In 1973 I remember being on this ride, and coming out of darkness into the "speed room" where the airplane was taking off. I still remember the runway ripping by and dropping down as we "took off". 25 years later I became a pilot. And as I did my first solo take off, the only thing I heard was "if you had wings......"
Thats beautiful. This kind of thing is exactly why the parks are so important and beautiful. You never know what experience will inform the rest of a visitor's life.
“You do have wings. You can do all these things. You can widen your world.” Great message for a little kid in the 80s and certainly now, 40 years later, when I feel stuck in my routine. Think I’m gonna make this my mantra!
It blows my mind that those kids waving at their mom are probably now in their 60s. This was such an amazing ride, and I keep wishing it could be brought back somehow. I remember that someone even tried to start a project to recreate it in the Unreal engine, years ago....
@@epaddon Our family made 6 trips to WDW from 1979 to 1989 and we always had the time of our lives while staying there. I started going back again after a 17-year absence from 2006 to 2020 and noticed it was getting way too expensive and much less enjoyable with every visit. All the small details that made WDW a special place was being taken away and over time all those small things turn into one big thing. It's so sad what WDW has become, younger people have no idea how much more wonderful this place once was.
@@Dave711701 That was a great period. My last "classic" visit was May 1993 (my twelfth overall since 75) and what was great was that only "If You Had Wings" and the Mickey Mouse Revue had disappeared from the original attractions but everything else was still intact and had been supplemented with Splash Mountain while EPCOT was still in its original prime and MGM was still largely new and exciting. Little did I know that I had visited just in the knick of time before ill-advised closings and makeovers took place to destroy that starting with the Hall Of Presidents one month after I'd been there, followed by the Tomorrowland overhaul misfire, the loss of 20K Leagues and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. EPCOT lost its uniqueness and MGM became neglected and not very distinctive any longer. My one time back since was in 2004 and so much had changed by that point and since then what I've seen on video of other changes hasn't been an improvement. New rides aren't geared toward the whole family since they usually involve violent motion and shaking until you get sick (which is why I didn't dare do Mission Space in EPCOT). "New Fantasyland" was a wasted opportunity that ended up costing us another classic Dark Ride in Snow White. Thank goodness these classic rides lived long enough into the age of camcorders because even though they're not HD quality they still are good enough to make the memories endure.
@@epaddon You summed it all up perfectly and the latest thing they're doing right now is turning Fort Wilderness into a homogenized DVC resort. Glad you liked the If You Had Wings attraction and thanks for posting the video. I actually worked for Eastern Airlines out of Logan Airport in Boston as a ramp agent from 1988 until the end of 1990 right before they closed operations forever. That was my first real job I had right out of high school and got a couple of free flights to Orlando as a benefit, oh how I miss those days!!
I first went there in 1972. Space Mountain wasnt even finished yet. But this ride with the Jamaican cop directing traffic and the end where the wind blows and makes you feel like your going fast is my best memory of old disney
This is cracking me up thinking of how often people get disappointed these days when a ride is just screens 🤣 not a new concept, and a well done screen ride can be fun.
I think the difference is this ride isn't like a modern ride where you're looking at one giant screen in each room essentially. It had sets and everything else they use smaller screens within it Maybe the substitute for animatronics. The ending projections all over the ceiling and the walls are just cool. If a modern ride did that again with the 180° screen all around you I'm all for that.
Yes! It was a freebie! I was only 4 and while I was too scared to go on Haunted Mansion, my mom would take me through a few times while we waited for Dad and my brothers. I still sing it today!
It took me 10 years to get that out of my head “If you had wings had wings had wings” and tonight it returned lol. Also, “Please step left into the Rotunda - Thank you” ( Hall of Presidents). GREAT SHARE !!!! Great memories.
We use to go on this ride to rest and cool off. We road it several times whenever we went to Disney World, which was often because we lived about an hour from it. Thanks for sharing this.
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sharing this! As a young kid who was fortunate enough to frequent WDW annually in the 70’s, I love all this nostalgia! Thank you for bringing some joy into this 50 year old’s heart! 🍻
@@epaddon Yes definitely! I look back fondly at the 70’s and 80’s as the height of dark ride excellence. Peter Pan’s Flight and Mister Toad’s Wild Ride are other good examples of high quality imagineering along with every future world dark ride at EPCOT. Universe of Energy blew my mind with those giant trackless vehicles. Only recently with Ratatouille, Rise of the Resistance, and Runaway Railway are we seeing worthy implementation of the U of E trackless technology along with improved visual surroundings to see a resurgence in high quality dark rides. I hope to one day get to enjoy them in person, but for now am grateful that others post videos that allow folks like me to ride along! Cheers!
Nicely done! My mom worked for Eastern from 1963 until their closure in 1991 and this was always one of my favorite rides at WDW as a result. I was at WDW two months ago with my wife and kids and my parents to celebrate their 50th anniversary and while walking through Tomorrowland, you can hear a synthesizer version of "If You Had Wings" play on the audio loop they play. So awesome!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing your memories of the ride! I remember so well Eastern's identification as the "official airline of Walt Disney World" in those days.
@@pip12111 ugh, don't get me started on that. It's a company called Dynamic using Eastern's name and intellectual property, except they're going in a whole different direction with new logos, branding, etc. and may as well leave the Eastern IP alone.
I loved this ride! Back in the 70s when you purchased a ticket book for rides (hence the name E-Ticket ride) this ride was free. And it was good! Thank you for posting.
From a time when most of us didn't get to travel to exotic places, this ride was so enchating and a true "Flight of Fancy." I miss it, like some of you one of my earlier WDW memories.
Thank you so, so much for editing and posting this. I came upon it totally by accident and my mind was completely blown with the sounds and sights. I had memories of this attraction in my brain, but they were dormant and I would have never thought of them again, without viewing this magnificent tribute. My Mom worked at WDW for a decade. 1971-1981. She would take me and my friends to work with her, sign us in at the main gate and then meet us after work and we would go straight back into the part. She had Disney in her heart & soul since she was a child. Cheers and thanks again for your fine work and the original sources for their archival footage and memoralizing these precious memories.
Thanks for your kind comments! That was a special era of WDW history. I'm so glad that these video tributes can help keep our memories of them fresh in our minds instead of going dormant, as you say.
Thank you so very much for this video! 🥰 I visited WDW in 1975 and again in the early 80s as a very young child and this ride was THE ride that had the most impact on my memories and love of WDW! Sadly, no other WDW ride has affected me the same way! 🥳💜❤️🎉🥰
Loved this ride and still remember it as being the only one we didn't have to use any tickets out of the book for. And remember my dad using the travel agency at the exit to book the business trip he had to make following our Dismey stay.
It would have been great if Disney kept this ride with the Eastern airlines advertising since the company doesn't exist anymore people would love the nostalgia.
Us, too!!! We went in 1975 on our honeymoon and rode this so many times. We could sing that song in our heads forever. So thankful to RUclips for letting us relive it😍
We vacationed there quite a bit as I was growing up in the '70s and '80s. Watching this really took me back - there was so much I'd forgotten! Thank you for putting this together!
First went to WDW when I was 8 in 1975 and they had the tickets for rides. I loved Tomorrowland because this and the WEDway People Mover were free and I just rode them over and over - the lines were not long, either. Eastern: The Wings of Man.
1978 I remember this like I was on it yesterday lol I would be 15 not 60 lol. Now parts of this attraction reminds me of other attractions now. A little bit of soaring in this old attraction.
This was the first ride on my first visit (of many and many, even worked there for a time) to WDW. This ride will always hold a special place in my heart. Ah the sweet memories!
I was two in 1974 when I first rode this. It was always my favorite. The air blowing in your face in the speed room. And I loved that you could see the ride from up above on the People Mover. That was formative!
Thank you so much for this! I still remember this ride from my first visit-at the age of 7- to the Magic Kingdom, in 1984. The fact that I enjoyed what's basically a very expensive commercial for Eastern Airlines, rather than a Disney-produced e-ticket attraction like The Haunted Mansion, has been a family in-joke ever since. I can't believe I still remember that song! "If youuuu had wings, had wings, had wings...", I was singing it even before I clicked the "play" button.
if this were around today, the flight attendant would come over and advise you to shut everything off for takeoff and then you'd get in a fistfight with a dumpy, angry, maskless insurance salesman from jacksonville
My first glimpse of the big blue people mover seats was immediately etched into my brain as a child. And the birds. And the wind machines. Possibly my first Disney ride experience.
Thank you for finding this treasure and posting it! What a great memory! I haven't seen that ride or heard that song since 1973. It was my favorite ride!
I just wanted to say Thank You for the memories. My Mother Loved this ride and every time we went to Disney World she would take us on this ride. 👍👍👍👍.
This brings me back to my first (of many) visits to Disney World in the early years, and I remember how much my grandfather loved this ride... thank you for this and bringing back some awesome memories!!!
Salivating these ole attractions! It was so nice to take a load off your feet back then on a hot & busy day! The C virus brought me here, Don't take anything for granted
I remember this ride, and it was one of my favorite! I also miss Maelstrom in Epcot, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Magic Kingdom’s Skyway, Ft Wilderness River Ranch, and now Splash Mountain. All those were great memories!
I loved this ride...one of my favorites! I wish they could bring it back with the same speed, but with a more updated content. Tomorrow Land could another ride like this!
Awesome Job, I'm 19 so I'm to young to have ever ridden this ride. But I have basically grown up with the extinct version of Disney that my parents remember when they were kids.
Wow- rode this as a kid with my parents & practically forgot about it, all the humorous(by today's technology standards) imagery slowing coming back to me. Gotta love the Jamaica street traffic cop directing flamingos & cars.
I was there in 1982 when I was 9. I had clear memories of the films inside but I couldn't remember the name of this attraction. I knew Eastern Airlines. Good to see rhis video now I'm 52🥹
My very first ride in Disney World was "If you could fly" in 1987 - a different song and different sponsor but mostly the same! Thanks for sharing - I still think of it.
Thanks for sharing this and bringing back memories of one of my favorite rides way back in the way back. That song was an immediate earworm and the mirrored room gave you an amazingly submersive experience. Great fun.
Sadly any ride without a character tie in and merchandise sale potential has no place in Disney now. Everything is about bright neon painted spinning figures that are for sale in the gift shop. Sad.
Well... it had promotional items tied in, there was Eastern Airlines merch for sale back in those days at Disney. And nothing in the 70s was bright, it was all dull beige and brown, a roll back from the psychedelic 60's... To assume Disney NOW has interest in character tie-ins is pretty ignorant.. fucking MICKEY MOUSE????
I went to Disney World the year it opened and this is the ride I remember the most. At one point it felt like we were racing and I remember looking down and seeing that the ride was barely moving - it was all manipulated by the videos and fans to make it feel that we were racing.
The very first attraction I visited on my very first visit to Disney World in 1972! No ticket was needed and Tomorrowland wasn't even really "finished" yet, but it left an indelible impression on me.
The whole ride was put together in less than a year,for a then-largely empty Tomorrowland....Space Mountain and the Peoplemover had not yet opened...it had no animatronics or real special effects,and had nothing to do with the future. It was basically a ride-through commercial for Eastern Airlines. .....and don't think that I wouldn't jump at the chance to ride it again.
This makes me feel so old. I rode this repeatedly back in the 70's. That's when you didn't have to pay $45 to get to the front of the line. When we returned to Disney, it was one of the rides I ran for. And now, I look at it. And it's crap. Don't get me wrong. The nostalgia is there. But imagine if you showed up today at Disney and this was their big new attraction. I miss those days.
I remembered being freaked out by one of the last projector rooms (the mountains projection) back in 1980. I thought the drop off to the left and right of us might have been as sheer as the mountains were. The ride track is probably only a few feet above the floor, in reality, but it seemed cavernous in the dark. Thinking back, I'm pretty certain that I've ridden every incarnation of this ride, including the temporary change to Dreamflight back in 1996 before the conversion to Buzz Lightyear.
That experience when you passed from the Speed Room to the Mirror Room always created a false sensation that you'd just dropped and were free-falling and then as you say the mountain projections also added to the illusion (plus I recall how the air conditioner was even cooler in the Mirror Room to accompany the mountain visuals).
Yes I remember this ride I would have been for maybe five years old maybe six when I wrote it I did not realize this would be the last time I would write it for it would be several years later before I would visit Disney again as a teenager and then after that I have not been back cents for now I live in Ohio but I remember this ride and I remember Disney of the old days this is win Disney was great not it probably isn’t now but this was a fun time of Disney what memories
No, the exit version with the chorus "You Do Have Wings" in the same arrangement as the initial loading area was always in the ride and would still play through the speakers all the way out through the exit past the Eastern rep ticket counter with the model plane (the last couple years there was no longer an Eastern person there). We've only found one recording that continues to a point where you can hear part of the Exit Music chorus since its inexplicably missing in the one imperfect set of archival cues from the ride that have surfaced (The set from Jack Wagner's files which isn't from the clean archival copies, of which we only have the New Orleans Jazz cue)
@epaddon YOU ARE AWESOME!! Thank you!! We stayed at Ft. Wilderness in Disney World every Summer since I was in 5th grade (1976!). I can't even guess how many times we rode the "If You Had Wings" ("Free" lol) ride. There was awesome air-conditioning throughout that crazy, funny ride...and we'd ride on it for a quick rest & cool-down from the hot July temps. (Later, my husband & I continued doing my annual childhood Summer trips to Disney). Anyway, my husband & I were JUST talking about this ride early this morning, and I said, "Do you think I can find it on RUclips?" AND HERE IT IS!! Thank you SO MUCH!! 😊 It made me ❤ miss my mom, who loved the part of this ride where the policeman is directing traffic: from the left it's crazy, busy people & then from the right, it's flamingos! 😆 🤣 That always made my mom laugh... Thanks for posting this entire attraction! You made our day! ❤😊❤
When I would ride this as a little kid i was trying to understand how it went so fast when we got to the (fast room) racing cars etc. I was scared that it was going to go fast again when we were to exit. My friend finally explained that it goes the same speed at all times and that it just seems like we are going fast.
In 1973 I remember being on this ride, and coming out of darkness into the "speed room" where the airplane was taking off. I still remember the runway ripping by and dropping down as we "took off".
25 years later I became a pilot. And as I did my first solo take off, the only thing I heard was "if you had wings......"
❤
That song has been stuck in my head since the late '70s
Wow...just WOW!!!
Thats beautiful. This kind of thing is exactly why the parks are so important and beautiful. You never know what experience will inform the rest of a visitor's life.
omg that is awesome
This is the Tomorrowland that I loved and miss.
ME, TOO!!! 😢 💔 🥺
“You do have wings. You can do all these things. You can widen your world.” Great message for a little kid in the 80s and certainly now, 40 years later, when I feel stuck in my routine. Think I’m gonna make this my mantra!
This song was Burned into my head over and over. And don’t forget “it’s a small world after all “ Yikes ! 🌀😂
We flew Eastern to Orlando the very first summer wdw was open. Thanks Dad..Great ride and wonderful memories. Thank you
It blows my mind that those kids waving at their mom are probably now in their 60s.
This was such an amazing ride, and I keep wishing it could be brought back somehow. I remember that someone even tried to start a project to recreate it in the Unreal engine, years ago....
I was nine in 1973..yes I'm 60...
Memories!! This and Carousel of progress (at Tomorrowland) were free rides when the A-E ticket system existed.
BTW a very cool ride. Imagine if U took acid and rode this!!
The Circle Vision theater was a free ride, too. I still have some of those A-E tickets with me. Good memories!
This is the Disney World I like to remember and wish we could go back to.
Couldn't agree more. The Disney World of 1975-1993 was the prime period.
@@epaddon Our family made 6 trips to WDW from 1979 to 1989 and we always had the time of our lives while staying there. I started going back again after a 17-year absence from 2006 to 2020 and noticed it was getting way too expensive and much less enjoyable with every visit. All the small details that made WDW a special place was being taken away and over time all those small things turn into one big thing. It's so sad what WDW has become, younger people have no idea how much more wonderful this place once was.
@@Dave711701 That was a great period. My last "classic" visit was May 1993 (my twelfth overall since 75) and what was great was that only "If You Had Wings" and the Mickey Mouse Revue had disappeared from the original attractions but everything else was still intact and had been supplemented with Splash Mountain while EPCOT was still in its original prime and MGM was still largely new and exciting. Little did I know that I had visited just in the knick of time before ill-advised closings and makeovers took place to destroy that starting with the Hall Of Presidents one month after I'd been there, followed by the Tomorrowland overhaul misfire, the loss of 20K Leagues and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. EPCOT lost its uniqueness and MGM became neglected and not very distinctive any longer. My one time back since was in 2004 and so much had changed by that point and since then what I've seen on video of other changes hasn't been an improvement. New rides aren't geared toward the whole family since they usually involve violent motion and shaking until you get sick (which is why I didn't dare do Mission Space in EPCOT). "New Fantasyland" was a wasted opportunity that ended up costing us another classic Dark Ride in Snow White. Thank goodness these classic rides lived long enough into the age of camcorders because even though they're not HD quality they still are good enough to make the memories endure.
@@epaddon You summed it all up perfectly and the latest thing they're doing right now is turning Fort Wilderness into a homogenized DVC resort. Glad you liked the If You Had Wings attraction and thanks for posting the video. I actually worked for Eastern Airlines out of Logan Airport in Boston as a ramp agent from 1988 until the end of 1990 right before they closed operations forever. That was my first real job I had right out of high school and got a couple of free flights to Orlando as a benefit, oh how I miss those days!!
The music back then was so warm and comforting.
Brings back such great memories of a happier and simpler time.
Indeed it does.
I first went there in 1972. Space Mountain wasnt even finished yet. But this ride with the Jamaican cop directing traffic and the end where the wind blows and makes you feel like your going fast is my best memory of old disney
It's a Bahamian cop!
@@streamverseai Who knows it may well have been, since he did do a movie for Disney in this era! ("The World's Greatest Athlete")
I worked this ride, as a 3rd lead back in 1975.Thanks for posting.
My earliest, fondest memories of WDW is this ride!
I loved that Ride and I still love the Song!
Same! Loved this ride.
Same here
I too had such fond memories of this ride, I was so disappointed to see it go.
Yes! I was 5 on my second trip to Disney World (first trip I was under 2 yrs old and remember nothing) and this ride always stuck with me. Loved it!
This is cracking me up thinking of how often people get disappointed these days when a ride is just screens 🤣 not a new concept, and a well done screen ride can be fun.
I think the difference is this ride isn't like a modern ride where you're looking at one giant screen in each room essentially. It had sets and everything else they use smaller screens within it Maybe the substitute for animatronics. The ending projections all over the ceiling and the walls are just cool. If a modern ride did that again with the 180° screen all around you I'm all for that.
@@michaelhoffman4470 I agree!
When I went in 76 they still used tickets. This ride didn’t cost any tickets so I rode it a LOT
Yes! It was a freebie! I was only 4 and while I was too scared to go on Haunted Mansion, my mom would take me through a few times while we waited for Dad and my brothers. I still sing it today!
Same here! Why wait in line, when no other ride could blow your mind like this one!
I miss this ride SO much! I think it was almost a poor-man's Soarin'!
It took me 10 years to get that out of my head “If you had wings had wings had wings” and tonight it returned lol. Also, “Please step left into the Rotunda - Thank you” ( Hall of Presidents). GREAT SHARE !!!! Great memories.
We use to go on this ride to rest and cool off. We road it several times whenever we went to Disney World, which was often because we lived about an hour from it. Thanks for sharing this.
My first favorite ride at WDW. To be young again and ride it one more time.....
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sharing this! As a young kid who was fortunate enough to frequent WDW annually in the 70’s, I love all this nostalgia! Thank you for bringing some joy into this 50 year old’s heart! 🍻
You're welcome! That was a great time to visit WDW. I wish that version was still around today.
@@epaddon Yes definitely! I look back fondly at the 70’s and 80’s as the height of dark ride excellence. Peter Pan’s Flight and Mister Toad’s Wild Ride are other good examples of high quality imagineering along with every future world dark ride at EPCOT. Universe of Energy blew my mind with those giant trackless vehicles. Only recently with Ratatouille, Rise of the Resistance, and Runaway Railway are we seeing worthy implementation of the U of E trackless technology along with improved visual surroundings to see a resurgence in high quality dark rides. I hope to one day get to enjoy them in person, but for now am grateful that others post videos that allow folks like me to ride along! Cheers!
I cannot believe the rush of memories I felt when I watched this. It’s truly beautiful ty so much!
I remember going in the late seventies, this was one of the rides that you could get on fairly quick to cool down and it was relaxing.
YES! When it was REALLY hot outside, we'd make a beeline to this ride and it felt SOOOO good!!
Nicely done! My mom worked for Eastern from 1963 until their closure in 1991 and this was always one of my favorite rides at WDW as a result. I was at WDW two months ago with my wife and kids and my parents to celebrate their 50th anniversary and while walking through Tomorrowland, you can hear a synthesizer version of "If You Had Wings" play on the audio loop they play. So awesome!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing your memories of the ride! I remember so well Eastern's identification as the "official airline of Walt Disney World" in those days.
I just read an article that Eastern Airlines is going back into buisness. With the hub at JFK, and 777 service to the Caribbean,and Asia
@@pip12111 ugh, don't get me started on that. It's a company called Dynamic using Eastern's name and intellectual property, except they're going in a whole different direction with new logos, branding, etc. and may as well leave the Eastern IP alone.
Are you freaking kidding me!!!??? That is so awesome
My favorite. And it was free!!!
I loved this ride! Back in the 70s when you purchased a ticket book for rides (hence the name E-Ticket ride) this ride was free. And it was good! Thank you for posting.
Whoever filmed this...thank you for not moving the camera all over the place.
I remember riding this with my grandma. She loved it. I miss her so much ❤
Great to hear the theme music again fond memories what a pity it has gone
From a time when most of us didn't get to travel to exotic places, this ride was so enchating and a true "Flight of Fancy." I miss it, like some of you one of my earlier WDW memories.
Love this ride!!!
Sad it's gone.
Thank you so, so much for editing and posting this. I came upon it totally by accident and my mind was completely blown with the sounds and sights. I had memories of this attraction in my brain, but they were dormant and I would have never thought of them again, without viewing this magnificent tribute. My Mom worked at WDW for a decade. 1971-1981. She would take me and my friends to work with her, sign us in at the main gate and then meet us after work and we would go straight back into the part. She had Disney in her heart & soul since she was a child. Cheers and thanks again for your fine work and the original sources for their archival footage and memoralizing these precious memories.
Thanks for your kind comments! That was a special era of WDW history. I'm so glad that these video tributes can help keep our memories of them fresh in our minds instead of going dormant, as you say.
Thank you so very much for this video! 🥰 I visited WDW in 1975 and again in the early 80s as a very young child and this ride was THE ride that had the most impact on my memories and love of WDW! Sadly, no other WDW ride has affected me the same way! 🥳💜❤️🎉🥰
I used to love this one. The part where it was going super fast thru the various scenarios was the best part. And it was free no ticket 🎫 required.
Loved this ride and still remember it as being the only one we didn't have to use any tickets out of the book for. And remember my dad using the travel agency at the exit to book the business trip he had to make following our Dismey stay.
It would have been great if Disney kept this ride with the Eastern airlines advertising since the company doesn't exist anymore people would love the nostalgia.
Now I know why there are many firm believers in nostalgia being a virtue instead of just being treated like one.
The Delta Airlines version sucked!😮
My favorite childhood memories are in this attraction.
This was absolutely one of my all-time favorite rides! Thank you SO much for putting this together...what memories!! :)
Us, too!!! We went in 1975 on our honeymoon and rode this so many times. We could sing that song in our heads forever. So thankful to RUclips for letting us relive it😍
Same! I absolutely loved it! I can't believe I'm watching this in 2020, and remember the details of this ride. I really miss it.
Loved it! Step in from the hot sun into cool AC, no line usually, and so much fun
OMG , I remember this. I still sing this song now and then. Lol
We vacationed there quite a bit as I was growing up in the '70s and '80s. Watching this really took me back - there was so much I'd forgotten! Thank you for putting this together!
I remember riding this with my parents ❤. Brings back memories thank you for this
First went to WDW when I was 8 in 1975 and they had the tickets for rides. I loved Tomorrowland because this and the WEDway People Mover were free and I just rode them over and over - the lines were not long, either. Eastern: The Wings of Man.
Why do I feel like we will never going to be this happy again? Feels like US theme parks will never go back to this happy mood like we used to have.
I feel the same way 😢
You just got older, that’s what happened.
Because there's more people in the world and they're visiting in droves. Used to be there were certain months to avoid Disney. Now its year round
1978 I remember this like I was on it yesterday lol I would be 15 not 60 lol. Now parts of this attraction reminds me of other attractions now. A little bit of soaring in this old attraction.
Thank you for taking the time to post this and allowing me to go down memory lane. Your efforts are appreciated.
I’ve had this song stuck in my mind since ‘79, the first time my parents took me to WDW.
This was the first ride on my first visit (of many and many, even worked there for a time) to WDW. This ride will always hold a special place in my heart. Ah the sweet memories!
Remember this ride well although 40 years ago. Such great memories
I was two in 1974 when I first rode this. It was always my favorite. The air blowing in your face in the speed room. And I loved that you could see the ride from up above on the People Mover. That was formative!
When you ran out of tickets... I would go on it over and over again the fact that it was free and fun.
I loved that ride! I miss it and Horizons!
Thank you so much for this! I still remember this ride from my first visit-at the age of 7- to the Magic Kingdom, in 1984. The fact that I enjoyed what's basically a very expensive commercial for Eastern Airlines, rather than a Disney-produced e-ticket attraction like The Haunted Mansion, has been a family in-joke ever since. I can't believe I still remember that song! "If youuuu had wings, had wings, had wings...", I was singing it even before I clicked the "play" button.
if this were around today, the flight attendant would come over and advise you to shut everything off for takeoff and then you'd get in a fistfight with a dumpy, angry, maskless insurance salesman from jacksonville
My first glimpse of the big blue people mover seats was immediately etched into my brain as a child. And the birds. And the wind machines. Possibly my first Disney ride experience.
Thank you for finding this treasure and posting it! What a great memory! I haven't seen that ride or heard that song since 1973. It was my favorite ride!
I just wanted to say Thank You for the memories. My Mother Loved this ride and every time we went to Disney World she would take us on this ride. 👍👍👍👍.
This brings me back to my first (of many) visits to Disney World in the early years, and I remember how much my grandfather loved this ride... thank you for this and bringing back some awesome memories!!!
Salivating these ole attractions! It was so nice to take a load off your feet back then on a hot & busy day! The C virus brought me here, Don't take anything for granted
I remember this ride, and it was one of my favorite! I also miss Maelstrom in Epcot, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Magic Kingdom’s Skyway, Ft Wilderness River Ranch, and now Splash Mountain. All those were great memories!
I loved this ride...one of my favorites! I wish they could bring it back with the same speed, but with a more updated content. Tomorrow Land could another ride like this!
Thank you! One of my favorite rides!
Awesome Job, I'm 19 so I'm to young to have ever ridden this ride. But I have basically grown up with the extinct version of Disney that my parents remember when they were kids.
Loved this, one of my favorites
I went as a child in 1972 and flew Eastern Airlines down there. The tie-in with the ride made me a fan of Eastern.
That cool gush of air when you took off!
One of my favorite rides, I drove my parents crazy taking this over and over again
I always wondered what this ride was like. Thank you for sharing this!
I think of all that is gone from WDW I truly miss this ride most of all. It was so much fun and so simple and sweet.
All time favorite ride. I think part of the reason is that it was the first time being on such a fully immersive ride
I forgot the name of this ride,but we rode it all the time!!. God!..I remember that song,those birds!..
Every time I went I got the little plane pin they hand out at the end!!!!!
We got on that every year we went in the late 70’s and early 80’s
Katie Law 50
When we went to WDW, the first ride we went on every year was “If you had Wings.”
Thanks for the memories! Loved this ride and Eastern Airlines!
I loved this ride
Wow- rode this as a kid with my parents & practically forgot about it, all the humorous(by today's technology standards) imagery slowing coming back to me. Gotta love the Jamaica street traffic cop directing flamingos & cars.
I was there in 1982 when I was 9. I had clear memories of the films inside but I couldn't remember the name of this attraction. I knew Eastern Airlines. Good to see rhis video now I'm 52🥹
What memories. Thank you for sharing this.
My very first ride in Disney World was "If you could fly" in 1987 - a different song and different sponsor but mostly the same! Thanks for sharing - I still think of it.
Thanks for sharing this and bringing back memories of one of my favorite rides way back in the way back. That song was an immediate earworm and the mirrored room gave you an amazingly submersive experience. Great fun.
Sadly any ride without a character tie in and merchandise sale potential has no place in Disney now. Everything is about bright neon painted spinning figures that are for sale in the gift shop. Sad.
Well... it had promotional items tied in, there was Eastern Airlines merch for sale back in those days at Disney. And nothing in the 70s was bright, it was all dull beige and brown, a roll back from the psychedelic 60's...
To assume Disney NOW has interest in character tie-ins is pretty ignorant.. fucking MICKEY MOUSE????
This whole ride was literally one long commercial that Eastern Airlines paid for lmao
When we took our daughter in 2000 it seemed that every ride ended in a gift shop. They didn't do that back in the 70's
The only 2 that is still here without a character tie in that you can think of is Mission Space and Test Teack
A sponsorship tie in isn't quite what I was talking about jackoff.
I had to have ridden this and the Medway People Mover 100x ! Screw space mountain! Thanx 4 the awesome memory!
The flamingos with the traffic cop! 😂 I forgot about them. What a great ride (except for the part about singing that song for the rest of the day 😉).
Best ride to cool down and relax,where the old lady,gave you an Old Fashion
Memories of a simpler time. It was wonderful.
I went to Disney World the year it opened and this is the ride I remember the most. At one point it felt like we were racing and I remember looking down and seeing that the ride was barely moving - it was all manipulated by the videos and fans to make it feel that we were racing.
LOVED this ride. Simple - visual - cool. I actually did get to do Dunn's River Falls. (its in Jamaica).
The very first attraction I visited on my very first visit to Disney World in 1972! No ticket was needed and Tomorrowland wasn't even really "finished" yet, but it left an indelible impression on me.
Love ❤️ this
Look at the lack of lines - I miss the days of little lines
Indeed there were only a few times a year that you'd see little lines at Disney, nowadays I don't think there are hardly any slow times.
I mean to be fair, this ride was never popular, even on busy days it almost never exceeded a 15 minute wait
The whole ride was put together in less than a year,for a then-largely empty Tomorrowland....Space Mountain and the Peoplemover had not yet opened...it had no animatronics or real special effects,and had nothing to do with the future. It was basically a ride-through commercial for Eastern Airlines.
.....and don't think that I wouldn't jump at the chance to ride it again.
This makes me feel so old.
I rode this repeatedly back in the 70's. That's when you didn't have to pay $45 to get to the front of the line. When we returned to Disney, it was one of the rides I ran for.
And now, I look at it. And it's crap.
Don't get me wrong. The nostalgia is there. But imagine if you showed up today at Disney and this was their big new attraction.
I miss those days.
My parents love this ride
Remember this from 1979, thank you
"If youuuuu had wiiiiings..." Love it!
I remembered being freaked out by one of the last projector rooms (the mountains projection) back in 1980. I thought the drop off to the left and right of us might have been as sheer as the mountains were. The ride track is probably only a few feet above the floor, in reality, but it seemed cavernous in the dark. Thinking back, I'm pretty certain that I've ridden every incarnation of this ride, including the temporary change to Dreamflight back in 1996 before the conversion to Buzz Lightyear.
That experience when you passed from the Speed Room to the Mirror Room always created a false sensation that you'd just dropped and were free-falling and then as you say the mountain projections also added to the illusion (plus I recall how the air conditioner was even cooler in the Mirror Room to accompany the mountain visuals).
Yes I remember this ride I would have been for maybe five years old maybe six when I wrote it I did not realize this would be the last time I would write it for it would be several years later before I would visit Disney again as a teenager and then after that I have not been back cents for now I live in Ohio but I remember this ride and I remember Disney of the old days this is win Disney was great not it probably isn’t now but this was a fun time of Disney what memories
My sister & I still sing s this song' ' if you had wings, had wings, had wings' 🎶
Never knew they had an exit version of the song at 6:53. Most POVs end right at that spot or maybe it was removed later on.
No, the exit version with the chorus "You Do Have Wings" in the same arrangement as the initial loading area was always in the ride and would still play through the speakers all the way out through the exit past the Eastern rep ticket counter with the model plane (the last couple years there was no longer an Eastern person there). We've only found one recording that continues to a point where you can hear part of the Exit Music chorus since its inexplicably missing in the one imperfect set of archival cues from the ride that have surfaced (The set from Jack Wagner's files which isn't from the clean archival copies, of which we only have the New Orleans Jazz cue)
@epaddon YOU ARE AWESOME!! Thank you!! We stayed at Ft. Wilderness in Disney World every Summer since I was in 5th grade (1976!). I can't even guess how many times we rode the "If You Had Wings" ("Free" lol) ride. There was awesome air-conditioning throughout that crazy, funny ride...and we'd ride on it for a quick rest & cool-down from the hot July temps. (Later, my husband & I continued doing my annual childhood Summer trips to Disney). Anyway, my husband & I were JUST talking about this ride early this morning, and I said, "Do you think I can find it on RUclips?" AND HERE IT IS!! Thank you SO MUCH!! 😊 It made me ❤ miss my mom, who loved the part of this ride where the policeman is directing traffic: from the left it's crazy, busy people & then from the right, it's flamingos! 😆 🤣 That always made my mom laugh... Thanks for posting this entire attraction! You made our day! ❤😊❤
P.S. I was so disappointed when they ended this attraction... 😢
This was low-tech AF by Disney park standards, but it's still my favorite. I miss it so much!
When I would ride this as a little kid i was trying to understand how it went so fast when we got to the (fast room) racing cars etc. I was scared that it was going to go fast again when we were to exit. My friend finally explained that it goes the same speed at all times and that it just seems like we are going fast.
Better than that Buzz Lightyear ride that even kids find lame and cheap