The keys to the Magic Kingdom

Julie Andrews starred in a network TV special celebrating the opening of Disney World on Oct. 1, 1971. (Don Dale photo)

The TV hoopla last week about the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando reminded me of the opening of Florida's first theme park on Oct. 1, 1971.

The Harry Potter theme park publicity was not surprising. I saw much of it on the "Today" show on NBC, the network whose parent company, Universal -- surprise! -- also owns the Wizarding World. Keep in mind that "Today" is not about journalism. Come to think of it, most of TV news has little to do with journalism. But that's another matter.

My skirts, so to speak, are not so clean either. WTVR assigned me to the opening of Disney World in 1971 not because it was a story that deserved coverage in Richmond. No, it was a payoff to me from the news director. Disney and Eastern Airlines had partnered to offer news organizations a free trip to Florida for the opening. I had just finished covering a major court story that had involved a lot of overtime. To keep me happy, the station sent me on the trip: free plane tickets, free hotel at Disney World, free meals and drinks, and a lavish media preview featuring interviews with Disney star Julie Andrews ("Mary Poppins") and Roy Disney, Walt's brother, who ran the company after Walt's death in 1966.

Disney World's opening had been eagerly awaited for years. It was an open secret in the early 1960s that Walt Disney was looking east of the Mississippi to match the success of his Disneyland Park in California. By 1965, he had assembled 27,000 acres of what was mostly swampland near Orlando. He died before the swamp was drained.

The PR junket was the weekend before the public opening, a time when Julie Andrews was taping the final bits of a TV special. For me, it was a memorable vacation. The Disney company knew how to keep the media happy. The Disney secret: give them what they expect -- and more.

We wanted for nothing. I was put up in the luxurious Disney Contemporary Resort, just a short monorail ride from the Magic Kingdom. Lavish meals were provided along with briefings about the theme park and its backstage workings. (We took a tour of underground Disney World, where we found mammoth wardrobe shops, employee cafeterias, machines that made the park run and an extensive network of tunnels that allowed costumed characters to seamlessly appear in the right Magic Kingdom locations.)

Our Disney press passes were our tickets to whatever rides we wanted to try, and those same media credentials allowed us to shop free in Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. By that time I was in my late 20s, but I had been raised on "The Mickey Mouse Club," so I thoroughly enjoyed roaming the park with two other reporters from Richmond. At one point I ran out of film. The Disney PR rep found out and left five rolls of film in my room -- with a request that I let her know if I needed more.

The junket culminated with a ride on a paddle-wheel riverboat through the waters of Frontierland as guests of Julie Andrews and Roy Disney, complete with dinner, drinks and fireworks at dusk.

The Disney effort paid off. Every reporter I talked to filed gushing stories about the East Coast's new must-see vacation spot -- myself included.

I'm not sure how Universal handled its media relations for the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but it would have been hard to top what the Disney people did for the opening of the Magic Kingdom.

It's a long way to Orlando, but I was so taken by Disney World that I've been back three times. And on my own dime.