I have something to admit, when I was a child I would cower with my head between my knees for a good deal of Captain EO. It wasn’t the Captain and his crew that frightened me, on the contrary, for the first several minutes of the film I felt as though

More often than not, there is a subtlety to the transitions between two lands in the Magic Kingdom. However, once in a specific land, one look at the surrounding buildings, and it is very clear what land a guest is currently inhabiting. The tables and chairs found scattered about each land can, at times, be ambiguous, but at other times they tell the tales of their host realm better than some of the architecture.

From the Hub of the Magic Kingdom the various lands can be explored, but what is it precisely that draws us in? The bridge to Liberty Square (and Frontierland beyond) doesn’t offer a view of Big Thunder Mountain or the Haunted Mansion, you cannot see the Spanish fort of Adventureland, the host of flying elephants is blocked by Cinderella Castle

I’m about to say something that is going to make me extremely unpopular almost immediately, but I ask that you stick with me. After years of gazing down Hollywood Boulevard, both in the morning before guests are flocking to distant destinations and in the evenings when the neon sparkles brighter than the stars, I’ve realized that I don’t mind the Sorcerer’s Hat as much as I once did.

When Space Mountain reopened, under the guise of Starport Seven-Five, it brought with it a host of details the likes of which Space Mountain had never seen. From the post show luggage including references to Horizons to star maps charting distant spaceports of call with distinctly Disney names, there is a galaxy of details to discover.

This Friday, Walt Disney World celebrates its 39th anniversary. In salute to the corner of Florida so many of us call home, regardless of where our mail is delivered, I thought we’d take a moment to view the Magic Kingdom before it opened. No rambling introduction, just two simple photographs showing the Vacation Kingdom’s primary destination in its unfinished form.

The Harvest Theater opened as part of The Land pavilion of EPCOT Center in 1982. Originally, it featured the environmental awareness film, Symbiosis. Symbiosis ran in the theater until 1995, when segments from the original film were spliced into a new production entitled Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable, which featured the comedic trio of Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa from The Lion King.

I wanted to talk about one of my favorite places in all of Walt Disney World, Fort Wilderness, and one of my heroes, Davy Crockett.