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Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Your Complete Guide to Walt Disney World - 1975

The 1975 version of "Your Complete Guide to Walt Disney World" is very similar in structure and content to what was once contained in the Walt Disney World Information Guide and would later appear in a different looking Complete Guide. The brochure begins by highlighting some of the ways the Magic Kingdom celebrated the bicentennial, including a description of America on Parade and promoting the fact that Hall of Presidents, previously an E-ticket attraction, would be available to all park guests for free in 1975 and, "continuing through the summer of 1976."

The section on Magic Kingdom admission pricing is expanded from earlier guides, with additional ticket books offered, including one encouraging 2 day visits, though with less specificity on how many of each category of tickets are part of each ticket book. The sections describing the Magic Kingdom is consolidated, so attractions, shopping, and dining are all listed together for each land, while the detailed maps for each land that appeared in older guides have been removed, replaced by a detailed foldout map of the entire park, located in the center of the guide. Sections titled, "Tips on Your Visit," and "Helpful Information," which continued into future guides also appear in this brochure, as do four full pages of GAF Photo tips.

The Guide also includes detailed descriptions of each Disney resort, starting with the Polynesian Village (which previously was listed after the Contemporary), followed by the Contemporary Resort Golf Resort, Fort Wilderness, and Lake Buena Vista. The descriptions of the amenities at the larger resorts also now include information about which floor to find restaurants, shops, and other important locations in each hotel's main building. The concludes with a whimsically draw map of the full Walt Disney World property, accompanied by transportation information, along with ads for Disney's big theater release of No Deposit No Return and for the park's photography sponsor, GAF.

 




















 

 

 

Monday, August 24, 2020

Summer/Fall 1973 Walt Disney World Information Guide

This post shows the contents of an early Walt Disney World Information Guide, detailing all of the attractions inside the Magic Kingdom, as well as the shopping, dining, entertainment, and other recreation across the entire Walt Disney World resort. In later years, a similar booklet containing essentially the same information would be titled, "Your Complete Guide to Walt Disney World," and later the Information Guide would take on different forms, as a separate add-on to more generic color photo-laden magazine style guides and also at times as a standalone detailed planning guide for the whole resort.

 This brochure served as your Magic Kingdom park map, while also containing information about ticket book pricing, and how to get to the parks. Four pages are devoted to photo and video tips from early camera sponsor GAF, followed by general information about the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Fort Wilderness resort, and a section highlighting recreational opportunities on Disney property. The Golf Resort, which would open late in 1973, is mentioned in the on-property transportation section of the Guide, but would have to wait for future vacation guides to be covered with the same detail as the other resorts.




















 

 

 

Friday, August 21, 2020

1972 Walt Disney World Ticket Brochure

Many Walt Disney World visitors have heard the phrase "E-ticket" used to describe a popular headliner attraction and most of those folks know E-tickets were the most expensive class of tickets back in the days when the parks required you to exchange individual tickets for rides on most of the attractions in the park. This brochure, which lists prices effective in October, 1972, shows the cost of books of tickets or general admission to the park in the relatively early days of the Magic Kingdom.

Also notable, on the flip side of the brochure, are promotions for some of the other activities around the Walt Disney World Resort, including cruises on the old side-wheeler steamboats and a nighttime water skiing light show, which must've been quite a spectacle (if you could actually see what was going on).

 


 

 

 

Your Guide to the Magic Kingdom - 1982

 By 1982, Disney World's Magic Kingdom guidebook had been around for a while, but now mentioned the new theme park that would open before the end of that year (EPCOT Center had its own separate guidebook). In addition to references to EPCOT Center, there were a few changes to the book from the previous year's version, including moving the park map right to the front of the guide and a series of whimsical drawings of Disney characters (mostly Mickey Mouse) highlighting each Land in the Magic Kingdom. Also gone are references to the A, B, C, D, and E tickets that were important in previous guides, as Disney had now fully committed to a single park admission that allowed unlimited access to all the rides and other attractions inside the park.