Then and Now - WDW Comparison Photos

[French Quarter]

Im wearing Plaid Shorts as we speak.

The man has style, panache and dare I say, looking a tad debonaire.

You are plaid pants man, aren't you?! You just grew taller since then so now your dapper pants are dapper shorts.

Loving this thread, by the way. I am one of the few people, I'm sure, who finds the present-day version much nicer typically than the older version. (My exception would be the Poly resort. It looks fine now but it has certainly lost its lushness.)

 

[Goofyernmost]

You are plaid pants man, aren't you?! You just grew taller since then so now your dapper pants are dapper shorts.

Loving this thread, by the way. I am one of the few people, I'm sure, who finds the present-day version much nicer typically than the older version. (My exception would be the Poly resort. It looks fine now but it has certainly lost its lushness.)

And a ton of mildew! There's always a silver lining!

 

[SamN'Dean]

Fourteenth photo pair. Then Feb 2009: Downtown Disney West Side street view. Most notable feature is the top hat and magic wand on the building above the magic shop.

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Now: June 2015. Of course, some new paint schemes on the buildings, and the addition of the elevated high line.

View attachment 112662

I didn't realize that the lights strung across the walkway in West Side were gone- to make way for the "elevated tracks" to nowhere. Are they gone for good?

 

[Lynn Stephens]

Great thread. Back in 1983 I made my first visit as a 5 year old and I know I saw some of this...just cannot remember it. Thank you all for posting these pictures. It's amazing to see something you love and remember how amazing (and not so amazing) it was.

 

[WDWtraveler]

Fifteenth photo pair. Then: May 1974. Monorail view of the Polynesian Resort. The vegetation in the left background of this photo is small enough that the Ticket and Transportation Center is easily seen here. Note the large boat docked behind the long building. The foreground was one long white sand beach around the lake.

Now: July 2015. 41 years later. Some additional out buildings in the Polynesian Resort, as well as the new villas over the water. The beach in the foreground has many more palm trees. The wedding pavilion is just off to the left of the below photo.

 

[Timon]

Anyone else notice how nasty the lake water is these days. It used to be bluer and clearer. Ever since they started supplementing the lake water during dry season with canal water to bring up lake levels the lakes have gotten that brown Tannic look. This is sad because the lakes are engineered so the Tannic Acid from forest runoff doesn't go in the lakes but into the canals. Compare old pictures to today and you'll see the difference like more white sandy beaches and no weeds in the water.

I do love how the landscaping grew in. And the Poly buildings are more colorful now.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Anyone else notice how nasty the lake water is these days. It used to be bluer and clearer. Ever since they started supplementing the lake water during dry season with canal water to bring up lake levels the lakes have gotten that brown Tannic look. This is sad because the lakes are engineered so the Tannic Acid from forest runoff doesn't go in the lakes but into the canals. Compare old pictures to today and you'll see the difference like more white sandy beaches and no weeds in the water.

I do love how the landscaping grew in. And the Poly buildings are more colorful now.

Wasn't the lagoon always attached to the canals as one big system. I don't think anything is any different.

 

[French Quarter]

I love how the little palm tress are being held up straight with boards. So cute.

 

[Walter Elias Disney]

Thanks for the awesome memories!

 

[Timon]

Wasn't the lagoon always attached to the canals as one big system. I don't think anything is any different.

Bay Lake and 7Seas Lagoon empty over small water control damns in two locations. There are no inlets to the lakes except for the springs on the bottom of Bay Lake just north of the Contemporary before the Marina.

Disney used to use potable water to even up the lake level so the ferry boats and docks would work correctly. To save water from the Florida aquifer, pumps were installed to suck stagnant water from the canals up to the lakes.

Shortly after doing this, swimming in the lakes became verboten and the lakes clouded. The Amoebae which causes the brain killing disease, loves stagnant hot water like in the canals. And is blamed for the swimming ban. Hmmm.

There are alternatives where Tannic water can wash thru special filtering wetlands to clean the water but there is also a technology company called Crystal Lagoons that specializes in taking any miserable source of water and purifies it using their patented process. They could easily take canal water or recycled water clean it up use it for a hotel pool which then overflows into Bay Lake providing clean renewable water source to maintain the lakes. Maybe over time the lakes would clear again.

There website:
http://www.crystal-lagoons.com/

 

[Disney.Mike]

By the way, there is only one recorded incident of the yelling and honking of horns. 1 in how many millions visit the parks yearly. Hardly a basis of comparison. Incidentally I saw that lady on the scooter and yes, I might have turned around and taken the keys out and flung them into the crowd, but, she didn't run into anyone, she just annoyed them to the point of justifiable homicide.

If this happened over Christmas of 2012 it was probably my grandmother...

The one trip my family took her, I'm sure she ran over a couple hundred people a day
Our first day at the world, we had breakfast at the Crystal Palace. After eating, she ran her scooter down the curb and wrecked it on Main St. Another incident was at a gift shop in DHS near LMA. There was a Pole (collum...spellings?) in between 2 racks of goodied... two teenage girls were shopping at one rack (the right side of the pole was clear, but granny decided she wanted to take the left path where the girls were)... she laid on the scooter horn for a solid 10 seconds, when the kids looked at her confused, she started yelling profanities, turned hard right at full throttle, hit the poll, flipped her scooter, and knocked down the rack of items

Needless to say, I was very embarrassed and the family has not took her back

PS: thank God for the 5$ a day insurance the yellow scooter company offered...

 

[JourneysEnd]

If this happened over Christmas of 2012 it was probably my grandmother...

The one trip my family took her, I'm sure she ran over a couple hundred people a day
Our first day at the world, we had breakfast at the Crystal Palace. After eating, she ran her scooter down the curb and wrecked it on Main St. Another incident was at a gift shop in DHS near LMA. There was a Pole (collum...spellings?) in between 2 racks of goodied... two teenage girls were shopping at one rack (the right side of the pole was clear, but granny decided she wanted to take the left path where the girls were)... she laid on the scooter horn for a solid 10 seconds, when the kids looked at her confused, she started yelling profanities, turned hard right at full throttle, hit the poll, flipped her scooter, and knocked down the rack of items

Needless to say, I was very embarrassed and the family has not took her back

PS: thank God for the 5$ a day insurance the yellow scooter company offered...

I gotta ask, how old was she at the time?

 

[Disney.Mike]

I gotta ask, how old was she at the time?

Mid 60's... I cant blame this on any kind of aging issue. The woman has always been nuttier than a squirrel turd...
Her inability to drive is also not relegated to a scooter... The state of Alabama revoked her DL (for 1 year) because a State trooper was stopped at a red light... she rear ended him, got arrested constantly screaming "YOU DIDNT F****** SEE ME"...

All in all, she is a rather hateful woman (should have seen the way she treated the waiters at the Signature Dining places)...

Was a very embarrassing trip... my kids (2 and 5 at the time), me, teenage sister pre teen brother, mom and stepdad were almost scared to show ourselves at Disney again.

 

[Matt_Black]

Mid 60's... I cant blame this on any kind of aging issue. The woman has always been nuttier than a squirrel turd...
Her inability to drive is also not relegated to a scooter... The state of Alabama revoked her DL (for 1 year) because a State trooper was stopped at a red light... she rear ended him, got arrested constantly screaming "YOU DIDNT F****** SEE ME"...

All in all, she is a rather hateful woman (should have seen the way she treated the waiters at the Signature Dining places)...

Was a very embarrassing trip... my kids (2 and 5 at the time), me, teenage sister pre teen brother, mom and stepdad were almost scared to show ourselves at Disney again.

Sounds like one of those "treasured guests" we hear about....

 

[JourneysEnd]

Mid 60's... I cant blame this on any kind of aging issue. The woman has always been nuttier than a squirrel turd...
Her inability to drive is also not relegated to a scooter... The state of Alabama revoked her DL (for 1 year) because a State trooper was stopped at a red light... she rear ended him, got arrested constantly screaming "YOU DIDNT F****** SEE ME"...

All in all, she is a rather hateful woman (should have seen the way she treated the waiters at the Signature Dining places)...

Was a very embarrassing trip... my kids (2 and 5 at the time), me, teenage sister pre teen brother, mom and stepdad were almost scared to show ourselves at Disney again.

I'm sure it was a nightmare while happening, but it's funny now.

 

[LdyApxr]

Mid 60's... I cant blame this on any kind of aging issue. The woman has always been nuttier than a squirrel turd...
Her inability to drive is also not relegated to a scooter... The state of Alabama revoked her DL (for 1 year) because a State trooper was stopped at a red light... she rear ended him, got arrested constantly screaming "YOU DIDNT F****** SEE ME"...

All in all, she is a rather hateful woman (should have seen the way she treated the waiters at the Signature Dining places)...

Was a very embarrassing trip... my kids (2 and 5 at the time), me, teenage sister pre teen brother, mom and stepdad were almost scared to show ourselves at Disney again.

LOL! I was going to ask if she was still allowed to drive a car! I don't deal with hateful people, even if they are relatives. They can be hateful on their own at home. LOL

 

[Goofyernmost]

If this happened over Christmas of 2012 it was probably my grandmother...

The one trip my family took her, I'm sure she ran over a couple hundred people a day
Our first day at the world, we had breakfast at the Crystal Palace. After eating, she ran her scooter down the curb and wrecked it on Main St. Another incident was at a gift shop in DHS near LMA. There was a Pole (collum...spellings?) in between 2 racks of goodied... two teenage girls were shopping at one rack (the right side of the pole was clear, but granny decided she wanted to take the left path where the girls were)... she laid on the scooter horn for a solid 10 seconds, when the kids looked at her confused, she started yelling profanities, turned hard right at full throttle, hit the poll, flipped her scooter, and knocked down the rack of items

Needless to say, I was very embarrassed and the family has not took her back

PS: thank God for the 5$ a day insurance the yellow scooter company offered...

Could very well have been. I was there just before Christmas and I believe it was in 2012. Wouldn't that be a coincidence. I saw her going toward the exit in MK. Just laying on the horn of the scooter behind a veritable mob of people that had no place to go even if they wanted too. It was funny and sad all at the same time. Quite a piece of work.

 

[WDWtraveler]

Sixteenth photo pair. Then: May 1974. Jungle Cruise rhino.

Now: July 2015. Forty one years later...the deer on the slope in the background have moved on...and the men on the tree have changed clothes. A zebra and hyena have moved in for a closer look.

 

[matt9112]

1983 - World of Motion

2011 - Test Track

Photos from Future World Then and Now Part 1 - Yesterland. com

small tid bit i noticed is the pathway concrete. in modern times it looks like generic mismatched concrete in 83 is is all matching with nice border trim.

 

[matt9112]

I believe so

Here's some from Magic Kingdom

2009 - Fantasyland Skyway Station

2013 - Tangled Toilets

1983 - Haunted Mansion

2011 - Haunted Mansion

1983 - Pirates

2011 - Pirates

1983 - it's a small world

2011 - it's a small world

Photos from Magic King Then and Now Part 1&2, as well as The Magic Kingdom Skyway - Yesterland. com

so they really need to cut those trees down by mansion...i think i like the open exposed look better. wonder why the side signage was removed from pirates looks very helpful to non Disney nerds.