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Entries in Magic Kingdom (23)

Friday
Mar212014

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Construction- Magic Kingdom

It's January 20, 1980. Let's hop aboard the Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat to see the the construction of Walt Disney World's latest E-Ticket attraction.

Wait a minute... TWO Riverboats?? Yes.

Look! A totem pole.

These wonderful photo were taken by Dan Hiller aboard the Riverboat in 1980. The attraction opened ten months later. Disneyland's Big Thunder opened 14 months prior to Magic Kingdom's Big Thunder.

We often hear that the track layout of the Magic Kingdom Big thunder is almost a mirror image of the Disneyland Big Thunder. How true is this? Below we see both mountains side-by-side. The Magic Kingdom layout is, indeed, almost a mirror image, but with bit of added track. 

Here we see the Magic Kingdom version flipped horizontally and placed over the Disneyland version.

Big Thunder Mountain history goes way back and is extremely interesting. From Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland to Marc Davis to Thunder Mesa and Western River Expedition to Tony Baxter and everything since.

Thank you, Dan, for talking these photos back when few people thought of photographing theme park construction.

If anyone else would like to share their old photos of the Disney theme parks, share them with us via our PHOTO HUNT.

 

Related posts:

The Wonders of Nature's Wonderland
Big Thunder Mountain Model
Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain Construction
WDW Construction: Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World in 1971 [Part 1]


Tuesday
Sep102013

WDW Construction: Cinderella Castle

By late 1970 the partially-built Cinderella Casltle was the tallest structure on the Magic Kingdom construction site. By February, 1971 its spires were nearing completion. A scroll-shaped sign above the Castle entrance reminded everyone: "REMEMBER, OPENING OCT. 1971".

How many bricks are in Cinderella Castle??? ZERO. Harharharharhar. Anyway. No more "fun" facts. But really, what a beautiful sight this must have been. How great would it have been to walk around and see everything come to life??

 

Related posts:

WDW Construction: Magic Kingdom
WDW Construction: Liberty Square
WDW Construction: Contemporary Resort
Walt Disney World in 1971 [Part 1]
Walt Disney World in 1971 [Part 2]
Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain Construction
EPCOT Construction from the Air

 

Monday
Jun182012

WDW Construction: Magic Kingdom

 
Yesterday my grandfather told me his good friend worked for Disney during the Florida construction. Of course I immediately asked if his friend took photos or filmed anything while there. No solid answer yet. We’ll see if we locate anything. For now, we'll enjoy these rare professional black and white construction photos.

 

Related posts:

WDW Before Opening Day 1971
EPCOT Construction from the Air
EPCOT Center Construction Photos: Future World
Magic Kingdom at Night
Magic Kingdom Map Found in a Main Street Wall
Walt Disney and the Santa Maria Railroad