Walt Disney World in 1971 [Part 1]

October 1 marks not only the anniversary of the opening of EPCOT Center (1982) but the openings of Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World (1971) as well. We present some wonderful color photos of Magic Kingdom taken by a construction worker in 1971. These photos come courtesy of Nomeus of www.flurbex.com who is the grandson of man behind the camera. These photos are exclusive to ImagineeringDisney.com.

North end of Main Street.

An almost dry moat. Look at the freshly-installed sea serpent topiary.

Tomorrowland spires with a man on top! That's Nomeus' grandfather.

Tomorrowland opened in 1971 without the PeopleMover, Rockettower Plaza, Space Mountain, or Carousel of Progress which would all be visible from this angle today.

Grandfather walking on an unfinished Tomorrowland roof.

A view of the parking lot east of Main Street. Town Square and main entrance on the far right.

Backside of Main Street East.

Grand Prix Raceway. Anyone know what that is on the overpass?

The caves of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. You'll notice the Skyway line and pillar. The grass hill on the left wasn't there for long. It became the second home to the Fantasyland Art Festival in 1973. Later it became the Enchanted Grove stand. Today it's called Cheshire Café.

More 20K! No water yet.

More colorful 20K. In the background you can see the top of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Can you imagine walking around every morning watching the place come to life?? 

 Everyone who wasn’t on the construction crew was invited to visit the Walt Disney World Preview Center. Today you can still drive by the building which is currently home to the Amateur Athletic Union. It’s located at 1910 Hotel Plaza Boulevard near Downtown Disney.

A big thanks to Nomeus and his family for the photos. Stay tuned for Part 2 where we share more of these gorgeous photos.

Related posts:

WDW Before Opening Day 1971
WDW Construction: Magic Kingdom
THEN AND NOW: MK Tomorrowland [Part 1]
Bin Laden Mansion Minutes From Walt Disney World
20K- 1979
20K Lagoon- 1982

Magic Kingdom at Night

Will you be pulling an all-nighter at Disneyland or Magic Kingdom as part of Disney's "One More Disney Day"? I will be at home and in bed by ten. After watching "Disneyland After Dark" on dvd of course. Here we present some old nighttime photos of Magic Kingdom.

Where was this photo taken? The top of the train station tower? We get a nice view of backstage parking and even Tinker Bell's landing spot atop one of the Tomorrowland buildings (in green lights).

Many of the following photos were sent to us by Ryan Rewasiewicz as part of our Photo Hunt. They were taken in either 1975 or 1976.

Tomorrowland. STUNNING. What great nighttime views old Tomorrowland offered.

Liberty Square.

Frontierland. And the still-in-operation Diamond Horseshoe.

Adventureland. So nice at night. Look at those old signs. "Tropical Serenade" and "The Enchanted Tiki Birds". The Sunshine Pavilion, unique to Florida, was such a delight. This photo is from an old souvenir picture book.

Ahh the soothing water fountain. Excellent photo, Ryan.

Back to Main Street.

For those of you who make it through the night, this may be your view as you turn around on your way back to your car (minus the Skyway poles, of course). Also from a souvenir book.

Why will I not be there for the Leap Year all-night thing? It does sound fun but I'm going to stick with the memories of the many many all-night adventures I had over the years. Grad Nites, Y2K preparation, Hurricane ride-out crews, other work assignments, sneaking around after hours, sleeping on some old couch in the break room under Main Street.

Related posts:

THEN AND NOW: MK Tomorrowland [Part 1]
If This Doesn't Scare You.....
Magic Kingdom Map Found in a Main Street Wall
THEN AND NOW: MK Fantasyland [Part 1]
Atop Cinderella Castle
EYE CANDY: National Geographic Aug '63
EYE CANDY: Not Having Fun at Disneyland

WDW Before Opening Day 1971

Walt Disney World opened 40 years ago today. Here we bring you photos of some of the work that went on before Opening Day- October 1, 1971.

On the left (below) you see the foundation of Cinderella Castle taking shape and the utilidor tunnel being built under what would become the castle moat. Now on the right you see the same tunnel but covered in dirt. What looks like a trench next to the covered tunnel is not actully the tunnel. I imagine it was the last bit to be filled in or was used to access something. Notice the underground offices, shops, utility access, storage, etc. behind the castle foundation. This area exists today under Fantasyland.

 

Below you see the back end of the castle with views of restaurant construction and what is now the Castle Suite.

Looks like a fancy tool for inserting strands of hair into this Jungle Cruise lion. In more recent years I remember using a needle with half its eye cut off with the point inserted into a wooden handle.

Notice the maquette of the gorilla holding the rifle next to the full size figure of the same gorilla.

Check out the guy in back of the station wagon filming the elephant on its way to the Jungle Cruise.

Anyone know exactly where this yellow building is today? I always figured it was in downtown Orlando but really, I have no way of knowing.

UPDATE: Thanks to comments by World Famous Dave Ensign and Cousin Orville we have the location of the "yellow building". Seen here is the building in Plant City (as predicted by Dave) at the corner of Highways 39 and 92. The photo from Google Street View (as found by Cousin Orville) shows the building today almost exactly how it looked 40+ years ago. Mystery solved!

Speaking of where things are today... below we bring you a little bonus. A quick search on Bing Maps shows us an old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Nautilus submarine at backstage Epcot of all places. And right in front of it, an old Jungle Cruise boat. Yep, still hanging around. Used now and again for special events.

Before any of the above photos were taken, this model was built:

Click to enlarge and look closely. Clearly on the right you'll see the never-built Thunder Mesa. Look in the background. Behind John Hench on the right, is that a model of the Magic Kingdom Monorail Station? Towards the center it looks like a rather large model of the Contemporary. And to the far left, a tiki bird!

Happy b-day, Walt Disney World. You haven't changed a bit.

Thank you, The Story of Walt Disney World Commemorative Edition for the great pics. All photos ©Disney.

Related posts:

Magic Kingdom Map Found in a Main Street Wall
Swiss Family Treehouse Model
THEN AND NOW: MK Adventureland [Part 1]
THEN AND NOW: Liberty Square [Part 1]
Disneyland in 1955
EYE CANDY: National Geographic Aug '63