Disney World Preview 1969: A Look Before Opening
Can you imagine a Disney World preview 1969 style? Almost two years before the resort would open and change Florida and tourism forever?
The Sunday, May 04, 1969, edition of the Tampa Bay Times has an article about the future Disney World that is set to open in just two years. Reporter Elizabeth Whitney joined 200 other newsmen* for a tour of the 43 square miles of Disney World under construction.
Let’s Check out the Fascinating Article
(I’ve taken the liberty of calling out some of the more interesting statements in bold.)
It’s October, 1971. Let’s visit Walt Disney World, which is opening near Kissimmee. Bring your suitcase because we’re not going for just a few hours. Walt Disney World is a “destination resort” — a place you don’t merely visit, you also play and stay.
Since we’ll be going directly to the hotel, we won’t leave the car at the 130-acre day-visitor parking lot. Instead, we’ll drive directly to the 750-room Contemporary Hotel. From there we can travel anywhere we wish in Walt Disney World via the monorail, which goes right through the 80-foot-high open-mall lobby. Or we can go by excursion steamer — a replica of the river steamboats of another era — or some other interesting watercraft.
(We could have chosen the 12-story Polynesian Hotel. All 700 rooms there face Bay Lake. Guests can watch scuba diving from a special pool visible from the main dining room. Polynesian dishes are served on the top floor, where diners get a panoramic view of the lake and lagoon, the Magic Kingdom, and the golf courses. Everyone employed at the hotel, of course, is dressed in Polynesian styles.)
On opening day Walt Disney World has many more attractions than its parent Disneyland in California; and, in addition, there is plenty to do at night. A Disney brochure says, “each hotel will present nightly entertainment spectaculars to appeal to every taste and both family and adult audiences.” Top-name popular, folk, and rock performers are scheduled. Maybe you’d rather take a Dixieland cruise from one of the hotels, featuring southern-fried chicken and a show.
“After-dinner extravaganzas, boat shows, motion picture and cultural premieres and live theatre productions,” the brochure says, “are in the planning stages.”
The Magic Kingdom itself is almost the same size as Disneyland with these additions: Thunder Mesa, the old west in frontier days; the 20-stories-tall Space Mountain themed to the world of the future; Liberty Square, showing America in colonial days; the Country Bear Band; the Mickey Mouse Musical Revue; Western River Expedition; and One Nation Under God, climaxed by the Hall of Presidents.
After we’ve seen the Magic Kingdom, there’s still plenty to do. Besides all water sports in Bay Lake, the lagoon, and connecting waterways, we can play golf at any level — on championship golf courses, par threes, putting greens or miniature golf. Also tennis, archery and shuffleboard.
If you’re a nature lover, you’ll like the bicycle and bridle paths winding from each hotel around the golf courses and through scenic wooded areas. Again the brochure: “There are nature tours and the more adventurous can camp out and join a lakeside barbecue or campsite sing at night. And ‘Black-beard’s Island’ in the middle of the lake is a young explorer’s paradise.”
The growing numbers of Americans who like to camp are not forgotten. There are attractive campsites at Walt Disney World, also with convenient sporting facilities of all types.
For our next visit we may prefer one of the three other resort theme hotels scheduled to be built in the first five years: the Asian, primarily Thai in decor with 600 rooms on the water or in garden settings; the Persian, like a Far Eastern palace with balconies radiating to 500 rooms from a huge blue dome; and the 500-room Venetian in the style of St. Mark’s Square with an intricate system of waterways designed to look like Venice.
“DO YOU BELIEVE IT?” I’ve been asked. Yes, I do — because the people who say they’re going to do it have done it before and because of what I saw Wednesday when I was one of some 200 newsmen from all over the country who took a 2½-hour tour of the 43-square-mile site, the size of the city of San Francisco.
Even with only one one-story mobile administration building and one paved road on the site, Walt Disney World already is impressive. Some 150 pieces of earthmoving equipment moved with such military precision I wondered if there had been a preliminary drill.
I saw mounds of earth (more than 4.2-million cubic yards have been excavated); miles of canals made to look like rivers; a tree farm with 8,000 trees including California redwoods; a topiary garden with shrubs and trees trimmed to resemble animals; and an experimental flower garden so the attractions can have bright flowers in constant bloom. All these attest to the extensive masterplanning that’s been done in the past two years by the Disney “Imagineers” in California and the two shifts of work crews on the site.
What Do You Think About This Preview of Disney World?
Looking back at the Disney World Preview 1969, it’s incredible to see how much of Walt Disney’s vision was already taking shape. From the resorts to the rides, the excitement was building long before opening day. What do you think about Disney’s ambitious plans? Share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear your take on this fascinating moment in theme park history.
Looking for More Disney World Concept Art? Check out this Book!
*Her term, not mine.