The 15 Years of Magic

       The 15 years of Magic celebration ran from October 1st, 1986 through September 30th, 1987.  At this time in Walt Disney World history there were still just two parks in existence.  Both parks celebrated the milestone with entrance displays unique to the park in which it resided.  The logo that was developed for this celebration combined both parks icons.  Spaceship Earth and Cinderella Castle combined to form this iconic logo.  The anthem for this birthday celebration was "Only Just Begun".  Which is a pledge that there is much more magic to come in the future.

Eastern Airlines and Walt Disney World

      Right around the opening of Walt Disney World, Eastern Airlines started servicing the Orlando area. To promote the tourism to the east coast Disney project, Eastern was brought on board as a sponsor and named the "official" airline of Walt Disney World.  This was a mutually beneficial relationship in the fact that Eastern was able to use the Disney name and characters in it's advertising and Disney received sponsorship money.  It was an estimated ten million dollars that Eastern put forth to sponsor an attraction in Tomorrowland named "If You Had Wings", which opened on June 5, 1972, eight months after the Magic Kingdom officially opened.  This attraction was designed by Claude Coates, and offered  to guests without a ticketed entry fee as to expose people to Eastern Airlines and promote the company.  This attraction was extremely popular mostly due to the fact that you did not have to use one of your A through E tickets to ride it and it was included with the park admission.  This sponsorship lasted until June 1,1987 when Disney cut ties with Eastern Airlines and the company later filed for bankruptcy in 1989.
     

        Sponsorship did play a major part in the expansion of Walt Disney World, and still does to this day.  The reason that we have lost good things in the parks is due to lost sponsorships, or lack of sponsorship funds.  I hope that companies see the benefits of Walt Disney World attractions once again and put the money toward viable experiences in all the parks.

Daredevil Circus Spectacular at EPCOT Center

     October 1st, 1987 marks the debut of the Daredevil Circus Spectacular, which performed in Communicore plaza.  The 80's was a difficult time for the parks.  And guests just really did not understand EPCOT Center.  The lack of traditional Disney characters as well as it was so completely different than anything that came before it.  Among the people that did not understand EPCOT Center was Michael Eisner.  While looking for ways to improve EPCOT Centers earnings, he decided that Futureworld needed a circus.  A "future" themed circus. It was billed as "The Greatest Show In Space".  Instead of being in a circus tent, it was right in the center of Futureworld which was transformed into an 8 ring "Spacearena".  The show only lasted till March 19th, 1988.

Check out the pavilion logos in the bottom left of the picture

        There were four elephants in the show, and they were not just elephants, they are "mutant prehistoric pachyderms from the steaming jungles of a little known planet in the Archturian Cosmos!"  They were actually the Christiani Elephants.  They performed on a stage built on top of the Fountain of Nations.  The fountain below gave the "Space ring" a cool look.  That was one sturdy stage,  it had to hold 36,000 pounds of pachyderm. 

"Space cycles" over Communicore

      

"Sincotron climbs the heights of a space probe needle!"

Two full rings of trapeze featuring The Flying Rodriguez Family

More Space cycles featuring The Winn Troupe

Archturian Power Drones during the finale

     This show also featured live music by The Future corps.  Also some of The Winn Troupe performed on "The Wheel of Destiny".  Here is a fabulous video which looks to be shot from the roof of Communicore East. There is two other parts to watch as well

 

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

20,000 leagues under the sea lagoon ariel view circa 1987

All America Parade

       This blog has no direction as of yet, but what inspired me to begin was an article from the book Four Decades Of Magic by Chad Emerson (highly recommended reading by the way).  The article was written by Tom Corless of  WDWNT.com and  is titled "When is the Three O'clock Parade? Then, Now, and Forever."  Here he writes about a little known parade that ran from late-1987 through September 1989.  I was in the park to celebrate the 200 year anniversary of America.  Tom states that it was incredibly difficult to locate information on this parade.  By happenstance I was browsing through an old photo album and came upon several pictures of this exact parade.  I decided that I should share these pictures that I have for all the Disney history buffs out there.  Enjoy!

I don not know where this parade starts, so this looks good.

Mickey and Minnie in colonial outfits

Looks like flags from original colonies and early America

Missed the float right before this with a eastern seaboard lighthouse and more of these cast members in ponchos

These floats seem to represent the American southwest

There is something endearing about a character riding a horse

You know Woody would be on this float if it was after 1996

These floats look like the American northwest

Song of the South characters before Splash Mountian

Not sure what Capt. Hook and Smee are doing in front of the Midwest floats

Definitely Midwestern

Country Bears

Is this the hen from The Wise Little Hen?  Donald Ducks first cartoon.

"The Spirit of America"

very long paddle boat

Donald Duck the Captain

Daisy too

I know this float was rebuilt for the Mickey Mania parade with skateboarders riding over the ramp

Not sure what this float represents other than a big wave

Ahhh the famous castle float

Look at all the random characters on this float,  Sheriff of Naughtingham, Cinderella, Snow White, The Gummi Bears

I think that is the White Rabbit from Alice on the back

Happy 200 years America!

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