Archives

Contribute to Our Research

A First Look At EPCOT’s Culinary Renaissance

EPCOT Center was well-received upon its debut in 1982, but in the endless amount of press coverage at the time a number of issues frequently bubbled to the surface. Amid all the grumbling about long lines and technical breakdowns, or of a lack of attractions in World Showcase, a glaring and oft-repeated complaint was the [...]

The Dream Called EPCOT

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, [...]

Broadway… At The Top!

Long, long ago…

Before the California Grill occupied the top floor of the Contemporary Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World, the site was home to the swanky, adults-only domain of the Top of the World Restaurant. It was an era of carpet with garishly-colored polygons, large glass lighting fixtures, and lots and lots of mirrors.

[...]

A Dream Called Walt Disney World

Back in the day… wait for it… the Disney Channel showed content aimed at us theme park fans. Crazy, I know, but true! One special I remember well is 1986′s A Dream Called Walt Disney World, which aired in conjunction with the resort’s yearlong 15th anniversary celebration.

The hour-long special gives a history of the [...]

A Ray Of Sunshine

Too often in the modern era the role of a Disney observer is to chronicle the slow loss of special things, as the parks’ offerings are pared down in service of cutbacks and streamlining. It’s a slow, depressing process that columnist Kevin Yee has termed “declining by degrees”.

Every now and then, though, we win [...]