If You Had Wings opened to the public in June
1972. Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom was eight
months old at that time and IYHW was its first new
attraction that hadn't simply been delayed from the
previous October's grand opening. Over the course of
nearly fifteen years, If You Had Wings entertained
millions of Magic Kingdom visitors - spinning them
through a loud and happening tour of various vacation
locales serviced by Eastern Airlines (the attraction's
sponsor and the official airline of WDW). The ride
accomplished its task free of charge (when from 1971 to
1980, most rides required an admission ticket) and as
often as not with a wait of less than a minute.
On June 1, 1987, If You Had
Wings hosted its last riders. Eastern had withdrawn its sponsorship of the ride
and this prompted several changes. Later that same month the attraction
reopened as If You Could Fly - a modified version of its former self. The ride was physically much the same, but the old music
and all references to Eastern had been eliminated. Since the original
theme song and Eastern overlays were integral to If You Had Wings' personality,
If You Could Fly invited far too many disappointing comparisons.
January 1989 saw the
final guests board If You Could Fly. In
the weeks to follow, almost everything visually inherent
to If You Had Wings and its successor was destroyed
set by set and removed from the building's interior
as trash. By the time Dreamflight (sponsored by Delta
Airlines) opened in June, If You Had Wings
was a memory with another attraction built around its
track. A storehouse of excitement, warmth and innocent
fun was lost to the unrelenting march of progress. If that
sounds melodramatic, you'd better not read any further.
When
the final version closed, I was an Operations host
in the Magic Kingdom East department, working mostly at
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. During my breaks I would
often go down into the tunnel below the park, walk a few
hundred feet, ascend a stairwell and arrive in the middle
of If You Could Fly. That's how I ended up walking
through the attraction as it was being dismantled. On first
witnessing that scene, I could hardly believe the sets and props
were being hacked apart simply to expedite their
removal. My If You Had Wings "collection" began at that
time, thanks in part to some of the debris lying around on
the floor. I also started writing about the attraction,
tongue partly in cheek, and interviewing friends for their
recollections of it while the memories were still
fresh. Years later, the project is still ongoing; to my own surprise I'm
still learning things about the ride and finding new photographs, audio
recordings and home movie images thanks to others who have found this page and
offered to help.
In the course of spending so much time on this, a truth
has surfaced: Nearly everyone who remembers If You Had
Wings attests that it was one of their favorites. Although
true for many, it should be pointed out that even during
its peak, If You Had Wings was commonly derided as
"weak" or "second-rate" by the same type of
unimaginative people who only professed affection for it
once it was gone. The ride was dated from the offset and
uncommonly silly - but therein lied its charm. It didn't overreach or ask its riders to buy into
anything as unfathomable as being launched into space -
as did its early neighbor, Flight To The Moon. It simply asked you to
pretend that you were visiting a few vacation spots not that far removed from
Florida, encountering locals and other tourists who were having a riotous
good time. In any
event, lots of people can still sing If You Had Wings'
theme song as if they had just stepped off the ride, which
is something no one's done for nineteen years.
For me If You Had Wings symbolizes everything
unique to Walt Disney World that has disappeared or
been unsuccessfully modified since the 1970s. It was
upbeat, fun, colorful and crazy - a product of WED
Enterprises' old guard that existed only in Florida and
exuded a simple appeal that the Disney company has rarely matched in the past 34
years.
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If You
Had Wings
Extinct WDW Attraction
Located in:
Tomorrowland,
Magic Kingdom
Opened: June 5, 1972
Closed: June 1, 1987
Ticket Required: None
Contributing
Disney
Personnel:
Buddy Baker,
Alan Coats,
Claude Coats,
Cliff Huet,
Stan Maslak,
Jack Schilder,
G. Windrum,
John Zovich
Descendant of:
Disneyland's
Adventure Thru
Inner Space
Space later became:
If You Could Fly,
Dreamflight,
Take Flight,
Buzz Lightyear's
Space Ranger Spin
Remnants:
Ride system / track
and
building largely
unchanged
Related Internal Sites:
The If You Had Wings Story
If You Had Wings Overview
If You Had Wings Annex
Concourse Six
Related External Sites:
Dizneyworld's
If You Had
Wings Project
All photos copyright
The Walt Disney
Company.
Text copyright 2006
Mike Lee
Bibliography:
WDW News June 1971,
Eastern Airlines' 1972
"If You Had Wings"
booklet,
Eyes And Ears of WDW
November 23, 1979
WYW
acknowledges
the
thoughtful assistance of
Dave Applewhite,
Ed Barlow,
Robert Boyd,
Michael Cozart,
Gian DiMauro,
Ed Ellers,
Michael Flint,
Donna Freitag,
Jan Freitag,
Mike Herman,
Dave Hooper,
Amy Jones,
Michael Kotler,
Marc Macuse,
Greg Maletic,
Ross Plesset,
Dave Smith
and
Gerald Walker
with its research on
If You Had Wings
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