Your Guide to the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom - Late 1980

I wrote about a Magic Kingdom guide that my family actually used during a March, 1981 visit to the parks, however that guide was actually published in early 1980 and the one pictured here published later on. How do I know? Because this guide shows Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on the park map and the Mickey Mouse Revue has been removed. Big Thunder opened in the Magic Kingdom on September 23, 1980, while the Mickey Mouse Revue closed in Florida on September 14, 1980.

The early and late 1980 guides are essentially the same other than those two attractions and advertising different Disney movies inside the back cover.

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.

 

 

 

 

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.