Category: Imageworks

Magic Kingdom Meet & Greets – 70’s Style – Home Movie

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We enter the Magic Kingdom greeting Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger in the entrance plaza. Town Square looks pretty empty during this early morning during Christmas time (it’s 9:45 AM). Just look how empty Main Street USA is. What a glorious way to experience Magic Kingdom! Our family poses in front of the castle arch and then in the stocks of Liberty Square. We see them meeting Chip N Dale, Brer Fox and Brer Bear in Frontierland....Read More...

Art & Linda are back! A Visit the Magic Kingdom in 1974

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This magnum opus is a 27 minute visit (with sound) to Walt Disney World in November 1974 with a couple named Art & Linda (you may remember them from our Fort Wilderness Railroad film). This restored film is their honeymoon, just a year or so prior to their visit to the fort. Glimpses of the approach to the property and parking plaza and the arrival at the Contemporary Resort with Monorail Black gliding overhead. We sail...Read More...

1972 at the Magic Kingdom – Home Movie

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This film opens with a brief glimpse of Fantasyland before capturing the VERY packed riverboat plying the Rivers of America.  The colonial parade through Liberty Square is briefly glimpsed before we jump on the Skyway and glide over Fantasyland, 20K Lagoon and set down in Tomorrowland where our tuckered subjects just need to rest on one of the planter walls.  Then we head back to Fantasyland to catch Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs on a...Read More...

A crowded Magic Kingdom from 1972 – Home Movie

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A few days ago we posted a home movie from 1976 featuring a very patriotic Magic Kingdom. Unbeknownst to us, the film was actually two home movies spliced together - it was not until we released it that @MKPony alerted us that we had a home move from '72 and '76 clipped together. So back to the editing room we went, cutting the two films apart and re-uploading them as two separate films. Here is the...Read More...

Colorful and Patriotic Magic Kingdom from ’76 – Home Movie

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[A previous version of this article erroneously included this film preceded by 1972 footage. The two films have been split and you and now find the 1972 footage here.] A bicentennial visit to the Magic Kingdom and America on Parade is featured in this 8mm film from 1976. The Town Square and Main Street USA open our day as the camera person makes his or her way quickly from the Flower Market to Cinderella Castle into...Read More...

Walt Disney World Treehouse Villa #433 – 37 years later

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Those that follow RetroWDW may remember that Todd's first visit in 1980 included a stay at the original Treehouse Villas. Demolished in 2008, and subsequently rebuilt, the treehouse were and still are one of the most unique places to stay on WDW property. The newer incarnations share the same location and street layout as they did when they were first built. Other than the obvious differences to the buildings, the seclusion, silence and privacy remain. The...Read More...

Polynesian Village and Luau – 1973 8mm Home Movie

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This 8mm home movie opens in the lobby of a very young Polynesian Village Resort in 1973. We see directional signs and an early iteration of Luau Cove. We are treated to a display of hula dancing by the luau performers and get a good flavor for what the luau was like at this time in the resort's young history. Each segment of the show is represented: hula dancing, fire dancing, music (though you can't hear...Read More...

Restored Mission to Mars upper scanner 16mm film with in-ride audio

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RetroWDW was able to obtain an original copy of the the upper scanner 16mm film from Mission to Mars, we immediately had the it scanned in HD and then we improved the color/clarity by implementing a few different restoration methods. The result is nothing short of amazing - you've never seen this film in this clarity before. Even in the attraction, due to a series of mirrors, film degradation, fuzzy focus and the fact that the...Read More...

Happy Canada Day via EPCOT Center ’85 Home Movie

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In honor of Canada Day we take a brief 1985 visit to the Canada pavilion in EPCOT Center. Amateur movie film is semi-rare by this point in favor of videotape and it is uncommon to find guest-shot park footage on film at this stage of the 1980's.   Our film opens with a very brief glimpse of the EPCOT Center parking plaza and then a pan of Future World from the bridge to World Showcase. The...Read More...

Home Movie: Jack and Elliot Gottlieb at the Magic Kingdom – Sept 1972

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Arthur Gottlieb filmed a few minutes of the family vacation back in September 1972...just as the Magic Kingdom was to celebrate it’s first birthday. The film opens with Tomorrowland’s majestic spires. Our subjects, the Gottlieb Boys, take a spin on the not-yet-covered-by-a-canopy teacups. They then head over to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea where we’re treated to a glimpse of the signage before shots of the sub traversing the lagoon.  A nighttime view of the castle...Read More...