This Day in Disney History

Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland opened on October 3, 2001, bringing Jack Skellington and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas into the Haunted Mansion. Alex and Jordan celebrate the 25th season of the beloved overlay in New Orleans Square, from its gingerbread house tradition to the Tokyo Disneyland version.

Splash Mountain officially opened at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom on October 2, 1992. Alex and Jordan look back at the beloved log flume's dedication day, its Disneyland roots, and its three-decade run in Frontierland.

Alex and Jordan celebrate October 1 — the shared birthday of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, which opened in 1971 under Roy O. Disney after Walt Disney's death, and EPCOT Center, Walt's futurist dream park that opened in 1982 with Spaceship Earth, Future World, and World Showcase.

On September 30, 2005, Michael Eisner resigned as CEO of the Walt Disney Company after 21 years, ending the era of the Disney Renaissance, Disney-MGM Studios, and the ABC network acquisition — and handing the company to Bob Iger. Plus: IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth gives its final performance at Epcot in 2019 after a 20-year run, and Pepsi ends its 27-year Golden Horseshoe Revue sponsorship at Disneyland in 1982.

On September 29, 2019, Walt Disney World launched the Disney Skyliner, a free gondola system connecting EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and four resorts — Disney's Riviera, Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, and Art of Animation — with nearly 300 Disney-themed cabins soaring up to sixty feet high. Plus: Downtown Disney officially becomes Disney Springs in 2015, and Remember the Titans premieres in 2000 with Denzel Washington.

On September 28, 1996, EPCOT at Walt Disney World launched the very first Epcot International Food & Wine Festival — a 30-day culinary tour of World Showcase dreamed up by EPCOT executive George Kalogridis that grew into one of the world's biggest food festivals. Plus: Canada, China and France pavilions soft-open three days before EPCOT's 1982 grand opening.

On September 27, 1947, Disney released Fun and Fancy Free — the package film pairing Bongo with Mickey and the Beanstalk, starring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy opposite Willie the Giant, and marking the last time Walt Disney himself voiced Mickey Mouse. Plus: the 2014 closing of Disney's Hollywood Studios' Studio Backlot Tour.

On September 26, 2004, Hurricane Jeanne forced Walt Disney World to close all four theme parks — the third hurricane shutdown in six weeks after Charley and Frances. Plus: The Suite Life on Deck premieres on the Disney Channel in 2008 with Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song, and Debby Ryan.

On September 25, 1959, the original Mickey Mouse Club aired its final episode on ABC, ending four seasons of the Mouseketeers — Annette Funicello, Bobby Burgess, Cubby O'Brien and the rest — hosted by Jimmie Dodd, after a renewal dispute between Disney and ABC ended TV's first great kids' variety show. Plus: Disney's Newsies: The Musical world-premiere opening night at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011, with Alan Menken, Jack Feldman, and Harvey Fierstein.

On September 24, 1937, Disney released Lonesome Ghosts, the 98th Mickey Mouse cartoon, starring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as the Ajax Ghost Exterminators. With voices by Walt Disney himself, Clarence Nash, and Pinto Colvig, four bored ghosts prank-call the trio — and the molasses-and-flour ending became the blueprint for Disney's playful spooks, all the way to the 1969 Haunted Mansion.