Bob-A-Round Boats and Walt Disney World History
Over the years, I have had a number of people email me the same photo of Bob-A-Round boats from the Polynesian Village Resort. The image appears in a display case that highlights the resort’s history, and that strange little round boat always draws attention. It looks like something that should have been a prop, a parade float, or a concept sketch that never moved beyond the drawing board. And yet, it was a real piece of early Walt Disney World water recreation.
My own fascination with Bob-A-Round Boats began in 2008 when I stumbled across a vintage Walt Disney World flyer from the 1970s. The brochure sold the Vacation Kingdom experience as a whole, filled with the familiar staged energy of Disney promotional photography. Bright smiles, busy walkways, and a resort that appeared to be running at peak optimism were all there. But in the middle of that familiar scene was something I could not identify. A striped, circular boat out on the lagoon.
That tiny detail sent me down a rabbit hole.
Horizons, World of Motion, and the power of ephemera
Horizons, World of Motion, Toontown Fair, and the Flying Saucers. These names are more than a list of closed attractions and shuttered lands. They are part of the ephemeral history of Disney theme parks. Unless you have studied library science or archival preservation, you may not be familiar with the term ephemera.
In most cases, ephemera describes transitory material such as maps and brochures that designers never intended people to keep. In theme park terms, ephemera also includes the long gone experiences we still pine for and try to reconstruct from fragments.
The Beginning of the Bob-A-Round Boats Mystery
I was checking out some online ephemera (can something be ephemera once it is digitized?) and ran across a flyer at Vintage Disneyland Tickets. The flyer was from 1975 and promoted the Vacation Kingdom as whole. What caught my eye was the following image:
Yeah, that round thing. This is a pretty standard shot from Disney in the 1970s. There is a lot of activity and everything is staged without looking staged. But still, I had no idea what the round boat was. It wasn’t in any of my souvenir guides nor could I find it in any of the PR material that I own.
I was stumped!
Besides, how do you do a Google search for round boat at Walt Disney World and not go insane? I e-mailed a few of my friends and Foxxfur from Passport to Dreams was able to provide the answer. She told me to visit the pages at Widen Your World and Walt Dated World for the bob-a-round boats. Alison, at Walt Dated World, had this to say:
Rub a Dub Dub. Three (or four) people in a tub. These bizarre-looking striped boats had what looked like a lightening rod on top of them. (Florida is home to a lot of lightening, you know!) They were only around a short time after Walt Disney World opened. Apparently the boats were often the victim of dead batteries, which prevented them from Bob, Bob, Bobbing Along.
And Mike, at Widen Your World:
Another aspect of the resort [Polynesian] that has seen much change is the range of watercraft made available to guests over the years. Gone are the days when as many as eight people piled into a 40-foot Polynesian War Canoe and took off across the Seven Seas Lagoon toward real islands. And before those craft sailed into the sunset, the circular Bob-A-Round boats (each with an independent stereo system!) had already long since been retired.
Since then, I have seen the Bob-A-Round boats in other promotional material. Big Brian’s WDW A History in Postcards lists the following image as 01110261 THE POLYNESIAN VILLAGE.
Rental Prices and More
Bob-A-Round Boats in the Wild!
A close look at the scanned image shows four of the seven Bob-A-Round boats docked at the Magic Kingdom, grouped in pairs toward the back. When I studied this image, I wondered if they ever rented watercraft from the Magic Kingdom dock. Obviously, there hasn’t been a structure near the water to act as a rental agency, nor is there a cast facility for refueling or recharging. In this case, I would make the assumption that the boats are there for show. This is probably a staged publicity photo. No real guests were harmed in the making of this shot!
Since originally writing this article in 2012, I’ve confirmed that you could not rent watercraft from the Magic Kingdom area. But, a good friend did tell me that he did drive a bob-a-round boat from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom dock and left it so he could visit the Magic Kingdom.
Updated photo from Gorillas Don’t Blog
You can see my original post about this photo, here.
The Demise of the Bob-A-Round Boats?
The last mention that I could find for the Bob-A-Round boats was in the December 1977 WDW News. The rental was $4.00 a half hour. “Bob-A-Rounds, the perfect craft for leisurely sight-seeing cruises, are family favorites.”
I believe Disney retired the Bob-A-Rounds sometime in 1978, though I have not found official confirmation.
Since originally publishing this post, I have read that guests and cast members found the Bob-A-Round boats difficult to steer, and mechanical failures often required them to be towed back to the resort marina.
It was very frustrating for guests and cast members.
I continue to marvel at the many unresearched and unknown details of Walt Disney World. Have you ever run across something that inspired you to dig deeper and start researching?
Or, a better question: do you have any photos or stories of the Bob-A-Round boats?
Check out my video on the Strangest Boats to Ever Sail the Seven Seas (Lagoon)
Looking for more Walt Disney World history?
Check out my list of WDW history books.
My dad and I rented a Bob-a-round from the Contemporary Resort marina in 1971 or 1972. They were extremely popular at the time; the Seven Seas Lagoon seemed to be completely dominated by swarms of Bob-a-rounds many days.
Each boat had an 8-track player built-in. The boat we rented, however, had a defective 8-track deck, stuck playing the song “Promises, Promises” over and over and over. We couldn’t stop it! If my dad or I tried to move over to the side of the boat containing the player, the boat would start to tip perilously, so we never had the courage to remove the 8-track tape. My dad refused to return the boat, because he had paid for a two hour rental, and darn it, he was going to keep it for the full two hours. For two solid hours, that infernal song played on. And so to this day the song “Promises, Promises” is forever associated in my mind with the Bob-a-rounds.
Alex–what an amazing story to share! Thank you so much for leaving the comment. I’ve only seen two photos of the inside of the bob-a-round boats. I just can’t imagine what it was like to float in one of those.
Think WWII life raft… with bad theme music!
Hi, it’s Alison from the Walt Dated World website. Thanks for linking to my Bob-A-Round page in both this post and your one from 03/16/2011. Both posts go to an older version of my site that is going away soon. Can you please update the links to the current site of https://waltdatedworld.com/id159.htm ? Thanks!
I went to WDW in 74 with the family. We stayed at the Polynesian. We did rent a Bob o round.
My dad very accomplished boater and sailing instructor. He had a hard time controlling it. As soon as you got it going straight, it would unexpectedly turn in one direction or another.
While we were out a squall pop up. The wind made the boat uncontrollably. A center console came out to retrieve us. Even with another boat pulling us, I still remember it swinging from one side to another. That boat would just not track.
Great story! Those were the craziest boats.