There is now the option to utilize a keyword search that looks through all the documents and maps in the Earchives. It has been a consistent request that I hope people will find useful. Every document added is processed to be fully OCR. Now you can look for any specific attractions, shows, shops and more!
Just click the “Search” option from the menu bar and enter the search terms!
So sorry about the delays lately on updating the site. Since Christmas I have been buried with getting prepared for a major certification renewal for work, and have been studying since then. But the test is now done (thank goodness) and I plan on getting back to updating and adding to the site.
The first priority has been taking some HTML/CSS coding classes over at One Month. I have wanted to get better skills for some time now. Although the main site here is WordPress, I have coded all the search and results pages by myself. Some might say that part was obvious (LOL)! I’m hoping to apply what I’ve learned about HTML/CSS to the site very soon. I have to say that I’ve been really impressed with the lessons at One Month. The HTML course really helped bring an overall organization to writing web pages that I lacked from my self-taught, piecemeal education about HTML. By the way, I’m not being induced or compensated by them in any way.
I will continue to post Earchive additions on Twitter in real-time, and you can check for new maps using the link on the right side of the page.
I will be resuming the additions to The Earchive starting today. I was gone for most of a week, attending Destination D: Attraction Rewind, then wanted to spend time with my family for Thanksgiving. Now, I’m really excited, recharged, and ready to get back to offering you all more pieces of Disney theme park history.
Speaking of history, Destination D: Attraction Rewind was an absolutely amazing experience! I can’t believe I had the opportunity to personally meet people like Bob Gurr, Marty Sklar and Tony Baxter. The presentations on the 1964 World’s Fair were really great, but I especially enjoyed the second day, where they talked about attractions at the theme parks, or in the case of Discovery Bay, lands and attractions never built. Thank you SO much to the D23 staff for putting on such a memorable event!
So you probably figured that a guy this obsessed with Disney theme park maps would probably have lots of other types of stuff in his collection, wouldn’t you?
Well, you’d be totally right! I have so many vacation guides, timetables, other maps, cast member education, even ride operating guides! I have always wanted to share these with everyone as well, but the maps seemed like a good place to start.
So starting right now, you can click on the newly added “Documents” menu item on the site to be taken to the online documents. There is also a counter on the right side of the home page as well, just like for the maps. As time goes on I will also add a “New Additions” link like the maps as well, so that you can just jump to the latest additions for the past 30 days. For now, they’re ALL added in the last 30 days….
I will be creating a similar search process for the items, like with the maps. For now it just shows everything, but that won’t be a problem until the online collection gets a bit bigger. Which it will–I literally have THOUSANDS of items that need to be scanned and added. And if you see an item duplicated, it’s not a mistake. The way the database is structured, I have to create a duplicate entries for items associated with multiple resorts. Once the results are categorized the duplicates won’t be visible.
If you’re still reading, first: thank you! Second: If you have anything in your personal collection, I would love to be able to offer it an online home. Contributors are properly acknowledged, and I can even create a link to your own site or blog if you have one. My ultimate goal is to create an online archive that offers a central place for people to look when doing research or just revisiting happy memories. I would love to have your help in making that a reality for everyone out there in Internet-land!
All maps now have their gallery images uploaded, so when you go to the details page it should work.
Please let me know if you find any that don’t work, or if they show the incorrect images for the maps. I checked them all (I think!) as I uploaded them but it’s possible I missed some.