Imageworks

Fly With “Airship Shamu” Blimp In 1992

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A while back we acquired this set of slides taken by a crew member or passenger aboard Sea World’s promotional blimp the Airship Shamu. Included with the set was a December 30, 1993 article from the Orlando Sentinel about the omnipresence of blimps in the Orlando area. The slides are from a specific flight in March 1992. Airship Shamu soared over EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios, Lake Buena Vista, Kissimmee, and other local sites including Interstate 4 looking...Read More...

Magic Journeys – Full Film from August 1991

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We were sent a tripod recording of Magic Journeys. While not perfect, it is probably the cleanest (albeit smallest resolution) copy of the film to date. We’ve done what we can to clean and clarify what we could. Best to watch this as you listen to our Magic Journey’s Podcast!Read More...

Animal Kingdom Construction Photos

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Animal Kingdom opened 23 years ago today so we pass along birthday greetings to the nature themed park.  It is a remarkable place — many people have remarks about it. As our look back period at Lake Buena Vista HIstorical Society loosely adheres to a “25 years or older” period of time, Animal Kingdom hasn’t gotten much attention from us (yet).  However we recently acquired hundreds of Disney internal photographic slides mostly from the 1990s and...Read More...

Lake Buena Vista Townhomes Brochure (1972)

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A few weeks ago our friend Dr. Alan Bowers shared some scans of a brochure promoting townhome ownership in the Lake Buena Vista planned residential community for Walt Disney World.  The brochure is dated 1972 and outlines the community details, floor plans available and costs associated with buying into the new community. We could write a long article about Lake Buena Vista and its many phases of life before becoming, today, Disney Springs and Saratoga Springs...Read More...

Slide Carousel: Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in November 1984

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One of the missions of the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society is to preserve the history of not just the Walt Disney World resort but some of the ancillary developments surrounding the resort.  When a set of photographic slides taken in November 1984 of the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress recently became available to us we jumped at the chance.  The gallery appears at the bottom of this post. When it opened in February 1984 the Grand...Read More...

4k HD 35mm Film Helicopter Tour of Walt Disney World, EPCOT, D-MGM Studios Construction – 1988

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Featured on our last live movie night, this found footage is an awesome helicopter tour of Walt Disney World in 1988. Shot on 35mm film, we’ve restored and remastered it into a beautiful 4K resolution and we’ve added an additional interpolated 60 frames per second video! The film starts with the helicopter taking off from the STOLport and follows the monorail followed by a flyover of the main parking lot and Bay Lake. There are great...Read More...

Restored Video: The Magic Kingdom in 1983

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This nearly hour long video has some great shows and attractions as seen in the Magic Kingdom circa 1983. A nearly complete video of the Country Bear Jamboree as well as It’s a Small World is featured. The video also contains the full 20 minute “Fantasy Follies” show that ran on the Fantasy Faire stage.Read More...

Video: Universe of Energy Preshow (1991)

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The original Universe of Energy Preshow featured a unique presentation with a screen made up of rotating tiles. This huge mosaic changed each tile in sync with the projection being shown and was invented by Czech film director Emil Radok. The 8 minute show educated guests about the various forms of energy found in nature before they entered into the traveling theater part of the attraction.Read More...

Restored home movie: Imagineering Lab at Epcot

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The Walt Disney Imagineering Labs was an exhibit in Inventions at Epcot. The brief live show showed guests how 3D computer animation was created, with a focus on a virtual reality experience featuring Aladdin. “DisneyVision” was a state of the art virtual reality technology that would eventually lead to the Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride attraction at DisneyQuest.Read More...