Sunday, December 15, 2013

More Early WDW photos

Well, I'm down to the last 8 scans from the early days of the Magic Kingdom - you'll get four today, and one final post in the near future! Don't worry, there are more WDW slides to come.

Teacups! I believe that this attraction received a covering (it does rain a lot in Florida, and nobody likes watery tea) in 1974, so that helps to narrow down the date a little bit. The teacup in the middle contains the three kids that have appeared in so many of these pix.

Here's another shot.

Topiary animals seem to pop up all over the place at the Florida park. At Disneyland, you mainly see them over by "It's a Small World". I like the smidgen of a view of Tomorrowland in the background… I have very few photos from that land. 

When you want to give your feet a rest, the railroad is always a great option. You can stay as long as you like!


Nanook said...

Ahhh, we love the open skies (with Sky Ride, too-!) and uncrowded views of a WDW Magic Kingdom from a seemingly bygone era.

And, nice sideburns - dude-!

Thanks, Major

Melissa said...

So weird to see the Florida teacups without a covering! And with such open vistas behind it!

The design of 1970's-1980's WDW Tomorrowland was truly breathtaking. One couldn't help but feel transported to another world.

K. Martinez said...

I always liked the geodesic dome cover on the roof above the indoor stage area of the old Tomorrowland Terrace (now Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café). Tomorrowland Terrace along with the Adventureland Veranda were my favorite places to eat back then. I'm glad to hear there are more WDW slides to come. Thanks, Major.

Melissa - I agree with you about WDW's original Tomorrowland being truly breathtaking. The grand entrance with it's fountain spires reaching to the skies was spectacular. I was impressed. Later, I remember returning in 1983 and being disappointed to discover that they changed the entrance by removing the blue tile and water elements as well as painting it over with a new color scheme. To me, it just wasn't the same after that.

Melissa said...

The ting I find hopeful about the 1990's refit in Florida is that so much of it is just massive piles of doodads stuck on top of the existing buildings. While the magnificent entryway is the most changed, there are big chunks of real estate that remain barely touched. If they wanted to, they could rip off the toy rockets and candy sprockets and do a new remodel based on the original quality architecture, and it would be mainly just cosmetic work.

Melissa said...

I forgot to add – I love how, in the second picture, the brothers are completely hunkered down over the spinning mechanism! I can’t tell what Sister Yellowshirt is saying, but I bet it’s some variation on, ”C’mon, you little brats, quit it! I’m gonna hurl! I’m not kidding!” Maybe that explains why some of them are in different clothes in other pictures from the same lot.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I don't have much to go by for comparison when it comes to the open skies, but I did find a few slides in which I could see a mysterious cylindrical structure going up in the background. It was only recently that I realize it was the early stages of Space Mountain!

Melissa, I just don't understand why so few people seemed to take pictures of WDW's Tomorrowland. The percentage of shots of that land is very small in my overall collection.

K. Martinez, is the dome opaque, or does it let sunlight through? Also, I have heard of Cosmic Ray, is he just a name, or is there a character of some sort (animatronic or otherwise)?

Melissa again, I get what you are saying, but I just don't think that the management will ever thing that returning things to a previous version is the way to go. As for the brothers, they do appear to be working their butts off, but who knows, maybe sis can dish it out too! That *would* explain the clothing change, though!

Melissa said...

I'm not saying that they will (or should) restore Tomorrowland to the exact way it looked before; just that the next version could be based on the original architecture since so much of it remains under the decorations.

K. Martinez said...

Major - If I remember correctly it was tinted like sunglasses to control the amount of light that would come through. Not sure what it's like now.

Cosmic Ray is just a name as far as I know, but there is an audio animatronic nightclub entertainer named Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Rays.

TokyoMagic! said...

The dome used to have an indoor stage directly underneath it that would raise up from below ground level with bands performing on it, similar to the outdoor pop-up stage at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace. Tokyo Disneyland has a dome and indoor pop-up stage that is identical to WDW's, but I don't think either park (Tokyo or WDW) uses them anymore. In fact, at WDW, I think Sonny Eclipse performs in that spot now.

Nancy said...

Definitely lost some of the space-age element when they took down the magnificent entrance to Tomorrowland :( Thank goodness for Kodak and Polaroid!

Melissa said...

This is how Tomorrowland looked the first time I saw it.

I'm so glad to be living in a age in which I can look at other people's pictures when my own are missing.

steve2wdw said...

Sonny Eclipse is actually mounted on the top of the rising stage....when an actual DJ uses the stage, Sonny rises into the dome (where he fits quite snuggly), while the DJ uses the stage below. I'm sure that Sonny's size was designed for this purpose.

On another note, this was one of two rising stages in the MK. The other was in a spot in Fantasyland, known as Fantasy Faire. It was a large tent with dance floor, much like Carnation Gardens at DL, which featured bands and character appearances. Belle's cottage resides very close to that spot now.