In 1976, Walt Disney World was riding high: the oil crisis was over, tourists were flocking back to Florida, and the successful bicentennial celebration at the Florida Disney resort had been national news. Read the rest
We've previously seen what Space Mountain looks like with its lights on from the vantage point of the Wedway Peoplemover. Now, we get to experience the roller coaster with the lights on as if we were riding it in this POV video by Theme Park University.
I have two personal things to say about this:
1. In the early 1980s, my mom and I took a ride on WDW's Space Mountain when its lights were on. I don't remember why the lights were on but we talked about it for years afterwards. I was 12 years old at the time.
2. Earlier this year, I took my 13-year-old daughter to Disneyland and we rode Space Mountain, in the dark. I hadn't ridden it in many years because the line is always so long and I'm sad to report that it made me queasy because it was so dark. My kid, however, loved it, got in the single rider line and rode a few more times.
June is Pride month and Disney has already rolled out rainbow mouse ears, with a depiction of Mickey's gloves in a hand-heart, in their U.S. parks. I spotted this pair, which is officially called the "Mickey Mouse Rainbow Love" hat, in Disneyland a couple of weeks ago for $17.99.
I bet these ears, along with the rainbow products like trading pins and lanyard pulls, will be a big hit come early October for Gay Days.
photo by me Read the rest
A longtime friend and I first bonded years ago over something funny. We discovered that we both had a history of photographing trash cans at Disney Parks. (I mean, c'mon, they're all in theme.)
So I had to laugh when I was at Disneyland recently and spotted their ("Authentic" and "Original") trash can highlighter set modeled after five of the park's trash cans: Main Street USA, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland.
When I got home, I fell into a Disney-trash-can rabbit hole and came across these 1:18 scale, 3D-printed Disney trash cans. They're the creation of Chris of Etsy shop, TheNewHobbyist. He currently has nine different designs and is willing to work with you to make a custom one of your favorite Disney trash can. Because, let's be honest, who doesn't have a favorite Disney trash can? Each one costs $25.
Adventureland
Contemporary Resort
Previously: Monorail socks, "Pirate Water" and other fragrances inspired by Disney resorts Read the rest
I'm fresh back from Florida where my daughter and I stopped in Orlando to for a side trip to Walt Disney World and the Disney Springs shopping complex. At the latter, I spotted these monorail socks. Now, I rarely see Disney merch that I really like but I kind of went nuts for these.
If you'd like to slip your feet into some futuristic transportation too, you can get yourself a pair at the online Disney Store for $13.99. Read the rest
Here's a rare historical gem from Walt Disney World's history: the 15-minute long promotional video for Walt's utopian EPCOT Center (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow).
The Disney Parks Blog writes that they pulled it out of the "video vault" for Epcot's 35th anniversary:
This film, which offers a look inside WED Enterprises during the “Imagineering” of EPCOT Center in the 1970s, originally ran on a loop in the EPCOT Preview Center at Magic Kingdom Park. The purpose of the film was to introduce a new kind of Disney theme park to guests, showcasing exciting experiences they could have in the park’s Future World and World Showcase areas. The film offered sneak peaks at attraction models, renderings and animation for The Living Seas, Horizons, World of Motion, CommuniCore and Spaceship Earth, as well as early construction footage. It also offered a first-listen to some of the fun music composed for this new park, including songs like “It’s Fun to Be Free,” “Universe of Energy” and “Listen to the Land.”
As a bonus, here's the TV opening special for EPCOT which aired on October 23, 1982 (the park opened on October 1st of that year). It's hosted by Danny Kaye:
A few years ago, I was invited for a bartending demo at 1901 Lounge, California's Adventure Club 33 counterpart. It was cool but I still dream of knocking Club 33 off my bucket list.
Well, acccording to the Orlando Sentinel, my chances for getting in are increasing, though I will have to travel to Florida. The news outlet is reporting that four new "versions of the high-end establishment will open in each of the four WDW (Walt Disney World) theme parks by this fall." Those four parks being the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The Sentinel article continues:
Disney has not revealed the price structure for Florida’s Club 33s, although a spokeswoman says one fee will cover all four clubs. The “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” adage springs to mind.
Disney also has not shared where in the parks its new “limited membership clubs” will be or their themes. They might not mirror the California version; we’re not even sure that the ones in Florida will include restaurants.
photo by Sam Howzit Read the rest
The amazing Foxxfur has spent 3.5 years assembling a new installment in her "Musical Souvenir of Walt Disney World" series, pulling together audio rarities from WDW in the late 1970s to create a six-hour soundscape that faithfully recreates the incidental music, cast member spiels, and ride narration from one of the golden ages of Disney themeparks. Read the rest
