Happy 40th Anniversary, Walt Disney World!

Interrupting today's normally scheduled program, Daveland brings a mini-celebration of WDW's 40th Anniversary. Looking to expand his theme park kingdom, Walt Disney ventured further east and settled on Orlando, Florida. The photos from today's post come from the collection of Daveland reader Greg Kelly, a former employee of Walt Disney World. All of these shots are from 1975, back when the Contemporary Hotel was still Contemporary!



From 2010, during my last trip to WDW, I shot this sunrise view of the Contemporary from the sandy beaches of the Polynesian Village Resort:









Thanks to the maturation of the landscaping, the Haunted Mansion looks even more Haunted now, as you can see by this photo that I took in 2010:





The 70's look even worse from the backside.



These two lovely ladies look as if they are ready to serve a cocktail on the next flight.



Although Walt Disney World doesn't hold quite the appeal that Disneyland does for me, I still have extremely fond memories of a trip I took back in 1978 with my father when I spent an entire week exploring the resort. I think "What Not To Wear" could have done an entire episode on my Junior High wardrobe at the time. Here I am with my stepbrother, modeling my 70's chic style. PS: The hat had a zippered pocket in it.



The obligatory Castle-In-The-Background shot with my dad.



Somehow, dad arranged a private meet-and-greet with Mickey. The bored look on my face was directed towards my dad for shooting too many photos.



Oh the horror of that hat.



As a special 40th WDW Tribute, Daveland is giving away this stunning vintage ashtray. Just leave a comment for this post by Monday, October 3rd at noon, and you'll be entered to win (Continental U.S. of A. only, please!).



Only the finest quality at Daveland!



See more WDW photos on my Walt Disney World web page.

Disneyland That Never Was: Pt. 4

Mickey’s Madhouse, 1976: Dumbo’s Circusland, which was on the drawing boards at Imagineering before Toontown was conceived, featured “Mickey’s Madhouse”—essentially a “wild mouse” roller coaster in a dark ride environment, set in the world of early black-and-white Mickey Mouse cartoons (think of the former Mulholland Madness at Disney California Adventure, but indoors, with no clear view of where the track ahead was going). Ward Kimball, one of Walt’s legendary Nine Old Men, was involved in the planning of the prospective land, which is hardly surprising since he considered “Dumbo” his favorite Disney film.





Discovery Bay, 1984: Set in the Victorian Age of Invention, Discovery Bay was to be a new land in the ranch area behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Conceived as an inventors enclave north of San Francisco, it truly was a decades-early precursor of the current “steampunk” trend in science fiction. Attractions inspired by Disney movies included an undersea restaurant aboard the Nautilus from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and a ride aboard the Hyperion airship to The Island at the Top of the World and other mythical lands, as shown below. Other attractions included a fireworks shooting gallery, a huge greenhouse filled with a botantist's exotic experiments, and a boat ride through time. One character, the proprietor of Professor Marvel’s Gallery of Illusions, eventually became Dreamfinder in Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT.



Hope you enjoyed this very cool series put together by the folks at D23. If you haven't joined yet...what are you waiting for?

See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.