Postage Stamps of EPCOT Center

Caribbean Stamp Set Commemorating Wat Disney World's EPCOT Center

Stamp Art © Disney

Welcome back and Happy 2015! Sincere apologies for a noticeable lapse of activity here since October—but with an unexpectedly busy Holiday season tucked away, things are finally gearing back up for new content around these parts. Thanks to all the returning readers for your outstanding feedback last year, and thanks to all new visitors who've found their way here, many through a recent sponsorship via The Season Pass Podcast (more on that show at the end of this post.)

A Special Welcome to Listeners of The Season Pass Podcast

Logo © The Season Pass Podcast

Since we're looking to the future, this first post of 2015 takes a glimpse back at a theme park that looked ahead. Cleaning up an old bedroom set, I discovered a small wax envelope underneath a bookcase for many years containing about 125 Walt Disney themed postage stamps from around the world in the early-to-mid 1980s.

WAK! A Caribbean Stamp Featuring a Donald Duck Stamp Gag by Carl Barks

Image Courtesy of Flickr User Gianfranco Goria

Stamp Art © Disney

Many of the stamps featured unique illustrations, each focused on a general or specific theme. Two stand-out themes found within were selections of an "American Legends" series with the animated depiction of Johnny Appleseed from Melody Time (1948) and John Henry (twelve years prior to the release of Walt Disney Feature Animation's animated short John Henry).

The First U.S. Walt Disney Postage Stamp Was Walt Himself

Image Courtesy of Yesterland

Artwork © Disney

Despite the focus on American Legends, all of the stamps within the envelope were issued outside of the United States. Following Walt Disney's death in 1966, a commemorative stamp was issued featuring his portrait, less than two years later, bucking the Post Office policy of a 10-year wait between an individual's passing and their image appearing on a stamp. While postage stamps featuring animated characters are commonplace in the 21st Century, they were non-existent in the United States prior to the mid-1990s. In fact, Mickey Mouse was pretty late to the game: he didn't actually show up on a U.S. postage stamp until 2004!

A Spectacular View From Shirley Heights, a Popular Perch on the Island of Antigua

Image © & Courtesy of Gosita.com

The second stand-out was a series of stamps focused on the original attractions found in the Future World section of Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center—the images immediately stood out in that they were the only stamps in the envelope to feature a theme park setting and the only designs to utilized character art with actual photographs. The EPCOT Center stamps were issued in the Eastern Caribbean dual-island state of Antigua and Barbuda in 1988.

Here are nice-quality scans of the six EPCOT Center stamps found within (click on each to enlarge)—the designers used the space nicely, fitting in not only the original EPCOT Center logo, but the icons and titles for each individual pavilion!

Spaceship Earth Stamp

Stamp Art © Disney

Universe of Energy Stamp

Stamp Art © Disney

World of Motion Stamp

Stamp Art © Disney

The Living Seas Stamp

Stamp Art © Disney

 The Land Stamp

Stamp Art © Disney

Journey Into Imagination Stamp

Stamp Art © Disney

Upon posting a quick photo of one of the stamps, Twitter user @MrProjectionist pointed out a link to Ken Polsson's comprehensive site, providing a small JPEG mosaic of the entire series (see image below). Interestingly, several images were repeated for higher postage rates... and the $5.00 stamp actually depicts a traveling Mickey Mouse heading towards the Contemporary Resort* six miles north of EPCOT Center!

The Entire 1988 Antigua and Barbuda EPCOT Center Series of Stamps

Screengrab From Topics on Stamps

Should I come across the remaining four stamps in the series offered for sale, I'll scan and add them in as an addendum. In the meantime, I'd like to welcome new visitors who arrived via The Season Pass Podcast. I Can Break Away is a co-sponsor of their most recent episode #292, the subject of which is sure to please fans of theme parks and EPCOT Center in particular: Part IV an exclusive interview with Walt Disney Imagineering's Tony Baxter.

Enjoy an Intelligent and Informative 4-Part Interview with Tony Baxter via The Season Pass Podcast

Image © & Courtesy of Disney Insider

You can listen to the new episode directly on the TSPP website HERE or subscribe via iTunes. The hosts are cordial and honest while covering a wide range of topics from all levels: creative, executive, and in-park employees. The full four-part interview with Tony Baxter can downloaded in the following episode links:

The Tony Baxter Interview Part I: TSPP #239

The Tony Baxter Interview Part II: TSPP #240

The Tony Baxter Interview Part III: TSPP #278

The Tony Baxter Interview Part IV: TSPP #292

As I mentioned, episode #292 was co-sponsored by myself and another sponsor which deserves a look: the O-Zell Soda Company, which produces delicious natural sodas with a twist of real Walt Disney history! Please visit the link to their site and support The Walt Disney Birthplace Project in Chicago, IL: O-Zell Soda Company

Hey, Even Tony likes O-Zell!

Image © & Courtesy of O-Zell

NOTES

Ken Polsson's Walt Disney on Stamps

Yesterland: Edward Bergen on the Walt Disney Stamp of 1968

* For our Walt Disney comic book sleuths: I believe that Contemporary Resort Mickey looks very much like he was drawn by Italian comic book legend Romano Scarpa. Thoughts?

A Rare Citrus Treat

The Orange Bird

Illustration by Dan Cunningham, © Disney
Medium: Vector Art in Adobe Illustrator

When Walt Disney World opened in late 1971, the resort could claim many unique features—most notably in the categories of size, transportation and recreational offerings compared to the original Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.

Florida Residents and Tourists Could Preview a Detailed Scale Model of the Walt Disney World Resort Prior to the October 1971 Opening

Image © & courtesy of Flickr user BestofWDW

However, much of the content within the theme park was a reflection of those found in Anaheim. The initial plan was for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom to feature a similar layout to Disneyland, debuting new, different attractions mixed with a selection of shared ones. During construction, time and budget crunches weakened the brew, leaving Florida only a handful of unique attraction offerings.

A Preoccupied Hollywood Legend Debates Original Attractions vs. Clones While Surveying Construction Progress

Image © & courtesy of Flickr user BestofWDW

Over the decades, with the global sprawl of Disney's domestic and international theme parks, a homogenization of elements became de rigueur. This, plus the accumulated experience of customer trends and market research aided a justification for overall consistency with fewer touches proprietary to a single area.

What marketing surveys and polls can't always nail is the nostalgia factor. User-controlled media the likes of fanzines, message boards, podcasts and blogs wield the ability to raise eyebrows and awareness of even the most trend-savvy analysts. It is largely due to the breadth of the internet that some things, deemed worthless, regain their capitalization potential and find their way back into the public consciousness.

 Demographic Surveys Rarely Factor in Kitsch or Nostalgia

Image courtesy of snapsurveys.com

Those of us who watched television commercials and spent time at Walt Disney World during the 1970s have recently been reunited with a familiar friend. Spring 2012 restored a seemingly simple and largely forgotten icon from the tangerine-hued ether, as the Florida Orange Bird resumed his place behind the Magic Kingdom's Sunshine Tree Terrace snack counter.

Over 25 Years Later, The Orange Bird is Back Where He Belongs

Image courtesy of Eating WDW Blog

Despite the burgeoning homogenization factor, the Orange Bird's restoration signaled an stabilizing modicum of individuality to Walt Disney World. He is one of the only unique icons of the resort's history: a distinct identity that was never copied anywhere else.

Beyond being represented on a sampling of new merchandise, the loveable avian/citrus hybrid adorns a large attraction poster under a main entrance tunnel into the park, and atop the "throwback" marquee, with proper font restored in place of the prior (and rather generic) interim typeface.

A Visual History of The Sunshine Tree Terrace Marquee

© Disney

The cost and effort behind the return of something as unremarkable as a long-discontinued, 40-year old Florida Citrus Commission mascot speaks volumes on the impact of user-based media. Minus the online recognition by those who simply remembered the character fondly, the formal reestablishment of The Orange Bird at Walt Disney World would never have surfaced*.

I won't go into a great deal of background on the character here, as there have been a multitude of resources online over the past few years chronicling the Bird's history and return. The most notable and informative of these you can discover in the following links:

Widen Your World was the first website to provide a solid, well-researched overall history of the character:

WIDEN YOUR WORLD – Sunshine Tree Terrace & The Florida Orange Bird

Jim Korkis, Disney Historian and author of the excellent The Vault of Walt and Who's Afraid of Song of the South & Other Forbidden Disney Stories, placed his research efforts and eye for detail on the Bird's notoriety with three posts, spanning five years via MousePlanet:

(2007) Orange Thoughts of an Orange Bird

(2010) More Orange Thoughts of an Orange Bird

(2012) Good Grief! Even More Orange Thoughts of an Orange Bird

Mr. Korkis has also put up another post at Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research site, with information on the Bird's singular animated short film Foods and Fun: A Nutrition Adventure for Walt Disney Educational Media, produced by Rick Reinert Productions (including a full video of the short):

In His Own Words: Director Dave Bennett on Disney's "Orange Bird"

The eloquent Michael Crawford at Progress City U.S.A. provides further history with a thoughtful essay on the impact of the character's relationship to Walt Disney World during the resort's challenging early years**:

Progress City U.S.A. – Little Orange Memories

FoxxFurr's Passport to Dreams Old and New covers more in-depth history and provides intelligent insight on the practical character design aspects, and the character's overall aesthetic appeal upon the 2012 return of The Orange Bird:

Passport To Dreams Old and New – You Do Have Wings Orange Bird

Over at Miehana, the talented Kevin Kidney briefly recounts his participation in uncovering the hidden location and restoration of the original Orange Bird figurine, and a good look at the improved paint finishing bestowed upon it:

Kevin Kidney – In the Shade of The Sunshine Tree

My own early online efforts were on display in 2007, when I created custom desktop wallpaper for Jeff Pepper's exemplary 2719 Hyperion blog:

2719 Hyperion Desktop Retro: The Orange Bird

A Rare AUDIO Citrus Treat

 Magical Memories Magazine #1

The Premiere Issue of Jesse Guiher's Audio Fanzine, Photo © by Dan Cunningham

Nearly a decade ago, I was fortunate enough to purchase a rare gem of the aforementioned user-based media. At that time, a search on the subject of The Orange Bird garnered scant results, save for a few crumbs of information and a heaping teaspoon of items on eBay. One afternoon, I noticed a message board posting with an ad for the premiere issue of Magical Memories Magazine, an audio fanzine consisting of 2 CDs with narrated content about a particular theme park attraction. Here was user-based audio which predated the podcast explosion to come, about a year later. MMM #1 was themed to The Enchanted Tiki Room of Disneyland (Disc 1) and Walt Disney World (Disc 2), with ornate packaging and inserts.

MMM #1 Was a Feast of Visual & Audio Ephemera

Photo © by Dan Cunningham

The 'zine did not feature attraction audio, opting for original content: in-depth history on the mid-century tiki craze, stories and recollections from those who'd worked and maintained The Enchanted Tiki Room on both coasts, an exclusive interview with Disney Legend X. Atencio, and... a thirteen-minute audio history of The Florida Orange Bird.

All this was constructed and offered by a gentleman named Jesse Guiher: an ambitious Oregon-based artist and designer. I contacted Jesse earlier this year, and got a bit of background on the history of his Magical Memories Magazine project (two other issues followed before he ceased production, MMM #2 focused on the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, and MMM #3 looked at the myriad attractions inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).

"I only had one other person to help with the 'zine, so it was a long, laborious process to do each issue, as I did everything from interviews to editing to graphic design and art, it was a lot of fun but such a great deal of work that I didn't have time for anything else. [I]ronically, it was the beginnings of success that killed the 'zine: I couldn't fulfill the orders fast enough [or] on time, once they started pouring in on the third issue."
– Jesse Guiher, May 2012

Jesse also very generously gave me permission to post the long out-of-circulation Orange Bird History audio (note: history covers the years 1970–2004) here for everyone to enjoy. All participants on MMM #1 used pseudonyms, with the exception of Jesse himself, who took on the role of host and interviewer throughout the 'zine. The author and narrator of The Orange Bird History audio is known as "Howard"—hit the play button to listen right here:


Or download the MP3 HERE

Jesse is currently working on a new kids noir web comic, and you can see samples of his artwork over at TigerTailArt—make sure you tell him thanks for sharing! 

* To be fair, the only other potential factor was a merchandise push of the character in the early 2000s to Japanese consumers (be sure to read the Widen Your World article for details.)

** Crawford's post speaks of the loss of the character: his post was published in November 2011, unknowingly foreshadowing the Bird's return to the Sunshine Tree Terrace in April 2012.