In the '70s, was it still called the Magic Kingdom?

[Wilt Dasney]

If you believed a word I just wrote, please seek counseling. I don't care what people call the Magic Kingdon, as long as they don't bang my knees with their strollers or cut in front of me in line.

:lol::lol::lol: A doff of the cap to you!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I believe the OP is right. On opening day, the park's official name was WDW, just as the park in Anaheim was called DL. With the opening of Epcot, the term WDW Resort was used to encompass the entire resort and the park officially became MK.

I'm all in favor of the "grandfathering" principle. If you can remember a time when MK was called WDW, then you should still be allowed to call it that without derision. Not everybody keeps up with every change in theme park nomenclature.

I agree! We've been going to WDW since the mid 70's, and the MK is Disney World to me! If I want to go to EPCOT, I say EPCOT center... etc...

 

[ctwhalerman]

Fort Wildernees was also open, along with River Country. There was also a train system at Ft. Wilderness.

You could also travel along the WDW Monorail system, and explore any of it's 4 stops. The Grand Flo. was obsively the missing hotel at the time.

There was a great deal to do, and many more things opened just a few days after, many just in time for the offical dedication on October 25, 1971.

River Country didn't open until 1976. Discovery Island didn't open until 1974 (I believe). The Marketplace opened in 1975. In fact, Disney didn't have much on property at all, and this is why they allowed outside companies to build hotels on Hotel Boulevard.

As for what people call WDW, up here it is pretty much understood that if a person says "I'm going to Florida," they are going to Disney.

 

[reggie9000]

I agree! We've been going to WDW since the mid 70's, and the MK is Disney World to me! If I want to go to EPCOT, I say EPCOT center... etc...

I too concur. Magic Kingdom, Disney World? To me it's all the same. I catch myself calling Magic Kingdom Disney World all the time. I wasn't there in the 70's, but i was there in the mid 80's. I was also a young child and we all thought that the Magic Kingdom and Epcot were just "some other park". But to us you see it was another Sea World and/or Kennedy Space Center. Because this was just what we did on our family vacation. I remember the day when the nice lady behind the hotel counter said "It's called the Magic Kingdom sweetie." I was a small child and thought "Who does this lady think she is?"

 

[Woody13]

The proof is in the dedication plaque. It was known as "Walt Disney World". It was called a Magic Kingdom, not the Magic Kingdom.

Therefore, Walt Disney World it is!


WALT DISNEY WORLD

is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney...
and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true.

May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place...
a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages
can laugh and play and learn -- together.

-- October 1, 1971
Dedication plaque on Main Street, USA
by Roy O. Disney

 

[Madison]

However, ticket media from opening day was issued for "The Magic Kingdom," not Walt Disney World.

 

[marni1971]

The Electrical Water pagent was also around, and used baroke hoedown from the MSEP instead of it's current "mermaid" music..

The EWP theme that used Baroque Hoedown was just that - the EWP theme. the MSEP theme was based on EWP and opened at Disneyland the following summer :wave:

 

[Since1976]

The concept of a vacation kingdom was alien to everyone at the time that WDW first opened (it still is to many today), so many assumed that Walt Disney World was the name of the theme park.

When someone says Jamaica, or Miami, or Honolulu, no single attraction springs to mind (well, maybe the beach, but most people know that's not all there is). These places are all understood to be cities. Except to the initiated, WDW's resorts and hotels and Downtown Disney aren't attractions unto themselves, so the theme parks *are* Walt Disney World to them. Add in the fact that the main park in California isn't officially called "Magic Kingdom" either, but "Disneyland," and it's understandable that so many would get it wrong.

What I wonder is how many first time visitors to WDW get lost looking for signs to get to "Walt Disney World" after they've passed through the arch over the highway.

 

[Buford]

I will acquiesce to your documents, sir.

Just out of curiosity, what else was there to do on property besides visit MK on opening day?

from Jeff Kurtti's "SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN:"

The Magic Kingdom is, and always has been, the name of the Disneyland-style theme park that was the cornerstone of the original Walt Disney World Phase One development. Although Disneyland is often sometimes secondarily called "Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom" [and it was since 1955!], that has never been Disneyland's "official" name.

other attractions from OPENING DAY: WDW Monorail, Contemporary Hotel, Fort Wilderness Hotel, Polynesian Hotel, Recreation area [golf course, Circle-D Ranch, Surfrider Beach), smaller amenities around Bay Lake/7 seas lagoon, and don't forget the kennel club.....

Discovery Island, known as Treasure Island, opened in 1974, according to Mr. Kurtti's boook......

 

[CoffeeJedi]

In fact, Disney didn't have much on property at all

But, those energetic singers in their snappy polyester outfits told me that there was more! (more, more more!)
Oooooh, they lied to me through song... i hate that!

 

[neuromantic]

It was always called the Magic Kingdom, the resort area itself is Walt Disney World. So it does get annoying, because when your going to WDW your going to the whole resort, if your going to the MK its just the park. Technical, yes.

Some people, especially Disney newbies :king: are very confused about this. And maybe it is understandible. About 3 years ago I was coming out of Epcot heading for the monorail and one nice lady with a British accent (who was also just coming out of Epcot) asked me, "Can you please tell me how we get to Disneyland?". This lady was actually perplexed that she had been here all day but had still not seen "Disney". I knew immediately that what she meant was "Magic Kingdom". To many visitors, when they think of Disney they are thinking of the one park (Magic Kingdom in FL, and Disneyland in CA). The other parks to them are just........ something else.

 

[AEfx]

I know! I don't know why its so hard to understand. WDW is in FLORIDA. We went to FLORIDA. DL is in CALIFORNIA. We DID NOT go to CALIFORNIA.

Because to most people the difference in name is inconsequential...they don't spend their lives thinking about the specific vernacular of Disney theme parks like you and I do.

It may be simple to you, but to most people it's not worth the brain power to note the difference. I just smile and say, "Oh, that's in California. I went to Disney World in Florida." Their next question is usually, "Oh, in any case, did you have a good time!"

I'm sure people like myself who do know the difference look just as silly when my friends talk about the islands in the Bahamas, or Aruba, Jamacia, etc. - I know they are different places, but don't have enough interest to really find out the particulars : I just ask, "How was the beach?"

AEfx

 

[AEfx]

The proof is in the dedication plaque. It was known as "Walt Disney World". It was called a Magic Kingdom, not the Magic Kingdom.

Therefore, Walt Disney World it is!

Just because the dedication to the entire WDW is placed within the MK park doesn't mean the name is mutually exclusive.

It has been Magic Kingdom since day one. I'm disapointed in your research skills, Woody. You be slackin'.

AEfx

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Just because the dedication to the entire WDW is placed within the MK park doesn't mean the name is mutually exclusive.

It has been Magic Kingdom since day one.
AEfx

But look at the wording of this section of the dedication:

May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place...
a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages
can laugh and play and learn -- together.

That implies that WDW and "a MK" are one and the same. It uses both terms to describe the same place, with no distinction or transition. So if that wording is what we go by, then either the park is called WDW or the entire area is called "a MK."

 

[AEfx]

That implies that WDW and "a MK" are one and the same. It uses both terms to describe the same place, with no distinction or transition. So if that wording is what we go by, then either the park is called WDW or the entire area is called "a MK."

LOL well to be honest I was sort of teasing Woody, but what I'm getting at is that why can't the park be called Magic Kingdom because of a dedication plaque for WDW is placed in it?

It would be like saying putting a dedication plaque for a city inside the town hall means you have to call the town hall the cities name, that it surrenders it's own identity simply because it has a dedication plaque to the larger thing it is a part of.

I believe the fact that the wording of "Magic Kingdom" appears in the dedication at all is irrelevant, as is it's capitalization; if the version I have found online is correct, the words "Joy and Inspiration" and "New Knowledge" were also capitalized, and no one has ever argued the MK is actually called either of those terms.

In any case, I think it's pretty well established historically that it has always been "Magic Kingdom". I'm sure someone will post a scan or something, but the tickets have always refered to it as Magic Kingdom, you never bought a "Walt Disney World" ticket. Then again, maybe I'm wrong...but when I replied to Woody is was mostly because he was so sure he was right.

AEfx

 

[Madison]

http://allearsnet.com/tix/71-11ride.jpg

From 1971.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

LOL well to be honest I was sort of teasing Woody, but what I'm getting at is that why can't the park be called Magic Kingdom because of a dedication plaque for WDW is placed in it?
AEfx

Fair enough. From what I can tell, it seems like Disney was content to fudge up the distinction between MK and WDW in the early days. All of the opening day footage I can recall seeing celebrates the opening of "WDW" with footage from inside MK, without really explaining any difference. So even if the name of the park was MK, Disney didn't seem to be discouraging people from thinking of it as WDW.

And you're right that the capitalization on that plaque is somewhat loosely applied, but even disregarding the caps on MK, I have to conclude that the wording is meant to draw a parallel between WDW and the generic phrase "a magic kingdom." More fudginess, in my opinion.

And with that, I've probably spent more time than any human should analyzing this vitally important topic.

 

[Tigger1988]

That implies that WDW and "a MK" are one and the same. It uses both terms to describe the same place, with no distinction or transition. So if that wording is what we go by, then either the park is called WDW or the entire area is called "a MK."

But they aren't one and the same, never have been

A common misconception of those uninitiated to Walt Disney World is that it is just a theme park, "another Disneyland" in Florida. It's a twofold misinterpretation: first, Walt Disney World is a complete resort, with hotels, recreation and other amenities, and second, the Magic Kingdom is not just a knockoff of Disneyland

- from Since The World Began, by Jeff Kurtti

 

[AEfx]

And with that, I've probably spent more time than any human should analyzing this vitally important topic.

LOL Both of us have...but hey that's why we are here - to debate the minutiae of things most people could care less about. It's what makes us special.

I agree in terms of advertising nationwide/globally, when they were establishing the brand they didn't say, "Come to Magic Kingdom theme park, located within the larger Walt Disney World Resort Complex..." They just said "Come to Walt Disney World." (It's funny, but now they use that stilted language to maintain their trademarks; now that "Disney World" has become so ubiquitous they've gone from "fudging" as you put it to being mind-numbingly exact, for the opposite reasons.)

However, as Madison's greatfully acknowledged (and wholly anticipated, as I said I knew it was a matter of moments) post above shows, it has always been Magic Kingdom, though it does say, "The Magic Kingdom" as opposed to "Magic Kingdom Park". It was never "Walt Disney World", though I will grant that, in spite of that lovely list of the amenities and hotels above, there really wasn't anything else there at the time besides the MK.

AEfx

 

[Wilt Dasney]

LOL Both of us have...but hey that's why we are here - to debate the minutiae of things most people could care less about. It's what makes us special. AEfx

I don't have anything else to add to the discussion, but I just wanted to say I like your user title. I'd say your posts here have lived up to the designation pretty well. :lol: