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Start to Shriek and Harmonize
Ah, autumn!The whole stretch of the year from September through to January in Florida has wonderful dusky light and silhoutette sunsets, perfect weather for excursions to the Magic Kingdom - which...
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Other Kingdoms to Conquer
The theme park scene in Orlando sure is competitive, isn't it? Whether it be attraction wars, bragging rights or the thrice-annual price hikes, Universal, Disney and Sea World are all necking for the...
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The First Decade in Maps
Once upon a time, a strange place called Walt Disney World opened, and Walt Disney World had everything: rides, shows, rodents, plants, tikis, duck confit and folk singers. But there was one thing that...
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Hanging at the STOL Port
As a researcher it's all too often (or may just often enough) that you find yourself pouring over some obscure publication, peeking into corners, squinting at grainy old photos, hoping to uncover some...
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Passport to Dreams Year End Report, 2011
I seem to recall, a year ago, sitting down to write an article much like this. If I recall, I said something like "every year can't be a banner year". I'm tempted to repeat that, but truthfully things...
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Buena Vista Obscura: Johnny's Corner
"Kissimmee (pron. Kiss-SIMM-ee) is the cow capital of Florida. To get there one has to pass miles of cattle ranches. Stores in town have that false-front look, familiar in Western movies, and the...
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Return to the Golf Resort
Golf is bound into Walt Disney World's bloodstream. No matter what you think of the sport, it's one of the things that importantly made up so much of the consideration of the early years of Walt Disney...
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On Integrity
"I've always said that there will never be another Disneyland, and I think it's going to work out that way. [...] This concept here will have to be something that is unique, so there is a distinction...
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All the Lights of the Kingdom: Part One
Left: The Sunshine Pavilion, 1971, with a long-retired "pumpkin" lantern, foreground.(Edit: Part Two may be found here!)I'm a Magic Kingdom girl. This should be obvious to anyone who's actually read...
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All the Lights of the Kingdom, Part Two
(Part One)Last time we looked at how lights and lamps help set the stage for the Magic Kingdom and how both Main Street and the Hub work variations on that, using lamps that help tell the story and...
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You Do Have Wings, Orange Bird
And as long as man dreams, and works, and builds together, this citrus will go on, in your life and mine. There's a thing about the Carousel of Progress that's unintentional and so usually goes...
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A Musical Souvenir of Walt Disney World
For some time since this blog began, I've been pondering ways to make the history of Walt Disney World seem more alive to the casual reader. If you're steeped in the research, the photos, and putting...
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Echoes from October 1971
Disney historians are treasure hunters. When I was young, I had the idea that being a historian or expert on anything would be ninety-percent tedium; locked out of the official Disney record halls and...
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Made in Glendale
What's cool, small, all over Disney attractions and totally unseen by guests? It's about an inch wide, two inches tall, sticky, yellowed, fading, old, and stuck to nearly every available surface. It...
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Through the Forest: Snow White's Adventures
Once Upon a Time...."The film contains scenes of terror which link it not only to the popular cinema in general and to the horror film in particular, but also to European melodrama and stage gothic...
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Three Jungle Cruise Mysteries
Photo Credit: Ryan Rewasiewicz via ImagineeringDisney (This post is an addendum to The Jungle Cruise: The Early Years, which has been updated to link to this new information)Some people spend all their...
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Lake Buena Vista's Lost Crescent City
"What If" in Disney theme park developments is never really a very fun place to explore. What tends to get the lion's share of attention is lost areas and attractions like Thunder Mesa, or Fire...
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Go Away Green
A few months ago, on Twitter, where it seems all the interesting stuff happens these days, I shared a vintage Haunted Mansion photo I found especially beautiful. It's from 1972 and I can't remember...
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Lightning in a Bottle? Storybook Circus
In the northeast of Magic Kingdom, for some time now a new area has been slowly taking shape. No longer a fully sovereign entity from Fantasyland, Storybook Circus has been expanding to fill the...
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How It Was Done: Part One
What you are looking at is the October 15, 1972 issue of "Institutions/Volume Feeding" magazine, in which the magazine announced their annual "Changemaker" award for Walt Disney Productions. It is a...
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