Amtrak's 50th and WDW's 50th anniversary

[coventry801]

I was wondering if Amtrak's 50th and WDW's 50th anniversary being at the same year was a coincidence, given Walt Disney was a big fan of railways.

Would like to share my respect as a fan of both worlds as well. Words were saying If Walt did not go well with animation industry at early stage, he might be getting into rail industry and eventually take over Amtrak.

Jokes aside. I know WDW would have special fireworks, parades and soundtracks for sure. I'm curious to know if there is any official event hold by Amtrak. If not, I probably would just book Silver trains to Disney World later this year as a celebration of both.

 

[Cal]

Amtrak had a good sale for their 50th anniversary weekend, that's it. Nothing special on trains that I could see.

 

[user 1215]

I preferred both companies 25 years ago over today.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

They probably would have had something, besides the news event in Philly with President Biden, if COVID-19 wasn’t still an issue.

Maybe they’ll plan something for later this year, or a 51st anniversary celebration next May.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I preferred both companies 25 years ago over today.

Just 8 years ago I took Amtrak from Disneyland to Disney World by way of nyc. The Starlight, Empire Builder, and Lake Shore all had complimentary wine tastings. The menus were quite good for all 3 meals on all of the trains. The Starlight and Builder both had the nice cloth amenity kits and “real” china and glassware.

Disney has fallen quite a bit a as well but I won’t go into as many details since this is Amtrak.

 

[trainman74]

I was wondering if Amtrak's 50th and WDW's 50th anniversary being at the same year was a coincidence, given Walt Disney was a big fan of railways.

It was definitely a coincidence -- WDW was already in the planning/land acquisition stages long before the federal government started planning the concept that eventually became known as Amtrak. (For that matter, WDW was well into construction before Amtrak was officially signed into law in 1970.)

Of course, Walt Disney didn't live to see Amtrak, so we don't know what he would have thought of it. I suspect he was fine with it as long as they kept bringing people to visit Anaheim (and Orlando).

 

[jiml]

I'm having a flashback to the many years we took our kids to Disney World on March break - mostly on Amtrak. The train trip was just as important as the destination. The one year we flew there was disappointment all around. No question that neither organization is the same as they were in the '90's.

 

[Oreius]

I’m booked on the Star for 9/28 to Kissimmee. I’ll be at The Magic Kingdom on 10/1/21–exactly 50 years after WDW opened!