Looking Back: Magic Kingdom in 1992

Time once again for another Looking Back post, this time taking a look at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 1992. There were several new things that year, with some others on the way. Let’s take a look!

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom! As you can see, Main Street Station is all decorated for Walt Disney World’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. And hidden back behind those candles is the Walt Disney World Railroad’s Engine No. 3 Roger E. Broggie arriving from a grand circle tour around the Magic Kingdom. I’m glad the candles aren’t there permanently, because I do like having a better view of the arriving trains. And they would also block the view of the morning welcome show that they do now to open the park, too.

Making our way down Main Street USA, apparently without stopping for any photos, we arrive at Cinderella Castle. Of course, Cinderella Castle is the icon of the Magic Kingdom, even after all of these years. And the 20th anniversary was back in the days before they thought they had to do something to “jazz up” the castle for an anniversary. 25th Anniversary Castle Cake, anyone? No thanks. I like it just like this.

Moving on, we see something new on the horizon - Splash Mountain! This was the first big attraction (or E-ticket attraction for all of you old-timers who were familiar with the ticket books) added to the Magic Kingdom in quite some time. At the time of this photo, it wasn’t quite ready for operation just yet. On this particular day, there was no water running through the mountain. However, if you look very closely, you can see that there is a log right at the top of the main drop. Oh well, a ride on Splash Mountain would have to wait until our next visit.

Although Splash Mountain hadn’t opened yet, its also-new next door neighbor was open for business - the Walt Disney World Railroad’s Frontierland Station. This new station replaced the old station (seen in the post Looking Back: Magic Kingdom in 1988), because that old station sat just about where Splash Mountain stands today. This new station has a more Old West rustic look to it, helping to transition from Splash Mountain to the neighbor on the other side of the station…

Big Thunder Mountain. And of course, the mountain is the home of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. But watch out - I hear those trains are prone to run away at times. Nothing really special about this photo here, except that I really liked how it turned out. And with no trees or any other identifying elements around, it is hard to tell that this is actually just concrete in Florida. Pretty cool.

Across the way is the Haunted Mansion, seen here across the Rivers of America. Look at all those people waiting to get in! Just your typical June summer afternoon crowd, and that line has always moved pretty quickly. That was back in the days before we learned that we needed to see something while we waited in line, as we all know is mandatory now. Those things they have added to amuse you while you wait are pretty interesting, but in my opinion they aren’t all that necessary. But that’s just me.

Almost time for the afternoon parade, but first here comes the Walt Disney World Marching Band making its way down Main Street. I believe that is “Major Mike” Davis leading the way. This reminds me of my marching band days, even though we were more of a football game marching band than a parade marching band. But we did march in some local parades at times, although our uniforms didn’t look nearly that spiffy.

Here comes the parade, and it is the Surprise Celebration Parade, which was one of the new offerings for the 20th Anniversary. Unfortunately, this is the only photo that I have from the parade. Wish I had one of the Roger Rabbit balloon, too. You can see that Mickey Mouse himself is on the float in a similar costume, but he and the princesses are dwarfed by the large balloon. Yes, the balloons were really that tall!

Late afternoon brings some nice light to Cinderella Castle just before the sun starts to go down. As was my usual custom, I took quite a few photos of Cinderella Castle on this trip. But instead of boring you with all of them, I chose two as my favorites for this post. You’re welcome. Unless you want to see more. If so, just ask!

We close out our 20th Anniversary day at the Magic Kingdom with the other new parade, SpectroMagic. Here, Mickey Mouse leads the way in a scene of lights, fog, and blurriness. Once again, this was the only photo of this parade that I took that year. Ah, the days of having to pay for film and processing! Anyway, how cool was it that there were actually two new parades that year? Pretty cool, I would say. Although I had always enjoyed the Main Street Electrical Parade, and I listened to the music from it endlessly, SpectroMagic (and its music) quickly grew on me, too. It was nice to have something new and different, even if they did take the old parade away. Although they have now both returned at least once since then. Everything old is new again, it seems.

That’s it for our day in the Magic Kingdom in 1992! Be sure to look for another Looking Back post soon!