Walt Disney/ Eastern Airlines " IF YOU HAD WINGS"

[FlyingColors]

OK, its now after midnight, and I'm feeling all nostalgic. Eastern was the official airline of Walt Disney World.

If you don't know the title to this thread then you really missed something special. This was in the mid 70's when there was a tremendous amount of pride with airlines, and rightfully so.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/iyhw-main.htm

And go towards the bottom and click on the links for more of the story.

I have a few good pictures of that L1011 model, plus the other one at the exit of the ride (not shown)

At the end of the ride you would enter a large barrel shape room, with wind blowing at your face. The walls were used as a projector canvas. The view was you were racing down a runway and the seats would tilt back, complete with the cockpit view film footage and jet engine sounds.

"You do have wings, you can do all these things. Eastern, we will be your wings"

I must have dragged my old man onto that ride at least 100 time!

[hiss srq]

i missed it unfortuneately. that would have been something though i recall the delta sponsorship one though.

[LGA777]

Mike, thanks for posting, great website find, really enjoyed the trip down memory lane. The small town I grew up in was about an hour west of Disney so I visited often during the 70's and "If you had Wings" was one of my favorite attractions!. Ironically I do not remember the Eastern res agent at the rides end but then again I was just a kid..

Eastern also sponsored the Space Needle at Carowinds in Charlotte, NC which opened in 1973. My parents and I visited the park in 1974 and one of the highlights was this attraction taking riders up to 320 feet and offering a great view of Charlotte. Below is a link to what it looks like now. I remember the rides interior was the same as Eastern's former interior. Kelly Green and Ionosphere Blue !

http://www3.paramountparks.com/carowind ... m?ai_id=36 (http://www3.paramountparks.com/carowinds/attractions/detail.cfm?ai_id=36)

Cheers

Ron Peel

[hiss srq]

lga where in florida are you from?

[T-Bird76]

Mike that was great! I remember in 1987 going to Epcot and going through Spaceship Earth and seeing the Eastern Airlines signs. Infact my family flew Eastern down to Orlando for that vacation, 727 baby!

[LGA777]

LGA777 is originally from Zephyrhills, the "City of Pure Water" and was once home of one of the worlds best known Skydiving Centers !

[Mellyrose]

Ron...I know Zephyrhills water!


Mike, that looks like so much fun....to this day, one of my favorite things about Disney World is going on the Epcot geosphere to experience "Spaceship Earth"


oooh, I wanna go back!

[hiss srq]

me and my boss have jumped there normally we are over in Lake Wales though. I live in Sarasota so not to far.

[LGA777]

Mel, the water is very popular but basically unknown in the Northeast so I am impressed you know of it, it is HUGE in Florida, probably along the lines of Poland Spring here. When I was a kid the water company was a very small family business and the owners where good friends of my parents. In the late 70's they sold it to Perrier and they became instant millionaires !

hiss srq back in the 70's there where not that many drop zones, in Florida only Zephyrhills and Deland of any substance. Every Easter and Thanksgiving there where huge Parachute meets with jumpers from all over the world. Many records where broken at Z-Hills. At these meets typically 6-8 DC-3's plus other smaller aircraft. It was a blast for me as a kid to watch as I lived a short bike ride from the airport.. Also the US Army's Golden Knights trained every winter back in the late 60's using both a C-47 and an Otter !

Cheers

LGA777

[hiss srq]

yeah i have heard about the jumps like that. We (Me and Mr. Kelly our Cheif Pilot) usually fly out to the drop zone in the company Mojave (PA-31-300) and last time we went to Z-hills there was a group of guys from the Egyptian Army out there for some reason jumping and dropping an ATV out of a CASA. Now that was a sight. I have only jumped four times obviously all under tandom instruction but it is a blast to jump out there. Z hills still holds some fame in the jump world though.

[FlyingColors]

Interesting Ron, but I was never there. That's cool too.

If any of you are nostalgic about other attractions at Disney Word that are now gone, keep looking around that site.

[AndrewM]

I have very fond memories of going to Disney world as a kid, and one of my favorite rides was the Delta Dream Flight, which I assume was the same ride, only rebranded for Delta in the early 90's. I must have ridden that thing 50 times and there was never a line for it. I loved that ride, that and the Wedway People Mover. Remember that thing? it was so pointless; I loved it.

[eric8669]

I am huge Disney World Fan, Even hit Disney Land on my last trip out to LA, The last few Years I have gone down for New Years. Its Great. As for If you had Wings and Deltra Dreamflight, I remember going on those when I was younger. If you remember when You flew down with Eastern and then Delta you would be greated by Disney Characters at the gate. I believe my first flight down to MCO in '85 was on a L-1011.



Eric

[MORS-AB-ALTO]

Great topic. I remember the ride well and think I went on it 100 times myself! My first flight, that I can remember anyway, was to Walt Disney World on a Eastern 727. If you ask me their natural metal finish L-1011 with the two color blue stripes is the best looking airliner ever.

[Nonstop2AUH]

Thanks for reminding me of this, my parents took me on this ride when I was about 5 or 6 in the mid '70s, but hadn't thought of it in years. Certainly a throwback to the days when air travel was still exciting, and Eastern was THE airline to Florida and the Caribbean from NYC, destinations that seemed so much more exotic than than they do now. I thought it was all so cool, I think it's a bit sad that today's jaded kids would probably find all of this a bit 'lame.'

[FlyingColors]

"I thought it was all so cool, I think it's a bit sad that today's jaded kids would probably find all of this a bit 'lame.'"

Precisely! Sad but very true.

This ride provided a journey in travel, and it was done with props, sounds, lights, fans and projectors, and yet was so satisfying.

Now that I'm older I appreciate the amount of time, thinking and people it involved. So much different then just CGI.

So glad to hear your replies from you all on this tid bit in aviation history.

[Nonstop2AUH]

My apologies if this has been discussed here before, I am somewhat new, but does anyone know if there was an airline pavilion or two at the '64 World's Fair? It would seem likely since it was the dawn of the jet age and, in fact, nearby LGA had just been expanded to accomodate jets and world's fair traffic.

[UrbanExplorer222]

Its a shame its now "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin" to infinity and beyond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!