I am a child of the 1980’s, and while I was not immersed into some of the American era experiences it seems lots of my friends were, there were lots of other great experiences my sister and I had as children. My grandparents were avid travelers, and visited Disney World and Las Vegas like clockwork every couple of months, or at least it seemed so as a child.
So I always enjoyed getting postcards from my family during their adventures. As a kid, I had a desire to start using a camera and taking my own photos of our travels. However, my parents were keen enough to show me that postcards were better quality and made great souvenirs than that lousy cheap camera could create. So I was excited to find some of these old postcards from my grandparents and aunts, with one even being from before I was born and my mother was pregnant with me.
Walt Disney World’s First Citizen, Mickey mouse personally greets visitors to the MAGIC KINGDOM and towering CINDERELLA CASTLE.
What I really like about looking at old photographs is seeing how far we have come with technological advancements. For example, just look how the size of the character heads has changed over time. In the early days, they were sort of awkwardly large and in-proportionate to the rest of their body. Today, the characters heads not only typically scale with the rest of the costume, but also feature advanced mechanisms to control the movements within the eyes and mouth.
Tigger, Pooh, and Eeyore took a break from greeting Magic Kingdom guests to pose in front of the towering Cinderella Castle…entrance to the happiest land of them all – Fantasyland.
One aspect of looking at old postcards, and that is not shown, is seeing what my family wrote to each other. While a postcard had limited space, I find it interesting that the majority of the cards discussed the flights more than the destinations. While commercial flights had been around for quite some time, they were still considered a premium service in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. As we all know, taking a flight somewhere was considered a special treat and reason to be treated great by the airlines. Today, sadly, we are all just a number.
Mickey Mouse and his pals, Goofy and Pluto, greet guests near the towering Cinderella Castle, entrance to the happiest land of them all – Fantasyland.
Snow White radiates love and laughter to all she greets. And her faithful companions – Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Bashful, and Dopey – are never far behind.
The one character I have always find really awkward is Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. If you take a look at the photo above, he looks completely different then what he actually looked like in the movie. Still, I find it fun to look at the old costumes, and once again wonder to myself if there is a warehouse somewhere just packed full of all the antique characters?
Save Money, Travel More!
Source: InACents