Imaginerding: Disney books, history, links and more!: Celebrating 40 Years of Walt Disney World

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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Walt Disney World Railroad, a History

Grand Circle Tour: the History of the Walt Disney World Railroad.

Four out of five Disney historians will agree^* that Walt’s love for steam trains was one of the motivating factors that led to Disneyland. Trains were a large part of his life growing up in the midwest and served as one of Walt’s first jobs as a news butch during his teen years. When Walt first started thinking about a theme park, a steam train was always part of his thoughts. As the dream progressed from a small park near the Burbank Studio to Disneyland, Walt continued to anchor the designs with a train.

As an author, you would be hard-pressed to write about Walt Disney and trains and not mention the Carolwood-Pacific. When Walt moved his family to the Holmby Hills neighborhood in 1949, he realized that he had enough land to create a backyard railroad. With the help of studio workers and Roger Broggie (known as the first Imagineer), Walt constructed over 2,600 feet of track, a 1/8 scale engine and several cars. The engine was called the Lilly Belle, in honor of Walt's wife, Lillian. This is a tradition that would recur even after Walt's passing. After a derailment and minor injury to a young patron, Walt had Roger store the engine at the Studio. The Carolwood-Pacific stopped running in 1953.

While the initial plans for Disney World began to take shape after Walt's passing, Roy wanted to remain as true to his brother's dreams as the organization could. As Walt has been oft-quoted, he never wanted to do sequels, so there is some discussion as to what kind of theme park would have developed if Walt had lived a few years longer. In the Master Plans for Walt Disney Word there has always been a theme park in the northern part, near Bay Lake. At the Destination D: 40 Years of Adventure event at Walt Disney World in May 2011, Tony Baxter commented on some of the attractions that never were. With archivist Steve Vagnini, Tony shared concept artwork from the late 1960s that detailed a Magic Kingdom with a few different attractions. When the ideas were presented to Roy, he impressed upon the Imagineers that he wanted to honor his brother's ideas that were so successful at Disneyland.

Howdy, folks. Welcome Aboard the Walt Disney World Railroad.

Roger Broggie is synonymous with the railroads of Disney. As the Vacation Kingdom of the World began to take shape, Roger found himself in charge of designing the transportation system; a similar job he held at Disneyland. After spending some time in Florida, Roger surmised that the grade of the Florida property could rise up to 2%, which would require a stronger engine than the ones in use at Disneyland. Roger wanted to make a trip to Mexico to "look at some old Baldwins" and he invited Earl Vilmer, the railway builder for Disneyland, to accompany him. One of Roger's regrets about the trip was not being able to bring landscaper Tony Sepulveda because of his bilingual abilities. Broggie and Vilmer landed in the Yucatan on May 6, 1969. The Mexican Government was selling their steam engines since they were converting to diesel engines¹.

The Walter E. Disney².

Finding the Engines

The first two engines that Broggie and Vilmer picked out were numbers 274 and 275. These engines would eventually become the Walter E. Disney and the Roger E. Broggie. Both engines are 4-4-0 and were made by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. They were originally shipped to the Yucatan in May, 1925³.

Railroad engines are classified by their wheel arrangement. The Whyte Notation system is the standard used in the United States and counts the number of leading wheels, the number of drive wheels and the number of trailing wheels. For example, the Walter E. Disney is a 4-6-0 and is known as a ten-wheeler.

Engine 260 was a "Mogul"-type and was manufactured in 1928 by Baldwin. It was a 2-6-0 and would be known as the Lilly Belle. The fourth engine, a 4-4-0 was built in 1916. It would take guests on the Grand Circle Tour as the Roy O. Disney. A fifth engine was purchased but it would not be added to the Magic Kingdom fleet. It was a 2-6-0 built by the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works in 1902. Each of the four engines costs $8,000 each; the Mexican Government sold the fifth one for $750 if Broggie and Vilmer paid to have it moved. When the engine was moved, it was damaged considerably, which may have led to it not being used. Broggie mentions that the Mexican Government threw in "brass bells, whistles, light housings, and other fittings" for free. They had run into a large pile of cast-offs and took as much as they could⁴.

Bringing the Engines Home

Finishing an engine at the Tampa Bay facility⁷.

To ship the engines to the Tampa Bay shipyard across the Gulf of Mexico via Mississippi barges turned out to be fairly expensive, even though the trip was only 700 miles. Roger found out that it would cost three times as much to ship over water as opposed to a rail journey of 2000 miles. Two shotgun-armed guards rode with the train until it reached the border⁵. When the engines reached their destination at the Tampa Ship Repair and Dry Dock Company, they were put under the care of George Britton, a machinist who would eventually become the roundhouse foreman at Walt Disney World. Bob Harpur, who had known Walt Disney in California through model railroading, was hired as the project engineer and he found himself working for Transportation Superintendent Earl Vilmer⁶.

The Imagineers designed the 20 excursion cars after the RETLAW 1, the original passenger car at Disneyland. The cars were built from scratch at the Tampa Shipyard and were designed to load much quicker and easier than their Disneyland counterparts. The excursion cars resemble the Narragansett-style coaches from Disneyland; they are 40 feet long with 15 benches and can carry 75 passengers⁸.

Transporting an engine to the Magic Kingdom⁹.

Excursion cars pre-1979 on the Grand Circle Tour¹⁰.

Engines in Service

The steam trains were the first attraction completed for the Magic Kingdom. The Lilly Belle was the first engine completed and delivered to the park. The Walter E. Disney, the Lilly Belle and the Roger E. Broggie were all in service on October 1, 1971. The Roy O. Disney started on December, 1, 1971 and the Ward Kimball began service on March 1, 1997¹¹. Bill Norred, a railroad equipment collector wanted to buy the five RETLAW 1 coaches that had been in service at Disneyland. Disney Management offered the coaches in return for a Forney-style 0-4-2T built by the Davenport Locomotive Works. Norred had the engine rebuilt as a 2-4-4T. The Disneyland Railroad wanted to use it while the Disneyland engines were being refurbished. Instead, it went to Walt Disney World and was named the Ward Kimball. It was put in use while the Lilly Belle was refurbished¹².

^*Completely made up statistic. Arguably, it would be five out of five Disney historians.
¹Michael Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story (Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning Company Publishers, 1998), 317, 319, 320.
²Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney World, (Disney's Kingdom Editions, 1993), 18.
³Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 320.
⁴Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 321, 323.
⁵Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 325.
⁶Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 327, 329.
⁷Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney World: the First Decade (1982), 21.
⁸Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 331.
⁹Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney World: the First Decade, 21.
¹⁰Valerie Childs, the Magic of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, (New York City, Mayflower Books, 1979), unpaginated.
¹¹Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 331, 333.
¹²Broggie, Walt Disney's Railroad Story, 278.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Skiing with Goofy, Tigger and Pluto

Walt Disney World has offered various forms of entertainment on Seven Seas Lagoon since opening in 1971. Let's take a closer look at the Magic Kingdom Entertainment Character Ski Team from a 1999 Eyes and Ears.

Who wouldn't love to see this from the ferryboat as you made your way to the Magic Kingdom early in the morning? Besides, how often do you get to see Tigger in a cowboy hat and Goofy wearing a rain poncho?

The Magic Kingdom Entertainment Department goes above and beyond for guests each summer by featuring the Magic Kingdom Entertainment Character Ski Team.

This team splashes its way around the Seven Seas Lagoon for 10 weeks each summer. In the mornings, guests traveling to the Magic Kingdom Park on ferryboats are surprised to see either Goofy, his son Max, Pluto or Tigger skiing by their ferryboat.

"This is where the characters livc and play, and that gives [guests] an opportunity to see them," said Toby Williams, coordinator for the Character Ski Team.

In the afternoon, the team shows up on the shores of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Polynesian Resort. They swim and interact with guests at the resort.

"For many guests, it's the first time they see a character once they get on property," said Celina Uribe, a Magic Kingdom Entertainment manager.

This team of characters swims in pools, swishes down slides and even shows young guests simple swimming techniques.

When they’re skiing on the water, the team surprises hundreds of guests daily with wake jumps, helicopters and other tricks, such as skiing backward and sitting down on their skis.

The ski team recently ended its summer session for 1999. Cast Members should look for the team to begin entertaining and amazing guests on the Seven Seas Lagoon next summer.

“It’s the only place to see them doing this in the world,” Toby said.

Ryan at the Main Street Gazette has dug up some more tantalizing information about earlier ski shows in Walt Disney World's history.

October 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The Vacation Kingdom has seen a lot of changes over the past four decades and the editorial staff at Imaginerding wants to celebrate the unique and rich history of the resort with a series of posts. A very special thanks to Celeste Cronrath for designing the series of logos. Make sure to follow her on Twitter.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Walt Disney World's 40th, the Second Post

I posted the random cell phone pictures from the first few days of my recent trip to Walt Disney World to celebrate the 40th Anniversary. There has been some spectacular coverage on various sites and my group was rather dismayed by the festivities.

This hat really disturbs me. Another attempt to create Walt as a corporate logo and not a man.

After midnight on Main Street USA. Waiting on some fudge!

Meeting two Imagineers (Jason Grandt and Alex Wright). I wrote about seeing them at the D40 event. Meeting them was the second highlight of my trip, but don't tell them!

Back to Epcot for some random shots.

Beside Captain EO, this ride was a huge hit for my friends.

Anyone want to hazard a guess where this floor is?

I love this view of the Magic Kingdom. Great place to people watch.

Great view of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

That's a heavy shadow being cast.

The next few pictures are from when I was stranded on the Peoplemover with Foxfurr from Passport 2 Dreams for over 25 minutes. We were stopped in the perfect place, but it was the ONLY day I had neglected to bring my camera.

Walking the Peoplemover track after being evacuated. And all I got was a stinking FastPass.

Actual photographic proof that I was evacuated from the Peoplemover. We had to walk along the track and took the stairs between the Indy 500 Speedway and Space Mountain. This was the highlight of the trip!

Here is Foxfurr's post from twitter:

After this photo was taken George Taylor was struck and killed by an oncoming PeopleMover car RIP 1970-2011

I tried to get some shots from the ferry as we crossed Seven Seas Lagoon. Unfortunately, I am no Tom Bricker. I do like the first one, though.

We did a little theme parkeology at the TTC. This is the remnant of a water fountain.

This is a larger view of the same area. It was obvious that this was a holding pen (there were spots for stanchions) for people waiting to board the ferry. It had been painted within the past few years, if not more recently,

We hit Boma for the last meal. The food was sensational and the hotel was gorgeous. The chef was joking with guests and telling them that the meat was from a zebra!

The last shot of the trip. Anyone want to guess?

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Some Images and Thoughts from the Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary

I will never claim to have the photography skills of Tom and Sarah Bricker from the Disney Tourist Blog, but I wanted to share the random cell phone images that I captured during the 40th Anniversary weekend. Here is the first set of images.

Thursday Evening: Disney's Hollywood Studios

A dusty tome from our first (of many) trips to the Twilight Zone. I think we rode it 5-6 times.

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues was fun. And I was the rebel spy on my very first ride!

Yeah, these were adorable.

Friday: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

We visited three parks on Friday. It was morning Extra Magic Hour at Animal Kingdom. We did Everest 5 times before park opening.

I assume that Rafiki is checking to see if Simba's diaper if ready for changing.

Obviously, it was too early in the morning to be having this much fun. Anyone guess the character on my shirt? (Back row: hubble and forehead. Front row: Montezuma and Sitsdown.)