October 1, 2001 marks Walt Disney World's 30th anniversary. That would normally mean a big year-long celebration, with a new parade and perhaps a few new attractions. However, this time around they decided to instead build their celebration around Walt Disney's 100th birthday, which would have been December 5, 2001. Despite that fact, I thought it would be a good time to look at some of the previous WDW anniversary celebrations.

10th Anniversary

The first WDW anniversary celebration I have heard anything about was for their 10th anniversary; they named this the Tencennial (Disneyland had used the Tencennial name in 1965). WDW's Tencennial included a special parade, of which I have seen a few pictures here and there. The celebration ran from October 1, 1981 to September 30, 1982. And then the very next day, October 1, 1982, EPCOT Center opened to the public. Unfortunately, this was a couple of years before I started visiting WDW, so I never did get to see this celebration.

15th Anniversary

The next major anniversary celebration was in honor of WDW's 15th anniversary. This celebration started on October 1, 1986, and ran through September 30, 1987. Upon arriving at the Magic Kingdom, the first thing noticeable was a large Mickey Mouse clock in the courtyard area outside of the turnstiles; all the numbers on the clock were 15. The clock didn't actually tell time for some reason, but it did slowly spin around. WDW gave away prizes similar to Disneyland's Gift Giver Extraordinaire, which was used at their 30th anniversary celebration the year before. When going through the turnstiles, guests were given a computer-printed ticket; if you were a winner, this ticket would tell you your prize. Prizes were given away every 15 seconds, and a new General Motors automobile was given away every day during the celebration. You could begin to figure out when the big prizes were going to be awarded, because a camera crew would appear shortly before someone won something big. I particularly remember seeing a kid around the age of 10 win a new car. I didn't win any prizes, but I did have a coupon from the Magic Kingdom Club so that I could get a Captain EO watch at EPCOT Center.

The clock at the Magic Kingdom entrance

The Main Street Train Station and the clock as seen from the monorail

A new stage show, called 15 Years of Magic, was performed on the Cinderella Castle stage. There was a special 15th Anniversary float in the Main Street Electrical Parade; the float was a large version of the 15th Anniversary logo.

The 15 Years float in the Main Street Electrical Parade

Over at EPCOT Center (as it was still being called at that time, before being changed to Epcot), a new daytime show, Skyleidoscope, was performed in and over the World Showcase Lagoon. This show used boats, kites, and daytime fireworks. Some of the boats were made to resemble dragons; the plot as I remember it was that the bad guys, i.e. the dragon boats and others, were trying to take the color from the skies. But then the color returned with the kites and the daytime fireworks, which had colored smoke.

A dragon boat from Skyleidoscope

Continued

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