As you can see, this first button celebrates Disneyland's 25th birthday. 1980 doesn't sound very old, but 30 years is a long time, let's face it. I wasn't there on July 17, but I'm pretty sure I had been there only a few weeks before that.
Lucky kids in the audience of the Golden Horseshoe Revue received buttons like this one. Pepsi Cola probably footed the bill, I'll wager. Follow the link to this photo, where you can see some blurry boys in the lower left proudly wearing their buttons.
This one is a newer version; I'm guessing the first one is from the early 60's (or even the 50's... this same Pepsi logo can be seen on the attraction poster), while this one is from the mid-to-late 60's; maybe even into the 70's. Does anybody know if there were other variations?
Many of you already know that Walt Disney World was not supposed to get a version of "Pirates of the Caribbean". Instead they would get something called the "Western River Expedition" - it would have been similarly lavish, only with cowboys and indians. However, the public demanded a version of POC for Florida, which finally opened in December of 1973. I love this pin! Imagine the excitement, especially if you were a kid.
Lucky kids in the audience of the Golden Horseshoe Revue received buttons like this one. Pepsi Cola probably footed the bill, I'll wager. Follow the link to this photo, where you can see some blurry boys in the lower left proudly wearing their buttons.
This one is a newer version; I'm guessing the first one is from the early 60's (or even the 50's... this same Pepsi logo can be seen on the attraction poster), while this one is from the mid-to-late 60's; maybe even into the 70's. Does anybody know if there were other variations?
Many of you already know that Walt Disney World was not supposed to get a version of "Pirates of the Caribbean". Instead they would get something called the "Western River Expedition" - it would have been similarly lavish, only with cowboys and indians. However, the public demanded a version of POC for Florida, which finally opened in December of 1973. I love this pin! Imagine the excitement, especially if you were a kid.
Either park could use that "Western River Expedition" 'bout now...
ReplyDeletehehe looks like the same peeps made both GH pinbacks. Shouldn't "Horse Shoe" be "Horseshoe?" Anyway I'm guessing the Maj is right and Pepsi sprung for those. Good publicity but did they bug vendors on the Coke sides of the Park when they'd see all those Pepsi pins? :)
I wish they would build the Western River Expedition today in at least one of the Disney parks. And I wish they would bring back the Golden Horseshoe Revue at DL. That's probably wishing for a lot, huh?
ReplyDeleteOh my god, I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I saw this post. I LOVED all those old pinback buttons! I started collecting pinbacks when I was 15 (Yes, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth...)
ReplyDeleteI've never seen any of these that you've posted. I am salivating, LOL!
Loved today's post, it proves the world has always been full of nit-pickers. No doubt somebody wrote in and said "NEVER turn a horse shoe upside down, the luck runs out", hence the change in the graphic.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "Western River Expedition", that was planned at a time when the WED/Disney policy was "Never give the locals something local". For example the Haunted Mansion in California is SOUTHERN, while in South, it's TUDOR. In CA, Indy is Southeast Asian, while in Asia, it's Mayan. No doubt, they were concerned that a Caribbean story in the Caribbean area broke the rule, hence the theme change.
And boy was THAT a happy accident! The suits get Itchy-Twitchy over the dam burning settlers cabin, what would they do with a multimillion dollar ride along the same lines?
I'm glad there hasn't been any backwash about "disrespect" in POTC. I think the Hispanics are a little more relaxed about it since it's obvious that the ride has about as much Latino culture in it as a Taco Bell.
The Golden Horseshoe pins are the greatest.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! Love that POTC Pin and that pirates face!!!
ReplyDeleteKatella, I noticed the upside down horse-shoe right away too - can't let all that luck spill out!
Fun to hear that old saw again. I remember horseshoes in the barn nailed open-end up.
ReplyDeleteFat lot of good that did, but still...sounds plausible doesn't it?
JG
not as many of these as there used to be these days with all the new-fangled pins that ppl trade nowadays...
ReplyDeletei have a great EPCOT Center collection....and ill be visiting on Sunday....woohoo!!
I was there for the 25th anniversary and still have that button! It was an all-night party. Great fireworks, and it was surreal going on Pirates at 4am. It was actually chilly at 5am, so it seemed, as we all headed home to try to sleep in the daylight.
ReplyDelete