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.

Here Come The Muppets

           The live stage show "Here Come The Muppets" debuted at the MGM Studios in the Animation Courtyard Theater on May 25th 1990, and ran until September 2nd 1991.  The interesting thing about this show was that all the Muppet characters that appeared were life size.  So no puppeteer, but an actual walk around character in a suit.  Another interesting thing about this stage show was the inclusion of many not so well known Muppet characters.  The show was meant to be a temporary fill until Muppetvision 3D opened.  The stage show ran alongside Muppetvision 3D for 4 months as Muppetvision opened on May 16th, 1991.  When the stage show finally closed it was replaced by the ever popular "Voyage of The Little Mermaid", which opened just two weeks after Muppets closed and has occupied that theater ever since.  

               The Muppets' presence in the studios was planned to be much more extensive than it ever was, or is today. The whole area around the Muppetvision 3D attraction was to be a Muppets themed land.  The "Muppet Studios" portion of the MGM Studios was to have featured a parody of the park's headline attraction, The Great Movie Ride, called "The Great Muppet Movie Ride".  As well as an eating establishment named  The Great Gonzo's Pandemonium Pizza Parlor.  The demise of this project, and the acquisition of the Muppets franchise by Disney fell through when the owner of the Muppets, Jim Henson, passed away on May 16th, 1991.  Disney did finally acquire the Muppets franchise in February of 2004, but the grand plans for the MGM Studios have not been rekindled as of yet.  

              Hopefully with the renewed interest in the Muppets franchise with the release of the new Muppets Movie and a sequel announced for the future, hopefully the Muppets presence in the Studios will be expanded beyond what space it occupies today.   And WDI revisits some of the ideas that were on the table around the inception of the park.

Tower of Terror

    Here are a couple of clear photographs of the first scene in the Tower of Terror in the Studios when the elevator makes it's first stop.  These pictures were taken in 1996, even though the scene has remained mainly unchanged since then.  The occupants of the elevator appear in the hallway beckoning for you, reaching towards you in a desperate plea for help.  And all of a sudden they disappear in a wave of electrical energy. The lights begin to fade into a star field, and the hallway that was once before you becomes indistinguishable.  The window at the end of the hall becomes more pronounced , begins to sway, and then shatters.  As if you have left the real world behind, and where you are now, the physical bounds have no merit.
      This is my favorite scene in the attraction purely for the fact of the perceived distortion of your surroundings.  You are in an actual hallway where apparitions appear in the dead center and then everything vanishes.  Your physical surroundings disappear.  It is one of those effects that make you wonder how they do that.  This type of show scene is what makes WDI shine.  This is the type of experience that me, as a fan, longs for.  I hope that all of the ventures in the future, including the Test Track refurbishment, can bring this emotional response out of me and the many guests that enjoy them.

This detail is pulled directly from the lobby area.
 You feel as if you did just go up a few floors in the hotel

I am surprised this photo turned out so well

Thunder in Paradise

      At one time in Walt Disney World history the MGM Studios was actually used for filming TV shows and movies.  One show in particular that I remember fondly was called Thunder In Paradise.  Thunder In Paradise started as a straight to video feature film which debuted in 1993 which was produced by the creators of Baywatch..  This film was actually split into two episodes for television and was run as the show's pilot episode.  After it was picked up, the show only ran for one season before being cancelled.  The show aired 22 episodes including the two part pilot.  The original movie was filmed in St. Petersburg, Florida at and around the Don CeSar Hotel.  When the movie became a series on television, production was moved to the Walt Disney World Resort.  Filming took place around the property with The Grand Floridian Resort as the home base, other locations including the MGM sound stages, EPCOT Center, Fort Wilderness Campground, and also Old Key West.   EPCOT Center was a choice location due to Futureworld's futuristic theme as well as the various themes and designs of  the countries of World Showcase.

    

        The Scuttlebutt Bar 'N' Grill was located  on the beach in between where the wedding pavilion is located now and the Grand Floridian.  This was really cool because we were staying at the Polynesian and could just walk over and see all the filming and different things going on. As barely being a teenager this was incredibly fascinating, as I did not get to see this type of thing at WDW, outside of MGM Studios.  As well as being a big Hulk Hogan fan at the time.   

    

       

        The title of the show was in reference to the speed boat that Randolph J. Spencer "Hurricane" (Hulk Hogan) and Martin Brubaker "Bru" (Chris Lemmon) piloted throughout the show.  I do remember the boat did a shapeshift thing for speed.  And the film was sped up to simulate the increase in speed.  I have not seen the show for about 20 years so my memory is vague.  The boat is a typical cigarette boat designed for high speeds on the water.  I remember that thing firing up in the early mornings and you could hear it all across the Seven Seas Lagoon.  

     The Backlot tour at the MGM Studios included many aspects of the filming of this show which spanned many portions of the tour.  There was a pool outside where a lot of the underwater scenes were filmed that the tram drove by, as well as at least one of the sound stages dedicated to the show.  You could look down on Spencer's house from the catwalk part of the backstage walking tour.   It is too bad that filming was not able to be sustained at the Studios, "Hollywood east" was not going to happen and was doomed from the get go.  Which destroyed the identity of this park in general.  I think the Studios is trying to find a proper identity still to this day.  

"Let me know if you have memories of my show, brother!"

Drinks of the Past

             Here is round two of my WDW recipes of the past posts.  I am working through beverages to start off.  I have also included a brief history on the places these drinks were served for your reading enjoyment.

   

        The Disney Inn, formerly known as the Golf Resort.  These cocktails could be found at the Garden Gallery which was the American fare dining establishment there.  Which if I am not mistaken replaced the Trophy Room at the Golf Resort.  Now the resort is called The Shades of Green, and is exclusive to military personnel.

         The Polynesian Village was home to many original cocktails back then.  Even now you can find multiple different concoctions that are not found anywhere else on property.  There were many different areas to enjoy a libation at the Polynesian Village before the many renovations that occurred in the Great Ceremonial House and around the property. Now you've got the Tambu Lounge.

         The Top of The World lounge at the Contemporary Resort Hotel was a great place to enjoy an adult beverage and watch the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom.  I am not exactly sure where in relation to the stage at the Top of The World Supper club the lounge was located.  So I am not sure if you could watch the live entertainment or not.  I am sure you could have a listen though.  Here is a fabulous post on the Contemporary as it used to be.

       The Rose and Crown Pub at EPCOT Center is a great place to enjoy a pint of ale or an interesting cocktail.  It seems that back then lemon bar mix was used in many a cocktail around WDW property.  EPCOT Center was the only Disney theme park to allow alcohol consumption at the time it opened, and for a while after.  So World Showcase was the place to be to enjoy enhanced beverages while taking in the culture around you.  As far as I know when the park opened management was trying to keep the alcoholic beverages off of the promenade, to keep the drinking to specific areas in the park.  Unlike nowadays, where you can buy your beverage from a cart and saunter around without a care in the world.  Which I have been known to do from time to time. 

    

     I hope you enjoy these posts, and I really hope that someone has the ingedients to make these cocktails of Walt Disney World's past.  Post a comment and let me know how they turn out. As I say hold a glass up high and drink to the past!

MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE

       I know there are so many people out there that miss this attraction in Walt Disney World.  Even though the show scenes were merely  plywood cutouts with paint, the layout and perspective of the scenes excited the senses. The seemingly randomness of the experience added a element of fun and adventure.  Not to mention the two track layout which also added a sense of disorientation inside the attraction.

       One problem for families with children was there was only one steering wheel in the ride vehicle since it was a car.  Which I am sure created many a temper tantrum of one child getting to "drive" the car and the other being a passenger. I remember hating not having the steering wheel in front of me to spin crazily to no avail.  At one point in time to alleviate crowd issues a back seat was added to the original two seat ride vehicles.  With this new ride vehicle there was another steering wheel added probably because of the fights in the queue over who got to drive

Two seat Mr. Toad vehicle with dual steering wheels

         This was and opening day attraction at the Magic Kingdom and lasted until September 7th, 1998.  A year later on June 5th, 1999 The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh opened in place of the beloved Mr. Toad.  The closing of this attraction was met with much fan uprising after the sudden closing of 20,000 Leagues.  At least the original attraction is still operating in Disneyland, which I hope will stay to help us "Disney World" people remember what we once had in our own Fantasyland.

25th Anniversary Castle

    For the 25th anniversary of Walt Disney World in 1996 Cinderella castle had a wrap that included inflatable elements which resembled a birthday cake.  Many guests expressed malice towards this deformation of Cinderella Castle, but it was a part of the history of the Magic Kingdom now.  Here are some pictures to either relish in the grandeur of, or despise the existence of the cake castle.  Most of these pictures are from the Skyway so you can not hate on them too much. Enjoy!

You do not see this everyday

Not all of the castle was wrapped