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By Michael - December 20th, 2012 Recently, Epcot’s Test Track attraction reopened after a lengthy overhaul that saw a complete facelift of the attraction’s aesthetic. Gone are the old preshow, plot, and postshow area; gone are the Belgian blocks and the silly “tests” and the heat, cold and corrosion rooms. While the ride system and the actual ride profile itself remain [...]
By Michael - April 11th, 2012 Not pictured: Tom 1.0
I just happened upon this picture of a “solosub” undergoing animation testing at WED Enterprises in January 1983. Later that year it would be packed and shipped to Orlando for installation in Horizons, which opened that October.
All I’m saying is that it’s been almost thirty years since the ride [...]
By Michael - March 28th, 2012 In 1981, The Walt Disney Story – the attraction which once occupied the area in the Magic Kingdom where the Town Square Theater currently resides – took a brief absence as its queue, theater area, and postshow area were appropriated to become The EPCOT Center Preview Center. In the year leading up to EPCOT’s October, [...]
By Michael - February 24th, 2012 Amongst Disney watchers, there is a subset of us which could glibly be referred to as the “WED did it better” crowd. With a historical view of Disney attraction offerings, one can come to the conclusion that the old-guard Imagineering that created Pirates of the Caribbean, the Country Bear Jamboree and Horizons possessed a certain [...]
By Michael - February 9th, 2012 Making the rounds on Twitter last weekend was this remarkable video, made by the Bell System in 1982 to promote their sponsorship of Spaceship Earth at the newly-opened EPCOT Center. The “Chronicle News Update” contains a chat with AT&T president William Ellinghaus, who presided over the pavilion’s opening ceremony, as well as Disney CEO Card [...]
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Four Decades of Magic

Essays about the first forty years of Walt Disney World, including two pieces by yours truly. Available in print and for Kindle.
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