 1967 (itā€™s no longer there today). BUT, Captain Howell Davis also wore a somewhat similar hat in Marcā€™s concept as well, and Blackbeard did NOT have a white wig, so I still lean toward it being Howell Davis.

This wasnā€™t the only episode of Distory with Kate and Kirk that revealed a skeleton that might be a former pirate. Our Pirates of the Caribbean series has been a treasure trove of discoveries about this classic attraction šŸ“ā€ā˜ ļø (Watch @ DisneyCicerone on YT or anywhere you enjoy p0dcasts!)

What do you think about the idea of these two skeletons being named pirates? Did Marc include these pirates he researched, just in a different way than planned? Or are they truly meant to be nondescript?

Itā€™s amazing how much lost history is hidden in plain sight in Disneyā€™s Pirates of the Caribbean.Every time we dig into ...
08/08/2026

Itā€™s amazing how much lost history is hidden in plain sight in Disneyā€™s Pirates of the Caribbean.

Every time we dig into a new series for Distory with Kate & Kirk, I know that we will find facts that had been buried for years, but it STILL surprises me when it happens.

This episode in particular was a treasure trove of secrets and storytelling that went far beyond what I ever expected to find, including what I think could very possibly be a hidden signature of of Marc Davis in the Captainā€™s Quarters.

If you are a fan of Pirates or appreciate a deep-dive into the history of these classic Disney rides down to the smallest details, come hang out with us on the Distory with Kate & Kirk podcast! We love Disney nerds who geek out along with us over Imagineering documents, lost concepts, and historical details that make these attractions the best ones on Earth.

08/05/2026

Never make an enemy of a Disney animator or you might end up like this too šŸ˜¬

Advice to aspiring animators from Glen Keane: ā€œThere is so much that I have been able to draw from life outside Disney here. I guess that was what those guys were teaching us, too: that you've got to find your expression in the world around you and you are not going to find it in the morgue of the old things done by Disney. You find a lot about drawing techniques and formulas for doing things, but I really try to break away from formula things. One would break animation into those formulas so easily, and students learn those formulas and they forget that somebody once observed some-thing. Everything that works is based on real life. It's not because Frank and Ollie's book says it.ā€

Milt Kahl might have had his opinions about Phyllis Bounds (his ex), but he was a piece of work himself in that relationship as well, competing with her when she picked up a new hobby and being vehemently vocal about his dislike for her, often edging on cruel. I sometimes wonder what his character would have been had she had the chance to animate him. šŸ¤”

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