Disney’s history as a company goes back so many years that there are PLENTY of stories to uncover about Disney Parks, Disney Movies, and the man himself, Walt Disney.

And there are a lot of questions we have about Disney-related things — like why is there a terrifying Jack in the Box at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort? Or why did that scary clown pool slide ever exist at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn? Or why did Disney ever think The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management was a good idea? We’re digging into Disney’s biggest…unsolved mysteries (dun dun DUN!).

OK, so these aren’t life-changing, course-altering mysteries. They’re all pretty fun, but still. Disney, well, we’ve got some questions… .

Who Is The Mysterious Child on Carousel of Progress?

In the opening act of Disney World’s Carousel of Progress in Magic Kingdom, there’s a scene where the mother is ironing. With her is a small girl with blonde pigtails on a spinning wheel. 

We know the family has a teenage daughter (Patricia) and an adolescent son (James) so naturally, you’d assume this is little sister, right? Well, one big problem with that: YOU NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.

After that opening act, she just…vanishes! A common theory is, given the times, she caught whooping cough or another ailment of the day and…well…went to the big animatronic factory in the sky. We’re still holding firm that mom upgraded in the future to a sah-weet washing machine and told the lil’ neighbor kid that helped her do the laundry to take a hike! Either way, who is she? Where did she go? WE NEED TO KNOW THESE THINGS. Why is there no great big beautiful tomorrow for her?

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Where Did Buzzy Go?

Older Disney fans might remember the Wonders of Life Pavilion at EPCOT, back when you could fight off some serious nausea while riding the Body Wars attraction and learn everything about the human brain during a fun little ride called Cranium Command. Here’s the thing, though — when Disney World closed the Wonders of Life Pavilion in 2007, EVERYTHING still sat there inside the pavilion for YEARS, including the animatronics used on Cranium Command.

If the idea of a whole abandoned pavilion — rides and all — isn’t creepy enough, it gets weirder. Cranium Command was led by an animatronic named Buzzy that took you on adventures through a pre-teen’s brain. YEARS after closing, mysterious word got out that not only was the Buzzy animatronic MISSING — he might have been stolen! The Orlando Sentinel originally reported that Buzzy’s gloves had been stolen in 2018, but after that, reports started surfacing that his other clothes, then ALL of Buzzy had been taken — Disney confirmed this in 2019.

So what happened to Buzzy? NBA player Robin Lopez ended up buying Buzzy’s headphones, jacket, and hat on eBay (not realizing these things were stolen). Shortly after that, a former Cast Member was arrested for the theft of Disney property — he pleaded no contest to other thefts from the parks, but he was never charged with the theft of Buzzy.

Pictures later popped up online of hydraulic fluid that supposedly came from Buzzy pooling in the spot where his animatronic had previously been located. A brief image of a stripped Buzzy-like head was posted then pulled down from Twitter as well. To this day, it hasn’t been confirmed where Buzzy is since his initial disappearance.

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Will The Yeti On Expedition Everest Ever Work?

For those who have been on Expedition Everest, you’ll know that at the finale of the ride is a gigantic Yeti. And in case you didn’t know it — the Yeti is an elaborate animatronic — one of the biggest at Disney World — but you might not know that because you’ve likely never actually seen it move. That’s because Imagineers discovered early on that the Yeti’s movement was putting stress on the rest of the attraction’s frame. Believe it or not, the Yeti is structural! Well, kinda. The Yeti was built into the structure in such a way that to repair him would mean serious construction on the framework of the ride! When he would flail his arms at guests, he was actually putting stress on the ride itself, damaging it. As cool as it is to see a moving Yeti, it’s even cooler to keep the roller coaster he’s on in one, working piece. So Disney improvised.

So instead, the Yeti is operating in “B” mode, which means it doesn’t move, but a strobe light gives it the appearance of movement on the attraction (and this is why it got the nickname “Disco Yeti”). It would take a lengthy refurbishment that could include dismantling a large portion of Expedition Everest’s structure. Former Imagineer Joe Rohde continued to explain that his team was working on fixing it well into 2018. However, he retired in early 2021, so no one knows for sure if Imagineers still have plans to figure it out.  Only time will tell… .

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Why did Disney Close River Country?

Disney’s River Country was the first water park at Disney World — it initially opened in 1976, but then later closed indefinitely in 2001, and then announced as permanently closed in 2005. There are many theories about why the park closed, including the death of a child due to a brain-eating amoeba present in Bay Lake (the natural adjacent body of water that was used on most slides at the park). But that happened in the 1980s — WAY before the park closed.

The likely culprit was Disney outdid itself. The park was potentially closed because Disney World had built the bigger and better themed water parks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, and demand for River Country started to wane. But what’s most bizarre is that River Country remained on Disney property untouched until 2018 when Disney announced that it would use the land for the new  Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge. But that’s another project that has seemingly been put on hold by the company. The quite creepy abandoned water park, just a stone’s throw from Magic Kingdom, became a popular spot in its later years for guests to try and break in and explore (obviously a huge no-no!). So for now, River Country’s legacy remains.

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What’s Going On With Discovery Island?

What is it about the little corner of Bay Lake by Wilderness Lodge that screams “abandon me!”? Right near the former site of River Country was another big Disney destination that was left to time. Discovery Island launched in 1974 as Treasure Island, and yes, it had pirate-themed attractions. Later, Disney changed its name to Discovery Island and promoted it as a zoological park and, as such, it contained a wide variety of animals — sort of the precursor to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The park closed in 1999, and there are a lot of theories as to why it closed. Disney never gave an official statement about it, but it likely had something to do with Disney focusing more on Animal Kingdom, which had opened just a year earlier. Most animals on the island were relocated to the new Animal Kingdom park. Now, Discovery Island is STILL THERE, just abandoned, with many of its original structures in place. Even creepier — it’s been “broken into” a couple of times over the years. Guests have swum the waters of Bay Lake (yep, the same Bay Lake with those known not-so-good for you amoebas!) for the chance to seriously break the law and explore. At the start of the pandemic, it was even discovered a man was hiding out on there camping! WHAT?! Nope, nothing creepy about that. Obviously, they won’t just get rid of a whole island (the boats from Wilderness Lodge travel riiiiight past it heading to Magic Kingdom!), but why was so much of it just left to the elements and time??

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Why Are Those People Partying In A Flooded Saloon?

If you’ve seen the saloon scene on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, you may have noticed that the saloon is flooded — there’s a dude in a bathtub spinning around in the water. BUT there’s a major party going on just upstairs. Like do they not know it’s flooded? Do they just not care? Did THEY cause the flooding?! (Rude.) Are they just TOO much in the party mood to get what’s happening?

This isn’t something we’ve ever seen an explanation for, so if you’ve got a theory, we’d love to hear it. Maybe it’s just the way of the Old West — people just celebrate something exciting happening, even if it’s the waters rising dangerously beneath them.

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What Was The Deal With Walt Disney and Kurt Russell?

The young Kurt Russell and Walt Disney had a close relationship, and Walt seemed to love the actor so much that he put him in a LOT of his movies. He would regularly chat with the young actor and picked his brain about projects. But that’s not all — because there’s a rumor that Walt’s last words were, in fact, “Kurt Russell.” 

And here’s the thing — those rumors are kinda sorta almost true. Those were possibly Walt’s last written words. The words “Kirt Russell” were scribbled on a paper on Walt’s desk and discovered following his death. It could have been written weeks prior or not — no one knows for sure! Russell himself later confirmed the story to the Huffington Post, although he admitted that he had no idea what it was in reference to. All we can do is guess. Was it for a movie role? Was Walt buying him a gift? We’ll probably never know… .

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Whatever Happened to the Rainbow Corridor?

From 1982 through 1992, guests leaving Journey Into Imagination (we still miss you, Dreamfinder!) at EPCOT could explore an area upstairs called ImageWorks, which featured all kinds of fun hands-on activities, including the Rainbow Corridor. If you don’t remember or didn’t get a chance to experience the sheer awesomeness of being enveloped in a neon rainbow, we apologize — it’s MORE awesome than it even sounds. The rainbow-hued tunnel was so popular that Michael Jackson even did a photoshoot there once!

The tunnel was equipped with effects that had a specific color follow guests as they walked through it and offered up a pretty trippy experience. Kids were known to beg their parents to stay in ImageWorks so they could run through the corridor over and over! In 1998, though, ImageWorks was moved downstairs and renamed the What If? Labs. The Rainbow Corridor didn’t make the move. A number of those tricky “Disney explorers” (please don’t break into any parts of Disney World that are off-limits, guys!) over the years captured video and pictures suggesting the tunnel was still upstairs intact.

As the years went by though, Disney opened the upstairs former ImageWorks area as a DVC member lounge and rumors circulated the tunnel was dismantled. There were rumors it would reappear at EPCOT Experience, but as of yet, we still haven’t seen it anywhere. Did the Disney Archives scoop it up to save? Quite possible. Or maybe one day (fingers and toes crossed) we’ll get to experience the glorious tunnel once more.

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Who Is The Aging Man In The Portrait on Haunted Mansion?

In the Haunted Mansion queue, guests will see a portrait of a man over the fireplace when they first enter the house. The portrait slowly ages from a young man to an old man. Many guests believe this is Master Gracey, but guess what? It’s not! 

Okay, so because of guests being so adamant that this man IS Master Gracey, it has become sort of “semi-official” as part of Haunted Mansion’s backstory, and was even a plot point in the 2003 film based on the attraction. BUT no one really knows for sure — the portrait is simply called “The Aging Man” or the “Master of the House.” When Haunted Mansion debuted, Disney never gave any clues as to his real identity. It’s rumored that he is representative of a picture of Dorian Gray, from the novel of the same name by Oscar Wilde — a narcissistic man that never aged in real life while a portrait of him did. So who is he then?

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What Happened To The Barker Bird?

When guests used to enter Pirates of the Caribbean, they WERE greeted by a tattooed bird in a pirate hat, most often referred to as the “Barker Bird.”

He would sing snippets of the theme song and squawk and provide a little pre-show entertainment. He was literally on the wall above you as you walked into the ride! But when the ride was revamped to include Captain Jack Sparrow in 2006, the bird disappeared.

So what happened to him? Well, the Barker Bird disappeared and was never heard from again! Maybe he flew the coop and went nearby to that other bird-friendly attraction?! Speaking of… .

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Whatever Happened To Rosita?

In The Enchanted Tiki Room, one of the birds asks “Whatever happened to Rosita?” when admiring the singing cockatoos that descend from the ceiling. And it’s true that no one seems to know because NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN ROSITA — at least not at Disney World. She got a whole story for Disneyland and is now an actual audio-animatronic bird at The Tropical Hideaway there, but her Disney World counterpart has never turned up.

We have a theory — what if she ran off with the Barker Bird? It’s likely, right? A forbidden love. One a pirate, the other a singing beauty. In our heart of hearts, they live happily together behind Splash Mountain with a family of smarmy, rum-swigging, beautifully voiced bird babies!

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So those are all the unsolved Disney mysteries we would like to uncover more clues about! Do you have any Disney mysteries that have perplexed you? Let us know about them!

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What do you think? Do you have any theories about these mysteries? Let us know in the comments!

The post Disney’s Biggest UNSOLVED Mysteries first appeared on the disney food blog.