Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 20 & 21

Pages 20 & 21 of the Walt Disney World guide from 1979 is filled with words. And, lots of them especially when you are talking about a park guide. The only picture on this page is an image of Pinocchio. The first page deals with some more tips, specifically tips aimed at your visit to help you save time and maximize your enjoyment at the park. The second page gives some details of what else you must see on your visit to Walt Disney World outside of the Magic Kingdom.

Well, there is a lot of reading to do, so, click on the image and get reading. Enjoy.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 14 & 15

We are now half way through the Walt Disney World guide from 1979. On pages 14 and 15, we have a two page full map of the Magic Kingdom. This is a very cool map. It is color coded by attractions, shops, and restaurants. Just like with the descriptions of the attractions on the earlier pages, many of the attractions on the map are also accompanied by a sketch. It really is cool to see attractions like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea featured on the map. Take a few minutes to look at the map and see what all has changed in 30 years to this iconic park.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 12 & 13

Now we move into the future of Tomorrowland with pages 12 and 13 of the Guide to Walt Disney World from 1979. I love these vintage images, especially the Star Jets. There are several attractions I miss from Tomorrowland, with the most obvious for me being Mission to Mars. Ok, I also miss the Skyway, "If You Had Wings", and of course, I wish the TTA were still called the WEDway People Mover. Enjoy.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 10 & 11

Fantasyland. The epitome of all the places in Walt Disney World. When most people think of Walt Disney World, they think of the Magic Kingdom. When they think of The Magic Kingdom, one of two things immediately come to mind...Cinderella Castle and Fantasyland. No land in any of the Disney parks captivates the hearts and minds of children, and even adults, more than the land that brings to life all the fabulous characters from the Disney animated features that generations of children have loved starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

With pages 10 & 11 of the Walt Disney World guide from 1979, we are thrown into this imaginary land. We are treated with several pictures on these pages, including the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on page 10 and Pinocchio Village Haus and Dumbo, the Flying Elephant on page 11.

On page 10, all Fantasyland attractions are listed. Several of these iconic rides still exist today. Sadly, three of the more exiting rides have been replaced or dismantled. First, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1999. In fact, there is a picture of Mr. Toad handing the deed over to Owl as you first enter the ride. One of my favorites, known as 20K to cast members, was filled in toward the end of 1994. It is now the home to Pooh's Playful Spot and the backdrop for Ariel's Grotto. The Skyway saw its last passengers flying overhead in 1999. And, finally, who could forget The Mickey Mouse Revue? Here, you could see ALL of your favorite Disney characters performing a wonderful musical fantasy. One last note...I just really love the sketches on this Fantasyland page, more so than any other land. How about the scary, and controversial, witch from Snow White. Wonder what parents thought when they saw that?

On page 11, you will find the restaurants and shops. I have a soft spot for all the Fantasyland food restaurants since I did my WDW College Program work experience here back in 1990. The staple of the restaurants is still found today, and that is Pinocchio Village Haus. All of the other restaurants have gone through various name changes. The same holds true for the shops as well. Except, none of these original ones exist today. And, after the D23 Expo, we know that many, many, many more changes are in store for this most wonderful land.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 8 & 9

Here we find Frontierland and Liberty Square on pages 8 & 9 of the Walt Disney World guide from 1979, respectively. A couple of items to note on Frontierland are the Diamond Horseshoe Revue and the Mile Long Bar. Check out the picture of the ladies from the Revue.

Likewise, in Liberty Square, you can find the Mike Fink Keelboats, as well as several wayback shops including the Tricornered Hat Shoppe. Also, check out the Fife and Drum picture. Long before they entertained and inspired at the American Adventure in EPCOT Center, they tugged at your heartstrings and made you well up with patriotism in Liberty Square daily.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 6 & 7

We move on to pages 6 and 7 of the Walt Disney World guide from 1979. Page 6 finishes up the description of Main Street, U.S.A. If there is one drawback with this early guide, it is putting Main Street on back to back pages, if you can really call that a drawback. The first section has an Information & Services you can find in this land. Since this is the entryway to the hub of the Magic Kingdom, it is appropriate that you'd find all the services in this turn of the century bustling town. The next two sections list all the shops and restaurants to be found on Main Street along with a brief description of each.

We move on to Adventureland, the first "land" of the Magic Kingdom, on page 7. The attractions are listed first. The one that particularly stands out here is the Caribbean Arcade. I don't recall anything about that. I have seen it mentioned on the Walt Dated World web site, but, not much more information that what is provided in the guide. The next two sections are the restaurants & snack centers followed by the shops that can be found in Adventureland. It is really interesting to look at the names and descriptions of these places and see how the land has changed. I like the description of the Adventureland Veranda...Polynesian entrees. Ok, that tells me everything I want to know about the food. What is a Polynesian entree? Like I said, these descriptions are very brief and occassionally, not all that helpful.

Well, enjoy looking over these two pages. There is a lot of information from 1970s Walt Disney World on them.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 4 & 5

Continuing on with our look at the 1979 Guide to Walt Disney World, we have one last "help" page from Disney. This one is aimed specifically to those guests in wheelchairs. The first part of page 4 informs guests in wheelchairs what transportation is available for them. What I find interesting is they can ride the monorail, but, they cannot board or unboard the monorail at the Contemporary Resort. I haven't looked at the law, but, this must have been before all the court cases and laws that require businesses to be wheelchair accessible.

The next section is broken down by each land with a list of all the attractions in each land. Then, each attraction is designated whether or not it is wheelchair accessible. The final section, highlighted in a blue box, is general helpful information for guests in wheelchairs.

Finally, on page 5, we get to our first land. And, what better land to start with than the first one you encounter upon entering the park--Main Street, U.S.A. There is a nice picture of Main Street, U.S.A. leading right up to Cinderella Castle. You can see a couple of horse-drawn trolleys, known as Horse Cars, transporting guests up and down the street to take in all the excitement. If you look closely, I think that is the Tobaccanist sign you can see on the left.

Each attraction and mode of transportation found on Main Street is listed with a short description of each. Now, I mentioned on my original post for this 1979 guide that one of my favorite things was the little sketches you could find to the left of each description. Well, here is where they begin. I just love this little touch.

As for the shops and restaurants to be found on Main Street? Well, I'm only doing two pages a day, and, unfortunately, they are on the next page, which will be tomorrow. But, this is the only land where this will happen.

Guide to WDW 1979 Pages 2 & 3

Here are pages 2 and 3 of the 1979 Guide to Walt Disney World. This is the first picture in the guide and is so cute. It has a cute little boy apparently showing a Security Cast Member something. And, what makes it more special is the Cast Member is down on the child's level. Such a warm and welcome site for parents when they open the guide.

Now, these two pages are the Helpful Information for guests from ticket information, reservations, first aid, lost and found, cameras, and other needs to help guests enjoy their visit. If you forgot to pack your camera, no problem, you can rent one. Didn't want to pack your kid's stroller? No problem. Rentals are available. Oh no, you forgot the formula for your baby! Not a problem there either. Wait, your baby wants WARM milk. Hey, covered again. You can also find all the important Disney phone numbers. Can there be any more helpful information? Well, apparently there is more on page 4, which is tomorrow. And, we also will get to our first land.

Guide to Walt Disney World 1979

I love getting brochures, pamphlets, and guide maps when I go to Walt Disney World. The ones we get today in the parks are nice and colorful, but, the ones from the late 1970s and early 1980s were special. This particular one I got from a vacation back in 1979. Now, I said these were special, and being 28 pages, plus the front and back covers, both inside and out, I think qualifies this as special.

The cover tells you what is to come inside this guide, starting with the title of "Your complete guide to the Walt Disney World Vacation Kingdom". There is a nice, offset picture of Cinderella Castle at an angle making it look even larger and more regal with some pink and yellow flowers in the foreground. And, seeing that this guide is "Compliments of Polaroid", it immediately makes you believe there will be a lot of color and picutres inside.

And, of course, you are not disappointed. The brochure, which would more aptly be called a small magazine, is loaded with colorful pictures from all over the resorts and Magic Kingdom. There really is no comparison with today's guides.

Now, besides the pictures, what I really enjoy about this guide, are the little sketches on the left of each attraction description. They just add that little Disney touch to the guide. During this time, the A-E ticket books were being used. So, on the right of each attraction is a color coded letter denoting which ticket is required to experience that particular attraction.

So, I hope you look forward to walking through this Walt Disney World guide with me the next couple weeks to see how the World existed in 1979.

WDW Parking Pass 1982

Here is a parking pass for Walt Disney World from our 1982 vacation. Ah, the good old days when parking was just $1. Of course, my parents probably griped about that at the time. But, looking back almost 30 years ago, parking looks rather inexpensive back then. Notice the graphic on the front. It only has The Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, and a sailboat. This was during the summer of 1982, just a few months before EPCOT Center opened. This graphic changed just a few months later to reflect the new park at WDW.


The back is has a layout of the parking lot with the various sections labeled by their Disney character names. There is also an 'AISLE NUMBER' line for you to fill in. Through all the anxiety and excitement as guests arrive at the park, the parking location is easily forgotten. The size of the these parking passes, which are slightly larger than a baseball card at 5" x 2.5", made it quite convenient for guests to put in their wallet or purse so at the end of the day at the Magic Kingdom, they know exactly where they parked.

Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies 1990

When I was on the WDW College Program in the Summer of 1990, I worked in Fantasyland Foods (FF). The flagship restaurant was Pinocchio's Village Haus, known
as Pinoch's in Dinsey lingo. The other restaurants that fell under FF were Troubadour Tavern (Troubs), Round Table, Tournament Tent (Tent), the Pretzel wagon, and the place I spent most of my time, Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies (Gurgi's).

In July 1985, Disney released its 25th animated feature, The Black Cauldron, based off a series of books by Lloyd Alexander called Chronicles of Prydain. Probably the most recognizable and lovable characters from that film was Gurgi, a dog-like creature that not only talked, but had quite an appetite and provided comic relief to this rather dark picture by Disney standards. Ok, maybe he wasn't a dog-like creature, but, he was furry and he was funny and he always said, "munchings and crunchings", which, made him the appropriate character for the naming of this restaurant. Unfortunately, this film was a far cry from a box office hit. But, like Disney does for all of its animated films, it incorporates them into the parks in some fashion. The Black Cauldron was no different.

On October 26, 1986, Gurgi's Munchies & Crunchies opened, taking place of Lancer's Inn. A question I received frequently from guests while I worked at Gurgi's was, "what movie is this place based off of"? More often than not, when I'd tell people it was based off of The Black Cauldron, their response was, "I've never heard of that one". And, unfortunately, at that time, The Black Cauldron had not been released on video, so, guests really had no way to go view it. But, this provided me an opportunity to talk to guests, so, I'd give them a quick synopsis of the movie.

Now, if you aren't familiar with this restaurant's location, it is across from Dumbo and Pooh's Playful Spot. This was a walk-up counter service restaurant with five registers, two queues per register. Out front were maybe half a dozen umbrella covered tables for guests to relax and dine. The design of the restaurant was the same style as Pinoch's except themed to the lighter side of The Black Cauldron. The sign out front was very similar to the Lumiere's Kitchen sign, except it had a picture of Gurgi and had Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies scrolled on it. I have scoured the Internet and have yet to find any photos of this extinct restaurant. And, I've said it many times in previous posts, but, unfortunately, we didn't have digital cameras back then. And, as a college student, I didn't "waste" my photos on restaurants, to my regret.


But, while looking through my photos from my 1990 experience, I did come across a couple of pictures that show this very small location. In the first picture, to the far right, you can see a door which led backstage to the ice machine. Judging from the locaction, I believe this cast member was on the middle register. You can catch a partial glimpse of the drink menu right above his head in the background. Of course, you can see the Fair Folk, including the Santa looking King Eidilleg flying with a cup cake. In the window, you can see some of the food items ready to be delivered.

Here are the drink items sold at Gurgi's that I can see on the menu and can recall from my memories:

Soft Drinks: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta Orange, and Fanta Root Beer (I think they were Fanta)
Orange Juice and Apple Juice boxes (Minute Maid I believe)
Hot Tea and Hot Chocolate
100% Colombian Coffee
Decaffeinated Coffee
Whole or Chocolate Milk
Lowfat Milk

As for the food items, what I can recall and can see in the window are the following:

Kids meal: Grilled Cheese or Chicken Nuggets (4 I think)
Chili Cheese Dog (yellow styrofoam container)
Chicken Sandwich (blue-green styrofoam container)
French Fries
Chips
Chocolate Chip Cookie

The kids meal came with a cookie, chips, and a Disney PVC figure. Of course, I do recall us also using those Mickey Mouse straws on occassion when we ran out of the figures. The summer of 1990 had those yellow boxes as seen in the pictures. I believe that was supposed to be Mickey's house. I remember that Mickey's nephews, Ferdy and Morty, were on the box. I wish I had saved one of those.


The next summer, 1991, the kids meal boxes were Disney Afternoon boxes. I actually did save an unused one of these. This is yet another example of Disney promoting one of its properties in the Disney parks as the Disney Afternoon was just taking off. The box has the Gummi Bears, Tailspin, DuckTales, and Rescue Rangers on it.


The second picture is basically the same as the first, but, just a little more to the right. In the background, you can see where we put all the condiments which included ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, bar-b-que sauce, and honey mustard sauce. Although these pictures don't show a whole lot of this tiny establishment, it is currently the only pictures I've seen in the past 18 years. I'm hoping that some of my former cast members have them. I've contacted some of them and if they do, hopefully, they will send them to me. If you have any, I'd love to see them.

Now, I've got many funny stories from working there, but, a couple of specifically food related tales. First, almost every day, we would have Germans come and ask for beer. I'd tell them that there was no beer sold in the Magic Kingdom. Then they'd point at the sign behind me and said, "beer". For the first few weeks this went on, I'd spend a few seconds trying to explain to them that this wasn't beer. Then, I learned. As soon as they'd point to the sign, I'd grab a little cup, put some root beer in it, and hand to them. Without flaw, they'd make a grimacing face and say, "MEDICINE"! That never got old to me and I got quite a chuckle, as did the guests.

Another common occurrence dealt with the kids meals. And, when I say common, I mean about every fourth kids meal order. Parents would come up and say, "I'd like a Chicken McNuggets kids meal". I'd reply, "I'm sorry, we don't have Chicken McNuggets", with an emphasis put on the "Mc" part. They'd look at me with a blank
stare, and then after a couple seconds, they'd get their gaffe and start laughing. Just goes to show the brand identity McDonald's has on chicken nuggets in our culture.

Gurgi's finally closed February 13, 1993, and then re-opened as Lumiere's Kitchen, followed by The Village Frye. To Disney's credit, it is amazing that a location based off of such a little known picture lasted about 6 1/2 years. And, to my knowledge, this was the only attraction, show, shop, or restaurant based off The Black Cauldron. In my opinion, it really is too bad that more attractions aren't based off of some of the lesser known animated features.

As for the stories of my time as a cast member at Fantasyland Foods...I think I'll save those for future posts.

WDW 15th Anniversary Displays

The year long 15th Anniversary celebration at Walt Disney World provided some unique picture opportunites for guests. Digital cameras have basically made picture taking a zero cost hobby. Cameras at the time had 24 pictures to a roll and you had to pay to get them developed. Now, with digital cameras, you can take all the pictures you want. Not so in 1987 when we took our vacation to the World. Back then, you had to pick and choose your pictures. You had to be much more selective. And, for my parents, this meant that most pictures would have us in them, but not all.


The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center were the only two parks at the time and each provided a magic moment before you even enteredt the park. Each park had a different display erected near the front gate to celebrate the 15th anniversary. At the Magic Kingdom was a giant Mickey Mouse alarm clock with the number 15 in place the hour numbers. Flanking each side of the clock was a General Motors vehicle which was part of the car a day give-away promotion at WDW as mentioned in the last two posts.


At EPCOT Center, a giant yellow birthday cake was on display celebrating WDW's 15th birthday. Again, I regret saying that the only picture I have of this is with my Mom, two brotheres, and me standing in front of it. But, hey, it is a typical vacation picture. So, does anyone have any better pictures of this cake display?