In creative mode, while flying around, if you either fall a good distance and stop yourself before you hit the ground, or you just fly downwards, it seems that the distance fallen is stored. That is, when you fly downwards or fall a good distance in creative, and then just drop yourself from a very low level, the animation of fallen from a much higher level is shown.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. In creative, fly upwards a decent amount.
2. Either double tap the spacebar to begin falling, or hold down shift to descend downwards back to the earth.
3. Before you hit the ground, stop.
4.Drop or lower yourself to the ground from a very low level and you will see that the animation for a much higher drop is shown.

Note: This can also be reproduced by following similar steps except, while in creative, fly up and down small amounts, but do this for a minute or two. You will see that once you touch the ground you get a huge splash of particles that are displayed as if you have fallen from a much higher height.