More From Orlando, May 1972
Let's look at some more scans from Walt Dizzy World, from the early days. I admit that these three photos are not exactly the most interesting in the world, but perhaps those die-hard WDW fans will find something to love.
I am not entirely sure, but I believe that this first image was taken from Main Street Station's covered platform, near the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. Please correct me if I am wrong! Notice the Monorail beamway; and you can't miss the fabulous Contemporary Resort Hotel. Somehow I never really noticed the restaurant on top of the Contemporary (I manage to not notice a lot of stuff!); is there another place on the roof where these photos could have been taken, or were they shot from inside the restaurant through the large windows?
It sort of looks like our photographer panned to the right to take this image of the Monorail Station (complete with one Monorail train!). I think. You can definitely see the railroad tracks here. I'm trying to imagine how this same scene might look today, with large mature trees.
And finally, a third, very gray photo - possibly taken from near the location of the first two pictures? - looking towards part of the lake, and what I think is a covered boat house or landing where the steamboats and ferries loaded and unloaded passengers. On the horizon to our right is a structure that appears to be in the earliest stages of construction. Not surprisingly, I have no idea what it could be!
13 comments:
Can't help you much on the first 2, but the third one shows the roof of the Polynesian on the right. It was very much complete in 1972. What looks like rough framing from across Bay Lake is in fact the open frame structure on top of the Great Ceremonial House.
Mahalo.
What D ticket said! It's kind of difficult to tell, but those open beams are actually all "A-Frame" ....we're just looking at the side of them.
I think that pic might have been taken from the exact same spot as the other two, but just looking straight ahead.
I love vintage WDW, Major....almost as much as vintage parade pics!
At second glance, the first pic (and maybe the last pic) might have been taken while seated on the train. It looks like that first pic is showing part of the canopy that hangs down from the roof of the train car and I think I see a lamp mounted on the side of the car as well.
The Contemporary is one of my favorite places at WDW, naturally b/c of the Monorail going thru every couple of minutes, and b/c my daughter Rachel worked there for 8 months in 2008 when she was doing the Disney College Program. poor kid had to ride the Monorail every day to work...JEALOUS!
she would call me just as soon as she got on at the TTC so that I could hear Jack announcing our arrival to my other favorite place in this set, the Great Ceremonial House! I am truly one happy Disney Girl this morning...what a way to start my day off!!
thanks for posting more WDW ;-)
Yay that gave me a memory jog! You know how that old gray matter needs a workout now and then. Thanks Maj. :)
Yes that is the Monorail station in the middle pic. At WDW there are two separate Monorail tracks. One goes around Bay Lake, the lake in your pics here, and the other, not existing yet at the time of these pics, goes way out to EPCOT.
This original Monorail had 4 stations back then. Let's say we're back in '72 takin' these pics.
The station seen in your middle pic at the Magic Kingdom is outside the park. So we'd exit the park and go over to that station. The Monorail would whisk us (out to our left) over to the Contemporary's original main tower seen in your top pic, stopping at a station inside the tower.
If you stay on, the Monorail continues out of the Contemporary (off to our right in the top pic) to the notorious TTC, the Transportation and Ticket Center where people driving to the MK, the Monorails, too many busses and the ferries all converge. The TTC is the complex across the lake to our left in your 3rd pic.
If you stayed on, the Monorail would whisk us (off to the right in your 3rd pic) from the TTC to the Polynesian, the station for which is on the opposite side of the Great Ceremonial House, the structure that looks unfinished in the pic but is complete as D ticket says.
If you stayed on, the Monorail would take us round the rest of the scenic lake back to the MK station in your middle pic. Nowadays the Grand Floridian would be a stop between the Polynesian and MK.
The middle pic is taken before getting on the train, the other two were taken after either leaning out of the train or standing on the platform seen opposite the tracks in the middle pic. Yup, that's the ferry boat (steamboat) landing in the middle of the bottom pic. :)
Oh and those pics in the earlier post were taken not from inside that restaurant atop the Contemporary but in the open on the viewing platform on the roof Kurt Nelson referred to in his reply. That restaurant atop the Contemporary (15th floor) is now called California Grill, but back when your pics here were taken, it went by its original name: Top of the World!
Major, thanks very much for posting these interesting panoramic photos. It's true you can't build a blockbuster movie around them, but they really help establish use of space and the general architecture of this place (the name of which escapes me for the moment).
Thanks everybody, for chiming in regarding the pix!
D ticket, thanks for the ID on the Great Ceremonial House, which I have never heard of!
TokyoMagic!, I think you are right about that first one being taken from the train.
Nancy, I always imagined that if I ever go to WDW I would stay at the Contemporary, in large part because the Monorail goes right through it! But I understand that it is pricey.
Chiana, it sounds like you know the Florida park even better than the Anaheim park. Thank you for all the great info!
Katella, I admit that I have always been intrigued by the sheer size of WDW, even though it sometimes looks a little sterile to me. Perhaps that is not the case now, with all of the mature landscaping and so on.
Thanks again for making my day with Vintage WDW Pics! Ashamed to say, that in 8 trips in as many years, I've never been on the train long enough to go through the mainstreet station and so, have never seen this angle, but I recognised it right away and its now on my "To Do" list for the next trip. Again - so interesting to see the "World" before all the trees & vegitation grew up. And the view of the Poly is a definate plus!
Wow, I learned a lot today. Thank you!
JG
The two monorail tracks that stop at the Magic Kingdom station and that circle the Seven Seas Lagoon are not connected to the track that runs to EPCOT. There are two around the Seven Seas Lagoon because one is the express that whisks you back and forth to the Ticket and Transportation Center, and the other one is the express that makes all the stops at the hotels around the lake. To go from the Magic Kingdom to EPCOT or vise versa has always meant changing monorails at the TTC.
^ That's right. All roads lead to the TTC...
Looking at the entrance area in the 3rd photo, I don't think I've seen that type of trash can design before.
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