Memories of Epcot's Grand Opening

Early in the summer of 1982, while I was beginning the project of restoring and painting the exterior of the old home I was living in off campus, I received a letter with the following logo on the envelope:

I had just finished my third year at the University of Southern California, and I was set to serve for my second year as the Tuba Section Leader of "The Spirit of Troy," the Trojan Marching Band:

Much to my surprise and delight, I had been selected by our band director, Dr. Arthur C. Bartner, to be one of the representatives of USC for a special band being formed for the Grand Opening of Disney's EPCOT CENTER that Fall. Here's the letter I received, dated June 3:

Dr. Bartner had been leading the All American College Marching Band each summer at Disneyland, which was a small ensemble of elite college players (and I had toyed with throwing my hat in the ring for that gig at one point as well), but this version was going to be colossal. Here's the follow up letter I received at the end of July, providing more details:

The 450-piece EPCOT ALL AMERICAN COLLEGE MARCHING BAND was, for some reason, limited to brass and percussion, and included 76 trombones (of course!) and 47 Sousaphones. 

Concerning the latter, we tuba players received follow up correspondence from Disney asking us initially to locate and bring with us a white fiberglass Sousaphone, as that was the look they desired for the section. However, many of us struggled to find one, so they eventually asked us just to bring whatever horn we had access to. But, shortly after that concession, we received word that 47 squeaky-clean Conn 36K's would be waiting for us when we arrived in Orlando (perhaps provided by Conn?). That certainly made travelling easier!

(And speaking of "sqeaky-clean," that pretty much sums up the "Disney Look" that we were all required to conform to in our personal grooming and presentation, as mentioned in that second letter above!)

Here's the best shot I took that shows us with the horns provided by Disney:

This was taken during one of our practices up on the roof of one of the CommuniCore buildings, which were mirror-images of each other, in the middle of Future World (that building, I just learned, is being razed at this very moment, to make way for something new). This is where the Grand Opening Dedication Ceremony would take place on Sunday, October 24 - not the roofs, of course, but the plaza between those two buildings - as the beautiful, over-sized program explained:

Our "Grand Entrance," as it is noted above, was truly "Grand," as we were positioned way back, out of sight, on top of those buildings, and then, on cue, we marched forward, in long lines, to the very edge of the roof, surrounding the dignitaries seated in the plaza below. It was quite impressive - but also quite difficult to play together, spread out that much!

Here are a few more of the photos I was able to take during our practices:

(Make note of how the Horizons building in the background is still under construction! A number of the EPCOT structures had not been completed prior to the Grand Opening.)

One of the great pleasures of this experience was getting to know top-notch players from so many other great universities - including one of USC's most bitter rivals, UCLA!

When that Grand Opening Dedication day finally arrived, the weather was nice, but a bit on the cold side. And while I have audio recordings of a few of the pieces we played, which we band members were given by Disney on cassette tapes (remember those?!), I have not been able to find any online video of that day's events that shows the EPCOT ALL AMERICAN COLLEGE MARCHING BAND. I'm assuming Disney recorded us, but I guess it's tucked away in their mythical "vault" somewhere (click here for some of what went on that morning).

But here's the one photo I know of, shared by our band director, Dr. Bartner (and also at the top of this post), that shows a portion of the band that Sunday morning. Note not only the line of Sousaphones on the far building (I'm in there somewhere), but also the cape of one of my fellow-Trojans in the foreground. We each wore the uniform from our respective bands, while also wearing a pull-over white-with-gold-trim vest, as well as a white hat, provided by Disney. But my colleague (and perhaps me too - I don't recall) chose to let his cape fly free over the back of his vest. Trojan swagger, for sure!

Our week-long intensive practices, held both at EPCOT and in the ballroom of our hotel in Orlando, involved not only preparing for the event above, but also for a special event the evening prior, marking the Official Opening of EPCOT's World Showcase. Here are portions of the brochure for that day:

Unfortunately, it rained much of that evening, but we still pulled off a great program. It began with marching around the World Showcase, along the Promenade, starting at "The American Adventure" pavilion. We had practiced earlier that day (I think it was), during which I was able to take at least one photograph while we waited around (you can see Italy in the background):

While marching on the Promenade, along the World Showcase Lagoon, we played the "World Showcase March," written by legendary Disney songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman (I was surprised to discover that there is no way to hear that march online, until now - I posted my copy, from an old cassette tape, given to each of us band members by Disney at the end of our time in the band. UPDATE: I was just made aware of the version with lyrics, apparently titled, "No Place Like World Showcase.").

Once we reached the Showcase Plaza, we were joined by the West Point Glee Club for a rousing concert which included a special music medley and a really fun version of Yankee Doodle. The men of West Point really enjoyed the latter, as I recall, and the off-and-on rain didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits!

A brief part of that wet evening was included in a special television show, EPCOT Center: The Opening Celebration, featuring Hollywood legend Danny Kaye and a very young Drew Barrymore, who had recently starred in the movie E.T. That program is available online, and you can see us doing our part at the very end, at around 47:20 (and you can hear Danny complaining about the rain right at the beginning!). We concluded that event with a stirring rendition of This is My Country.

While our week in Orlando was a busy one, with lots of hard work, we were treated to part of a day at the Magic Kingdom. Here is my hotel-mate, from the University of Kansas (whose name, sadly, escapes me all these years later - perhaps Jeff?), as we enjoyed that time:

Notice the polo shirt he is wearing. I wore mine out eventually, but before tossing it, I cut out the embroidered logo and saved it:

And, of course, we enjoyed hotel living and free meals all week (I'm not sure why I kept this, but it made me smile when I found it!):

One of my favorite memories came, I think, right at the end, where Disney threw the entire band a private party at River Country, where they had the wonderful musical groups from all of the Disney parks join us to provide the entertainment. Plus, there was great food everywhere, and the water park was all ours to enjoy. It was quite an evening!

Shortly after that magical week, back in the swing of the Fall semester and football season (I would have missed our 38-0 blowout of Oregon State at the Coliseum on Oct. 23!), we each received the following thank you note from producer Bob Jani: