Under The Mouse Ears

 by Sam 10/29/21 Way back when Walt bought all that Florida property, most people (including probably most of Disney's 'money people') thought it was for some amazing theme park. In reality, it was for a pretty way out there idea. Walt Disney's 'Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow' was some fairly Orwellian stuff of the future. But when everybody started to balk at it, the eastern version of Disneyland became a stark reality. In order to build Walt's EPCOT, it would take building a Magic Kingdom first. With an Epcot coming though, it's obviously important to put as many strange and bizarre means of transportation throughout. Monorails are one thing... but you need more than just that. And it's not like there was no solid precedent for Walt's wacky ways to get around. While the Disneyland monorail opened in 1959, it was beat by another, older model to get from one place to another.. The Disneyland Skyway opened on June 23, 1956. Purchased

The Story of Disney's Once Abandoned Resort by Sam. 10.27.21 In the book Disney War by James B Stewart (which is an absolute MUST read by anyone who's a fan of 'backstage' Disney), we learn a few things about the way the company once viewed on-property resorts. There was the super expensive Magic Kingdom resorts (Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian) and then kinda just everything else. The first moderate resort built was Caribbean Beach in 1988, but then they did something interesting. Other than signing a 99 year lease for Marriott to operate the Swan and Dolphin, Disney decided to develop on-property budget resorts for people who know their plans might not include a lot of hotel-ing.. but instead, a lot more park hopping. Just get a look at that weird but oddly beautiful 1990's deco weirdness. If you look at the history of how the resorts were developed, it's clear that Disney didn't know if they wanted to be in the hotel business with both feet.