Walt Disney World - 1973

It’s 1973 and the Magic Kingdom is only 2 years old but ready for some Night Time Fun! “We’re open ‘til 1” (June 11 – September 1).






New attractions! Walt Disney Story, now gone. Plaza Swan boats, gone too. Tom Sawyer Island, still there!






A 50¢ parking ticket from August 19, 1973. It looks like they parked at Goofy 46 and 47.






Hey I parked near them!






Ticket book from June 1973.






The June 1973 attraction list.






Here’s a “9 Adventure ticket book" also from June 1973 (you won’t find that on the flyer above). It's from Eastern Airlines. Looks like you got $1.05 discount and 1 more ticket.






Wait a second, if you compare this June 1973 attraction list to the June 1973 Attraction list on the above “8 Adventure ticket book” you’ll notice there is an attraction missing for the Eastern Airlines folks, too bad for them!






The Hall of Presidents from an old post card, not sure if it’s from 1973 but let's pretend it is.





And the 1973 Guide book. I’ve posted the entire guide before, but here it is again.


Walt Disney World Guide Book 1973 – 22mb





Come back this weekend for a two part Walt Disney World review blow out, tons of photos and this blogger's usual slightly twisted point of view.

Walt Disney World Tickets & Stuff 2008

Today we’ve got some not so vintage tickets from Walt Disney World. These are from my trip of a couple weeks ago. These tickets look nicer in person, something happened when I scanned them so they look kind of fuzzy, maybe some form of fraud protection? Odd, since all the good stuff is on the back anyway!

These were 3 day “basic” tickets (not park hoppers). I had used up the three days during the week with Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom.

Fun folder to keep your tickets safe.

On the last day of the trip the family wanted to go to “Wet and Wild”, I was not in the mood to get wet or wild, so I dropped them off at the water park and headed to the Magic Kingdom parking lot like a moth to the light! I figured for the $11 parking I could ride the Monorails around and see the resorts. Did you know you can ride all the monorails all day with just the parking fee? Hey, don’t knock it, they have great Air Conditioning.

Anyway, when I got to the transportation center, there we no lines for the ticket booth so I went up to one of the booths. I presented my Disneyland Premium Annual Passport to see if it had an clout for a discount into the Magic Kingdom, I had more pictures to take but didn’t really have $71 left to spend for just a few hours. The nice gentleman kindly waved my AP away (as if to say “put that away or I'll hit the silent alarm”) and then he asked “have you been to any of the WDW resorts in the last 14 days?” Well, yeah, I have. I gave him my expired 3 day ticket and for $16.07 I got one more day! That's the best deal I got on the whole trip!

Now for the covers of the gate flyers and time guides for each park I visited.







Large parking tickets at 3 ¾” by 8”.

Come back this weekend for big scans of the maps from inside the above flyers. PLUS my final Walt Disney World Trip report with over 40 pictures!

Pirates of the Caribbean - LIFE Magazine September 1967

Taking a much needed break from the Magic Kingdom, today lets journey back to Disneyland in September 1967.

This LIFE magazine article on the new Pirates of the Caribbean is about 6 months late and it’s located at the very end of the magazine. However, it’s a great article with some fun original pictures of the attraction.

The cover showcases’ the lead article. “The Intimate Recollections of Stalin’s Daughter”. To be honest I didn’t read it, it sounds dull and I’ll read just about anything.






It cost Disney eight million dollars to build this attraction and produced one million riders a month at 75¢ each, a pirates life indeed! That’s an average of 2,083 guests per hour, 16 hours a day for a 30 day month. Seems easy with a claimed capacity of 3,600 per hour, WOW!






“Shift your cargo and show your larboard side”. The Auctioneer still looks remarkably the same, even at the Magic Kingdom.







Interesting how the end of the article talks about reprogramming the computers if repeat guests get bored with the show. Does adding Johnny Deep and removing Black Beard count as “feeding a new plot into the computer”?






And now some classic full pages ads. Better Ideas for Ford in 1968. I guess 1967’s ideas we just "good". I want that Mustang with the 427, thanks…






A fish for the Mopar fans.






7up. Back when there was no Sierra Mist.





This isn’t an ad, it's part of an article on the Saturn 5 Rockets, beautiful machine, isn’t it?






And you just gotta love Avon men’s cologne. They all basically smelled the same but came in these unique shaped bottles. I bet there is an entire sub-culture on EBay for these things now!





Tomorrow: ?

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress

The kids might think this attraction is boring and slow, but to me it's pure Disney Magic. Knowing the history behind this attraction undoubtedly slants my opinion. I’ve seen videos of this attraction, and I have some short low resolution videos for you today, but you gotta see it in person. The stage is much small than I envisioned, definitely smaller than America Sings.

This was a free attraction at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, from what I can tell there was never a ticket charge to see this show. If anyone has info, please let me know.





The main building has changed very little, basically just the sign and the upper level railings have been replaced. And of course the color has changed.







I had to push a few strollers out of the way to get this shot.






Inside the theater, the show is about to begin. No flash photo’s, so you get this blurry shot of the curtains.






I recorded the first line from the song in each of the 4 time periods. There are plenty of full versions on YouTube if you want to see the whole show. These just give you a glimpse of the show and the great mega catchy tune!

(The first time the theater seats started to rotate I was instantly transported back to my youth and "American Sings", boy do I miss that show.)

On with the show, by the way, “There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day!”

You’ll be singing that tune all day! It beats singing “It’s a small world”…

More great architecture, the paint job is ok and actually works as far as blending in to the area.









This was taken from the moving PeopleMover on the upper level of the Carousel of Progress. It looks like an older sign, I like it.





It’s amazing that Walt’s 1964 World’s fair ideas just keep on giving! There is a great posting over at Yesterland about the Carousel of Progress (link) be sure to check it out.

Between the Carousel of Progress and the WEDWay PeopleMover, its almost like visiting Disneyland in a time machine. Almost...

Bonus Sunday

Today's Bonus Sunday brings us to the New Tomorrowland 1967 courtesy of Vacationland Magazine, Fall 1967. The Vacationland magazines from 1967 thru 1968 are slightly larger, well, taller by about 3/4 of an inch.


Vacationland Fall 1967 - 60mb





Tomorrow: Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress (as seen on pages 9 in the above Vacationland)lives on at the Magic Kingdom....

Skyway Saturday at Walt Disney World

The Skyway at the Magic Kingdom was, as with everything else at the Florida property, BIG. So big it even had a turn in its route!

A solid “D” Ticket from Opening day in 1971.






“D” tickets from 1971 and 1979.






Here’s a close up of route it used to take.





Looking over the Sub Lagoon in a picture from a 1978 guide book.






Pretty amazing view as you left the Fantasyland station.






The Magic Kingdom Skyway Closed in 1999, both stations or “Terminals” are still hanging around. This would be the view looking back at the Fantasyland station (you’d be up higher of course!). This is still the focal point of one whole end of Fantasyland. I must have heard 10 kids ask what ride it was.





Well kiddies, guess what? It’s “Stroller Parking – The Ride”… ugh…





The Tomorrowland Terminal building is amazing. This style of architecture has become my favorite of all vintage Disney styles. Here is the terminal as seen from the WEDway PeopleMover, I bet it looked even better when it was in operation.






Come to think of it, maybe it looks better without the cables and buckets? I’ve heard rumors of turning it into a restaurant. It’s big enough and that would mean keeping the building intact, I hope.







The rear of the lower level has a bathroom (of the future?).






Under the load area, there are three large benches like this one. All of them were empty.






Off to the side of the benches is this little area, again, empty of people. Everyone likes to just stand in large groups and clog the main walk ways, yet areas like this go empty? Hmmm.






The old Plaza Swan Boats loading platform. Too bad those are gone, they even went around the Swiss Family Tree house! (Check out this GREAT WDW site – link to Widen Your World).






I sure to like the roof on the Swan Boat building, and it’s repeated throughout the hub area on other roofs, even on the pop corn stand.






And this sad photo is for blog reader Eric. I found a bench while looking for a place to sit and eat my ice cream (it was melting quick), when I looked up I saw the Pooh Ride, “Oh no, this was Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”. I stopped eating and gave a moment of silence in memory of Mr. Toad and his wild ride.





Tomorrow: For Bonus Sunday, since I feel so Tomorrowland 1967-ish, lets have a full post of a great Vacationland from the Fall of 1967.