The 36 Year Old Disney Sandwich Pick

When I told my mom I was looking for anything she might have laying around her house from our numerous trips to Walt Disney World, she was very quick to offer this little gem. What's more, she knew exactly where this item was...tucked away in a drawer that I don't think I ever even went in all the years that I lived there! Anyhow, I was delighted to be handed this plastic pick from one of the dining establishments at the then newly opened Polynesian Village Resort - 1972. It looks like the kind of pick they'd use to stick an olive on top of a big ol' sandwich, but my mom seems to remember it coming from a drink. So, perhaps it's the kind of pick they jab through a piece of fruit and a cherry and drop in your drink. Bottom line is: It's cool, it's old, it's bizarre that someone would still have it and it's the kind of neato thing that pops up on someone's Disney blog. As you can see, the pick features the Polynesian Resort logo and the words "Walt Disney World - Florida".

Eastern Winds Lounge

In my last post I shared some pictures of the Polynesian Village Resort circa 1972. One of the pictures featured an old ship docked at the resort. I was pretty sure that ship was no longer at the Poly, but I had no other info on it. Well, I seemed to get some pretty healthy feedback on this particular picture as it spotlighted one of Walt Disney World's earliest hidden treasures. The photograph I used last week was a wallet sized photo but I was able to also find the regular sized picture so I scanned that larger picture so that I could share with you a slightly more clear image. Here it is:


The ship, known as a Chinese Junk, was apparently part of the Polynesian Village Resort from 1971 to 1978 and was home to Eastern Winds a nightclub/lounge that I'm sure played a fair amount of disco. The ship was 65 feet long and had a deck lounge as well as a cabin lounge. You could also find staterooms on board. One of the selling points of this venue that was used in various publicity at the time pointed out the attractiveness of the cocktail waitress and their authentic costumes.

Eastern Winds is really one of those old WDW spots that really only survives through guest's memories. There is very little information about this nightspot online or in any of the older published materials that I looked through. Even a Resort Guide that I have from a 1978 visit does not list Eastern Winds among the Poly's offerings. However, while looking for info I came across this great website that I had never seen before: Tikiman's Unofficial Disney's Polynesian Resort Webpage. This site is filled with tons of images, stories and information about the resort. Maybe ya'll have heard of this site before, but it was a new find for me and I spent quite a bit of time reading through all the pages Tikiman has to offer. I even swiped a couple of pictures of the Chinese Junk from his page to share here.

I guess tomorrow would be a good time to share a really odd souvenir I have from the early days of the Polynesian Village Resort...

Polynesian & Contemporary - 1972

Here's the last set of photos I have from my parents honeymoon to Walt Disney World in June 1972. Most of these shots are pretty unremarkable but this first one is pretty cool...

Before Space Mountain, the Contemporary Resort is in plain sight from the Magic Kingdom. You can still see the Contemporary from the park to this day, but without Space Mountain the resort almost sits right in the Magic Kingdom park. I guess it's architectural style fits in with the original look of Tomorrowland. Also, check out the (in-use) station for the Sky Way in the background. Nowadays, the Sky Way is gone but that building lives on as the world's largest building to house regular sized rest rooms.

Here's some shots of the Polynesian Village (as it was known then.)

Beanyland

In an episode of the classic children's series "Beany and Cecil" (and later in a comic book) the title characters learn of their creator's plans to build a theme park that bares a striking resemblance to a certain California theme park that we all know and love. Beanyland was to be an out of this world theme park built on the moon. Instead of Fantasyland, Beanyland was to feature "Castle Wall Street" where you could buy stock in the show's characters. While Disney has it's Matterhorn, Beanyland featured a whole mountain range called the "Amos and Andes." Tomorrowland became "Science-Fictionland" and in a slightly eerie bit of foreshadowing there were also plans for a section called "Thrillsville" featuring the "Rock `n' Roller Coaster".



This was all in a cartoon, but in real life a struggling Santa Monica, California amusement park known as Pacific Ocean Park contacted Beany and Cecil creator Bob Clampett (also of Looney Tunes fame) in the hopes of creating some park attractions based on elements from his television series. However, Clampett's plans for converting Pacific Ocean Park into Beanyland never saw the light of day and Pacific Ocean Park went belly-up after just ten short years of operation. (Disneyland is still open.)

source:
Onosko, Tim. Fun Land U.S.A. Ballantine Books; New York. 1978

Tencennial Parade - 1982

These selections from the ol' family photo albums are of Walt Disney World's Tencennial Parade, a daily event which celebrated the Florida park's 10th Anniversary. The parade appeared at the Magic Kingdom for one year beginning October 1981, these photographs were taken in January 1982.

Breakfast with the Chipmunks

Here's the original flyer for one of the earlier versions of a character meal at Walt Disney World. "Chip & Dale's Country Morning Jamboree" was a revamped version of "Breakfast with Melvin the Moose" another old school character offering. The shows kind of served as an early morning edition of the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review. They served plenty of food, offered a family-friendly Hee-Haw style show and provided guests interaction with Disney characters - mainly the Country Bears and then later Chip n' Dale were added to the mix. It appears the Ft. Wilderness breakfast shows sprung up in the mid-80's but were all but a memory come the early 90's.



All I can really offer you here is a scan of the brochure. If you want more info on this attraction check out Walt Dated World for pictures, memories and a little more detail.

Mickey Mouse's Truck Book

I realize I've already covered one kids book this week here on the blog, but yesterday we dug this great little book up from the bottom of a basket of books in our living room. It's honestly been a couple of years since I've seen it. Mickey Mouse's Truck Book is a simple little board book from 1984 that shows Mickey doing different jobs all with the help of a truck. I guess it's supposed to tap into that natural fascination that little boys have with trucks. As I was reading the book to one of my kids I was appreciating how simple and low-key the illustrations were. I guess I'm getting used to Mickey books being rendered in the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse style. The pictures here seem almost old fashioned and then I noticed that the book is only 24 years old...and then I felt old! Anyhow, I thought some of you guys might also have the same appreciation for these quiet drawings so since the book is only 10 pages long, I scanned the whole thing.