If You Had Wings was an attraction at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

. It was a two-person Omnimover

dark ride A dark ride—or ghost train when horror themed—is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live spe ...

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world * Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium * ''Tom ...

in the

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park is a Amusement park, theme park at the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Expe ...

, sponsored by

Eastern Air Lines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

. It featured travel destinations throughout the

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and elsewhere, all of which were served by Eastern. It had an eponymous theme song by

Buddy Baker Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (January 25, 1941 – August 10, 2015) was an American professional stock car racing driver and commentator. Over the course of his 33-year racing career, he won 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 19 ...

Overview

Guests passed through a series of colorful theater-like sets with rear-projected short scenes of straw-hat markets, fishermen, limbo dancers, and steel drum bands. Locations featured various Eastern destinations, like

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Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

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Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, and

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. Then, the vehicles reclined into a room with projected snippets of flights taking off on an ovoid-shaped surface. Next, film of snow-covered mountains reflected on floor-to-ceiling mirrors. As guests disembarked to an area containing an

reservation desk, an agent stood ready to assist riders with travel arrangements. Diorama windows allowed the

, and

scenes to be visible from the WEDWay PeopleMover. In 1987, Eastern withdrew its sponsorship and the attraction closed on June 1 of that year. Eastern itself went out of business four years later.

Successors

After the closing of the original attraction, new attractions were created to inhabit the same space.

If You Could Fly

Disney removed all references to Eastern, changed the name of the ride to ''If You Could Fly'', and re-opened it on June 6, 1987. The sets and films were intact, but the theme music had been replaced. On January 4, 1989, ''If You Could Fly'' was permanently closed.

Delta Dreamflight

Soon after,

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

took over sponsorship and made plans to update and remodel the attraction. The replacement was '' Delta Dreamflight'', which made use of the same ride system and floor layout, but all-new scenery and music.

Take Flight

Delta dropped its sponsorship in June 1996. WDW removed all references to Delta and renamed the attraction ''Take Flight''. The ride lasted two years, closing in January 1998. Unlike the musical change from ''If You Had Wings'' to ''If You Could Fly'', ''Take Flight''s music was the same as ''Dreamflight''s except for minor alterations to the lyrics.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Disney now uses the space for the attraction Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, where riders can control the rotation of their vehicle via joysticks, and are armed with laser cannons to shoot at targets stationed throughout the attraction. Many of the elements in this attraction are similar to If You Had Wings, including the speed tunnel with the projections on the walls, and the loading and unloading areas. Buzz Lightyear sign above the door is in the shape of a cloud and was painted over after the attraction was renamed.

References

External links

* Fan site including photos of the attraction
Claude Coats
An official appreciation of the late Disney animator and Imagineer Claude Coats. * {{Disney rides Amusement rides introduced in 1972 Amusement rides introduced in 1987 Amusement rides that closed in 1987 Amusement rides that closed in 1989 Amusement rides manufactured by Arrow Dynamics Former Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions Omnimover attractions Magic Kingdom Dark rides Eastern Air Lines Tomorrowland (Disney Parks) 1989 disestablishments in Florida Aviation attractions Amusement rides using motion pictures 1972 establishments in Florida