The good guys of the Disney Parks blog have put on line this vintage WDW map - above, click to enlarge - which was released when WDW opened, and this artwork "decorated the guest rooms of the Contemporary Resort Hotel and the Polynesian Village Resort Hotel". What's interesting is that you can see on the map three others resorts which were envisioned at that time and never built...
...i.e the Asian Resort which is located on the map on the bottom, on the left of the transportation center, and here are some renderings of it...
...The Venetian Resort which is located on the map above the transportation center and between it and the Contemporary Resort...
...and the Persian Resort, located on the map above the Contemporary Resort, on the right of Autopia.
But there is something else interesting - and also unfortunately never built - that you can see on this map. Of course you don't see Space Mountain because it was not built yet on Magic Kingdom opening day, but you can see another ride that WED Imagineers were envisioned to build, and it's the legendary Marc Davis Western River Expedition ride which was then cancelled to build instead Pirates of Caribbean.
Where is it on the map, you ask? Well, it's located just at the bottom of Frontierland river and close to the park boundary, and it's this one below.
I'm almost 100% sure that it shows Western River Expedition, and the reason why is because you can see the rocky mountain and also the waterfalls that were part of WRE decor as you can see on the rendering below!
Pictures: copyright Disney
I have one of these maps at home.
ReplyDeleteIt's huge!
wow, the Persian Resort would have been an amazing sight!
ReplyDeleteThe Asian Resort looks amazing! But instead we got Grand Floridian - and the worldly, cosmopolitan feel held for the Seven Seas disappears.
ReplyDeleteThey breeze through them but they are covered in the Project Florida Film for the wonderful world of disney jan 1971. You may be able to find it on youtube
ReplyDeleteThey breeze through them but they are covered in the Project Florida Film for the wonderful world of disney jan 1971. You may be able to find it on youtube
ReplyDeleteThe Asian Resort looks nice, but I prefer the Grand Floridian, it looks much nicer and more elegant to me.
ReplyDeleteI love the Victorian Disney style!