Thursday, March 1, 2012

In Which my Aunt and Uncle Inadvertantly Posessed a Wealth of Weird Disney Things

I visited my lovely aunt and uncle recently and one night my aunt wanted to show me some photographs. Well, the photos in question were of my cousins enjoying Walt Disney World -- in 1994.

With her permission (I hope my cousins do not mind; anyway it's hard to tell it's them since they're so little), I'm sharing the four most interesting of her photos, from a Disney World history standpoint:



This picture shows the lobby of the Polynesian Resort. The beautiful indoor garden is essentially the same as it is now, but as you can see it had a small flock of Macaws living in it back then. These Macaws have since "retired" and are now residing in a much nicer place, the Oasis in Animal Kingdom.



A long time ago, parts of the Disney MGM/Hollywood Studios were blocked off and only accessible via the tram tour. This structure, based off the Washington Square Arch, used to cut the streets only visible by tour tram off from the streets accessible by pedestrians.



Now if you ask me, this picture is the most poignant. You'd never be able to get such a beautiful shot of the Chinese Theater today, since that round park is now occupied by one of the most spectacular Disney World eyesores this side of the infamous Castle Cake. The theater used to be the park's landmark in the same vein as Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth. Now you can hardly see it.



And my favorite picture out of the lot: Roger Rabbit as a walkaround character! It's hard to emphasize how popular he was back then. Basically, wherever you see Stitch, try to pretend it's Roger.

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Sketch of the Day!

This has been a whole busy month of visiting friends and relatives. Here are my other aunt's cats:

2.19.12 - My aunt and uncle's cats