Updated Specific Time Code: Identify characters and locations Grandpa’s 8mm WDW 1970’s Family Film!

amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
I updated this post with an exhaustive time code of my Grandpa’s 8mm family vacation film clip circa early 1970’s. Respect his copyright of the film. (I don’t need to say that here, just youtube where it resides).

Please leave comments to identify, correct, fill in the blanks, or tell stories!
Note: marni1971 on wdwmagic.com is thinking “no later than late 1972/very early 1973”
0:00 The Monorail
0:06 Nice Magic Castle exterior
0:23 Main Street Ice cream cart
0:26 Main Street Parade with Disney characters (wendysue on wdwmagic.com says: “I remember the days of small crowds.” : )
0:30 Mickey Mouse in a Tuxedo, Pluto, and Goofy
0:38 Main Street Band
0:43 Dumbo the Elephant
0:47 Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
0:51 One of the Cinderella Mice, and Chip ‘n’ Dale
0:58 Alice in Wonderland, and the White Rabbit
1:01 The Walrus and The Carpenter sequence in "Alice In Wonderland" (
dakotafrost wdwmagic.com pointed that out. I hadn't watched AIW in a long time)
1:03 Horn and drum band from the parade (I don’t know if they have a name. See better view at 2:39 at the end of a stage show)
1:08 Yellow and Pink Cats (I don’t know the name o)f
1:10 Bear (I don’t know the name of)
1:14 Two characters I don’t recognize
1:16 Pinocchio (and a character on the left I can’t make out)
1:18 Fox (I recognize but don’t know the name of)
1:21 Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf
1:25 Bambi the Skunk from Bambi (I did an Internet search),
1:28 Thumper (a very tall Thumper : )
1:29 Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear a.k.a. Brer Fox and Brer Bear
1:32 Captain Hook from Peter Pan
1:34 Tigger
1:36 Winnie the Pooh on a fire truck bringing up the rear
1:40 Revolutionary War Fife and Drum Band
1:48 Outdoor stage show (I don’t know what the stage is called) with Bambi the Skunk, Thumper the Rabbit
2:00 Cinderella Mice
2:23 Minnie Mouse in a yellow dress!!! (fauna on wdwmagic.com’s 1974 avatar pic has the same yellow dress : )
2:25 Mickey Mouse in a Tuxedo!!!
2:34 Mickey and Minnie skipping along is my youtube video thumbnail
2:39 The horn and drum band from the parade (as above at 1:03 I don’t know if they have a name)
2:46 Alice in Wonderland’s White Rabbit
2:47 Main Street Tigger
2:49 Winnie the Pooh with Red White and Blue striped hat
2:52 Cinderella Mice were popular : )
2:54 Grandma with Bambi the Skunk from Bambi
3:00 (The character I can’t remember) and my Aunt and Grandma with orange WDW bags (I still have one)
3:01 Building’s and street area (I don’t recognize)
3:21 Old Fashioned car with vinyl bench seats in the back (name or model?)
3:30 An empty Crystal Palace retaurant (thanks to marni1971 on wdwmagic.com for identifying that for me) Aunt, Uncle, and Grandma with the orange WDW bags
3:57 Steel drums show
4:08 Palm trees! (not to many in Ohio except inside some places)
4:12 Chinese Pagoda (Does it have a specific name?) (a little taller that Cedar Point’s. Not too many things are taller than things at CP : )
Is this the area where marni1971 comments: “The original end of Adventureland wall is still intact (first time I’ve seen that from the ground, thanks!) and the vegetation is still behind it, signifying Caribbean Plaza expansion hadn’t reached Tropical Serenade yet. The path to PotC opened late 1973 and would have needed a good few months of clearing and work.” I see the Pagaoda behind the trees on the right (?)
4:21 (Unidentified building)
4:26 Steel drums show again
4:32 Teepee’s, Indians, and fake deer on a train ride POV(?)
4:46 Train (name of it?) Note: Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, OH has one from WDW I believe. This would most likely be wood burning. Cedar Point’s are coal.
4:54 Monorail Station exterior (from which moving ride?)
5:00 Family with orange WDW bag again. I love those bags
5:05 Outdoor umbrella tables and pond (I’m not familiar with)
5:31 Magic Castle exterior
5:32 Balloon man (not sure where this is at in the park)
5:40 Swiss-style facade (name and location?)
5:42 Spanish-style facade (name and location?)
5:50 Palm tree trimmer(?) on ladder
5:58 Parking lot entrance(?) with glimpse of 1970’s cars (can you name any models?)
6:02 Parking lot Tram POV going towards the exit
6:27 Exit to the parking lot (. It looks specifically like an exit not an entrance)
6:45 A good camera pan of more of the exit architecture. 1970’s sun dress and hair-do!
7:13 DAYS INN motel (pause to see the 1970’s sign (our family’s choice of vacation motels in the 70’s and 80’s : )
7:14 1970’s cars! Cool styling (not-so-great gas mileage)
The end :


Filmed with an 8mm Bell & Howell camera I still have stored away. I think it’s something like a three lens a 333. If you want to know which specific model I can dig it up.

Film transferred by a retired detective with the proper equipment to MiniDV tapes in 2005.Transferred to an Apple G4 Mac via a Sony DCR-TRV30 MiniDV and a Firewire. Edited in Apple’s iMovie.

Orlando, FL. Silent film. Enjoy!

 
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amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
Thanks for sharing...You mention early '70s...I was thinking sometime 72ish - maybe '74???
I’m glad everyone enjoyed it ; I’m guessing it would be around that time. I would’ve been 5-7yrs old. I went there with the whole family in the late ‘70’s. A lot of footage was dated on the Kodak boxes. But I think this was spliced on a large reel. It had to be one of the last times he used the film camera. I still have it! That’s about the time when those film cameras were phasing out in favor of Beta VCR and in 1975 and VHS in 1976.

I also have a Disney bag, Mickey Mouse Bank, and Pirates of the Caribbean souvenirs including a game I’ve never seen posted anywhere. It consists of two 12“ cardboard and plastic ships that shoot plastic cannonballs that try to knock down rectangular plastic pirates on springs. My Grandma also bought me the wooden pirate pistol, pirate hat, and flag : Eventually I’ll put it on youtube and post it separately.
 

75disney

Well-Known Member
Totally cool. Brought back memories of my own childhood going to WDW in the mid-70s. My mom actually still has one of those shopping bags. It was neat to see the MK without hordes of people in it and how the characters just all walked down the street without fancy floats in the parade. We converted my parents old 8 mm videos over to DVD a few years ago as a Christmas present. Much of the video was our Disney trips in the 70s. They have the Bicentennial parade on it. Very cool to see. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I'll go for no later than late 1972/very early 1973.

The original end of Adventureland wall is still intact (first time I've seen that from the ground, thanks!) and the vegetation is still behind it, signifying Caribbean Plaza expansion hadn't reached Tropical Serenade yet. The path to PotC opened late 1973 and would have needed a good few months of clearing and work.

Here's a higher shot from mid 1973 to illustrate:

image.jpg
 
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polynesiangirl

Well-Known Member
This reminds me, I've got an aunt and uncle who went about every other year or so from the 70s until the late 90s or so (they aren't up to the drive anymore.) They always had excellent cameras and I'm sure they have video, too (my uncle was kind of an AV guy back then.) I may have to see if my aunt will dig some out for me one of the next times I'm at their house this year. Hmmm...
 

fauna

Active Member
That was fun to watch!
My first visit was in September 1974- and as you can see from my profile pic Minnie looked exactly the same.
I have a lot of pics over in the 70's picture thread, if anyone's interested.
 

wendysue

Well-Known Member
Nice...thanks for sharing. I remember the days of small crowds. Now, we still go to WDW, but get the room only and spend very little time in the parks.
 

amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
Thanks for that interesting assessment. I'd say that's correct. I have very little memories myself of that time period except school. I remember the Miami Dolphins were going to play the '72 Perfect Season Super Bowl. A few years ago I actually got to see it. My freind is a collector. I have more memories of LittLe League than anything else. So I only remember going to WDW later in the 70's. I didn't know my Grandparent's and Aunt/Uncle were there prior to that. My Grandpa was stationed in the Air Force during WWII. We drove past the base when we were down there from Ohio. I have film of them and my Aunt/Uncle in the Great Smoky Mountains, Niagra Falls, Colonial Williamsburg & Jamestown, and Santa Claus Land. Not that it's directly related to WDW anyhow but I don't have anyway of getting those on youtube anymore fwiw.
 

amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
I always wondered. Does anyone know what looks to me like a restaurant is called at 3:45? It drives me up the wall because it was youtube's choice of thumbnail before I recently uploaded the custom one.
 

amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
That was fun to watch!
My first visit was in September 1974- and as you can see from my profile pic Minnie looked exactly the same.
I have a lot of pics over in the 70's picture thread, if anyone's interested.
I couldn't locate a thread link. Could you direct me to it? It might clear up some of this nostalgic-looking 8mm film scenes from the same time period :
 

amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
Thank you! Yes much clearer : ) The color quality of the photos is wonderful too. I'm a graphic designer so I could clean mine up and color correct them in Photoshop but it'd ruin it : ) There's a certain quality to 8mm film you can't get these days though. Since the frames per second are different than regular 24, 30 or 60fps. It was fun watching it in a hand cranked viewer until the bulb burnt out. All 5 hrs. of film (this is all we have of WDW)
 

dakotafrost

Member
The character at 1:01 is the Walrus from The Walrus and The Carpenter sequence in "Alice In Wonderland"

Imagine what your grandpa would think of Disney World today. 4 parks, 2 water parks, DTD, pin trading, fastpass+, wristbands. I can remember when Disney World was just the Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary, and the Polynesian. The changes in 30 years have been stunning. I can't imagine what it will be like when my grandkids (not yet born) visit.
 

amusement420

New Member
Original Poster
The character at 1:01 is the Walrus from The Walrus and The Carpenter sequence in "Alice In Wonderland"

Thanks! I hadn't watched Alice in Wonderland in a looong time. I'll add a credit for you since you pointed it out : My Grandma & Grandpa would've enjoyed it quite a bit. Everyone I know says WDW has their stuff together.

My GP was stationed in FL during WWII. He could've stayed down there but my Grandma had a large family up here. So when they went to WDW they drove past the base (I can't remember which one).
 

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