Peter Pan Can

Diet Sprite soda can
Peter Pan, 1986

For the 15 Years celebration cans produced by Coca-cola, characters or areas of Walt Disney World were featured on specific flavors of soda.  Some choices, like this green Peter Pan Diet Sprite can, make sense, unlike the pink Adventureland Tab pirate.

Coloring Main Street

Walt Disney World: a coloring book
Main Street U.S.A., 1983

Main Street, U.S.A. is the perfect place to start our tour through "Walt Disney World: a coloring book" that I introduced last week.  Each land has a section showing characters interacting with attractions in the respective area.  Peter Pan & company are checking out the shops, Goofy & Donald are trying their hand at firefighting and Mickey is taking Minnie on a date to the Crystal Palace.  These are just 4 of the 12 pages highlighting  turn of the century fun on Main Street, U.S.A.

Heading clockwise around the hub, Adventureland is the next stop.  Mickey & Minnie are the first brave souls to enter past the tiki gods.  Of course, you will find Mowgli & Baloo there, along with the Three Cabelleros.  Adventure can happen in any type of jungle, right?  Then there is adventure on the high seas in Pirates of the Caribbean.  Check out Grandma Duck scolding the pirates.  

3rd Anniversary

Walt Disney World 3rd Anniversary photo
October 1, 1974

3 years ago I began sharing my Walt Disney World collection here.  What better way to celebrate than by doing it in Disney Style.  For their early anniversaries, WDW recreated their opening day cast member photo.  Up until this point that was done in front of Cinderella Castle.  But with the pending opening of Space Mountain in early 1975, the new attraction was used as the backdrop for the 3rd Anniversary photo.
These photos were given to cast members.  This one belonged to Tom Henry who worked in the Planning Department at the time.  You can read more about his work and his time at WDW on his company webpage.
Thank you for celebrating with me for the past 3 years.  I look forward to many more.

2nd Anniversary

Walt Disney World Second Anniversary Photo
October 1, 1973

This week marked the 2nd anniversary of my blog!  I am very thankful to have this outlet to share my collection.  To celebrate, I thought it appropriate that I show one of my favorite pieces.  This 5X7 photo, marking WDW's second birthday, is reminiscent of the infamous opening day photo.  It was given to Cast Members in a tan paper folder/frame which features the original Big D/Globe Head logo on the cover.

Turn and Learn About the Walt Disney World That Never Was

Mickey Mouse and his Friends in Walt Disney World
Ideal Toy Corp., 1971

This unique pre-school 'Turn and Learn Storybook' was produced by the Ideal Toy Corp. in 1971.  It measures 11.5" x 9.5" when closed. The wheels turn and create images that correspond to the story when the numbers are lined up in the center picture frame.

The story follows Donald and his nephews thru WDW.  But Huey and his new balloon gets whisked up by a gust of wind.  Peter Pan, in order to find him, flys over "The Old Caribbean Village, The North African Market Place, Persia and Italy," locations that were planned but never completed.

Ideal clearly anticipated the completion of these planned resorts, although they were not expected in Phase One.  Based on this oversight and the early Bay Lake logo on the front, I assume this item was developed in early 1971 before WDW opened to the public.