Looking for WDW Old-Timers

[coneheads]

Hi All, This is my first post and i'm already looking for help. My Mom was hired by Disney in Feb of '69 and worked there until Jan of '74. I've been trying for years to get her to write or record her memories of her time there and I think she is ready to do it. So we have been going through her collection of papers, mostly Disney publications, newsletters, christmas cards etc.. We are trying to refresh our memories and kind of get an outline for the story, I was twelve in '69 so I have my memories and she has hers and sometimes they don't match.

Anyway, I was reading Jim Korkis' article on MP about the opening of WDW back in '71. The article had a portion of an interview with Dick Nunis where he told a story about the pre-opening party for the contractors , employee's and their families. His story was that the contractors refused to work on Labor day so he got the managers to man the park and have the pre-opening party to show the contractors that they were willing to work on Labor Day even if the construction workers weren't. The story just didn't sound right to me, it would take an immense amount of training and scheduling to open the park even for a day and I just don't think it could be done on short notice like that.

My memory is that it definately pre-opening and was a full day, Mom believes it was an evening and held during the "official" opening Oct 23-25. So we start looking through papers to find out and we can't find any informaion at all, very wierd. Disney had lots of events for the employees pre-opening like "film festival" a once a month event where the managers would give status updates then a pep-talk then show a Disney film. They were at the Tupper Ware headquarters in a convention hall and they were well advertised and you had to get a ticket to attend, same with Press events they were announced in advance and you had to get a ticket. You got to keep the ticket and Mom saved them all and the film programs and hand-out brochures lots of cool stuff that probably not many people hung on to. But in all that stuff there is no mention of a date for the pre-opening party or instructions where to get tickets or ticket stubs, nothing. I found one vague mention int the newsletter that was called "News from... Walt Disney World" which became "eyes and ears of Walt Disney World" in Oct of '71. In a column titled Planning Under way for Official Opening Events it says "Employees and contractors will be among the first guests and ticket books are compliments of the house."

Disney has a long history of soft openings for employees first to make sure everyone knew what to expect for the real opening. I'm sure WDW was no different with so much on the line. I have read accounts of other people who were at the party and my memory seems to match theirs but now it's really bugging me that I can't find any information online or in Mom's paper's to nail down the date
circumstances or if it happened at all.

So I'm looking for anyone who worked at WDW pre-opening or on the opening operations crews that trained pre-opening. Or maybe even a collector of WDW paraphanalia. Mom has all the News from Walt Disney World issues up until June of '71 we moved then and didn't get July, August or September's issues which I think would have information if it exists.

Mom would love to hear from anyone who was there and we would appreciate any information anyone might have about the mysterious pre-opening party.

apologies for such a long post, Andy

[brownie]

:welcome:

Andy, welcome to INTERCOT!

Although I would have been way too young to have worked the opening months at Walt Disney World, I do have some information for you.

I found a Jeff Kober article that says that the Magic Kingdom opened on Labor Day 1971 with management running the attractions. It was free for workers and their families and was done to inspire the construction workers. The article doesn't clearly indicate if it was only open for Labor Day or if it remained open through the October 1 opening, although it does lean that way.

In Jeff Kurrti's book, Since the World Began: Walt Disney World, the First 25 Years (p. 38 if you want to look it up), Kurrti says that the Magic Kingdom was open for free to employees and their families, construction workers, civic leaders, and local business people from Labor Day through September 30, 1971 for test runs.

As far as being able to pull that off on short notice, I would think that most of the rides would have been operational or close to it by that point. There probably would have been a number of cast members from Disneyland there to help in the training. I looked at the article you referenced, and it says they opened it for the construction workers and their families (which would mean it wasn't for cast members). It doesn't specify that it was only management. I would say that 'they' refers to not only management but also the cast members.

October 23-25 was the opening gala weekend with the opening dedication happening on the 25th. There very well could have been something for employees on one of those evenings, but it would have been a separate, additional event from the Labor Day event for construction workers that Dick Nunis was talking about.

[coneheads]

Thanks Steve,
I will look up the Kober article. I think that the employees that are referred to along with the contractors are the pre-opening construction employees. The employees that were to work in the Parks were hired by WDW Operations unit and were totally seperate from the pre-opening employees. The managers from operations were there but I don't think they were running rides, too much training would have been required.

Where did you see the newsletter article, Do you have your own collection or are they online somewhere? I'm sure the announcement would be in the "sand in our shoes" column. Since we have copies of all of them except July, August and September. I'm interested in when it was announced and how it was worded. My recollection is that it was planned well before hand bcause I remember waiting for the day with great anticipation.

Mom's beef with the Nunis article was that she says the contractors never refused to work, they were just as dedicated to getting done on time as the WDW employees. As well as being Charlie Wagners (chief of construction) secretary she was a Contract Administrator and dealt with all the contractors and was a little upset at how they were portrayed by Nunis.

Thanks again for the info, if I ever get anything in writing that resembles a column I will gladly share it with whoever is interested.

Andy Cone

[Daisy'sMom]

My Dad was a contractor working for Disney and he was dedicated and loved being a part of history. Although he is no longer with us, I do remember some kind of party for the workers and think that it was labor day. I wanted to go to the beach that day and was mad that my parents would not let me and I had to go on this "family thing". :mickey:

[coneheads]

Hey daisy's Mom,

I'm sure you're proud of your Dad. Mom has the highest respect for all the contractors who worked unbelievable hours and really performed the first feat of Magic at Walt Disney World by just getting the park open on time.

Andy Cone

[coneheads]

Hey Steve, Just a quick update, I got ahold of Jeff Kober to see if he had any documentation for the date of the contractor/employee party and he said it was also based on the Dick Nunis article. So there still is no definate resolution, it may seem like an insignificant point but it just makes me curious as to how well documented all the other pre-opening events were such as ticket stubs programs and announcements in the "News from.. Walt Disney world" newsletter.Compared with a seeming lack of info on the date, how ticketing was handled etc. for such a big event. There seems to be plenty of anectdotal accounts of the party like Daisy's Mom recounted for us and many others.

I think the answer lies in the three issues of News from Walt Disney World that I don't have July , August and September of '71. In October the newsletter became "eyes and ears of Walt Disney World which everyone is familiar with. But there is almost no mention of the pre-opening version News from Walt Disney World.

If anyone has those issues or knows perhaps of an archive that might have them I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks, Andy Cone

[johnO]

Since the World Began is a great resource for information.

[coneheads]

Thanks for the recommendation JohnO, I just ordered a copy.

Andy