The opinion has been expressed that such a volume dedicated to the story of Walt Disney World would be very difficult to produce indeed. Mostly the argument goes that there have been so many different types of WDW postcards in so many different categories that it would be....well actually that where my understanding of the difficulty breaks down. Is it just that there have been so many Disney resort produced cards and off site cards that many of those would be hard to track down? I don't think that the hard part of such a book would be in the core, park related, cards. At least not compared to Disneyland which had so many different card numbering systems over the years ( some of which had many different views with the same number on the back of the card). Certainly the recent years have seen a much larger number of cards in a greater number of venues. I mean there are four theme parks as compared to the pair in California, plus three water parks a sports complex and an ever increasing number of resorts . Also, where do you draw the line ? Do you include the cards for the various Disney resorts (Disneyland hotel cards were included in the Nickel Tour) ? What about pictures taken in the parks but printed on cards not sold by Disney, most of these pictures are of characters and my favorite example of this commonly found in souvenir shops at hotels around just off Disney property is a picture actually taken at Disneyland not WDW. So you see it could get a bit complicated indeed.

Maybe though...just maybe this complexity, with lots of things that you would be unsure of or learning as you write the pages, is an argument *for* writing doing this project as a web page which can be updated and improved as new information comes in. So I will begin this attempt. Maybe those of you who know more about these cards, or about the other questions they make me raise as I post new cards can add to the information on these pages as the folks listed below have Without the input of these fine people these pages wouldn't have much of the great information that has turned up:

THANK YOU

• David Hooper for his assistance with information and the card scan for FL-028. Also, with information on pre-opening merchandise. and art for many of the pre-opening cards that never were!
• Jeff ( #radp-friends nickname tiggerfan) for information regarding the ferryboats and (side wheel) excursion steamers.
• Captain Matt of the WDW watercraft department for his detailed information on the ferryboats and (side wheel) excursion steamers, cruisers, and launches.
• Bruce Metcalf RADPs Zazu, and one of the originators of the attraction of the week web site for his information on the Admiral Joe Fowler , Launches, both with his own very helpful information and confirming some information of others reports. Also, with his information on the fare signs and ticket registers on WDW trolleys.
• John J. Gilson Sr.. of the parktransit group for his information on the final disposition of the remains of the Fowler.
• mouseketeer_alison of the Walt Dated World web site It is a great WDW history web site
• Mike Cozart provided information on some items that were sold in the pre opening center.
• Jan Crews shared memories and Identified members of the Kids of the Kingdom
• Jeff Pleshek provided comments on WDW watercraft and the Admiral Joe Fowler
• David Koenig provided information on the Excursion Steamers.
• Roger Ross of the Dapper Dans for the names of the Dans on card 01110219
• thanks to All Ears newsletter http://allearsnet.com/ for the information on the construction of the Frontierland Stern Wheeler Richard F Irvine And the Tom Sawyers Island rafts
• Clark Benton "Monorail49" on Ebay for the scans of 0111-2001 and 0111-2505, and some of the Polynesian resort booklet postcards in chapter 4 (the cover and card 0111-0073g)
• Dave Ensign who provided the great scans of the pre-opening centers promotional postcard and some of the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village Cards.
• Rhett Whickam added more things to the list of preview center items.
• Scott Terek for informing me about some cards I don't have like WDW-11613 and several cards issued in 2003 including some from Mission: Space.
• Janet Kent who sells postcards and other Disney items on Ebay as tigre_eye for the card number of a recent lenticular I managed to acquire without a upc sticker.
• Martin Smith of the United Kingdom for finding the information on the Swan And Dolphins size cost and opening dates. Also, the information on the opening of the Golf resort.
• Marc Schwartz for his information, from Marc's Walt Disney World and golf site http://wdwgolf.com/, on the opening year of the Oak Trail Golf Course.
• Lou Mongello of the Walt Disney World Trivia Book and web master of http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com for information on the Star Jets.
• Thanks to William Sylvester for the scan of the Christmas 1988 cartoon card
• Thanks to Greg Maletic for the use of his great attraction posters in Chapter 3 .
• Thanks to Robert Mason for his scan of a 5 x 7 size card of Dixie Landings.
• Thanks to Deb Koma for her scan of a Ft Wilderness survey card.
• Thanks to Melissa Withers for one of the actual Ft Wilderness survey card.
• Thanks to Gary A. Kecskes for information on the use of the preview center building, from Walt Disney Worlds opening through the 1990s.
• Thanks to Kevin "NJ postcard guy" Hughes for information on, and scans of, several cards I do not have.
• I also want to thank Kevin, along with Tom De Luca, and Ted Michuad for just being one of those guys I swap my conjectures about cards back and forth with. Tom and Ted have also supplied me with quite a few cards as well, often in areas I have yet to write, though at least Ted's cards have started to turn up in the appendices (especially 2005's).
• Thanks to Kristen Miller and Robert Ashburn for thier contributions to "the tickets project"
• Thanks to Martin Smith for some great vintage photos on two different pages:
  images of the original Admiral Joe Fowler Sternwheeler the first chapters Frontierland page.
  and, of the Magic Kingdom II on the page about the excursion steamers..
• Thanks to Steve Burns of http://www.burnsland.com for confirmation of some of my sepeculation on just which engines are featured on those early WDW postcards on this page: http://www.bigbrian-nc.com/wdw-pc04.htm.
• Thanks to Dylan Gladstone for his nice email I added to chapter 6 about his fathers work on the to The Cartoon Cards of to chapter 6 .
• Thanks To Ted Michaud for letting me know about postcard booklet variants I didn't have listed.
• Also Thanks to Becky Gray, and Tom Deluca, Tom was the one who staarted the postcard booklet variants spread sheet and has helped me understand more about the variations on the backs of the cards, icons, inks, copyrights, than anyone else, Becky has been a big help with postcard booklet questions I've tosssed her way including the order of those cards in that first Fort Wilderness booklet.

E-mail Me martsolf@mindspring.com


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CHAPTER 1 Preface Too...How I Started Collecting Post Cards


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Last modified by Brian K Martsolf at 15-May-2006 02:58 PM