Walt Disney World Resort Celebrates 40 Years

[Guest]

Ahhhh that's a shame. We returned yesterday and didn't get a feeling anything extra was happening Saturday. Still would have been good to have seen!

[brummymummy]

I can hope then

xx

[frazers mum]

Happy Birthday Magic Kingdom.

[wickesy]

Happy birthday MK. We are just about to head off there now to get a spot for the parade and presentation. Decided against queuing up at 6:00 for wristbands for merchandise.

[wickesy]

Here's how our morning at the Magic Kingdom went:


We got to the transportation and ticket centre and I saw something that I have never seen before - there were roped off queueing areas for both the monorail and the ferry, just the same as you would get at an attraction - it was obvious they were expecting a LOT of guests this morning.

We were directed over to the ferry and by 8:00 we were through the turnstiles where they were handing out special badges.





By 8:30 the area between the turnstiles and the train station was jam packed.



The rope drop ceremony began at 8:45 and once that had finished the rope dropped and we were on our way in, stopping on the way to pick up a special guide map.









We made our way up to the hub and took up a spot to the right of the castle to wait for the parade. At about 9:30 the ceremony at the castle started with the Main Street Philharmonic Orchestra and at 9:45 the parade of characters came past.





The characters made their way up to the castle and there were a couple of speeches, followed by the Dapper Dans singing When You Wish Upon A Star and a few fireworks were let off.











We missed out on the special t-shirts they were selling but we still had a great time. We've got an ADR at The Wave this evening and then we will be heading back in for the special fireworks.

[Blue21]

I can't believe that it has been 20 years since the 20th celebration when I was lucky enough to be there. I remember being in the MK until 1.30am and if I remember correctly, there were two firework displays that night with an extra special one at midnight. I still have the gold pendant I treated myself to, I wonder if they will do a 40 one that is similar that I can pick up next year.

[marlouwrig]

We were at Magic Kingdom today, completely by coincidence as I had forgotten about the anniversary and as has been said in previous posts it has been very low key and not widely advertised here at all. Surprised Disney didn't make more of the opportunity.

We arrived about 10.00am and were each given a commemorative badge at the turnstile. The park was rammed with crowds but the atmosphere was brilliant. On the monorail, I sat next to a young (very pierced and tatooed) American girl who is a Disney fanatic and travelled all the way on her own from Seattle to be present on the day. She started queueing at 7.30 but was very disappointed that the special edition t-shirts had run out before she could buy one.

[Bats]

We were also there yesterday and it was a good day, albeit very busy obviously!

We were all given special 40th WDW buttons/badges on entry, then it was a mad scramble to get one of the elusive t-shirts ... we managed to get a white one and black one (I'll put photos up when we get home). TBH, they're not all that and certainly not worth the $24.95 and $29.95 we paid for them! But, it's a momento andI suppose that makes them worthwhile!

The pins were sold on a wristband basis and people had queued since 6am to get them. 4 colours were used and rumour has it that all supplies were diminished half way through the last colour. Not only did you have to queue to get a wristband at death o'clock, you then had to queue again at your allotted time (9am, 10am, 11am or 12noon) to try to get a pin or 5. There was no limit to how many people could buy apparently, which for me, is a sin. Within 20 mins of the park opening, you could find the pins, buttons and park maps all on Ebay. The buttons and park maps were plentiful so no bother there, but the pins were highly sought after, so bit annoying that people just got them to try and make some pennies.:angry:

The parade at 10am was ... well, it was there and I could hear it, but being a shorty, I had no chance up against thousands of taller people! There were speeches from the current CEO (jeez, she's young looking!), a CM who was a ticket collecter on opening day and is now a Vice President of Disney. They also had the marching band playing very quietly plus Dapper Dans (who have more than 1 line up)!

We came back to OKW in the afternoon for a laze by the pool, then returned to MK for 7pm ready for Wishes.
Entering the park again, we found it to be just as busy, if not more so than first thing that morning ... the pavement edges were already covered with people sitting down waiting for the Electrical Parade at 8pm. Mick and I walked up to the Hub, found a spot in front of the castle and plonked ourselves down for the long wait.
Parade was great, but no different to usual. They then showed the Memories montage (photos of guests throughout the day etc) .. that was really good as we hadn't seen it before

Finally, it was time for Wishes. We were expecting big things, but TBH, it was only as good as Hallowishes. Don't get me wrong, it was an excellent firework and musical display, but it wasn't any better than Hallowishes.
We had heard rumours that the fireworks would be front and back of the park, around Tomorrowland and into Frontierland, but they weren't, they were just behind the castle as normal. Right at the end, they had a few that spanned out slightly away from the castle, but not the spread out display we had heard about.

Nevertheless, it was great being part of the birthday celebrations. We would definitely come back for the 50th .. that will be manic!

One negative we found was the organisation after Wishes around and in the Hub. I presume it's the same at Christmas and NY, but having never been at those times (and won't now!), it left us wondering how Disney could have got it so wrong.
Imagine 1000 people trying to go from the Hub into Frontierland, then imagine 1000 people trying to go from Frontierland into the Hub. Stalemate and nobody moved anywhere. But now add that another 1000 people are trying to do the same between Tomorrowland and the Hub, Main Street and the Hub and, well, you get the picture! There were no CMs with the lit batons, it was literally a fight to get a tiny bit of breathing space.

I think a better idea would of been for them to only allow guests to go into Frontierland/Tomorrowland, not out. Those wanting to come out should have been herded the other way (or vice versa).

Anyway, a fantastic day, despite the crowd control at the end! We did find a way out in the end and even found an emergency exit they'd opened (by chance not by good signage!).

Happy days indeed. Have a magical day everyone!

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Gepetto

In 2009 we were there for the 4 July Fireworks and it was amazing... 360 Degree Displays. The best I have ever seen, I would have thought they might have replicated something like that to celebrate 40 years.
G

See more...

Me too .. they didn't!

Carrie said today at the Dibb Meet that they normally do good ones on July 4th each year.

[Stu]

Some Videos of the 40th at Disney's Magic Kingdom


Official Disney Video of the 40th.