A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Walk Around the Magic Kingdom Bricks

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

MAGIC KINGDOM BRICKS

By Jim Korkis

In 2019, work began on removing the hexagonal bricks in the pavement at the Magic Kingdom entrance. Reasons included reconfiguring of walkways and tram loading and unloading zones, along with enhancements to security screening. The bricks were torn up, crushed, and recycled.

Those bricks were part of what was called the “Walk Around the World” that was originally meant to encircle the Seven Seas Lagoon. Originally, starting in 1994, guests could purchase a brick for two hundred and fifty dollars and have their name or some type of memory like a wedding anniversary date, birth of a child or first visit engraved on it.

(c) Disney

There was the option of two to three lines of text (sixteen characters per line) and an image. Originally, the image was just a sideway silhouette of Mickey Mouse’s head (with the year inside it), but other images like wedding bells were later offered. Generally, most people just included their name, hometown and sometimes year.

The concept of personalized commemorative bricks right there in front of the Magic Kingdom was tremendously appealing even for those people like me who had very limited income at the time.

In those early years, I was able to get two bricks. One was at the entrance in front of the kiosks with just my family name and the date on it, and the other was by the pathway to the side of the monorail by a tree that had my name, the names of my parents, and the date of our arrival in Orlando from California.

While few guests read the fine print, Walt Disney World only guaranteed that once installed, the brick would remain for a minimum of ten years. The last bricks were sold in 2001 so by 2011 the guarantee had been more than satisfied.

One of the reasons for no longer selling bricks despite there being much more room available was to encourage guests to instead purchase a tile on the “Leave a Legacy” monolith garden at Epcot in front of Spaceship Earth that began in 1999 and were not initially selling well at all. That program ended in 2007 and those tiles have since been removed as well.

In addition, the contract specified that even though you paid for the brick and for installation, you did not actually own the physical brick. If it got broken or worn down, WDW would replace it with a blank brick.

The method for installing the bricks made it impractical to remove them individually without significant damage, but primarily logistics, timing and cost were major factors in not retrieving the original bricks.

Walt Disney World offered guests who purchased a brick a limited chance to buy a smaller six inch replica souvenir of it. Guests had to verify their brick at Guest Relations at Disney Springs or City Hall at the Magic Kingdom.

Guest Relations no longer had a complete list of the bricks, their inscription, or their location. When the original paver bricks were first offered for sale, there was a kiosk in front of the Magic Kingdom entrance where a guest could locate their brick and be given a map.

When a person purchased a brick, they were given a certificate with a code. For instance, a “W” indicated the brick would be west of the Magic Kingdom heading on the walkway towards the Grand Floridian. An “E” indicated the east side and “C” the Contemporary.

There were two numbers (also at the bottom of the brick) like “E16” to assist in locating it although the bricks were not always installed in order.

Currently there aren’t really any opportunities that allow guests to “be a part of the magic” by having their name or likeness displayed in or near the parks.

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Thanks, Jim!  And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Vault of Walt Volume 9: Halloween Edition, and Hidden Treasures of the Disney Cruise Line.

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