Eastern Airlines 1 Eastern Airlines 2

When Walt Disney World opened in 1971 Eastern Airlines was “The Official Airline of Walt Disney World”.   Eastern Airlines sponsored the first attraction I ever experienced at Disney, If You Had Wings.   In the days of ride tickets, this ride was free and didn’t require a ticket, thus I can’t even count how many times my sister, brother, and I experienced it.    If You Had Wings took you on trip to experience some of the travel destinations in the Caribbean serviced by Eastern Airlines.    It even included the infectious song that I’ve included below.

In the mid 80’s Eastern Airlines began to have troubles and dropped the sponsorship and lost the tagline as well.    Disney renamed the ride “If You Could Fly” and removed all the references to Eastern Airlines.

In 1989 “If You Could Fly” closed permanently and Disney gained a new sponsor, Delta.   With the sponsorship Delta became “The Official Airline of Walt Disney World” and updated the ride system to become Delta Dreamflight.   Dreamflight was the same ride system with new scenery and music.   Delta’s dropped their sponsorship and lost the use of the tagline in 1996.   This would also be the last company to use the tagline “The Official Airline of Walt Disney World”.

Disney reopened the attraction as Disney’s Take Flight, which only lasted a couple years before Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin moved in.

So today there is no  “The Official Airline of Walt Disney World”, but there are a couple airlines that have some relationship.   One of these is WestJet in Canada.   We will be flying WestJet this summer as we head to Alaska on the Disney Cruise Line.   WestJet has one plane with an amazing Disney inspired paint job.   Check out the video below of the painting process and finished product.  What a magically beautiful plane, would be amazing to see someday.


What airline do you use when you travel to Disney?

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