When Epcot Center first opened in 1982, it was decided that Mickey Mouse and his cartoon friends would not have a role in the new grown-up oriented park. So instead of shaking hands with Goofy or sharing a hug with Donald Duck, kids got to line up for photo-ops with these gigantic dolls of the world characters. They were huge, they were completely unfamiliar and they had an empty glass-eyed stare that would chill you to your very bone. In this December `82 picture, my little brother and I manage to maintain a smile long enough for the flash cube to pop on my parent's Inst-o-matic before we ran hiding in fear behind mom and dad from this enormous psychotic looking man-child.
These characters didn't last long and before you knew it, Mickey and the gang were making trips from the Magic Kingdom over to Epcot to visit with guests.
Also, check out the cool not-yet-retro Epcot Center t-shirts my bro and I are sporting. I'm sure they would fetch a pretty penny on e-bay today!
1 comment:
I had that shirt you and your brother are sporting. I picked it up when my family went in 1985 during the summer before 8th Grade.
I wore that shirt through high school, but it didn't maintain the same, original format.
I think at one point the sleeves got cutoff so that it more resembled a sleeveless t-shirt so that I could still wear it.
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