Jungle Cruise – Restored 8mm Souvenir Film

Our restoration of Disney 8mm souvenir films next takes us to Adventureland's legendary Jungle Cruise. The film opens with the earliest of Jungle Cruise's many signs and entrance designs over the years. We see ships leaving the dock and entering a covered thicket canopy which you might not recognize because you're usually sailing under it and looking at the giant butterflies on either side of you.Read More...

Magic Kingdom ’74 Home Movie – Hawaiian Shirts, Totems and Parades

Our 1974 visit to the Magic Kingdom begins in the castle hub. Some men in brightly colored Hawaiian shirts await Mickey and his friends parading with the Main Street Band. Our footage then takes us outside the park to entrance plaza with the Roy O. Disney overhead in Main Street Station. In Town Square we are again reminded that uncommon sights in the early days of the Magic Kingdom were blue jeans and, often, children. Sometimes…Read More...

Through My Father’s Lens: Magic Kingdom ’73 – Restored Kodak Bliss

My parents day was well captured in the 14 minutes. The early morning monorail ride shows the topiaries along the way and soon we are inside Main Street USA. Notice that there is no full-on castle shot until a bit later, as if my father purposely delayed its entrance into the film. The on-board footage of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a wonderful gateway to past memories. We're treated to bits of the parade, the…Read More...

A Gift to All: My personal 1980 WDW Film – 30 minutes!

Below you will find the restored film of my first trip to Walt Disney World in October 1980. I'm a tad over 6 years old in the film, a big time first grader that wears a sun visor without concern about his image. The Kodak processed Super8 film features sound and the run time is over 30 minutes. The sights and sounds included are amazing - The barker from PoC, a brand new Big Thunder, Adventureland…Read More...

Magic Kingdom Architecture & Landscape ’72 Style – Restored Film

If there is one thing that stands out in this film, it is the blue water... Seriously, the Rivers of America, the canals around the castle, the water in Adventureland has an almost fake looking blue tint to it. I can only assume a dye was used. Anyway, aside from the blue water this film really highlights the architecture of the park because whoever took it focused on buildings, landscape, fountains and other items that most…Read More...

Swan Boats and Adventureland Steel Drum Band in ’75 Style

I felt bad the other night when I got everyone psyched up for new film restoration - specifically I've been much like Paul Revere in recent weeks..."The Swan Boats are coming, the Swan boats are coming!" I wasn't joking around, the transfer was complete last week and when the hard drive arrived it turned out everything on it was corrupt. To make some amends, and to prove that I'm not trying to turn this into some…Read More...

1975 Super8 Magic Kingdom – Restored in HD – Tomorrowland Bliss & Swan Boats

This particular piece of film had some nasty issues I had to deal with. For one, there was a massive amount of film grain; this caused compression artifacts in motion areas after the film was scanned and compressed. As a result, I'm sending the reels off to be re-scanned and this time the files sent back to me will be uncompressed, allowing for a much cleaner restoration. The film also did not hold its color as…Read More...

1972 Super8 WDW Home Movie restored in HD – Final Film Released!

In 1972 my grandparents took a road trip from New Jersey to Florida...armed with AAA highlighted maps of the I-95 east coast corridor they stopped at South of the Border, Marineland, Busch Gardens, Walt Disney World and a host of other attractions. To this day I still have the 3-ring binder that contains the handwritten account of their entire itinerary; mileage logs, fuel stops, and notes. For many years I've had in my possession 700 feet…Read More...