"Back in My Day"

[Edeyore]

Back in my day:

Monorail doors didn`t close themselves
There were trees in the hub
Walt Disney told his own Story in the Magic Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean had 2 load flumes
Splash and Thundermountains were in California
The Bears went on Vacation
Toad Lived
The Peoplemover was a WEDWay
You got to Mars in the MK, not Epcot
You had wings or could take a Dreamflight
RCA led the way
EPCOT was in the middle
You had to spend a day in Futureworld to see everything once
We entered a wonderous new age. The age of Information.
Energy made the world go round
It was fun to be free
We dreamt it and did it
Bravo 229 was our submarine
Imagination was worth a visit
We listened to the land
Food rocked, and the Kitchen was a Kabaret
The seas lived
O'Canada was sensible
China had no reflections. It was a wonder. Neither did IllumiNations.
Mexico had no ducks.
The studio tour took 2 hours and was worth every minute
The Muppets were on stage
Television was super
Sound was monsterous

and Star Tours was state of the Art

Obviously a person of deep thought and perspective. We should call this poem, "Disney in My Day". Exceptional sir, exceptional!

 

[Edeyore]

Back in the day:

The parks were a joke compared to what they are now.


Jimmy Thick- There is a reason its called the past...

Sorry Jimmy, though your opinions are often spot on, in this instance you would be incorrect. Things were of a lesser scale in some instances, but they were still magical
and definitely not a joke in comparison to anything.

 

[Edeyore]

In my day there was only the Contemporary and the Polynesian around Seven Seas Lagoon. The Grand Floridian was not there.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I'm confused... what was different? They're almost right next to each other, and once you leave the TTC, you still walk through paths of lush vegetation.

The Polynesian has expanded quite a bit. It currently extends almost to the TTC. 'Back in my day', there was a big plot of nothing in between.

Excellent Polynesian site with pictures:
http://www.tikimanpages.com/tiki/polynesian-history

 

[cynic710]

back in the day:

-anticipation built up from months before the trip to the world.
-20,000 leagues under the sea was breath taking.
-even though they it was just normal candy, it tasted sweeter coming from a jar shaped of donald's head.
-Downtown Disney was'nt a mall.
-Snow White's ride was terrifying.
-I didn't need pins to keep myself occupied at the park.
-Fireworks never looked so amazing.
-My parents were together, with me, happy.
-Captain EO was the man!
-Small World was still annoying.
-We would show pictures of our trip to the world for months afterwards.

 

[powlessfamily4]

Back in my day, the Tower of Terror had lap bars!
:drevil:

I remember that!

 

[stratman50th]

Back in my day:

Monorail doors didn`t close themselves
There were trees in the hub
Walt Disney told his own Story in the Magic Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean had 2 load flumes
Splash and Thundermountains were in California
The Bears went on Vacation
Toad Lived
The Peoplemover was a WEDWay
You got to Mars in the MK, not Epcot
You had wings or could take a Dreamflight
RCA led the way
EPCOT was in the middle
You had to spend a day in Futureworld to see everything once
We entered a wonderous new age. The age of Information.
Energy made the world go round
It was fun to be free
We dreamt it and did it
Bravo 229 was our submarine
Imagination was worth a visit
We listened to the land
Food rocked, and the Kitchen was a Kabaret
The seas lived
O'Canada was sensible
China had no reflections. It was a wonder. Neither did IllumiNations.
Mexico had no ducks.
The studio tour took 2 hours and was worth every minute
The Muppets were on stage
Television was super
Sound was monsterous

and Star Tours was state of the Art

There's a thread killer!
That about covers it all........................

 

[WorldKey]

Back in my day:

- The Empress Lilly looked like an elegant riverboat, with a rotating stern paddle and two large smoke-stacks.
- WDW celebrated America's bicentennial- WDW celebrated the bicentennial of the constitution
- Mickey was given an entire birthdayland for his sixtieth birthday!
- There were rumours about an upcoming EPCOT Center attraction, showing a family in the dessert, undersea, in space.
- One exciting EPCOT attraction showed you a....computer!!
- This computer filled a room the size of Texas, but had less processing power than my current espresso machine.
- There was a big stretch of vegetation between the Polynesian and the Ticket Center.
- There were rumours of building a second World Showcase lagoon, to create enough space for all the new countries they were going to build...

Yes - and they celebrated the Bicentennial with 'America on Parade' ! (1976 -my first year at WDW)

BTW for some of you that didn't know, that parade is where those creepy tall big headed people costumes that wandered early EPCOT were 'recycled' from...

 

[riogirl]

Back in my day:

Monorail doors didn`t close themselves
There were trees in the hub
Walt Disney told his own Story in the Magic Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean had 2 load flumes
Splash and Thundermountains were in California
The Bears went on Vacation
Toad Lived
The Peoplemover was a WEDWay
You got to Mars in the MK, not Epcot
You had wings or could take a Dreamflight
RCA led the way
EPCOT was in the middle
You had to spend a day in Futureworld to see everything once
We entered a wonderous new age. The age of Information.
Energy made the world go round
It was fun to be free
We dreamt it and did it
Bravo 229 was our submarine
Imagination was worth a visit
We listened to the land
Food rocked, and the Kitchen was a Kabaret
The seas lived
O'Canada was sensible
China had no reflections. It was a wonder. Neither did IllumiNations.
Mexico had no ducks.
The studio tour took 2 hours and was worth every minute
The Muppets were on stage
Television was super
Sound was monsterous

and Star Tours was state of the Art

I think we were back in the same day!! Love all your (and My) memories!

 

[Krack]

Back in my day:

Epcot was in capital letters
The Imagination Pavilion had two floors
The Primeval World smelled like the primeval world
There was an Old Key West Resort (and there still is, kinda)
You had to get Diamond Horseshoe reservations first thing in the morning
The best arcade in the world was in the Contemporary
"Interactive" meant choosing your ending in Horizons
The parks all stayed open late
Your regular admission counted as a "hard ticket"
The WS Pavilions were meant to actually make you feel like you were in the host country
Seeing a character was a treat and you just waved and watched them walk by
You purchase different items in different stores on Main Street
Having a stroller meant your kid was less than 5 years old
"Stroller" wasn't a euphemism for "Golf cart-sized mobile suitcase, carrying everything a person might conceivable want in a 24 hour period"
The Busby Berkley effects worked
You could celebrate New Year's Eve on a Thursday in September
Disney produced commercials saying "Even if you don't have kids, you'll still want to come visit"

 

[plaz10]

Back In My Day...you could see villains! In parades, they had their own store, they had their own character meal, more of them were out for meet and greets. The Enchanted Tiki Room was a good attraction with a great song.

BUT...

Back in the day there was no Everest, heck there was no AK. There was no Toy Story Mania, RnRC or ToT at MGM Studios. No dining plan, fastpass or magical express. No Wishes, No Fantasmic. No Soarin', No Mickey's Philharmagic. All of these are favorites of mine that I can't imagine Disney without!

I'll take today's Disney World than "back in the day Disney World." And I look forward to the changes 20 years from now...even though some good and some bad, I believe there is more good than bad.

 

[Mammymouse]

Back in my day there were no Meet and Greets! Seeing characters were few and far between.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Ohh boy, right down my alley this thread.

For the stuff that was better long ago, back in my day we had-

- A talking jolly roger that told us to "hold on tight, there be rough waters ahead matey"
- A bride in Haunted Mansion who was actually frightening instead being a corny fountain of marriage/death puns
- Dreamflight with awesome music
- Epcot being at LEAST a full day park...
- an Imagination that wasn't a laughing stock, instead being one of the BEST rides
- Horizons, amazing
- Spaceship Earth sponsored by AT&T, narrated by Jeremy Irons, with an actual ending sequence (and it was GOOD), not a cheap cop-out
- Long ago had Walter Cronkite and had Tomorrow's Child as the descent theme
- Universe of Energy devoid of an annoying hostess and had an amazing theme song
- Wonders of Life actually OPEN and not just sitting there without a real use
- Food Rocks
- Illuminations that had more fireworks and more emphasis on the individual countries (good enough for us to go out of our way to leave another park and come over to watch it)
- Spectromagic (not a fan of MSEP, sorry, Spectro is so magical and grand, hope it comes back)
- Fully working effects for Big Thunder Mountain
- A Backlot Tour that wasn't a joke
- Mr Toad
- Better music for the Water Pageant
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Macaws inside the Polynesian resort for added atmosphere (now at Animal Kingdom, but i miss them there)
- (correct me if this is wrong) goldfish in the ponds at the entrance to the Polynesian resort
- Flamingos at Epcot (moved to Animal Kingdom, so i guess that's ok)
- Fireworks shows overall were better and had MORE fireworks (not just Illuminations)
- mist in the beginning of Mexico's ride and a lack of certain cartoonish birds, was an actual look at Mexico's culture instead of annoying
- you could sit in the front or back cockpits of the monorails if you asked REALLY nicely (shame about the crash a while back)
- no sorcerer's hat at MGM-ahem-Hollywood Studios

Stuff that was worse in my day-

- Lack of Fantasmic
- Lack of Splash Mountain (yeah, once upon a time we didn't have one of the best rides ever)
- Lack of Animal Kingdom (i like this park despite some gripes with it, i now couldn't imagine the resort without it)
- Lack of Barnstormer (i don't remember the petting zoo sadly, beyond Minnie Moo Cow)
- Queues were bland and basic
- We didn't have the Disneyland Small World facade (just painted walls)
- No fog in the Pirates scene with the boat bombing the fort

Stuff that wasn't better or worse imo, but still different-

- Powdery soap
- lap bars in Tower of Terror

Might think of more stuff, have to really delve into my memories here lol! Going on memories from around the early to mid 1990's.

 

[Crockett]

Back in my day a park admission ticket cost the same as an extra-large pizza today.

 

[The Duck]

Back in my day..... The Swan Boats glided past the Castle. There was promotional material featuring the "Western River Expedition". The Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes and Mike Fink Keelboats cruised the Rivers of America. The Hall of Presidents, which normally required a D ticket (or was it a C ?) was offered free of charge during America's Bicentennial. The Mickey Mouse Revue performed in Fantasyland. There were only 2 Disney resort hotels and my father would insist on staying at the Quality Inn on International Drive.

 

[Larry Mondello]

Back in my day a park admission ticket cost the same as an extra-large pizza today.

Actually "park admission" was the cost of a large Coke. $3.50

 

[Mr.Skunkape]

back in my day....... you could not buy a turkey leg in the parks

 

[Mongomil]

Back in my day there was one park:


Childs Magic ticket by Mongo mil, on Flickr


Magic ticket by Mongo mil, on Flickr


Parking pass by Mongo mil, on Flickr

 

[dreamlady85]

back in my day:
-figment hung out with dreamfinder and did meet n greets
then got replaced by eric idle
then made a miraculous comeback
-lake buena vista village had that giant toy store with the big balloon structure in it (if you were there you know what i'm talking about)
-mulan had her own parade
-american idol was not present

 

[Crockett]

Actually "park admission" was the cost of a large Coke. $3.50

True, but that was before my day.