An opening day attraction at Epcot, Magic Journeys is one of the only attractions to ever have a home in multiple locations of Walt Disney World property and the only attraction to have lived in more than one park on property.

Originally located in the theater attached to the Imagination pavilion, Magic Journeys was a 3-D film that looked at the world through the eyes of a child. Featuring a theme song composed by the Sherman brothers, the film featured children playing in a myriad of settings, moving from scene to scene by way of special 3-D effects.

In February of 1986, Magic Journeys closed to make way for a highly anticipated replacement, Captain EO.

In December 1987, Magic Journeys began it’s second life on WDW property, finding a new home in the Fantasyland Theater that once held the Mickey Mouse Revue.

Magic Journeys closed it’s doors for the last time at Walt Disney World in late 1993, making room for a new attraction, Legend of the Lion King.

Magic Journeys - Full Film - August 1991

10 comments

  1. Hi !!! My mom was actually apart of the cast for magic journeys! She was the girl in the yellow dress and she read your article and absolutely loved it!! She recalls the whole experience as something she’ll never forgets and was happy to know this forgotten part of Disney is being brought back to light so thank you !!

    1. That is so very special and such a wonderful “claim to fame!” Thanks for sharing it with us! We would love to hear any stories she has about the experience, and to add them to this page for others to enjoy! If she wouldn’t mind sharing, you can use the “Contact Us” link at the very bottom of the page to have her send them our way.

      1. Hope you receive this and it’s not outdated or passed by.

        As nostalgia sets in for anything Disney related, the question came up, ‘who were the kids in to he Magic Journeys’ short…just like historians traced who were kid actors and whatever became of them in films, I thoroughly enjoyed the kid actors- even just the main blond boy?

        Wondering the typical…like Willy Wonka cast…did they ever go on to be grown actors or appear in anything since?
        Many times not. But since this was an early memory from the 80’s, wonder who they were or why they were not credited, as I now have to dig to find the answer?

        Thank you so much.

  2. My mom was in this short film and she played the girl with the long hair in the yellow dress !! She recalls so many positive memories from working on this film!! She thanks you for bringing light to this forgotten part of Disney!!

  3. Believe it or not my best friend was the blonde little boy who starred in magic journeys he tells me that the reason why he won the role over 200 other children that showed up to audition was because he was the only child that knew how to ride a horse bareback his name is linden Todd cowden and he is from Merced California linden went on to become a championship rodeo roper I believe you won the world of championship in 1996 he appeared in a few other westerns but he mostly stuck to the rodeo circuit he tells me he had fond memories of making that Disney movie too

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