May 17, 1975: Florida's East Coast
	April 20-24, 1975: A Week in New York City
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The next big event was the BAI (Bank Auditor Institute) Convention at Walt Disney World in Florida, to which I got to go. The actual convention was three days during the week, and Cullinane would have a booth in the commercial area. I would be a registered attendee as well, so I could go to the seminars and other functions if I had the time. I went down to Orlando a couple of days early so I could spend some time in the park. Most of my pictures were taken the weekend before the actual convention began.

The conference started on Tuesday, so I flew down on Sunday planning on spending Monday at the park. Cullinane was paying for the hotel starting on Monday night, so the extra cost to me was fairly minimal (although Disney's Contemporary Hotel, the headquarters hotel for the conference, wasn't cheap).

At the airport, I rented a car and then followed the rental car map to get over to I-4 and then south towards Lake Buena Vista. There were signs out by the highway for Walt Disney World, of course, so all I had to do was follow them to get to the park. I didn't have to actually enter the park to get to the Contemporary Resort Hotel, so I went there to check in.

The Lobby of the Contemporary Resort Hotel

Disney's Contemporary Resort Hotel is located just outside the Magic Kingdom; it opened in 1971, and along with Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is one of the two major resort hotels that are run by Disney here at the park (others are on the drawing boards).

The Contemporary Tower, the most prominent of the resort's four stand-alone buildings, was built as an A-frame with outer walls which slope inwards around an inner atrium (shown at left). To construct the building, steel frames were erected on-site and modular pre-constructed rooms were lifted into place by crane. Most of Disney's Polynesian Village Resort was built the same way (although rooms were stacked instead of being slid in to a frame).

The Monorail Goes Through the Resort Hotel

The Contemporary Tower houses most of the resort's key facilities, including resort registration. The main hall, named the Grand Canyon Concourse, is located in the main tower and houses restaurants and shops. About 400 guest rooms line the outer walls of the Contemporary Tower. The Walt Disney World Monorail System runs through the inside of this building and a monorail station is located here for resort guests. An additional three-story wing with another 250 rooms is being added on the south side, and there are various meeting rooms and a banquet hall.

Probably the nicest thing about staying at a Disney property here at the Magic Kingdom is that they are linked with the park and other facilities by the Walt Disney World Monorail System, which operates multiple trains on two routes (Magic Kingdom: Resort and Express) and with Mark IV monorail trains. So guests don't have to worry about parking in the huge lots and walking or taking shuttles to the park entrance. (The train system also makes the Contemporary Resort look even more futuristic.)

Here are my pictures of the two resorts that Disney runs just outside the park itself:

The Polynesian Village Resort

The Contemporary Resort Hotel

So, I set aside Monday to spend a day in the Magic Kingdom ahead of the conference opening on Tuesday. I figured Monday would be better than a weekend day as far as the crowds are concerned. Before I head over into the park, perhaps a little history is in order.

Magic Kingdom, often called Walt Disney World, to differentiate it from Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is a "theme park" southwest of Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the park opened four years ago, in 1971. The "theme" of this particular amusement park is Disney and the many characters he and his organization have created, and its layout and attractions are based on the first Disney theme park- Disneyland in California. Centerpiece of the park is, again, Cinderella's Castle, inspired by the fairy tale castle seen in the 1950 film.

Disneyworld, c. 1969

In 1959, Disney began looking for land to house a "second Disneyland". His surveys showed that only 5% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the Mississippi River, where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted more control over a larger area of land in the next project. Florida was high on his list; it was already tourist-oriented and the weather was favorable year-round.

The infrastructure in place and planned around Orlando made him settle on the site near Bay Lake, southwest of the city. To avoid a frenzy of land speculation, Disney's dummy corporations quietly acquired 48 square miles of land near Bay Lake, going so far as to record the deeds in other counties.

Still, all the buying drew attention, and there was speculation about the "mystery buyer", including one Orlando Sentinel naming Disney as the buyer. The Disney Organization denied the rumors, but the paper continued to investigate, and finally, in late October, published another article headlined, "We Say: 'Mystery Industry' Is Disney". Disney had planned to announce shortly anyway, so he authorized Florida Governor Haydon Burns to confirm that Disney was going to build "the greatest attraction in the history of Florida", and Disney's official announcement was made on schedule on November 15th.

The Entrance to Disneyworld

Much work had to be done before actual construction could begin, which it did in 1967. Sadly, Walt Disney died at the end of 1966, but Roy Disney oversaw the first phase of construction, which began with the construction of drainage canals and roadways. By the end of 1969, the actual park was taking shape. It, and the two resort hotels, were completed and the park opened on October 1, 1971. Later that month, Roy dedicated the property and declared that it would be known as "Walt Disney World" in his brother's honor. In his own words: "Everyone has heard of Ford cars. But have they all heard of Henry Ford, who started it all? Walt Disney World is in memory of the man who started it all, so people will know his name as long as Walt Disney World is here." After the dedication, Roy Disney asked Walt's widow, Lillian, what she thought of Walt Disney World. According to biographer Bob Thomas, she responded, "I think Walt would have approved." Roy Disney died at age 78 on December 20, 1971, less than three months after the property opened.

An interesting history for what was to become the engine of central Florida. Today, four years later, construction has begun on other theme parks and attractions in the Orlando area. I'm going to pay the $4 entrance fee and buy a book of ride tickets (about $10, all told, and spend most of the day in the park.

Main Street U.S.A.

Main Street, U.S.A. is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of Disneyworld- as it is in Disneyland. The train station and monorail station are at one end, and Cinderella's Castle is at the other.

Town Square and Main Street U.S.A.

I came over to the park on the monorail, and before going downstairs and out of the station to the park entrance, I took the picture at left that looks basically north from the area just inside the entrance- called Town Square- down Main Street to Cinderella's Castle.

Town Square is home to City Hall, in which the Guest Relations office is located. Further along Main Street, the names painted in the windows on Main Street serve as credits for some of the many people, Imagineers and others, who contributed in some way to the creation of Disneyworld. Largely they appear as fictional businesses (gyms, realtors, dentists), and they often refer to a hobby or interest that the person honored.

One of the first things I noticed was that the pavement was slightly springy, and at first I thought the heat was softening it, but I found out later that the park uses "resilient asphalt" (like some high-school tracks), which is a type of asphalt containing rubber. This helps prevent aching feet, as most guests probably do more walking in an average day at Disneyworld than they do in an average week in their everyday lives.

Inspired by Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri (as in the film Lady and the Tramp), Main Street, U.S.A. is designed to resemble the center of an idealized turn-of-the-20th-century (c. 1910) American town. Main Street actually drew elements from the childhood home of Main Street's designer (Fort Collins, Colorado) and also from the the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Michigan, which Walt Disney visited twice in the 1940s.

City Hall

Main Street

To get down Main Street to the center of the park, most people simply walk. There is, though, a tracked trolley that guests can take, and there are also horse-drawn carriages that guest can ride, although these cost ten cents or an "A" ticket.

The Disneyworld Main Street Flower Market

I might mention here that if you are much younger than me, the phrase "E-ticket ride" probably means nothing to you, so a bit of explanation is probably in order.

Prior to 1982, you paid one fee just to enter a Disney theme park, and then you bought tickets (or paid cash) for each ride. (Other theme parks adopted the same scheme for a time.) Obviously, some rides (like riding a horse-drawn carriage down Main Street) were very simple (and not very exciting). Others, like the major roller coasters or perhaps the Haunted Mansion, were exciting and technologically interesting, and very, very popular. So the idea was that you would buy a ticket book that contained maybe five of each of five different tickets ("A" through "E"). Then, when you got to a ride, you let them tear out whichever level ticket was required.

While this may sound pretty straightforward, it was actually very good marketing. Guests coming into the park had heard of the exciting rides, and wanted to make sure to do them, and so made a beeline for them (as the lines could be quite long). So guests typically first used up all their "E" tickets. Then, common practice was to work your way down through the rides, using the "D" tickets next, and so on.

At the end of a typical day, most guests were left with "A" tickets they either didn't have time to use or really didn't want to use. (What adult without little kids in tow would want to ride "It's a Small World"?). (And, cleverly, you couldn't use five "A" tickets in place of one "E" ticket, for example.) So these unused tickets represented "found money" to the park; they sold a right-to-use that was never exercised. (Soon after the park opened, Disney began allowing guests to purchase individual tickets, but these were priced higher than their share of the ticket book. Still, that's what many folks chose to do, and they ended up spending a good deal more that way. A very few of the rides took actual cash money, but it had to be exact change. Of course, the stores and eating places took cash as well.

I, myself, found that at the end of the day I had some "A" tickets left, and so I used one of them to ride a horse-drawn carriage down Main Street:

Note the ticket requirement and cash price.

Here's a view from one of the carriages.

Instead of being a replica of a small Midwestern American town, Main Street at Walt Disney World features some stylistic influences from around the country, such as New England and Missouri. This is most noticeable in the "four corners" area in the middle of Main Street where each of the four corner buildings represents a different architectural style. Main Street is lined with shops selling merchandise and food.

The Main Street Parade

A fixture of Main Street U.S.A. are the parades that are held at least once every day. Over the years, these have been somewhat different, and have had different names. At the moment, it's the "Festival of Fantasy" parade that's held in the late afternoon, and which features all the Disney characters, some floats, a band or two, and so on. For a lot of families with little kids, it is their closing attraction.

City Hall contains the Guest Relations lobby where "cast members" provide information and assistance. A real working barber shop gives haircuts, and there are sit-down restaurants and a fair amount of fast food (all Disney-themed, of course). And as you would expect, numerous shops, including "The Emporium" carry a wide variety of Disney souvenirs.

In the distance beyond the end of Main Street stands Cinderella's Castle. Though only 189 feet tall, it benefits from a technique known as forced perspective. The second stories of all the buildings along Main Street are shorter than the first stories, and the third stories are even shorter than the second, and the top windows of the castle are much smaller than standard. The resulting visual effect is that the buildings appear to be larger and taller than they really are. Main Street is considered the "opening credits" for the Magic Kingdom. Visitors pass under the train station (the opening curtain), and then view the opening credits on the upper stories of the main street buildings.

Each window has a business name on it, such as "Seven Summits Expeditions, Frank G. Wells President"; each of these people has a connection to Disney. The windows/credits are ordered as they would be for a movie. Statues of Walt, Roy Disney, and many Disney characters adorn Main Street, and, wandering around the entire Main Street area are cast members in Disney character costumes, and guests are always taking pictures with them.

Towards the end of my day in the park, I returned through Main Street to get to the monorail station, and I took a couple more pictures in this part of the park:

I rode a second horse-drawn carriage.

Main Street Seen From Adventureland

The Hub and Cinderella's Castle

Cinderella's Castle is right in the center of the park, and just in front of it is an area called "The Hub" because here there are those typical signs that point to the various "lands", each of which is at the end of a walkway radiating from the Hub. Most guests use the Hub as their starting point and meeting place. So this would be a good time to show you the layout of the park.

At the Hub guests will find the entrances to all of the lands at Disneyworld. (Incidentally, when I use the term "Disneyworld", I am referencing the Florida theme park circa 1975. There are now other "Magic Kingdom"-style parks around the world. While their layouts may be similar, there are sometimes differences in naming, in the actual "lands", and in other characteristics as well. The comments I make on this page may only apply to Disneyworld Florida.)

Here, in addition to Main Street U.S.A., we have Adventureland (themed to resemble remote jungles), Frontierland (themed to recall the American frontier), Fantasyland (with a fairy-tale theme), and Tomorrowland (themed on the future and science). Walkways lead to all four "lands", although the walkway right through Cinderella's Castle is an alternate entrance to Fantasyland. There is also a sixth "themed area" here called Liberty Square, located between Frontierland and Fantasyland. It is sometimes referred to as Colonial America.

I found Disneyworld to be organized very well, and I had little difficulty finding my way around. One can also ride the train around the perimeter of the entire park to get an overview, and there is also the Skyway, a ski-lift type ride that takes you across the park from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland.

Cinderella's Castle

Cinderella's Castle is the eponymous fairy tale castle and the icon at the center of Disneyworld, and is not only the flagship attraction of the theme park, but also a symbol of The Walt Disney Company. The structure was inspired by a variety of real and fictional palaces, but primarily and most obviously Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. (There is a very similar structure at Disneyland, but there it is the Sleeping Beauty Castle.)

Cinderella's Castle was completed in July 1971, after about 18 months of construction. The castle is 183 feet tall, almost twice the height of the Sleeping Beauty Castle in California. The set-building trick known as forced perspective makes the castle appear larger than it is. At higher elevations, its proportions to full scale are reduced for elements such as stones, windows, and doors.

Cinderella's Castle is designed to reflect the late-Gothic, flamboyant style of the 1400s, and the color scheme is tan and blue. Despite its appearance, no bricks were used in its construction; the inner structure consists of six hundred tons of steel-braced frame construction, with a 10-inch-thick reinforced concrete wall encircling the structure to the full height of the outermost stone-like walls.

Most of the exterior is a thick, very hard fiber-reinforced gypsum plaster that is supported by light-gauge metal studs. The turrets and roofs are hard plastic, again attached to a lightweight steel frame. Much of the tower construction was pre-fab. A popular legend is that the castle can be taken apart and moved (in the event of a hurricane), but this is entirely false. The structure was designed with withstand wind speeds of 125 MPH.

The castle is surrounded by a 6-foot-deep moat and a fixed drawbridge. There are a total of 27 towers on the castle. Originally, an inside, private suite was planned for the Disney family and executives, but since Walt Disney died nearly five years before the park opened, it remained unfinished, and served other functions. There are three elevators inside the castle, one for guests to get to the second-floor restaurant, and two for service. There is actually one "hotel room" in the castle, used for various special purposes.

Cinderella Castle was designed so that it was tall enough to be seen from the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom, where many guests took ferries from the parking lot to the gates of the park. Cinderella's Castle was conceived as the park's primary focal point, drawing new entering guests through Main Street, U.S.A. towards the central hub, from where all other areas can be reached.

Tomorrowland

This was where I wanted to go first, as Tomorrowland features numerous attractions that depict views of the future. Walt Disney was known for his futurist views and I can remember as a kid watching Disney TV shows talking about what the future would be like. In Walt's words, "Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future."

Flight to the Moon (Space Mountain in Background)

It was good that I hadn't tried to visit Disneyworld any earlier than now, as much of Tomorrowland was not finished when the park opened four years ago. An attraction called "America the Beautiful" opened in November, 1971, and "Flight to the Moon" opened on Christmas Eve, 1971, due to technical problems.

The plans for Tomorrowland weren't actually finalized until 1973, and construction began in earnest. The WEDWay Peoplemover (a second story, moving belt, transit system) was constructed, and Star Jets (a spinner attraction) was opened. But I would have wanted to wait for Space Mountain.

Carousel of Progress(R); Space Mountain (Background)

Space Mountain and The Carousel of Progress opened early this year. Space Mountain is the first totally indoor roller coaster in Florida and is the first roller coaster to have computer aided designs and use zoning to have 8 trains on the track at a time. The Carousel of Progress is similar to Disneyland's version (which I went to in 1969) except it rotated in the opposite direction and used a different song.

Walt Disney originally conceived the idea of a space-themed roller coaster for Disneyland, but the project was postponed so he could focus on Disneyworld. After Disneyworld opened, and its success was assured, the Disney company started looking to build its first thrill ride at Disneyworld. Disney decided that a duplicate of Disneyland's Matterhorn was not feasible, and instead opted to re-visit the Space Mountain project. Advances in technology since the project's postponement made Space Mountain entirely doable.

Space Mountain was the first ride I went on- an obvious "E"-ticket ride. In fact, I came back later in the day to ride it a second time. Although I had my camera, it was useless, as the inside of Space Mountain is only dimly-lit. The whole point of the indoor roller coaster is because you can't really see the track, you can't instinctively anticipate the curves and drops; everything is a surprise. This is very effective, and I found Space Mountain to be a really neat experience. It is also the most popular ride in the park, probably because it's so new. But if my reaction is any indication, Disney will build one at Disneyland, and other theme parks will copy the concept.

Grand Prix Raceway and the Skyway

Tomorrowland has a series of elevated walkways that connect all the buildings and various rides. Not only does this give a futuristic look to the area, but it is a good way to get people over and around Autopia, which takes up a lot of land area, and which would be a pain to have to walk around all the time. You'll see these walkways in the rest of my Tomorrowland pictures.

Autopia was first constructed for Disneyland California. In the attraction guests steer specially designed cars through an enclosed track. The name Autopia is a portmanteau of the words "automobile utopia." Here at Disneyworld, the attraction was named "Grand Prix Raceway", and was based on an international car race rather than the futuristic roadways of Autopia. The ride is sponsored by Goodyear (and their logo is featured prominently).

You can see the track at left and in the pictures below, and what you will notice, of course, is that the guest cannot steer the car just anywhere; that would be a recipe for disaster. What the guest can do is to cause the car to go left or right a short distance, but not enough to cause a collision with a car in an adjacent track. The guest can also speed up and slow down somewhat, and if I remember correctly, it was actually possible to bump the car in front of you (like bumper cars at the fair) but I am not exactly sure about that.

On opening day the track was approximately 3100 feet. The attraction saw its length greatly reduced for the first time in 1974 with the construction of Space Mountain; two southern curves were shortened and the entire north portion of the track was reduced– thus shortening the ride to about 2700 feet. On this ride, I was able to take my camera, so you will see one view taken from my own car.

The View Ahead

The Car Loading Area

When I left Tomorrowland, I left via the Skyway to Fantasyland, and this afforded me a couple of nice views of the Grand Prix Raceway down below (and of much of Tomorrowland as well):

Fantasyland

I had left Tomorrowland via the Skyway, and the terminus of that overhead ride was Fantasyland, where most of the attractions are based on Disney movies or Disney movie characters.

Walking Through Fantasyland

When I got off the Skyway, I just strolled through Fantasyland for a bit, and in the picture at left you can see one of Fantasyland's streets and the Skyway overhead. The theatre-style marquee is announcing the location of the "It's a Small World" ride. I had heard so much about it that, even though it is for families with little kids, I took the inside boat ride anyway. Bad decision. It took me the rest of the day to get the song out of my head.

The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Submarine Voyage

The "E"-Ticket ride here in Fantasyland was one based on the Disney movie of the same name. In essence, the ride was a surface ride through some realistic-looking scenes; because the seating was below the waterline, the illusion of being totally submerged was easy to create.

Hundreds of air bubbles filling the porthole view created the illusion of descent to the underwater plains, and there were animatronic eels, crabs, lobsters, and so on. Soon, a group of animatronic divers came into view, wearing the diving suits from the movie, swimming through kelp beds and wrangling with turtles.

With the bubbles from the waterfall at the cavern entrance simulating a surface storm, the submarine dove as a precaution, and we came to the underwater scenery of the Graveyard Of Lost Ships- shipwrecks from various centuries- guarded by animatronic sharks. Next, the Nautilus visited the North Pole, circumnavigating the polar icecap from below the surface, and narrowly avoiding large icebergs stabbing through the water. Venturing deeper, we entered the eerie world of the Abyss, with animatronic examples of the many weird and strange species of deepwater fish that thrive in such an environment.

Next, the Nautilus finds the ruins of Atlantis, along with a typical animatronic sea serpent, accompanying mermaids, and a treasury bursting with jewels and gold. The climax of the ride is the attack on the submarine by the giant squid from the movie, and the submarine sways realistically when "hit" by the long tentacles. I have to say that illusion of the action is quite good.

Liberty Square

Liberty Square, located between Fantasyland and Frontierland, is themed after colonial America, with replicas of both the Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree. Presiding over the square is the Hall of Presidents, an American history show featuring an audio-animatronic figure of every President of the United States. Liberty Square has a long waterfront on the Rivers of America and the Liberty Belle Riverboat steam paddleboat departs from a landing here. The land affords excellent views of the river and Tom Sawyer Island in adjacent Frontierland.

The Haunted Mansion

Liberty Square's prime attraction is the Haunted Mansion, a dark ride attraction that places riders inside a haunted manor resided in by "999 happy haunts". (A "dark ride" is an attraction in an inside, darkened space, in which riders stay seated in vehicles that either move through "scenes" or which, on some rides, stay stationary while the scenes move past.) The Guests are seated in "Omnimover" vehicles called "Doom Buggies", and a walk-through show is displayed to riders waiting in the line queue. The attraction utilizes a range of technology, from centuries-old theatrical effects to modern special effects featuring spectral Audio-Animatronics.

This ride is classic Disney. The waiting area is decorated with all manner of ghoulish objects, and there are recordings of ghostly sounds. When you get to the front of the line, about twenty people at a time are ushered into a room and they take seats, again greeted by a ghoul who is to be their guide on the mansion tour. When the door closes, all the walls look the same, and they all seem to be double walls, with one that doesn't reach to the ceiling. The room is actually a slow-moving elevator, and as it begins to descend, the double walls extend and the room appears to stretch.

From that point, the seating area can be raised, lowered, or turned, and riders are introduced to various scenes of the occupants of the mansion and how they killed each other in one manner or another. There are the usual surprises and shocks, and at one point one wall opens and riders can see the outside briefly, where it appears they are hanging in mid-air. All in all, the ride is a neat one, and again, the illusions that are created seem very realistic.

The Richard F. Irvine Riverboat

I think the other interesting "ride" at Liberty Square is the "D"-Ticket excursion on the Richard F. Irvine Riverboat (named after the late Disney executive Richard F. Irvine). This riverboat was actually the second one put in service here.

The Riverboat is part of an attraction called "Rivers of America"; there is a similar attraction at Disneyland in California, also found adjacent to Frontierland. Although the Riverboat embarks and debarks in Liberty Square, most of its course is through Frontierland, and the things riders see on the shores are part of Frontierland.

While Rivers of America is billed as an "artificial river", the waterway doesn't actually flow, as it is actually a pond that winds from Liberty Square, through Frontierland and down to Adventureland. The "waterway" surrounds Tom Sawyer Island, a Frontierland attraction, although it doesn't stop there.

There are other water-based vehicles which are found on the "river" as well. The sights along the Rivers of America include a Native American tribe, a burning cabin, and various audio-animatronic wildlife. At this time (1975) there is a duplicate burning cabin at the same attraction in Disneyland California, but my research reveals that the real flames that played around the artificial logs (which actually don't burn, of course) have been extinguished permanently. This fact is most often attributed to California's ongoing problems with wildfires, although since no wood is actually being consumed, there are no embers that might be carried on the wind to cause fires elsewhere.

I did use one of my tickets for a ride on the Riverboat, and I had a chance to photograph many of the sights along the way.

No Fire Departments on the Frontier

"Holy Geronimo, Batman!"

The Rivers of America is actually pretty neat, and must have been quite a project to dredge. I'm not sure how they ensure it stays full of water, though there is probably enough rain to keep its level constant:

There are actually two riverboats plying the Rivers of America attraction.

This is close to the boundary between Frontierland and Adventureland.

Here are a couple of pictures taken while I was walking around Liberty Square before and after my ride on the Riverboat:

Frontierland

Frontierland is one of the "themed lands" that exist at both Disneyland and Disneyworld. Themed to the American Old West of the 19th century, Frontierland is home to cowboys and pioneers, saloons, red rock buttes and gold rushes. To build an accurate depiction of an old-West town, Walt Disney sent a camera crew to Frontier Town, in North Hudson, NY, to film a movie that was used as the inspiration for this area of the park.

The main feature of Frontierland is Tom Sawyer's Island. It's an attraction in which visitors get a chance to walk around an area very much themed to the American Midwest frontier, and much of what is on the island is themed specifically to match up to the books and stories of Mark Twain.

One example of this is Fort Sam Clemens, shown in my picture at left. It's a model of a frontier fort, and various Disney cast members play the roles of typical denizens of such places. There are also static exhibits and a fair amount of animatronics.

When I was on the riverboat, we circled the island, so after I got off I went over to Tom's Landing to take one of the river craft, again modeled on Mississippi river craft from the late nineteenth century, over to the island.

There are no real rides here, and I think the focus of the island is an educational or informative one. It's a good place for families. (Incidentally, the name of the fort was changed many years after my visit- to Fort Langhorne. I have no idea why.)

Tom's Landing

The Windmill on Tom Sawyer Island

Adventureland

Adventureland is themed to resemble the remote jungles in Africa, Asia, South America, and the South Pacific. "To create a land that would make this dream reality", said Walt Disney, "We pictured ourselves far from civilization, in the remote jungles of Asia and Africa." Adventureland is supposed to evoke exotic adventure, where industry and technology take a back seat to uncharted nature. There is one "dark ride" here themed to Caribbean pirates (twenty years before the first Disney movie came out), and a huge treehouse themed to the Swiss Family Robinson.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" Ride Building

The "Swiss Family Robinson" Treehouse

I didn't spend much time in Adventureland, but I did use one of my "E" Tickets for the ride, and one of my "C" tickets for the treehouse.

Back at the Contemporary Resort

In the afternoon, I returned to the Contemporary Resort just to walk around and take some more pictures. I took a couple inside and outside.

This may look like an official photo of the resort, but I walked to the other side of one of the parking lots to get the whole building, and the monorail, in one shot.

Inside the resort, they make good use of the high atrium lobby to populate it with tall plants and small trees- like a botanical garden.

From the end of the hotel nearest the Magic Kingdom, I took a couple of pictures of the park because I wasn't able to get the entire thing in one photo. But now I have the capability to put those photos together into one panoramic image:

The Magic Kingdom

I really enjoyed my day in the park, and found the next three days of the conference to be enjoyable as well.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	May 17, 1975: Florida's East Coast
	April 20-24, 1975: A Week in New York City
	Return to Index for 1975