Why do the Disneyland Railroad announcements call the park Magic Kingdom?

[hodad]

The last time I rode the train, a few weeks ago, I noticed that the voice recording on the train mentioned its circumnavigation of the Magic Kingdom. What's going on here?

 

[OlliePop27]

Because it's Walt Disney's Original Magic Kingdom a/k/a Disneyland.

 

[hodad]

Has that always been the park's name? Or is it retroactive after the Orlando park was built? Has Magic Kingdom always been capitalized? #SoMuchToLearn

 

[BrianL]

Walt referred to it as a "magic Kingdom" very early on, but that was never it's name. It was always Disneyland. The name Magic Kingdom was chosen for the Florida version since they intended to build so much more there as part of Walt Disney World.

 

[Malcon10t]

Back in the 60's and early 70s, it was called the Magic Kingdom. I belonged to the Magic Kingdom Club as a child and young adult. It was started in 1957. It was called The Magic Kingdom in the 50s and 60s... http://www.yesterland.com/mkc.html

 

[StormyCA]

I remember it being called the Magic Kingdom as a nickname as far back as the early '60s when I was a young child. It was sort of phased out as an 'official' nickname once the Magic Kingdom in Florida opened.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

It was never the official name, but as others have said, it's been referred to that way for years. Despite knowing that, it is a bit of a pet-peeve of mine. It feels like a reference to Florida even though the term pre-dates Florida.

 

[Iceman93]

It's funny--when I moved to LA in 2007 I heard this on the train, and on the monorail ("Here in Walt Disney's original Magic Kingdom...") and (given I was originally a WDW child) it struck me as petty and smacking of jealousy. But as my time in California grew longer, and I began to appreciate the uniqueness of DL more and more, it no longer bothered me. In fact, I kind of like thinking of DL as "Walt's original magic kingdom" and the original Florida park as "the Magic Kingdom built by Roy to honor Walt"). Neither is superior, they're just different. But they're both magic kingdoms in their own ways...

 

[Malcon10t]

From Disney...

"Magic Kingdom" was often used as an unofficial nickname for Disneyland before Walt Disney World was built. The official tagline for Disneyland is "The Happiest Place On Earth", while the tagline for Magic Kingdom is "The Most Magical Place On Earth". Up until the early 1990s, Magic Kingdom was officially known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, and was never printed without the Walt Disney World prefix. This purpose was to differentiate between the park and Disneyland in California, which was and is also commonly referred to as the Magic Kingdom. In 1994, to differentiate it from Disneyland, the park was officially renamed Magic Kingdom Park, but is still known as Magic Kingdom or sometimes The Magic Kingdom. Like all Disney theme parks, the official name of the park does not start with an article ("the"), though it is commonly referred to that way, and a sign on the railroad station at the front of the park reads "The Magic Kingdom".

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Disneyland has always been the Magic Kingdom to me. We used to call it that even before Walt Disney World was built, and then have always thought of the one in Florida as the WDW Magic Kingdom. Disneyland never lost the name "Magic Kingdom," but I can understand why someone growing up going to WDW MK would be confused at first.

 

[MagicalMicycles]

I still use it to differentiate between DCA and Disneyland. When someone says that they're going to Disneyland or are at Disneyland, it can be kind of hard to tell what they really mean. Disneyland now refers to the whole resort so I just like saying The Magic Kingdom to differentiate the park from the rest of the resort. I know the official name of the park is "Disneyland Park," but I'm not going to say that because it sounds tacky. Walt never wanted Disneyland to feel tacky. I only say the word "park" when referring to free local green spaces or baseball stadiums. It's just easier for me to say The Magic Kingdom. Plus, like everybody else said, it is the unofficial (kind of official) nickname.

 

[Malcon10t]

Here is a ticket book from 1962 I believe.

Intro page of book