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12 Photos of Walt Disney World Christmas ~ Photoniks ~ Episode 12
Dec 27, 2025
Happy Holidays! On this episode of Photoniks, Mr. Daps and Clocky are joined by Denise and Jeff from MouseSteps.com. Together, they explore Disney history through 12 photos of Walt Disney World in the very early days. This includes pictures of the first Christmas at Magic Kingdom with the first Christmas Tree, Cinderella Castle, Tomorrowland, and some other fun surprises along the way. As they explore these photos and the Magic Kingdom from days long gone by, comparisons from then and now are made, and one photo brings up a big question about Fantasyland! If you know the answer, we’d love to hear from you!
#Photoniks #waltdisneyworld #magickingdom #christmas
Join the conversation and share your own observations and perspectives about the photos shown in this episode of Photoniks! Share the details you notice in the photos of yesterday from Christmas at Magic Kingdom in the early 1970s today!
Find more Photoniks at https://photonikspod.com and also on Instagram!
For more of Denise and Jeff, visit the following locations:
https://MouseSteps.com
https://youtube.com/@MouseStepsWeekly
https://facebook.com/MouseStepsWeekly
Don't miss Daps Magic's official weekly YouTube show Geeks Corner here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAF91C7183BAB676B
Visit Daps Magic: https://dapsmagic.com
Join Our Patreon Community: https://patreon.com/dapsmagic
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:01
[Music]
0:19
Oh, Next
0:30
photo. [Music]
0:36
Welcome to Photoics. I'm Mr. Daps. I'm Clocky. And we are joined today by our
0:41
good friends Jeff and Denise from Mouseps, who we've known for quite some time and some of our favorite people. as
0:48
we get to uh geek out about some very specific photos for the holiday season
0:53
that we're uh looking forward to uh exploring with them. But before we get into that, Clocky, what should people
0:59
do? Hit like, subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening to it or watching it. If you're watching on YouTube, be sure to be subscribed to the
1:05
Daps Magic channel and also to this podcast podcast specifically and comment. Talk about what you like to see
1:13
and we will continue doing this. I know we've got an episode today that is going to have a lot of fun photos and then in
1:19
a couple weeks some more and if you want to see something specific I may have it. So we'll go through and look at some old
1:24
photos of Disneyland and this year this week Disney World. That's right. And speaking of Disney World, our friends
1:31
Jeff and Denise are from out there. I'm curious, what is your origin story with
1:38
Disney World for each of you? Like what are your earliest memories? When did you start going? Maybe a favorite memory.
1:45
Go ahead, Denise. You could start first. Uh, I started in um 1977
1:51
and I mean I I can remember some stuff, you know, certainly back then, but you know, like when Epcot was opening in uh
1:58
1982, but probably one of my highlights was sleeping in Cinderella Castle.
2:04
And how did that come about? Uh, my stepfather and some of my family were in the Magic Kingdom. I was not
2:11
there with them, but then I got a call saying that, you know, that he had been chosen by step.
2:17
We should say that was the year of a million dreams. Year of a million dreams and amazing. He was on Buzz Lightyear and uh in a
2:25
certain seat on Buzz Lightyear and that was the one that was chosen. He didn't he didn't want it.
2:31
Uh he said no. He said no to it. And he was saying at the Polynesian he were
2:37
right. They were at the Pal at the Polynesian. that's where they wanted that's where he wanted to be and uh but
2:43
in the end like other family members did want to stay and then like you
2:48
no but no but I got a call after it was decided but he really they really didn't
2:54
want any uh fanfare so there was no they said no parade you know like they had to
3:02
react they had to go back and forth on on what um what it was okay what was comfortable
3:09
for them. That's pretty amazing that you slept in the castle. It was It was It was cold. It was cold.
3:16
I've been in the castle. So, kind of uh I was able to see that. So, that was pretty awesome.
3:22
Right. The temp but the the thermostat was uh hard to make warm. So, in the
3:29
guest book, I wrote too cool. Well, and everyone asks about that.
3:34
Could you leave? Are were you You can't just leave. I shouldn't say stuck. that stuff. But you you know you
3:40
have somebody's I think outside so in that little room right like I don't think you're going to
3:46
7-Eleven or something so you can stay out but the thing is it was my
3:51
stepfather who won so what he was okay with was what we did like I would have
3:57
loved to have taken my tripod and taken photos around the kingdom on night but like it wasn't
4:03
for me so I brought it and I took some photos but not in the way that like I
4:09
would have done if you had Right. And I couldn't go anywhere. It's not like I can say, "Hey, you know, I want to go take some photos." Like once
4:14
you're in the castle, you're pretty much in the castle. There's that whole safety thing.
4:19
All right, Jeff. What's your origin story? My parents brought me in 1971, so I've
4:25
seen all 54 years of Walt Disney World history. U my first memory that I can
4:32
actually remember is 1976. Winnie the Pooh for president. I
4:37
remember they handed out these these signs and the handles were wood and I had splinters on my little hands, you
4:43
know, holding this Winnie the Pooh for president thing. Yeah. All sorts of of memories over the
4:49
years. Yeah, it's been an interesting 54 years. Love it. And uh we're going to
4:56
look a little bit at Walt Disney World history today through photos. And uh the way this works is Clockie is going to
5:03
pop up some photos on the screen and we literally just look at them, comment on what we noticed, what we see, what
5:09
intrigues us, often how many garbage cans we see because that just has become a uh obsession of ours.
5:16
But what was your first memory? I'd like to know that. My first Walt
5:22
Disney World trip was in uh 2007 or 8 cuz we always came to Disneyland growing
5:29
up and I wasn't from California. And what was my first memory there
5:36
or your best memory? Right. Well, an early memory is I remember the parade at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The
5:42
that was Jangle Jungle Parade. Oh, no. The jungle. It started with the Artemals. The first parade was the
5:49
parade of the Artemals, but I think that was before your that that visit probably. Yeah. And I I remember that very early
5:56
on. And then um yeah, I remember also seeing uh uh the
6:03
old electrical parade, not uh Spectroic. Spectro Magic. Yeah. And I really liked
6:08
Spectro Magic that trip, too. One of those early trips. And that Have you been to Walt Disney World Clockie? I
6:14
have. I was just I because I have my photos. My first trip was was back in the early 90s. So, I think it was 91
6:21
that I went. And the thing I remember, we didn't go to Magic Kingdom that year. We just went to Epcot and to uh
6:30
Hollywood Studios or actually back then MGM Studios because we have Disneyland. Why would we go to the park that we have
6:36
already? So, we didn't touch Magic Kingdom that first trip. Turns out that was a good choice though
6:41
because you would have seen Classic Epcot. You would have seen MGM Studios.
6:46
Yeah. Which one of my favorite records I have is the uh Epcot soundtrack from
6:52
back in the day. I remember I remember it was that trip where we had a trip right afterwards where it was the Honey
6:58
I Shrunk the Kids oversized playground with the giant ant and the giant slides
7:05
and everything. That was that was huge. I'd forgotten about that. Yeah, I do remember that.
7:10
All right. Well, let's take some looks at some other things we may or may not have forgotten about through the years.
7:16
Some of them I definitely haven't seen before because it's before my time. But, uh, what do we got, Clocky? We have some
7:23
vintage. So, I I scanned some slides and the nice thing about scanning slides is they have the dates on them, so I know
7:29
when these were taken. So, we are going to look at what should
7:35
be Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom first Christmas. So this is printed in 71 or
7:41
72, but this was definitely December of 71. So this would have been the first
7:47
Christmas tree in Disney World. And that's awesome. Look at that. Like it looks like a real tree.
7:53
I had the real trees for many years. Like And speaking of trees, look at all the trees in town square. I mean,
8:01
it's completely different than it is now. So how many trees would you say are there now?
8:07
Yeah. And how many trees would you say are there now? Well, they you can't really count them
8:13
because they go they come and go. Like depending on what seasons, they'll completely replace the trees. So,
8:19
there's no real trees that always live there anymore, unfortunately. Clocky, are we noticing any uh garbage
8:27
cans? One right here. I was say, I see that one on the right, and I think it's a water fountain in the middle.
8:33
Water fountain. Yeah, two water fountains, right? And then hitching post.
8:39
And then we have the trolley. It looks like heading down. I'm This is This is where you guys are the experts. I assume
8:45
that's going down Main Street, right guys? Because that's the opera house. Yep. And the trolley would go around
8:50
right where you right where you're viewing. I'm also loving the Is that like a pants suit on the left? The second one in the
8:58
the peach colored. I don't know exactly how the color translated, but it's still not too uh too cold
9:05
because I see some shorts up there. And I think people probably wore long pants a little bit more than they do
9:11
now, even in uh cold in December. It doesn't It doesn't look too cold.
9:17
There's not like big jackets. Oh, actually it looks There's the horse. So, it is it's going around and going uh
9:23
up up maze. Yeah. Good eye. I love the ornaments on the tree, too,
9:29
because you just wouldn't one, when's the last time you saw a Disney tree with that few ornaments, cuz they just pack
9:36
them every inch of the thing now. But two, they're so reminiscent of like my grandma's house.
9:42
Yeah, like tinsel. And look at this. There's a star on the top of the tree. You never see a star now. Looks like a
9:49
lot of ornaments just in different colors like green and red and gold and not not uh Santa themed or Mickey.
9:59
I want to say that's a real tree. It really looks like I think that I think I feel like it has to be. In my adulthood they used to have you
10:05
remember? Yeah. I feel like it was like 20 years ago they switched to artificial trees at
10:10
least at Disneyland. All right. The next photo is there's a there's a tree a little closer. This is the same trip.
10:17
That's the same tree just from a different angle. Main Street vehicle going around. And that vehicle still goes around to
10:23
this day. You just run. Well, you didn't. Was that an opening day vehicle? Is that a good Yeah, it must have been. Look at that
10:29
hat. The lady with the yellow. [Laughter] Is that a security guard in the
10:36
background? Clocky, I don't you know, it's hard to people. Oh. Oh, in the
10:42
No, you're That was the guy. Oh, that was a guy. Yeah, that's probably just a guy. Yeah, I I would agree.
10:47
Just a guy. Look at those Look at those benches. You can actually sit in a bench like uh like
10:54
they have at Disneyland. Those benches long gone. You're not sitting in any bench uh right now at the Magic Kingdom
11:00
right there. No, that's not I think there's some benches over there. I don't think so. No, I think I think you can sit in some
11:05
benches. Well, I have to see about that. And it's funny because we in California, especially when I took my parents to the
11:12
parks, were noticing how many fewer benches there are today versus a few years ago. I think most of them were a
11:19
casualty of Project Stardust. There there are many fewer, but I think there's like there's some uh on the
11:25
pavement here. So, uh as you swing around, you can sit right there. And
11:31
also on the other side near the uh near city hall, there's benches as well. And they do come and go too sometimes.
11:38
Isn't it weird too to see grass right there? Yeah.
11:43
Like when's the last time that that there was a planter with just grass in it in uh
11:50
an area like that in the hub in town square? It's always flowers or some kind of
11:55
custom planting. Is there a lady in a dress in the back right corner? Clockie bright blue. Yeah.
12:02
almost looks like a Mary Poppins type uh outfit but with but blue.
12:07
I mean they're taking funny the first picture I was like oh they don't have as many we see a lot of suits
12:13
and like sport coats and stuff in the older days on Disneyland pictures and I was like oh that didn't cross over to
12:20
Florida but now I think maybe it did. Right. Keep going on this one.
12:25
There we have the GAF camera center. And I don't remember that at all. I
12:31
remember it being like, yeah, I I remember it being Kodak because I I what I used to do when they had these
12:37
rebates, like if you to get a free watch or whatever, I would go to the shop and I would ask for their Kodak boxes and
12:44
get watches. You're probably not supposed to do that. No, I did the same thing. Remember, for the the 20th anniversary, if you sent in
12:51
the Kodak boxes, right, all you had to do was have, you know, the the tag on it. I mean, they're
12:56
or whatever. And and it's funny because Denise and I have a lot of these kind of weird things in common because I I did
13:02
that too or I saved my own boxes and I think I ended up with over 10 of these
13:07
watches from like the 25th anniversary. Yeah, they weren't great. They were plastic watches, but they were cool to
13:13
have at the time. They could build them in bulk. Yeah, that's awesome. I love the I don't even
13:18
know what GF is. Like I would have to look that up. Yeah, I don't either. I think it's a film.
13:24
Okay. I've not heard of. Yeah, definitely because I have GAF slides. So, they were they were
13:30
developers at least. So, okay. Love the uh fun map. So, someone bought a fun map.
13:36
Oh, there you go. Do you have that one, Clocky? I I might I don't know. Disney Disney
13:44
World. We I have some stuff. But yeah, that that fun map that I mean that Oh, no. I do have that. I have the
13:49
recreation that you bought me from the 50th of Disney World. Oh, yeah. That's Mhm.
13:55
Minor minor technicality. What's the store on the left? I can't read that far.
14:01
Yeah. And I don't even know what that is at this point. It, you know, I think maybe it's You know what? It's probably
14:07
the tobaconist because that's where the I think that's the tobacco store. Oh, okay.
14:13
Because you would see the cigar store Indian would be right there to if you if that picture was a little bit more to
14:19
the left, I think you would see the the Indian. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, at the time that's what they
14:26
called it. I can't imagine spending a day in heels. I mean, people still do it for dapper
14:32
day and whatever, but that that looks like a a challenge also. Well, the that one purse looks very
14:38
heavy, too. It would be a fun game to see everything
14:45
that's in there, but also maybe terrifying. And it's still Christmas time. You could see the uh the little wreath.
14:50
Yeah. The wreaths and the little bells. Ring those Christmas bells.
14:56
Yeah, more bells. More bells for Christmas. I agree. I love stroller. Stroller is
15:02
great, too. That I remember stroller is like Yeah,
15:07
I remember being in those strollers. Those metal strollers with their wonderful suspension.
15:14
Yeah, cuz it's interesting too like that's very similar to the stroller I remember
15:20
being in as a kid and that's a decade laterish
15:25
and um I feel like for three or four decades strollers just didn't change and
15:32
then suddenly they what late 80s early 90s they get all fancy and big. I remember early there would be
15:39
so many of those strollers parked in front of the pavilions and they all the same they all had that blue I don't know
15:45
how people knew which was their stroller because there was so many of even then parked there
15:52
that would be interesting to see cuz to do a then and now with the strollers in
15:57
front of like I don't know wonders of life I guess not wonders of life is a good example
16:03
awesome keep going through and here we are headed Yeah, we're heading down Main
16:08
Street. It's nice to see the garland over Main Street because we don't have that here anymore. We haven't had that in a long time. I
16:14
miss Festival of Fantasy start. Yeah. And I could see another garbage can with the official motto of Walt
16:20
Disney World. Waste please. Waste please. We've got three in a row there. Got a little
16:27
const the record for the uh pictures so far.
16:33
And they can see the top of the castle. You can see the top of the castle. And is that Liberty Square in the
16:38
background, too? Yeah, that is. That's kind of cool to see. Also, I don't feel like Can you just see
16:45
through like that now? I don't think so. I mean, I feel like everything's very like there's all of that kind of jungly stuff
16:51
over there and and lots of trees. And I mean, maybe you see a building, but it's also crazy how empty everything is.
16:58
And I I think it wasn't really that busy the first few years, right? Well, not there's other there's various years that
17:04
haven't been right haven't been too busy also. Well, and compared to today like now it's it's so
17:11
you know there's so much there's a science behind it where they pack in everybody as much every person they
17:16
possibly can in the parks and uh like I can't remember I mean it's been years since we've seen Disneyland this empty
17:23
without it being pouring rain or something. Clocky, do you know exactly what month this was? Was it November? December.
17:29
This would have been December cuz they it was it was developed in in January of 72. So they would have
17:36
I mean yeah your common practices back then would have been oh we got back from the trip. All right let's next time we go by
17:43
the you know the drugstore we can turn in our film and have it develop right and back in in the 90s you could get
17:50
your film developed at Epcot which I did often and the c the pictures would say Epcot
17:55
on the back. So, that was one of the reasons to have little Epcot Center on the back of your pictures. That would be very cool. It's It's also
18:03
interesting as I've been going through and researching more candlelight history out here is Christmas stuff did not
18:09
start as early as it did today or does today. Like I think I saw one year it
18:15
was like December 11th or something. They were setting up Christmas stuff and I was like, "Oh, wow. This is much later
18:22
than we're used to now, right? The Christmas party used to only have like four dates only in December.
18:29
Crazy, right? Let's go on to the next one. So, this is Mickey Mouse review. Look at the Mickey
18:34
Mouse review in the background. A classic. And did you ever enjoy the Mickey Mouse?
18:40
Because that's the one that went to Japan right now. I know. And right now it's kind of like the cavalieros have uh have returned into
18:47
the Mexico pavilion. But uh so that was the original though. That was a fun attraction. You said this is the same trip. Clocky,
18:54
this the same trip. So, I I picked this one specifically because how decorated is Fantasy Land now with Christmas,
19:00
whereas this you I could you could say it was, you know, February 2nd.
19:06
So, it's also way busier than all the other pictures. Do they do they uh decorate Fantasy Land for Christmas in
19:12
No, they do. Okay. Cuz like they do out here, but I I don't think I've been out there for a few years. And that
19:17
so this year they have new decorations like in the Winnie the Pooh area and they have a tree by uh
19:23
Mine Train Mine Train now. They didn't really have much except a little bit in um you know near the
19:30
Beauty and the Beast area but now there is more. And Story Book Circus is even nicely
19:35
decorated. They've done a lot this year. Everybody has their turtlenecks, their long sleeve sweaters,
19:41
a cardigan I see. I think balloons in the background.
19:47
That's fun. That's a fun. It's interesting how the facade really didn't change that much with uh through
19:52
the years. Well, there was a Mickey Mouse review and then it was the You know what played
19:57
there? Help me out. What's that movie that was at Epcot? Magic Journeys. Magic Journeys was there. There was a
20:03
Lion King. Magic Journey was the only time I've ever truly for real for real fell asleep
20:11
fully asleep at Walt Disney World is when that Magic Journeys was in that theater and it was a hot and I went in
20:17
there just to cool off and I was so tired and I had to be woken up I I fell asleep.
20:22
I believe this. I watched it once on YouTube and I was like, "Huh, I don't even know what
20:29
Yeah, it's it's it's a thing. Uh, I don't see any garbage cans in this.
20:35
There's no garbage can. No garbage, but plenty of guests. Yeah,
20:40
it's getting busy in Fantasy Land. All right. Well, this is fun. That's the end of the roll. And look at
20:49
And it's fleet week. So, uh, this is where you could comment on the color of
20:54
the castle. You know, I've really come to like it better not, you know, like I
21:00
know we're going to have it going back and maybe I'll really like it, but you know, I actually kind of like the color
21:06
now. I think it is very nice. Yeah, it'll be interesting. And and I'm one of the very few people that actually
21:13
not only did I not mind it, I liked the uh the pink castle for the 25th and the
21:19
cakes, we could call it. Oh, I didn't like You hated that. You hated that thing. I loved I I like it in retrospect now, but
21:27
I didn't like it at the time. I'm sure the uh people getting their honeymoon pictures at the wedding
21:32
pavilion love to see that. I appreciate it. I appreciate it now in retrospect. Yeah.
21:37
I don't know what I would think if if I would experience it firsthand. Like I've
21:42
always thought it's funny just from a like, huh? You know, like that's that's amusing, but how I would feel if I was seeing it
21:49
every time I came to the park. I'll have I have pictures of it that I took when it was being painted. So, it's like half
21:56
pink and half white. It was very interesting. And there were certain parts of it they didn't paint because
22:02
those were the parts that had the inflatables over it. So, until they installed the inflatables, it was a
22:08
wacky looking thing. I have pictures of all of this. We can do a whole another slideshow someday where we look at all these pictures.
22:15
Oh, that's awesome. I love uh There's no trees in the hub now, is there? In the middle. There is not not like that
22:21
little things but right I love how they frame the castle like it
22:26
it really makes it I don't know and then in later years they got bigger
22:31
and they were I think the the whole thing is they got so big they kind of dwarfed any kind of
22:36
show on the castle you couldn't have a projection and things that you have now but uh yeah I'm a sucker for those old
22:43
trees too. It's kind of a problem we have at Disneyland, too, is the trees do hide the castle a lot, but they're also
22:48
really People love them. And uh you imagine being a whole day at Walt Disney World in a uniform like that.
22:56
No, they're not even in the whites. Like that that that seems like it'd be rough. I love the
23:02
security guard there, too. Yeah. I think I think he's a You guys had Main
23:08
Street characters, right? Thank you. Well, there was a band like like you guys have now where they were like the
23:14
Keystone Cop looking uh band. So, that might be that or it could be a a uh
23:21
Street Mosphere type character. We don't have it. Obviously, we don't have Street Mosphere anymore. Yeah. And I I don't remember 71
23:28
really at all. Have pictures though. That's cool. Do I see a yellow bench in
23:36
the background on the right, Clocky? Yep. It's probably a brown bench, right? Yeah, I think that is a good eye there,
23:42
sir. It's fun when they keep them up longer, you start noticing other little details randomly. And like I'm noticing the guys
23:50
in the colored shirts more in this picture with with slacks. And that's more what we'd expect for this time in
23:56
uh Disneyland as we've been going through it. If we can get Mr. Clocky to have AI fix
24:01
the rest of that picture, and we'll see who this guy is. We only see his leg now, but who knows who that was. We
24:07
could recreate that time traveler. And and as you can see, the castle is fully decorated for Christmas. Like it
24:13
is beautiful. All right. And here here we
24:18
have the castle even closer. Yeah. Beautiful. Same trip. Mine. We're still in 71.
24:25
Yeah. I don't know if the if the swan boat would have started yet, did they not start? I don't think they started quite at
24:31
opening. Maybe. It's weird because there's almost the feel of Paris from this view.
24:40
Except not elevated. Right. Right. But like the the green into the castle like drawing you in
24:47
very much. Yeah. Like if that if that was a a hill going up, I would say.
24:52
Yeah. And there's that white white paint again. It's going to be interesting. I
24:57
suspect it's not going to be that white. I don't I don't know. I don't think so. We'll see. I'm going to bet it has a
25:03
blue gray hint to it so that they can make it uh well,
25:09
they're going to want to make it stand out. So, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see. But these are great. These are really fun pictures.
25:15
They could do what they've done at Disneyland, too, where it's kind of got the little sparkly flex in the paint
25:21
so that it uh pops a little bit more. Right. And then
25:27
next here we have more fantasy land. We're back in fantasy land. Look at that. There's the skyway.
25:33
That's what I see. Yeah. And the balloons. And balloons.
25:39
No garbage cans. No garbage can. Yeah. I don't see any garbage can. And it looks obviously things look very different now.
25:44
It looks so small like the the walkway. I mean, that area is Hold on. So there
25:51
is Is that the Cinderella fountain there? It's kind of dark, so it's hard to tell. Yeah, it's hard to tell.
25:56
It can't be though because you're looking unless Yeah. Oh, I see what you're saying.
26:02
This this picture is reversed somehow. It because shouldn't be, but it could
26:10
because you have to be looking towards Fantasy Land because there's the skyway.
26:15
Yeah. Well, and it almost looks like And there's one of those, too. Oh, go ahead.
26:21
Well, and that looks like the castle on the right, right? Right. Oh, yeah. And there's the steps going up to the castle. That's
26:27
right. So, I would almost expect that to be the other direction, right? Is that what you're saying? You would I I wonder if this is reverse,
26:35
but I don't know. Let's look at it the other way. I'm going to see if I can change it.
26:41
No, not uh that's flipping it. I love this technology.
26:46
I was going to say that like you've got a a gentleman there in a full full-on suit. But see that? See, remember you bought
26:52
me that bag, Denise? that very 70s bag that from D23. And it's interesting to see
26:58
one in the wild. Like that thing really did exist. Nice. It's Yeah, cuz that's the spot
27:06
where uh the Tmaine sisters sometimes meet, right? Exactly. Exactly. Okay. So, I'm not I'm I'm tracking with
27:13
where we think this is, in which case it would be uh if it is that then it's probably uh
27:20
reverse, but maybe not. There's an American. Or we can crowdsource it though. If you remember, let us know in the comments.
27:28
I think it's just a flag on top. Yeah, it's not. It wouldn't on top of the fantasy fantasy land.
27:33
Well, does does the angle of the skyway help in any way?
27:39
It makes it more confusing. Okay, hang on. I probably want to lighten up the photo
27:45
and see what the what's over. Yeah. What's what's in the shadow? Mhm. That makes sense. Hang on. I'm I'm going
27:52
to blow this one out a bit. Okay, hang on one second. Contrast. That helps
27:58
a bit. Highlights. I think your screen is paused.
28:03
Very possibly. Hang on one second. Save options. Save as copy. I see what you're doing. Google is
28:09
great. It will not let you flip an image. So hang. But at some point maybe you can lighten
28:15
it and just kind of get an idea what it is. That's that one. That one area. Let me add. Yeah, because
28:21
if it if that is where the Cinderella fountain is, then we know we're looking
28:27
back. It doesn't feel like it should be though. Like it doesn't feel like it should be. Yeah. It wouldn't work that way.
28:33
No, it wouldn't. So I I don't think it is because like if you Yeah. I don't know.
28:38
I think that thing that fountain could have moved and that is where the fountain was or if that is the fountain
28:45
because you have to be looking towards fantasy land. You have to because that's where the the skyway was going.
28:52
That that is correct. So it is facing the right direction. So that's all I think. Yeah. So is that where uh what is it? The
28:59
Mickey's and the Beantock reading the name. Sir Mickey's or something like that. Yeah. Sir Mickey's. Oh, there we go.
29:06
Okay. This is flipped and brightened a bit. You know what? No, that doesn't work, does it?
29:11
It might work. Let's Let's look at it closer. Yeah, cuz that would be the very back of
29:17
the castle then as And again, it's very possible that the
29:23
fountain moved. It's uh is it? They could have moved the fountain.
29:28
I don't know. It doesn't look like it's I don't remember.
29:33
We're confused. It's on the And if you're looking at the castle, right? If you're looking at the back of the
29:39
castle, the fountain is on the right, but in Paris, it's on the same place, but on the left. So, it's confuses you.
29:46
You might get that confused. My brain is very confused right now. So, as the photo was originally shown,
29:52
it would be it. Am I correct that this is walking up from Liberty Square? Is that what we're thinking? Is the
29:58
original It would be It would be Well, you would have walked up and you would have already be right behind the castle.
30:04
Yeah. And so you're seeing just the corner of the castle on the right. Yeah. And then you're kind of looking towards
30:10
towards Fantasy Land because that's where the skyway would be. I I actually think this might be right
30:16
then. And and then uh I think they've changed the facade across the way from us.
30:22
Yeah, definitely. But that's a weird and it would actually make sense because then you'd have that
30:28
facade here and then if we were to make a hard left and kind of look over our shoulder a little bit that similar arch
30:35
thing would be there also. Right. Right. I bet that's what they did.
30:40
Yeah. Well, that was a fun picture. Oh, look at that. The Tomorrowland the
30:46
the fountains and they are having water going down them. Oh man, it was pretty awesome. I remember that.
30:53
and they would spray up you. And look at this. Even the people mover, even though the people mover wouldn't have opened
30:59
and there's no space mountain, I think they still had that built up there. So,
31:05
that's pretty cool. Oh, yeah. It's a great huh great picture. I like the hat in the front.
31:10
Mhm. Right. And the garbage can there. Benches. You must be from uh California,
31:17
right? Or Texas. Texas, right? Also, what's about these
31:23
another stroller these photos is they're they're all from one photo from one
31:29
camera of of no one. We're not it's not a photo of someone in front of the castle. It's
31:34
not a photo of someone on that attraction. They're just photos. Just took photos.
31:40
Where did Where did the photos come from? These I probably bought on eBay.
31:46
Okay. All right. Yeah. So, also um the pavement has changed since the curbs.
31:53
There's a lot fewer curbs, you know, like that. Yeah. And is it brick there now? Is that what
31:59
I remember? I don't think it's brick or No, I don't even think about it like I
32:05
don't think about I just remember, you know, the curves. Interesting. More Tomorrowland. Is that the terrorists?
32:11
Yeah, looks like that's it. Okay. Very different. Very different than it is now. It's open. This one's interesting
32:18
because you can see the um contemporary over here. Yeah. Oh, that's cool.
32:24
And a garbage can. And a garbage can. Very good view of a garbage can. And it does say waste, please. No, it
32:29
says waste paper. Huh. Interesting. And we have our suit in the front. Finally.
32:35
People could be a sports cer or something. Two suits. Wow. Two suits. So fancy.
32:41
Look at that. That's great. I love it.
32:46
All right. Now, this is now the second Christmas in Disney World.
32:52
And this is the photo second. I wonder why the that would be you could probably track down the exact date week
33:00
if you figure out why the flag is at half staff. Clocky, why did we think the flag was at
33:05
half staff? Well, the good news is this is a photo that really sparked a lot of this when we had our own photo nicks in
33:11
the living room. Uhhuh. It was hang on one second while I because I want to
33:17
make sure. This was at half mass for Harry S. Truman who had died. Oh wow. Interesting. And now we're at 1972.
33:26
Yep. So he died on December 26th. So this is somewhere between December 26th
33:32
and whenever they would have taken the tree down because the flag would have been h half mass for a month.
33:37
But that tree would not would probably been down by day after New Year's maybe. So, this is
33:43
within that week. And what a difference that tree is. I mean, that is starting to look like what we have now. It's not as thick, thinner,
33:51
tall. It's taller and thinner. And they've changed the ornaments quite a bit, it looks like.
33:56
Can we see the tip of it? Is there a star on it? I I don't have the top of it.
34:02
Okay. But it's close. And it might be a star. I think I mean I think that the
34:08
ornaments look a lot like in the first photo with the the gold the
34:14
the you know the red the the blue. Could you could you get this shot from Main Street Station because we're trying
34:20
to figure out where this is from. That's taken on the second story of the train station. I don't think so.
34:26
We do it we do it now all the time. Exact. Yeah. But it is weird because you can see all the way down Main Street now without the
34:32
trees. Yeah. And Yeah. So you could see that they do have the the uh cables up. So
34:39
with the uh garland, there's the garland hanging. Yep. Yeah. It's funny that I mean you can
34:44
take a picture that looks almost exactly like that right now. I mean that location anyway and still have the flag
34:51
pole and the tree and the castle and everything else, but you wouldn't have those two big
34:57
trees on the bottom. Yeah. All right, we're coming up on the last photo I pulled for this just
35:03
because it's also from December of 70 72 and that is Haunted Mansion.
35:09
Oh, look at that. Wow. The original Haunted Mansion uh queue.
35:14
Notice how the uh it's it does it only the the roof only goes about halfway
35:20
and it's not green, which Yeah. And on the right is the the keelboat
35:25
dock. That's where you'd get on the Mike Keelboats. I would have loved doing that.
35:30
Yeah, that was that was like the jungle cruise but on uh Rivers of America.
35:36
Hard to believe what we're looking at. Uh doesn't exist. And look at I mean
35:41
there's so few trees. That's a great shot. 72 clockie.
35:46
72. Wow. Yeah. Great. And still a popular attraction.
35:52
Mhm. Oh yeah. Like some things never change.
35:57
where they're not making this into a car's ride. No, not yet. But the I mean the keelboat
36:02
area, that building hasn't been torn down. That still exists and that wall
36:08
with uh you know the rock work still exists. That'll be interesting to see what this
36:13
view, if we can even get it looks like in 5 years. Yeah, it will be. All right.
36:18
It is interesting seeing the the mansion from this direction, though, because it feels more like a livable mansion.
36:26
Right. Right. Whereas now it's kind of a little bit more I don't know a little bit harder to
36:32
grasp the thought of like oh yeah you can just walk up to the front door like this looks more walkable up. Well if you if you took this exact
36:38
picture right now you would see Rapunzel Tower would be sticking up on the right there and you would still you'd have a
36:45
lot more trees. That's true. Yeah. The scale I think is is what I'm getting at is a little bit
36:51
better. Yeah. With this. Yeah. Huh. All right. Well, this is the part
36:56
of the show where we have a lot of fun and everybody gets to pick what their favorite picture of the day was.
37:02
And um I won't put anybody on the spot in case they're not ready. But maybe I'll put Clocky on the spot cuz I've
37:09
looked at these before. You've looked at them before. I know what my favorite is, too. So either way, we can uh we can
37:15
make it work. But do you have a favorite Clocky? For this episode, I've got to go the 72 flag just because it really
37:23
sparked the looking at the detail of these. So, this one's this one's kind of
37:28
special as a as an image that I have now. And I'm sure there's a lot more detail on on Main Street and everything,
37:35
but this just seeing the flag and going, "Oh." And seeing the different tree and going, "Oh, okay. So, real trees back
37:40
then plus the half mast, knowing exactly like this this could be December 26th.
37:46
This could be January 1st, but somewhere in that in that range. So, this has got to be one of my favorite photos in this in this
37:52
grouping. Absolutely. I completely it set off this whole idea was the moment we saw the
37:59
flag at half mast old tree being alive that we went on this geeky history tour
38:05
trying to figure out who and what and why. And uh still stands out as we go
38:10
through all these. It still stands out to me. Although I do really like the one with the uh the Navy guys as well
38:17
walking down the street. All right, Jeff or Denise, whoever wants to go first.
38:22
What is your favorite and why? You can go first. Um I I don't just have one favorite, but
38:28
I like the first one because of the chunky Christmas tree that reminds me of Grinch. Yeah, you know, I was gonna say that too
38:34
because it's the first year the park has only been open a few months. That's just so different than you'll ever see again
38:40
because we already know the tree completely changed by the next year. You could see the star.
38:47
I mean, the thing I love about this is every single picture there's is
38:52
nostalgic. It brings you can talk about every or confusing sometimes. Yeah. But I mean, they're all good.
38:58
Everything is good. But I would agree for me this is probably the most uh my
39:04
favorite photo like there. But I like I just like
39:09
seeing the Christmas. I mean you're seeing the Mickey Mouse review there. You're seeing the old uh you know Tomorrowland or uh
39:15
Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrowland things. There's just so much to see and there still can be debate on that picture there.
39:22
Look at the Haunted Mansion picture. I mean there's so much goodness there. This This is This is the one I would frame or make a postcard of.
39:30
And you can clean that up. You can clean it up, too. Very easily. Yeah.
39:35
All right. That's a great one, too. And yours? I'm I'm going to go with the the Truman
39:42
photo because that's what really set this off and I I love it. And um
39:47
before we we wrap this up, Jeff and Denise, tell us about where we can find you online and what you do because you
39:54
do some really cool stuff. You go Denise under mouse on YouTube and the website and
40:02
Facebook and Instagram. Yeah, that's about it. No Tik Tok. That's just it. I I do have the Tik Tok.
40:07
You have a Tik Tok? We may do that someday. We'll see. young intern.
40:14
There's only two of us, so we can't do everything. So, exactly. And what do they find on the
40:20
YouTube and the website and all of that stuff? Just a lot of Disney especially. I would like history. We got some good history.
40:26
Yeah. I mean, I keep trying to get Jeff to even do more of this history because he has a lot of old really old footage
40:32
and I think those are I started recording in 90. So, anything after 90 I have.
40:38
and I go back and look at your old stuff fairly frequently. I love it. Uh, make sure to go back and and find mouseeps
40:45
and subscribe and follow and connect every way you possibly can. Um, because you will have as much fun as we do as
40:52
we've gotten to connect through the years and and um, geek out about Disney stuff together. It's really a lot of
40:58
fun. Uh, Clocky, what else should people do? Like like we said earlier, hit like
41:03
this, subscribe to the channels, comment. Comments always help. rate, review, everything you possibly can. If
41:09
there's something you want to see, let us know. We We've got a lot of photos. I'm excited. Actually, we can we can tease the next episode, which is going
41:15
to be parades. I've got a handful of parade photos and one that I can I I will pre-cog
41:22
this. I know which one is going to be DAPS's favorite. I already know. Wow.
41:28
No pressure. No pressure. No, no pressure. But there I I put in a ringer. So
41:33
Oh, okay. We will. Are these at Disneyland parades? These are These are Disneyland parades.
41:39
Stay tuned to make sure to subscribe. I'm I'm going to too. The great thing about this podcast is probably what 95%
41:47
of the time I will not have seen these photos before. Like, so I saw the Harry Truman picture and that's what set off
41:54
this podcast, but everything else was brand new to me as well, which which is kind of a fun um real life, I guess you
42:02
could see my reaction experience. But uh anyway, thank you for watching,
42:07
listening, wherever it is you are experiencing Photo Nicks. We look forward to geeking out with Disney
42:12
history with photos with you in the future. Have a very happy holiday season and a happy new year. And we will geek
42:19
out about parades with you next with some awesome photos. [Music]
42:47
Oh, don't [Music]