Bucket Hat

Bucket Hat

This child's bucket hat features the Big D logo and the early castle icon which was prominent on many early postcards, mugs, plates and other souvenirs.
  
The simple sketches of the characters are unique.  The Jungle Book came out in 1967 and so Baloo would have still been popular in the early 70's.
  
I have seen this same item with the Disneyland logo and one WDW version that had a tag indicating it was made for both parks.  This hat has no signs of ever having a tag.


If you have any thoughts about this item, please feel free to leave a comment.

Surprise for Mickey Mouse

Surprise for Mickey Mouse
a Little Golden Book
1971, Second Printing 1972

This Golden Book tells the story of Mickey Mouse and his invitation to direct the orchestra at the Mickey Mouse Revue at WDW.  This copy is a second printing from 1972.  The first printing was in 1971.  Note the 'Florida Flag' used on the logo.

Mickey is excited to receive his telegram and shares it will all of his friends.  Minnie, Horace, the 3 Little Pigs, Geppetto, Pinocchio, Donald and his nephews, Dumbo & Timothy and Daisy don't seem to care.

**SPOILER ALERT**

When he gets to the Magic Kingdom and meets the orchestra, it turns out to be all of his friends.

Check out more about the now extinct Mickey Mouse Revue at Walt Dated World.

Mickey's Philharmagic now occupy's the Revue's original space.  Notice the 'foreshadowing' in the last picture of the book.

Riding Down Main Street, U.S.A.

Riding Down Main Street, U.S.A.
(01110202 dp 79902-c)

This early postcard features one of the Main Street, U.S.A. vehicles, "a new-fandangled" fire engine.  It also highlights some of the nifty outfits of the early 70's.
The logo on the back has the 'Florida Flag,' added to distinguish Walt Disney World from the west coast Disneyland.  This series of postcards (01110000) was printed both with and without the 'Florida Flag.'

Based on the hand-written date of October 6, 1971, it appears that this card was purchased during the opening week of Walt Disney World.
Also note the pot-belly stove at the bottom of the card indicating this card was from Main Street, U.S.A. Each 'land' in the Magic Kingdom had its own icon.

Balloon Bag

Balloon Gift Shop Bag
1972

This is one of my favorite flea market finds.  It was in a bag of various Florida vacation items (maps, postcards etc.).  The lady was surprised when I told her I really only wanted the bag.
I love the 70's colors and the use of the globe head as balloons.

I was thrilled to find this receipt from the 'Vacation Kingdom' inside the bag dated June 17, 1972.  It appears the purchase was for 15 cents with a penny tax.  Postcards, maybe?
I really like the Big D logo on the receipt.

Your first LOOK at the magical new Disney World

LOOK Magazine
April 6, 1971
Volume 35, No. 7

 

LOOK Magazine published a great 25 page spread on "the most gargantuan vacation enterprise ever devised...."  The article was titled Florida Boom! Boom! Boom?

"A day at Disney World will cost visitors - 45,000 expected on a busy day - at least $7.25 each...."

Note the pre-opening dirt road in Town Square.

"It's going to be thousands of acres of computerized fun"

"Popcorn, submarines and castles - but ecologically it's a good thing"

"It's entertainment and still more - a brand-new vacation world"

Count the number of hotels on the map.  A few never came to be.

This small, blurry picture is the only place the Bid D logo appears in the magazine.  It is the last picture and there is no mention as to why it is there.

Pre-Opening Postcards

Liberty Square Pre-opening Postcard
(FL-032)

This was a pre-opening postcard used to announce the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida.  The front is an artist rendering of Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom.  

The Big D logo is prominent on the front.  Some versions of this card use the Florida Flag logo.

The Big D icon appears on the back at the bottom above the Walt Disney Productions copyright.


The divider on the back announces "Opening October, 1971."

"The Vacation Kingdom of the World" was the tag used under the non-Big D logo on the back.

Note the postmark on this card...February 1, 1971.

This card was written and mailed exactly 8 months prior to WDW's official opening day.

FL-032 (back)

It all started with...

Framed Postcards

...postcards.  That's how the collection began.  These are the first ones I purchased at a flea market.  Having just started out, not really sure what I was looking for and not sure how to bargain when things are not priced, I picked these old looking, colorful cards for a quarter a piece and left the cards with drawings of WDW.  What I turned  down were the more rare and elusive "pre-opening" postcards.  More on those later.

I had been collecting postcards for awhile without much focus.  They were primarily cheap souvenirs of my travels.  So it made sense to begin my WDW collecting with postcards.  My wife came up with the frame idea as a gift.

I have since begun to catalog the various series of early WDW cards that I have collected with help from a great resource list at Big Brian's WDW History in Postcards.