Walt Disney World
A History in Postcards
Chapter 3 The Vacation Kingdom of the World, Page 2: On With The Show

YO HO, YO HO A PARROTS LIFE FOR ME

On December 15, 1973, seven years to the day after the passing of Walt Disney, WDW saw it's first major E-ticket addition since the roll out of attractions in the first few months of opening. I don't know if it was planned to open it on the anniversary of his death, or not, more likely it was just a matter of wanting to gettting it up and running before the Christmas crowds began to descend upon the park. Still it's quite appropriate in a way since this attraction was one of the last rides that Walt had had seen almost all the way through the process of it's creation at Disneyland (it opened there March 18, 1967). Yes Pirates of the Caribbean had arrived in Florida. It is just a shortened version of the California ride , but, again most people had not seen the California version and the heart of the ride is still there. Perhaps one of the resons that Pirates recieved such anabbreviated version was that they wanted to leave most of the land out beyond it open for another project it sat out near the end of. Originally the land adjacent to that on which Pirates sits had been planned to be the home of a rather large atraction complex that also includes the land Splash Mountain and Big thunder Mountain sit on now, and the name of that project was Thunder Mesa it would have had an old west themed attaction using audio-animatronics figures, and boats, just like those used on Pirates, and an additional roller coaster attraction outside similar to the Big Thunder Mountain we have today, you can see an artwork for it on one of the pre-opening postcards. http://www.bigbrian-nc.com/wdw-pc03.htm and there is a great article on it on Mike Lee's Widen Your World site at: http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/wre.htm One thing the Florida version got that the California ride does not have is a Spanish Fort Exterior with placement in an addition to Adventureland known as Caribbean Square. The other thing that I often think of when I think of the Florida version of this attraction is the Pirate parrot who used to speak to passers by at the entrance to the ride (he was removed when the ride was renovated in 2006) . But on these early cards neither the Fort exterior or the Pirate Parrot were featured, so heres one of my own photos...
Yo Ho, Yo Ho a parrots life for me, Brawk
on these early cards in fact these images could very easily have been taken at Disneyland.
below: 0111-0354 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, 0111-0355 IT'S A DOGS LIFE, and 0111-0356 "WHERE BE THE TREASURE? "
0111-0354 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 0111-0355 IT'S A DOGS LIFE 0111-0356 WHERE BE THE TREASURE?

AMERICA ON PARADE

From June 6, 1975 to September 6, 1976 the Magic Kingdom ran a special parade in celebration of Americas Bicentennial . America On Parade was a big deal commemorated with many souvenirs including Postcards!
BELOW: 0111-0365 AMERICA . . . THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
0111-0365 AMERICA . . . THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
0111-0366 OLD GLORY PART OF BICENTENNIAL PARADE 0111-0367 MICKEY MOUSE LEADS AMERICA ON PARADE
ABOVE RIGHT: 0111-0367 MICKEY MOUSE LEADS AMERICA ON PARADE
ABOVE LEFT: 0111-0366 OLD GLORY PART OF BICENTENNIAL PARADE
BELOW: 0111-0368 SYMBOL OF LIBERTY FOLLOWS PARADE
0111-0368 SYMBOL OF LIBERTY FOLLOWS PARADE

0111-0358 IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL 0111-0359 BOUND FOR THE WORLD OF FANTASY

0111-0358 IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL , A Latin American View of "the Happiest Cruise That Ever Sailed:" 0111-0359 BOUND FOR THE WORLD OF FANTASY this is the card I was looking at when I realized what was really wrong with those early Main Street views ( lack of trash cans along Main Street U.S.A.s' sidewalks) .
0111-0360 RELIVING THE GOOD OLD DAYS
0111-0360 RELIVING THE GOOD OLD DAYS Unlike the earlier view (01110214) of A horse-drawn streetcar which had fare box on the trolley , this trolley has no fare sign, or box showing at all. 0111-1000 TROLLEY RIDE DOWN MAIN STREET U.S.A. has one of the ribbon type fare signs that reads fare one way 10¢ or "A" coupon
0111-1000 TROLLEY RIDE DOWN MAIN STREET U.S.A.

THE FLASHLIGHT METHOD




Most cards that I find are unused, some are used, but even if I don't have an unused one to compare it to I can often still find out the card number by taking a flashlight and holding it against the front of the card while I look at through the stamp on the back I can usually read the number this way. If the stamp is a dark color though it can sometimes be difficult to read even this way , in that case I will take the postcard into a dark room with no windows (actually there is a closet I usually use) and the number shows through slightly better with no light on the surface I am looking at but rather the light coming through the card being sopped buy the ink where the numbers are, sort of the same principal as an X-ray.Even with that method on the bear band postcard pictured here the best I was able to get was 0111-3??. but eventually I found it listed on an old postcard sales list as card number 0111-0357.


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Last modified by Brian K Martsolf at 19-Jul-2006 04:29 PM