5. “Remain seated please… permanecer sentados por favor.”

You may not know Jack Wagner’s name, but you surely know his voice. The Los Angeles native and radio personality is often called “The Voice of Disneyland,” having recorded many of Disneyland’s in-park announcements and public address spiels. In fact, the Walt Disney Company paid to have a recording studio built in Wagner’s home so that he could record on the fly for last-minute changes to a park’s operating hours or weather-related closures. 

The “Remain seated please…” announcement and its repetition in Spanish memorably plays as guests board the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, but it’s since become a staple of Disney Parks pop culture. For example, it’s prominently placed in the fan-favorite fireworks spectacular developed for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary, “Remember… Dreams Come True,” sampled in the song “Tragic Kingdom” by Anaheim-founded rock band No Doubt, and spoofed by Barbie herself (voiced by Jodi Benson, voice of Ariel) in Toy Story 2.

In other words, like its Floridian Monorail sister line, the safety spiel has become a meme in its own right and adorns t-shirts, bumper stickers, pins, and more. And it’s all thanks to “The Voice of Disneyland” himself, Jack Wagner. (He’d go on to record possibly the most well-known quote at Walt Disney World… the monorail spiel that made the first part of this list). 

6. “Stupid Judy. Stupid energy.”

The 1990s were a time of monumental changes at Epcot. As the big-budget sponsors of Future World pavilions found their contracts up for renewal, Disney decided to begin to shift the intellectual park in a new direction. One of the first examples was the Lost Legend: Ellen’s Energy Adventure. Re-using the basic ride components that had been present since 1982, the ride was reimagined to follow Ellen DeGeneres (star of the popular Ellen sitcom on ABC at the time Disney acquired ABC) through a dream in which she’s competing against know-it-all Judy (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) in a game of Jeopardy (cue Alex Trebek!) where all the questions revolve around energy.

Luckily, Ellen is visited in her dream by none other than Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” who brings her back to the Big Bang and then through the ride’s enormous primeval world dioramas - the place where today’s fossil fuels were formed.

Naturally, by the end of Bill Nye’s prehistoric lesson, Ellen comes to appreciate and understand energy, win Final Jeopardy, and live happily ever after. But even as the Guardians of the Galaxy move in for their Cosmic Rewind (coincidentally, also visiting the Big Bang), the hallowed halls of Epcot’s former Energy pavilion will always echo, “Stupid Judy. Stupid energy.”

7. "You are not the first to pass this way. Nor shall you be the last."

Another closed EPCOT Center classic is the Lost Legend: Maelstrom, a downright trippy ride that propelled guests backward and forward through the history of Norway. On board, guests would sail through historic Norwegian fishing villages, through a troll-infested swamp with its magical inhabitants sending the boat backwards (“Disappear! Disappear!” “Over the falls!”) and splash down into the modern Baltic Sea beneath an oil rig in a lightning storm.

Whether you loved, hated, or didn’t care at all about EPCOT Center’s “first thrill ride,” Maelstrom’s story is a unique one, carefully balancing the needs of the sponsoring corporation, representatives of Norway, and the needs of Disney to create something… wonderfully weird. And it all began with an ascent through the darkness, into the magical eye of Odin delivering one of the most-remembered lines from any EPCOT Center classic.

8. “Not to see, your highness… to hear.”

When Michael Eisner was brought on to Disney in 1984, he stepped into a studio in triage mode. With the future of both Disney’s live action and animation studios in the balance, Eisner also needed to reverse decades of decline in the company’s theme parks. His solution there was a coup: to infuse Disney Parks with the kinds of characters, music, and pop culture that mattered to audiences of the time, he connected with filmmaker George Lucas and director Francis Ford Coppolla to direct a pop-infused musical showstopper that would instantly make Disneyland relevant again.

With global superstar Michael Jackson on board, the Lost Legend: Captain EO was born. The groundbreaking “4-D” show followed Jackson and a ragtag group of puppeted alien accomplices as they land on a dystopian, industrial planet bearing a gift for its hideous, mechanical queen (Anjelica Huston). The film shifts from a Star Wars space adventure into an extended music video for “We Are Here to Change the World,” with EO’s gift of song melting the planet’s darkness and restoring its true, Elysian form.

EO signaled a major pivot for Disney Parks, kicking off the “Ride the Movies” era. By time Jackson’s legacy became fraught with accusations about his personal conduct, the film was already nearing a decade old - a very, very long time for a media-based attraction; especially one predicated on the music, effects, and stars of its opening day. It re-opened temporarily after Jackson’s death as a “tribute,” but to this day fans beg for a digital release of the film just to relive the quirky musical space adventure in their own homes.