And it still exists in Anaheim and Tokyo.
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50 MAGICal Enhancements for the 50th ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
And it still exists in Anaheim and Tokyo.
I have thought about doing so and various points in the past and then realized it would be too much work. Every 27 months, I wind up finding an old operating schedule or brochure or press release and post about it and people are largely ... "yeah, it's interesting, but I gotta get my FP for Soarin and book a dinner at Le Cellier for six months from now" ... WDW has just become something barely recognizable today. No, it doesn't suck. Some of it is quite good. BUT ... it isn't what WDW was for almost 30 years.
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Now, that might be an E-Ticket worthy of the great DCA Legacy!
Lee is living a quiet life in seclusion in a place no one would ever find him. He's almost become a hermit. I tried to get him to join me in Tokyo, but ... and, much like what I have talked about here, he just doesn't have the passion he once did ... or the tolerance for some of the less enjoyable aspects of participating in an online community. But he may well return one of these days.
It has absolutely been talked about as one of a few plusses that could happen.
I don't have any strong feeling for that. He became an Internet thing because he was a blink and you missed him piece of Anaheim history. I get why he was added there. We don't have the same history with Hattie in FL.
What about 30?
Something I'd encourage the people who missed the boat on WDW of yore (who can't obviously wind back time) to help supplement their perspective is to check out some of the other parks. A visit to Tokyo can certainly help change your tune that things *can* be done better.
Hopefully you aren't tied to kids at 25 and can take advantage of the freedom to do so.
Honestly, I'm not sure you want an answer. ... I tend to view anyone under 35 as a kid today. Not simply because of my age, but because of the way society has perpetuated (in the USA ... and some of this is most definitely a result of our economy not being all it is cracked up to be ... and the huge student loan debt many students find themselves in) the 20-something child. I now see this with people in their early 30s as well.
I highly advise people to visit Tokyo (the city as well as the Disney resort). People need perspective and travel gives that. You don't get that living in rural Kentucky and driving the van down to WDW once or twice a year at all. But that is a subject best left for insulting people on the politics forum, so I'll just end it here.
180º
Well-Known Member
Man In Web would be more WDW-specific, but then again he doesn't have the cult following, the documentation, or even the proof of existence that HBG did. And even if he did, like you say, it's a different kind of audience in Florida.
Haymarket2008
Well-Known Member
@WDW1974 You mentioned a restaurant getting a revival of sorts/restoring a name used in the first decade of WDW. Would that be in reference to Tangaroa Terrace at the Poly? Also, apart from Guardians possibly taking over Energy, any large scale attractions planned for Future World in time for the 50th?
That isn't the one suggested to me, but it certainly is possible. Disney already brought back Top of the World, so it is possible.
Depends on what qualifies as large scale ...
I have to agree with 1974 on this one. To read about, see pictures, and watch video is still not the same as actually being somewhere and experiencing something. And I was a full grown adult when @WDW1974 was born, so he's still a bit of a young whipper-snapper in my eyes.
Nemo14
Well-Known Member
I prefer "Grammy"
Princess Leia
Well-Known Member
I think a hindrance to the overseas travel for people my age is the cost. I would love to go to the Tokyo parks, but I'm not sure it's in the plans for the next few years. However, I agree that the time to go is without small children (no one wants to travel across oceans with infants) or when they're quite a bit older.What about 30?
Something I'd encourage the people who missed the boat on WDW of yore (who can't obviously wind back time) to help supplement their perspective is to check out some of the other parks. A visit to Tokyo can certainly help change your tune that things *can* be done better.
Hopefully you aren't tied to kids at 25 and can take advantage of the freedom to do so.
Between a trip to Alaska to visit family this summer and a trip to Disney with friends around Thanksgiving, plus knowing that I'm going to have to start saving for my friend's Disney World wedding in a couple years, Tokyo is very much a distant dream for me.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
I'm somewhere between you and @WDW1974. Don't know if you'd consider me a young whipper-snapper too!I have to agree with 1974 on this one. To read about, see pictures, and watch video is still not the same as actually being somewhere and experiencing something. And I was a full grown adult when @WDW1974 was born, so he's still a bit of a young whipper-snapper in my eyes.
Part of what made WDW so special, especially in the 1970s, was the time. Between urban decay, Watergate, CIA revelations, the gas crisis, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Stagflation, and an endless stream of depressing news, it felt like the world was falling apart.
Unlike today, other amusement parks were skeevy places to visit. For someone from the Northeast, Disneyland was practically on the other side of the World.
When Walt Disney World opened, we finally had our own haven from the woes that so troubled us.
The old Disney was deeply committed to quality. When Epcot was in the works, executives were genuinely concerned about the quality of Cast Members, thinking they had already hired the best Florida had to offer.
In keeping with Walt's vision, shops were intended to be part of the entertainment, not sell the same generic merchandise found at local stores.
The commitment to quality was uncompromising. I've told the story of the chipped park bench my brother and friends found during one of our early trips. When we came back the next day, that chip had been repaired and the bench looked brand new.
I remember food being pretty bad though. I don't think that picked up until the 1990s.
Prices truly were much more affordable. After the opening of Epcot, a three-day theme park ticket cost today's equivalent of about $85. A tower room at the Contemporary could be booked for today's equivalent of around $200-250 per night depending on the season.
These were not cheap prices in the 1970s and 1980s; WDW was still the most expensive theme park in the United States. But these prices pale in comparison to today's WDW.
Although I am pleased to see WDW once again trending upward, it's got a long way to go before it will come close to its former glory.
rushtest4echo
Well-Known Member
Is there any park that hasn't become exponentially more crappy as time goes on for some of you? Everything's currently a travesty and hindsight makes it look oh so much better than it actually did. It's like clockwork.
Just think, in 20 years I'll be able to tell my grandkids what idiots they are for saying that Animal Kingdom is their favorite park in the year 2037. I'll remind them that I was there back when it was optimistic, back when they cared, back before Pandora ruined the park's message and they went all downhill from there. I'll lament the loss of Rakifi's Planet Watch, Camp Minnie Mickey and Dinoland and tell those kids how they had no concept of how great those things were. Ah, nostalgia. AK will probably have at least one new continent, and I'll be squawking about "no it was way more popular in the 2000's when they closed at 5 or 6 PM every day and didn't have half a day worth of attractions". I'll be able to tell those whippersnappers what idiots they are and to go back and look at Animal Kingdom of the early 2000's.
Then I'll explain to them that there's nothing like experiencing Dinoland or Mickey Minnie so they shouldn't bother to look at photos or videos, they'll never get to experience what I did! It's all been destroyed by clueless managers who have destroyed Animal Kingdom over the past several decades, and how it's now a sad former shell of itself.
Heck, I can probably do that with the Studios right now since I was a young adult when that at at it's "peak".
Just think, in 20 years I'll be able to tell my grandkids what idiots they are for saying that Animal Kingdom is their favorite park in the year 2037. I'll remind them that I was there back when it was optimistic, back when they cared, back before Pandora ruined the park's message and they went all downhill from there. I'll lament the loss of Rakifi's Planet Watch, Camp Minnie Mickey and Dinoland and tell those kids how they had no concept of how great those things were. Ah, nostalgia. AK will probably have at least one new continent, and I'll be squawking about "no it was way more popular in the 2000's when they closed at 5 or 6 PM every day and didn't have half a day worth of attractions". I'll be able to tell those whippersnappers what idiots they are and to go back and look at Animal Kingdom of the early 2000's.
Then I'll explain to them that there's nothing like experiencing Dinoland or Mickey Minnie so they shouldn't bother to look at photos or videos, they'll never get to experience what I did! It's all been destroyed by clueless managers who have destroyed Animal Kingdom over the past several decades, and how it's now a sad former shell of itself.
Heck, I can probably do that with the Studios right now since I was a young adult when that at at it's "peak".
disneyC97
Well-Known Member
I had those experiences and they were great.
I'll add one more...when the LBV Shopping Village (what is it called now?) only had one (smallish) Disney branded shop!
KrzyKtty
Well-Known Member
And don't forget to add on that even though they are married, have children, a mortgage, two cars, a career, paid for their own education through a Masters Degree, and no credit or student debt by the time they are 25, they are still a child.
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ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Universal is better than it was a decade ago.
And the several Six Flags that I visited are way better today than they were in 1970s and 1980s.
This is sometimes referred to as "The Disney Effect". Disney's historically superior quality has caused the competition to step up their games.
Funny thing about being the front runner; you start to assume you will remain in the lead no matter what you do.
Ask the Atlanta Falcons how that worked out.
Nice to see Disney once again behave like they have to work to earn my business.
rushtest4echo
Well-Known Member
So... it was more of a generic shopping mall with a few craft stores back then? Is that supposed to be better or worse now? Because whenever more Disney is inserted into the Springs, people say "OH GAWD, NOT ANOTHER DISNEY STORE". And yet, when they open a huge retail area largely devoid of any Disney content we instead hear "OH GAWD, NOT ANOTHER GENERIC SHOPPING MALL". They do entertainment like Cirque and the Bowling Alley and it's "OH GAWD, MORE TOURIST TRAP FODDER".
I get that some people despise the entire concept. That's fine. I hate shopping malls and I'm not much of a night life person. I love spending a few hours here and there at the Springs. If you don't enjoy your time there, WDW has plenty of other offerings that will probably suit your tastes.
