In the Festival Of the Lion King show, Timon says he's going to do a South Seas number (a hula, to be specific) right before some guys scare him off so they can perform "Be Prepared." During the song, there is a guy doing a fire dance - which is something they do in Hawaii. So, technically, they did have a South Seas number.
In the Florida Fantasmic! show, while most of the other villains talk, Scar just makes roaring noises. This is because he's a lion, and the other villains are human - his roars only sounded like English in his movie because he was talking to other lions, and the reason we could hear him speak there was because we were watching it from the lions' perspective.
Also in the Florida version, while the villains are being struck down by Mickey's magic lightning, Hades simply winces rather than screaming out in pain. This is likely because he's an immortal Physical God who can't actually be killed, and is therefore able to watch while his allies die around him.
With the 2015 announcement that much of "Rivers of America" (which is part of a section of Disneyland that is about the past) will be closed down to make way for a "Star Wars Land" offers some Fridge Logic (not to mention outrage from people who like to ride the river boat), because you're left wondering why they don't put 'Star Wars Land' in Tomorrowland (and there's already 'Star Tours' there). Then you remember that "Star Wars" itself is "a long time ago, in a galaxy far away". It's still gonna be weird though going through Frontier Land, and then *BOOM* "Star Wars" attractions....
It makes sense if you think of what Tatooine was like.
There's also the fact that Star Wars takes place in space, AKA "The Final Frontier"
Thor is the only Marvel character shown during the 60th Anniversary World of Color, specifically Thor: The Dark World. Considering that the villain of that film is trying to rid the universe of light, and thus color, it makes for a nice bit of irony.
Bringing James Cameron's Avatar to Disney's Animal Kingdom may seem unusual for Disney to do until you realize that the movie series actually fits with the park's theme of conservation. In the first movie, the Na'vi were fighting to protect their home from being destroyed by the invading humans who had come to do mine for unobtanium. And even though Pandora doesn't have any fire-breathing dragons, unicorns, or even sea monsters, it's still as mythical as it gets with its share of creatures. Furthermore, the Banshees and Great Leonopteryx are are very dragon-like in appearance. So Pandora will still fulfill the original vision of Animal Kingdom as being a home for all kinds of animals, living, extinct, and imaginary (be they alien or otherwise). And of course, as of 2019, Disney actually does own Avatar.
The inclusion of "A Whole New World" in Epcot Forever is a bit unusual until you realize that it's actually speaking about the impending future for the park. In the context of the show, the song speaks of the overhauled Epcot that guests will experience and how Disney wants to share with guests the "whole new world" that will be Epcot. And the new lyrics of "One Little Spark" that segue into "A Whole New World" speak of how the dreams and hopes of today will help transform Epcot.
Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom, the special show for the closing of Star Tours to make way for The Adventures Continue, had a joke where the "biggest Star Wars fan" is told to say "the most referenced line in Star Wars history." One might expect that to be "May the force be with you." but instead he says "I've got a bad feeling about this." Of course it would make sense for that to be quoted more often, since it's far more likely to come up in normal conversation.
The presence of Arendelle in World Showcase seems odd until you remember that Epcot was originally conceived as a permanent World's Fair. Back in the twentieth century, World's Fairs were encouraged as a means of not only sharing technological innovations with the world, but also providing for intercultural communication. Therefore, Arendelle did exist, then it, under Elsa's leadership, would take the opportunity to be represented in a World's Fair-like setting so that it could not only share its own cultural practices with the world, but also learn about the practices of the world's other nations and share in the technologies they have to offer.
It's a little strange that Anna would wear her Queenly raiment and Elsa her spirit dress from Frozen II rather than their adventure dresses, given how many spoilers the two outfits have for the movie. But from a storytelling standpoint, it actually does make sense, as this is them after the events of the movie. After the movie, the two of them have now returned to share the stories of their adventures with all who will listen.
The Toy Story characters used to drop down whenever somebody shouted, "Andy's coming!" But they've stopped doing that because guests caught up on it and began doing it way too often for them to continue. Aside from this, it actually makes sense that they don't do that anymore. As of Toy Story 3 they are no longer Andy's toys. In fact, if you say that now, a cast member will often reply with something like, "Andy is away at college."
The decision to redo Splash Mountain to Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Disneyland makes perfect sense given that their version of Splash Mountain is directly right next to New Orleans Square and The Princess and the Frog actually takes place in New Orleans and Louisiana, making the redo a great way to tie the ride into New Orleans Square's theming. The film and the ride also has a lot of critters to boot, meaning it also fits well into Critter Country's theming.
The framing device of Happily Ever After is Mrs. Potts telling Chip various fairy tales. The last one she tells is... Beauty and the Beast, including the scene where the spell is broken. The problem is that Mrs. Potts and Chip are still a teapot and teacup, despite the spell supposedly already being broken.
While likely intended as mere Mythology Gags, at least three tributes to old attractions imply that the starring character of said attraction has met an unfortunate fate.
Mr Toad's grave is hidden in The Haunted Mansion's pet cemetery. Given the end of the ride has Toad getting hit by a train and going to hell, it's possible this means he really did die at the end of the ride, and was buried at the Mansion. Further evidenced by an announcement video for a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride themed popcorn bucket involving digging the bucket out from the pet cemetery.
REX from Star Tours is being shipped back to his factory in a crate labeled "DEFECTIVE" while all he can do is spout out of context lines from the original version of the attraction.
