DATELINE - - Orlando - - Columnist Philip Potempa is reporting from Florida this week while traveling.

I've been to Walt Disney World more than a few times.

My parents, Chester and Peggy, took me and my older brothers and sisters (driving us down to the Sunshine State by car, of course) for the first time in 1972, when I was just 2 years old.

And over the years, I've also paid visits to Disneyland in California and EuroDisney in Paris.

Yet somehow, I'm amazed at how much I am still discovering about the intriguing history of Walt Disney's legendary theme parks.

Maybe you've stumbled across a few of these fascinating facts and stats before, but I'm guessing they will be as new to you as they were to me. They are courtesy of Disney historian Jody Revenson, and many of which have appeared in her book "Popping Up Around Walt Disney World" (2004 Disney Editions $24.95).

* "There will never be another Disneyland," Walt Disney once said about his theme park, which carries the tag "the happiest place on earth." However, after he witnessed the achievements of his "imagineers" and their creations for the 1964 New York World's Fair, he changed his mind and plans immediately began on "Project X," a large property resort to be designed in Florida.

* The Pirates of the Caribbean Ride at the Magic Kingdom for the Florida property was the last ride to be personally supervised by Walt Disney just prior to his death in 1966. It was his brother, Roy O. Disney, who personally continued overseeing the Florida project to completion and even did the official dedication on opening day Oct. 1, 1971, insisting the theme park resort's name be changed to Walt Disney World rather than just Disney World, as originally intended.

* The Jungle Cruise Ride was originally supposed to feature real animals. However, when it was discovered that many of the desired tropical exotic animals were nocturnal and would not be able to be seen by riders, they were replaced with mechanical animals.

* One of my mom's favorite attractions at the Magic Kingdom (second only to the "It's a Small World" Ride) is The Hall of U.S. Presidents. Every figure in the Hall of Presidents has at least one change of clothing. And every night, make-up artists freshen each of the presidents' faces for the next day.

* The Haunted Mansion Ride is the only duplicated attraction featured at all of the Disney theme parks worldwide -- Florida, California, Paris and Tokyo.

* The second theme park to open at Walt Disney World was Epcot Center, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Even though it didn't open until Oct. 1, 1982, Walt Disney was already planning it before his death in 1966, lamenting: "The only problem with anything 'of tomorrow' is that at the pace we're going right now, tomorrow would catch up with us before we got it built." The Showcase of Countries surrounding the lake were originally never intended to be so expansive. If fact, the original plans had all of the countries housed under an enclosure.

* Until 2008, the third theme park at Walt Disney World Resort was called Disney-MGM Studios. Now, it's simply called Disney Hollywood Studios. The major attraction at this property is called The Great Movie Ride, which takes guests through some of the most famous scenes of legendary movies like "The Wizard of Oz," "Casablanca" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." Originally, this ride was to be part of Epcot, but instead, it inspired the creation of an entirely new theme park, which opened May 1, 1989.

* The most recent theme park to open is Disney's The Animal Kingdom, which opened April 22, 1998. For the respect of the 1,000 animals who live there, which combined, eat three tons of food a day, the park closes each day promptly at 5 p.m.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.

Today's Celebrity Birthdays

Cult Leader Charles Mansion is 74. Singer Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby and the Romantics is 70. Playwright-actor Wallace Shawn ("The Princess Bride") and singer Brian Hyland are 66. Organist Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MG's and sportscaster Al Michaels are 65. Singer Neil Young is 64. Guitarist Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult is 62. Country singer Barbara Fairchild is 59. Actress Megan Mullally ("Will and Grace") is 51. Bassist David Ellefson (Megadeth) is 45. Actor Sam Lloyd ("Scrubs") is 46. Olympic skater Tonya Harding is 38. Actresses Tamala Jones ("The Brothers") and Angela Watson ("Step By Step") are 35. Singer Tevin Campbell is 33. Actress Ashley Williams ("Good Morning, Miami") is 31. Actress Cote de Pablo ("NCIS") is 30. Actor Ryan Gosling and bassist Chris Huffman of Casting Crowns are 29. Actress Anne Hathaway ("The Princess Diaries") is 27. Singer Omarion (B2K) is 25.