Disney Facts!

Facts 3871-3900

One month into college and my dad is already stressing me so much about it. It was only the FIRST TEST! It does not determine the rest of my life!

Fact  #3871
To ensure that Riley's Bing Bong drawing looked authentic, Kim White (Director of Photography - Lighting on Inside Out) had her 7 year-old daughter draw the image that ended up in the film.

Fact #3872
A 1994 earthquake forced Disney Studios to temporarily shut down. As a result, a big chunk of The Lion King was completed in the homes of the artists. 

Fact #3873
Various characters never made it passed the development stage for The Lion King; One example being a tagalong character named Mheetu, Nala's little brother.

Fact #3874
For Mheetu's character, during the stampede scene, Simba would try to rescue Nala's little brother, but sadly failed. Luckily, Mufasa would come to the rescue, however he would die.

Fact #3875
Another character that was written out of The Lion King was a wise-cracking bat-eared fox named Bhati who was a friend of Nala's.

Fact #3876
There was also going to be another meerkat, named Tesma, who would be a mopey relative of Timon.

Fact #3877
The hyenas were originally going to be cape-hunting dogs.

Fact #3878
The American Film Institution list The Lion King being the 4th best animated film of all time. The three to beat it out was Snow White, Pinocchio, and Bambi.

Fact #3879
According to a news article from Entertainment Weekly, Disney made over $1 billion from selling The Lion King merchandise.

Fact #3880
Scar is the only lion in The Lion King who has claws. 

Fact #3881
Adult Simba's mane was inspired by Bon Jovi's hair. 

Fact #3882
The last scene created for The Lion King was the scene where Mufasa's Ghost appears before Simba for the first time. 

Fact #3883
You can hear a speed up version of Timon's "Aloha Chant" in Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room.

Fact #3884
Simba's name means Lion in Swahili.

Fact #3885
Sarabi's name means Mirage in Swahili.

Fact #3886
Rafiki's name means Friend in Swahili.

Fact #3887
Pumbaa's name means Weak-minded in Swahili.

Fact #3888
Shenzi's name means Barbarous in Swahili.

Fact #3889
Banzai's name means Lurk in Swahili.

Fact #3890
When Jonathan Taylor Thomas was recording his lines as young Simba when said lion is pinned down by Nala, he was hit in the back to make it sound like he had just gotten the wind out of him. 

Fact #3891
Simba and Timon's voice actors only met once throughout the entire production of The Lion King. They two had met in a hall of the studio. This happened because their lines were recorded separately.

Fact #3892
To help provide authenticity to The Lion King's soundtrack, Hans Zimmer hired his South African friend, Lebo M. He's the one you hear singing the first few verses in The Circle of Life. 

Fact #3893

More than 600 artists, technicians, and animators contributed to The Lion King.

Fact #3894
Timon's Hawaiian dance was originally going to be a disco-fever style like dance. 

Fact #3895 (Disney Employee Story) 
The craziest thing that ever happened to me personally is the time when I had to be out at Fastpass Distribution. I was standing out there telling everyone that we are out of Fastpasses when this really large/overweight 8 year old Asian kid rides up to me on a rascal scooter. He demands passes and when I tell him we are out, he demands to ride the ride. I tell him he can wait in line (120 min wait) and he gets really upset and guns his scooter into my leg then rides away. I was so shocked and amused I did not call security on him. 

Fact #3896 (Disney Employee Story) 
I was a lifeguard at the Contemporary Resort about a decade ago. It was a pretty small pool for Disney, but in the summer it was packed wall-to-wall with kids, and it seemed like every single one of them would play dead man's float so we had to constantly watch them to see who was actually drowning. On average we did about 2 rescues a day, mostly just pulling kids out who started struggling or if they started to pull other nearby kids under because their parents were off sipping margaritas. Occasionally drunk adults would pass out but they usually floated on their backs so we'd fish them out while staying dry.

Fact #3897
The Good Dinosaur was originally directed by Bob Peterson and set for release on May 30, 2014, but Peterson had trouble getting the third act right, so he was taken off the film and it was pushed back to November 25, 2015, the intended release date of Finding Dory (2016), in order to give it more time; Finding Dory (2016) was then pushed back to June 17, 2016. Peterson has since gone on to do a different film for Pixar while Denise Ream replaced John Walker as producer, and, on October 21, 2014, Peter Sohn was officially named the new director. The story was then reworked, and some major changes included scrapping the idea of dinosaurs being farmers and adding the concept of nature itself being the main antagonist. 

Fact #3898
The Good Dinosaur (2015) is the first Pixar film to have a Thanksgiving release since Toy Story 2 (1999), as well as the first one to have a November release since The Incredibles (2004), and the first one to not be released in June since Up (2009). 

Fact #3899
The Good Dinosaur is the first Pixar Thanksgiving release not to be directed by John Lasseter.

Fact #3900
The Good Dinosaur marks the first time Pixar has released two films in one year, following the release of Inside Out (2015) in June. 

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I hope you all enjoyed these facts as much as I did!