Tour Guides - Walt Disney World

Pamphlets, brochures, and tour guides are educational and free mementos of a visit to an attraction, yet most people dispose of them almost as soon as they finish their visits. Sure, in the Internet Age, where you can find better and more up-to-date information online, holding onto old tourist guides and brochures hardly makes sense anymore, except perhaps in order to laugh at the now-dated clothing and hair styles of the people depicted therein; nevertheless, the MoMI's mandate to collect and preserve these disposable artefacts of the past means that at least some of these guides will be retained for posterity in our collection. Enjoy.

Below: A 1983 brochure for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Disney's first theme park in Orlando, opened on 1 October 1971:

Below: A 1990 brochure summarising the attractions and activities at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida:

Below: A 1990 brochure for the Magic Kingdom:

Below: A 1990 brochure for EPCOT Center:

Below: A 1990 brochure for Walt Disney World's MGM Studios, at the time the newest of Disney's Orlando theme parks:

Below: A 1991 Souvenir Guide Book acquired at the General Motors-sponsored 'World of Motion' ride at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center. 'World of Motion' was one of the original attractions when Epcot Center opened on 1 October 1982, and took visitors through several scenes depicting the evolution of human transportation from prehistoric times to the present. Vistors exited the ride into the Transcenter, showcasing GM's cutting-edge automotive design and production processes. 'World of Motion' closed on 2 January 1996 and was subsequently torn down and replaced by 'Test Track'. The guide book below advertises several of GM's dismal 1991 model year vehicles, providing a hint of the reasons for the later bankruptcy of this automotive empire. You will also note on the cover the bizarre concept car thought to represent the type of vehicles we would all be driving in the 21st century--how wrong those predictions turned out to be!

Below: A fold-out brochure, containing detailed maps of each of the three parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, and Disney-MGM Studios) comprising Walt Disney World in 1994, as well as a larger area map showing the thee parks and surrounding highways and access roads:

Below: A 1994 brochure for Walt Disney World's MGM Studios:










































































































Below: A 1994 brochure for the Magic Kingdom:










































































































































Below: A 1995 brochure for EPCOT Center. At this time EPCOT still featured all of its original attractions, something that would change by the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century.