Walt Disney World 1978 | 50 Days to 50 Years

Since we all may need an extra dose of magic today, we are thrilled to welcome our next Guest. Mike is of My Dreams of Disney fame.  He will help us celebrate the upcoming 50th Anniversary by reviewing Walt Disney World 1978.

Walt Disney World in 1978

By the year 1978, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom was one of the popular destination spots in all of Florida. If not THE most popular. For the year, over 14 million Guests would grace their way through the turnstiles. Each would look to experience that special magic that exists only at the epicenter of the “Florida Project”.

While I wasn’t at the Magic Kingdom this year, I can picture what it would have been like for other 10-year-old boys as they were taking their first trip to the Magic Kingdom. (It wasn’t until the following year that I made my first visit to the park.) Picture this in your mind as you read.

Disney Transportation

Your Grandpa is driving you, your Grandma, your Mom, and your Sister to the Magic Kingdom.  It’s your first trip to Florida. And as you ride up World Drive, you feel yourself leaving Florida behind. You are entering a totally different World.  This World is not the home of Orange Groves, beaches, and sunshine.  It has been replaced by the World of Magic. Of characters that you have been watching on TV for years. It is home to princesses old and new, of Mickey and Minnie, and of a special Castle.

After you park your car, you board a special tram to take you to the Transportation and Ticketing Center. There, you get the tickets, and then you board that special train, the Monorail, for your trip to the Magic Kingdom!  It is the strangest thing you’ve ever seen, something of the future, you think, with its sleek design, doors that open almost magically, and with that whole Buck Rogers look and feel to it. You are certain that it will take you to the park in no time!  While you are riding, you stare intently at everything you can see, barely pausing to blink as you look for your first views of the Magic Kingdom.

As you arrive at the park and get off of the Monorail, you walk down the ramp towards the gates, and it hits you — you have arrived.  Instantly you are struck by the sounds you hear, of music, people laughing, popcorn popping, everyone having a great time.

Main Street U.S.A.

Somehow, as you pass under the railroad tracks, Walt Disney has magically taken you out of the here and now. Magically you have been transported to a different time and place. Heres mall town Americana is alive and well; where Main Street isn’t just the name of a street, but it is a place to hang out with your friends, where you can eat, shop, and even catch a movie.  As you gaze at all of the incredible buildings, you are taken aback at how long Main Street, U.S.A. is.  It seems like it goes on forever! 

But you peer at the end of the street, and what do you see?  This magical castle waiting for you, beckoning you to take a look at it, daring you to even go inside of it!  You have heard about that castle- Cinderella Castle! Perhaps you have read about how you can walk all the way through the castle. And come out in Fantasyland. Maybe you’ve heard that you can even have a meal at Cinderella’s Royal Table — but that memory is for another trip.

Mickey Mouse 50th Birthday

Walt Disney Word 1978 marked the 50th birthday of that one that started it all — Mickey Mouse.  Starting on November 18th, Mickey began his yearlong celebration of his 50th birthday, which included ‘Mickey’s Birthday Parade.’

When my family would take it’s journey to the Magic Kingdom the following year, my sister was all about the attractions.  For me, though, I wasn’t a roller coaster junkie, so that wasn’t important to me; I hardly even remember the attractions I did ride, although I’m pretty sure I rode all of the usual ones.  For me, though, the thing I remember most of all was what I described above — that feeling of being transported back in time, walking down Main Street, U.S.A., drinking in everything I saw and smelled and felt, riding that wonderful classic Walt Disney World Railroad, and just feeling like I have arrived — I am home.

50 Days to 50 Years

When my family would take it’s journey to the Magic Kingdom the following year, my sister was all about the attractions.  For me, though, I wasn’t a roller coaster junkie, so that wasn’t important to me; I hardly even remember the attractions I did ride, although I’m pretty sure I rode all of the usual ones.  For me, though, the thing I remember most of all was what I described above — that feeling of being transported back in time, walking down Main Street, U.S.A., drinking in everything I saw and smelled and felt, riding that wonderful classic Walt Disney World Railroad, and just feeling like I have arrived — I am home.

Please pop over again tomorrow as the series continues with 1979, and our next blogger, Andi from Bringing the Sunshine.