As I'm wrapping up the chapter on Magic Kingdom in my book, I thought it would be fun to share its timeline with my readers. I hope you've been enjoying the fun facts, if you're a Disney nerd like me I'm sure you have!
Here are the highlights from Magic Kingdom's history:
Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971 at a total cost of $400 million (they've more than made up for it - in the 2010 annual report WDW made $10,761,000,000 for all 4 parks). The cost of admission was $3.50 for adults, $2.50 for kids 12-17 and $1 for ages 3-11. Can you imagine?? It also worked a bit like a carnival where you could purchase a booklet of tickets and each ride was a certain number of tickets.
Opening on Christmas Eve of that year was one of the most exciting rides - "Flight to the Moon". Guests were excited to experience what it could be like to land on the moon because space travel was so much in the public eye. However, on June 7, 1975 the name changed from "Flight to the Moon" to "Mission to Mars" because traveling to the moon had progressively lost some of its mystique after the landing in 1969.
On June 18, 1988 "Mickey's Birthdayland" opened in honor of Mickey's 60th birthday. The area intended to be a temporary land for his birthday celebration and consisted of Mickey's House and Mickey's playground. Due to its popularity, the park added to it and renamed it Toontown. While we are sad to see Toontown go this year, it is interesting to note that the intention of the area was to stay for merely one year!
On June 20th, 1995, the "ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter" began scaring the heck out of children and adults alike. Disney wanted to peak the interest of teenagers with the scary ride, but it proved to be TOO un-Disneylike and it was transformed into "Stitch's Great Escape" in 2004.
I must say, my primary reason for including the information on the "ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter" is because I was one of the children that experienced the ride thinking the entire time that I would for sure not be making it out alive. The only hope I had for my family was that the family we sat with at the hibachi style Japanese restaurant the previous night had suggested we go on it (their kids were teenagers). I remember sitting in the ride closing my eyes and blocking my ears and thinking "If they made it out alive, we will too" trying to convince myself of our survival chances.
Here is a youtube video of the ride. You can imagine how if you were there and 9 it would probably be the scariest thing of your life. Also, when you hear people screaming it's because they had 4D seats so you could feel him breathing on you and grabbing at your feet. Terrifying.
The actual ride starts at about 1:25. :)
Needless to say, I have not yet been able to bring myself to go on "Stitch's Great Escape" because of the trauma of "Alien Encounter" haha.
The newest rides at WDW include "Monster's INC Laugh Floor" a refurbishing of "Pirates of the Carribbean" and "The Haunted Mansion" and of course, as you know, the soon-to-be section of Fantasyland.
On to EPCOT. Stay tuned for fun facts about my next park! I will be sure to post more frequently now that I have graduated :)
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