Have you thought about what America was like in 1971 when Walt Disney World opened for the first time, fifty-five years ago?
The United States was going through a big period of change. Race relations and women’s equality were big concerns. The Vietnam War was top-of-mind across the nation. Anti-war protests were frequent, and news broadcasts were dominated by casualty reports and troop withdrawal debates. President Richard Nixon had just announced sweeping economic policies in August 1971 to try and fight inflation, including wage and price freezes and taking the US off the gold standard.
On the good side of things, there were scientific innovations. Apollo 15 astronauts had just driven on the moon in a “moon rover” at the end of July and the first CAT scan was performed on a patient in October.
Of course, there was no cable TV or streaming services in 1971. Reading, playing games, going to movie theaters and watching broadcast television were major forms of entertainment in 1971.
But not everyone had a television and color televisions were still expensive. A color television costs about $400 or $3000 in today’s 
money! My grandfather had one and that was a big deal. Of course, television went off the air at 11 pm. We were in bed by 7:30 pm so that didn’t matter to us.
Going to the movies cost about $1.65 today ($10 in today’s money) but would be about $20 now. Then, as now, movie themes reflected the concerns and anxieties of the time. The plots and tone of movies became grittier, darker and more experimental, like The French Connection, which premiered in October 1971. Fiddler on the Roof was another big hit. Disney’s cinema release for late 1971 was Bedknobs and Broomsticks starring Angela Lansbury.
At that time, The Wonderful World of Disney aired on television every Sunday night and my sister and I loved watching it. Sometimes, they showed Davy Crockett re-runs from the 1950s.
Westerns were very popular — like Gunsmoke and Bonanza — and that popularity transferred over to Western-themed restaurants like Ponderosa and attractions like Frontierland at Disney World.
Other popular shows in 1971 included All in the Family and Bewitched. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour had just begun airing on television.
When people listened to music, some had record players and a lot of people listened to juke boxes and radios. Music was transitioning from late-1960s counterculture rock into 70s pop, soul and singer-songwriter acoustic tracks.
My sister and I watched pop acts perform on American Bandstand and Soul Train on our black and white television on Saturdays after cartoons. The Osmonds sang “One Bad Apple” on American Bandstand, one of the top charting songs of 1971. My mom bought us velvet page boy caps to wear like Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson wore!
When Walt Disney World opened the #1 hit on the Billboard charts was “Maggie May” by Rod Stewart. Other popular songs included
- “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey” by Paul & Linda McCartney
- “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers
- “Go Away Little Girl” by Donny Osmond
- “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye
In contrast, the Magic Kingdom opened with live ragtime music on Main Street and the island sound of steel drums at the Polynesian Village Resort.
Going to Walt Disney World was considered the ultimate vacation by school children when I was growing up. If a child from our school went there — and that was rare — the whole school talked about it. We never imagined we would go and neither did most of our friends. Florida was considered a long way from Virginia at that time, most families had one car, if any, and not everyone got paid vacation time — and it was a long trip down and back.
But the people who did go to Disney World usually used travel agents and mailed in reservation cards for their hotel room (placing a long-distance phone call on the rotary-dial phone would have been very expensive). No one had credit cards back then, so they likely paid for the room and tickets with their vacation savings converted into traveler’s checks.
During a time when there was so much death and sadness in the world, though, even the idea of seeing Mickey Mouse one day was a friendly distraction from the headlines. The glorified nostalgia of Main Street, USA seemed a world away from Americans’ new concerns about crime, rising divorce rates, unemployment and urban sprawl.
Disney World — Magic Kingdom was the only park in 1971, so everyone called it Disney World then — was a happy dream children aspired to and talked about at school. I never went to Disney World until after I had my own child. Maybe it still serves that purpose today? A respite from cares?
If you could travel back to October 1, 1971 for one day, what would you do? Would you go to Magic Kingdom? Would you go to the movies or see a concert? Let me know in the comments!
