By Keith Mahne

For those of us lucky enough to remember the early days of the Disney Channel, getting an inside look at coming attractions made a subscription worth every penny. One of our favorite segments to air on the Disney Channel in the late 80s was this inside look at Walt Disney Imagineering back in 1987. We will take a tour through the legendary Imagineering offices to see the creation of things like Pleasure Island, Disney-MGM Studios, Splash Mountain, Typhoon Lagoon and more. Join us as we travel back to Walt Disney Imagineering circa 1987...

By Keith Mahne

Did you know that World Showcase in Epcot was originally going to be built next to the Polynesian Resort and the Ticket and Transportation Center? It's true! Let's take a look back at the origin of Epcot's World Showcase in today's new article...

By Keith Mahne

A Complete Edition About Walt Disney World “The Vacation Kingdom of the World” is probably one of the best Florida Project booklets ever made. Released in 1969, it offers an extensive look at how Walt Disney Productions thought Walt Disney World would look once complete. Although a ton of details did become a part of the final version, several of the concepts and ideas featured throughout eventually died somewhere between the release of this booklet and the opening of WDW. Let's take a look for ourselves at what Roy O. Disney and the Disney Company had in mind for "The Vacation Kingdom of the World" back in 1969 in today's new article...

By Keith Mahne

In 1971, shortly before Walt Disney World was about to open its gates to the world, Popular Mechanics, the classic magazine of popular science and technology, gave readers a behind-the-scenes look at the ingenious systems Disney built into the Florida Project. Join us today as we examine that very 1971 Popular Mechanics article and learn more about Disney's monorail, utilidor, trash removal system, modular construction, central energy plant and more to get a really wonderful look at the tools that keep the magic churning...

The most exciting and challenging project ever tackled by Walt Disney Productions, now The Walt Disney Company, started out quietly and under a shroud of secrecy. Join us today as we take a detailed look back in time at those crucial and exciting days when Walt Disney was acquiring the land that would become home to the most popular vacation destination on earth, Walt Disney World...

By Keith Mahne

Beginning in the late 1970s, if you happened to be in Central Florida and wanted a truly special meal, there was one place to go: the Empress Lilly. For 18 years, the regally appointed ship beckoned diners with one of the finest menus at Walt Disney World. Gourmets, park lovers, romantics agreed: The Lilly – named in honor of Walt's first lady, Lillian Bounds Disney – was always a delicious experience. Join us as we remember the Empress Lilly riverboat in today's new article...

By Keith Mahne

Literally hundreds of Disney artisans, designers, craftsmen, and technicians collaborated on Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents attraction to get it up and running by opening day. Painstaking research, exacting execution, and technical innovations were required in order to achieve the degree of perfection once demanded by Walt Disney. It's one thing to talk about the hard work that went into the creation of this classic attraction and another to actually see it for ourselves. That's just what we'll do in today's new article with some rarely seen footage inside WED Enterprises at the making of Hall of Presidents shot in February 1971; only a few short months away from Walt Disney World's opening day...

By Keith Mahne

In mid-January of 1970, the Walt Disney World Preview Center became the first building on WDW property to be opened to the public. The preview center contained many artist renderings along with updated aerial pictures of the construction. The main attraction in the building was a theater that housed a film and a 625 square foot model of the property that would be illuminated as the film discussed different areas of the park. Wouldn't you love to have seen this place? Today we will do just that with this rarely seen video footage of the Walt Disney World Preview Center from 1970 that you have got to see...

By Keith Mahne

On October 1, 1971, Bill and Marty Windsor crawled sleepily at dawn from their Volkswagen parked behind a Texaco station off I-4. They'd been slapping mosquitoes all night, and there was no time for breakfast if they wanted to make their destination. The goal for the Windsor Family that morning was to be among the first guests to enter Walt Disney World for the very first time. Learn the story of how the Windsors actually became Walt Disney World's first family in today's new article...

By Keith Mahne

Imagine yourself in the 1970s. For years, you have heard about Walt Disney's dream of building a "living showcase that more people would talk about and come to look at than any other area in the world." And now, that dream known as Walt Disney World, a magical oasis being built in phases on 27,400 acres of land and water southwest of Orlando, Florida, is a reality. It currently features a destination-vacation resort, and plans for the future still include an industrial park designed to highlight American industry at work, and, eventually, the city of EPCOT. The first phase of Walt Disney’s living showcase just opened its gates on October 1, 1971 and its time for us to visit this incredible new "Vacation Kingdom" and see the magic with our own eyes and ears. Join us as we embark on a virtual adventure back to early Walt Disney World and attempt to capture the resort destination in its early years...

By Keith Mahne

An old pastime among Disney Park fans that would often occur between trips was to flip through View-Master reels of Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Looking at these reels of the Disney Parks and Resorts was sure to fill one with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. What made looking at Walt Disney World and Disneyland View-Master reels particularly special was how the device would take advantage of a human’s stereoscopic vision by presenting a slightly different image to each eye. The brain then combines both together to create a three-dimensional image with a sense of depth. This created the perfect way to escape back to the Parks between family vacations and that's just what we'll do in today's new article with these 56 vintage Walt Disney World and Disneyland View-Master photos that you have got to see...

By Keith Mahne

When Walt Disney World first opened its gates in 1971, the entire Vacation Kingdom utilized only 2,500 acres of the total 27,500-acre site owned by the Disney Company in central Florida. The 43-square miles of land represented a substantial opportunity, and an equally significant responsibility, for the Walt Disney Company to develop and enhance the lives of those that would live, work and visit there. Out of this need came the Disney owned Buena Vista Land Company. Let's take a look back at the organization originally responsible for the development of the Walt Disney World property and examine what plans it had back in 1972 in today's new article...

By Ted Linhart

The Carousel of Progress is one of Walt Disney’s most beloved, iconic and celebrated attractions of all time. It is also perhaps the most well-traveled, having made a nearly 5,000-mile journey from the New York World’s Fair in Queens, NY to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA in 1967 and then to Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL in 1974. Join us today for an exclusive, inside look at the cost for the move from California to Florida courtesy of a rare, 1973 WED Enterprises document. It took careful planning to ensure there would be a great big beautiful tomorrow at Walt Disney World for years to come...

By Keith Mahne

Walt Disney once said, "I would rather entertain and hope that people learn, than educate and hope that they're entertained." That statement, made years before EPCOT was created or even conceived, became the standard by which Walt's successors designed their version of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow he had originally envisioned. EPCOT Center was more than just a new theme park; it was a creation that paved the way for Walt Disney World to become the most magical and unique resort destination the world had ever seen. Join us today for the final installment of our 45th anniversary celebration series as we cover the creation of EPCOT Center and the dawn of a whole new Disney era...

By Keith Mahne

Walt Disney World's opening day, Friday, October 1, 1971, drew only about 10,000 visitors to the Magic Kingdom. But the Park's executives were far from disappointed at the low turnout. They had deliberately chosen to open during Florida's quietest month for tourism, on the traditionally slowest day of the week, to avoid the problems posed by peak crowds on Disneyland's first day. However, that year's Thanksgiving weekend put the resorts training and capacity to the test as thousands flocked to the vacation kingdom to see for themselves what the Disneyland of the East was really like. Join us today for Part II of our 45th anniversary celebration series as we cover Walt Disney World's first year of operation and learn what that was like for the men and women who were there helping to make the resort complex the true Vacation Kingdom of the World we know and love today...

By Keith Mahne

In commemoration of Walt Disney World's 45th anniversary, Disney Avenue will be running a 3 part series on the development of the Florida resort that is jammed-packed with quotes over the years from Disney employees who were responsible for the concept, planning and construction that led to Opening Day, October 1, 1971. Join us today for Part I as we remember the obstacles the Company faced as they attempted to bring the magic of Disney to Florida as we celebrate the creation of the Vacation Kingdom of the World...

By Keith Mahne

In 1964, the first Disney designed PeopleMover system carried guests through the Ford pavilion at the New York World's Fair. Three years later, Disneyland inaugurated a similar system called the Goodyear PeopleMover which has carried countless numbers of people over millions of passenger miles before its unfortunate closer in 1995. The year 1975 brought the WEDway PeopleMover to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom by utilizing a linear induction propulsion system to economically transport thousands of guests silently every day. The Community Transportation Services (CTS), a former subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions, was responsible for all the research, development, construction, testing and operation of transportation systems for the Disney Parks, including Walt Disney's planned Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). In today's new article, thanks to a 1977 booklet created by the CTS, we will take an in-depth look at the WEDway PeopleMover, your quiet and carefree highway in the sky...

By Keith Mahne

How would you like to take a behind-the-scenes look at Walt Disney World back in the 1990s that focused on the challenges and creative solutions being researched and implemented by the Walt Disney Company with Epcot as the testing grounds? Thanks to a booklet put together by the Disney University specifically for cast members titled "Innovation In Action," we are going to take a closer look and explore the systems and projects that have made, not just Epcot, but the entire Walt Disney World Resort complex the real Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow that it is today...

By Keith Mahne

Disneyland opened in 1955 with an exposition of transportation systems, from double-decker buses to riverboats. Already a mini-city in transportation activity, Disneyland inaugurated the first daily monorail service in 1959. The design and development of the monorail system reflected Walt Disney's personal commitment to not only build an attraction, but more importantly, to provide a transportation system for the future. With the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971, the Disney organization revealed a new monorail system as the primary transportation link between the resort hotels, Ticket and Transportation Center, and the Magic Kingdom called the MARK IV Monorail. In today's new article, thanks to a 14 page booklet from the 1979, you'll get to learn everything you've ever wanted to know about Walt Disney World's original monorail system...

By Keith Mahne

From the Walt Disney World Vacation Kingdom dedication plaque in Town Square: "WALT DISNEY WORLD is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney and to the talents, the dedication and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true..." Walt Disney's dream...what a dream it was: a complete vacation resort destination; a total environment that Walt himself referred to as "a new, different kind of world...big enough to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine." And the dream came to life and started to grow: the Magic Kingdom, resort hotels and villas, campgrounds, abundant facilities for recreation, shopping and entertainment; all set against a lovingly preserved and designed backdrop of rolling landscapes and winding waterways. And, as Walt had suggested, there was still plenty of space for the Disney-style thinking, tinkering and building called "Imagineering." Today, this 27,443-acre wonder stands as the leading vacation destination on earth and the first 10 years of its existence played a big part in that. Let's review Walt Disney World's first 10 years and discover why it remains as happy and joyous a place as the day it opened on October 1, 1971...