Here’s an amazing post on Slashdot from someone who claims his father designed many of the coolest widgets and gizmos in Disneyland:
Some of the Disneyland items he’s made…
– Invented/installed the fireflys in Pirates of the Carribean
– Came up with putting the green-eyed rats at the end of Pirates as you go up back to ground level. We have a bunch of them at home and put them in windows and under the Christmas tree
– Invented the light flicker-ers that have been used at Dland for almost 30 years to make plain lightbulbs in opaque houseings look like they are flame
– Real-time population counter for Disneyland. Even went to the president’s office and installed the LED display on his desk (prior to the popularization of “computer networks”)