Fun Find Friday
June 14, 2013
Location: Fantasyland/Liberty Square, Magic Kingdom
The details found throughout the Disney parks are
amazing. Every little item helps tell the story of the land guests
are in. However, sometimes an object can be found in two different
lands which gives Imagineers a difficult task: how do you bridge
these two areas together? Today we are going to take a look at a
building which helps with the transition from Fantasyland to Liberty
Square!
While approaching Liberty Square from the edge of
Fantasyland guests can find the Liberty Tree Tavern on their left
hand side. While most guests would simply walk past the building not
even second guessing why a restaurant that has an entrance in
Liberty Square can be found in Fantasyland, we know that there is
more to the story than meets the eye. Let's start by taking a look
at the building from the Fantasyland side:

Here you will see unsuspecting guests passing right
by the little details that help tell our story. If you look at the
top left corner of this picture you will find the Liberty Tree
Tavern sign featuring a chicken clutching onto a fish. While the
sign seems pretty insignificant, there's more to it than meets the
eye. Keep in mind that while standing in Fantasyland guests are in a
medieval castle courtyard. With that in mind, you may recall that
the majority of people in this time period didn't know how to read.
Due to this, restaurants would create signs featuring pictures of
what was served inside; in this case, chicken and fish.
Now in order to travel from Europe in the 16th
century to America in the 18th century, guests need to travel
through both time and space, which is represented by the little
walkway up ahead. While walking through this walkway, you are
actually traveling through time (about two centuries worth) and
space (Europe to America). Unlike today, when people would travel
from one continent to another they couldn't simply go to the
airport, but they'd have to travel by boat. So while exiting
Fantasyland we are leaving from one harbor (The Columbia Harbour
House) and when we enter Liberty Square we are entering yet another
harbor (The Columbia Harbour House once again).
Due to education spreading over the two centuries we
have just traveled take a look at the sign for Columbia Harbour
House on the Liberty Square side. Here the main items on the menu
are written out instead of found in picture form! Not bad for two
centuries worth of travel!

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