When I first started going to the parks, there was no such thing as a cell phone. They had pay phones scattered about in the parks but those were only good if you wanted to call out. The hotels had message capacity so everyone knew that you could be reached, but they never knew when you would be able to reply. Somehow, we managed to survive. I owned a business at the time too. I would check in once a day to see if there were any problems and then shut my mind to all of it. I do tend to agree though that now, since I have been using a cell phone, I kind of feel lost without it. I bring one in my pocket, on vibrate, but hardly ever look at it.
Gadgets didn't exist either. I see so many posting asking the question...what can we do to entertain the kids while in line. That kind of makes me smile. This was also pre-fastpass time as well, so according to folks now the lines were soooo much longer. (not true btw) We all talked to people in front of us or behind us. The kids did what every kid has done since the beginning of time...the fidgeted. But they also survived. I seems to me that you vacation in a spot like WDW to get away from the world and I can't think of any reason why I would want to bring it in with me.
I was never much of a picture taker. I always found out that over time I would forget when they were taken or what was the reason for it, so I got to the point of not even bringing a camera in with me unless there was something special I wanted to photograph. Back in the day, I remember people bringing in those huge video recorders that had a suitcase sized power pack. They lugged that crap around all day long. There was nothing, I repeat, nothing that I ever would have wanted to photograph or film that badly. I remember a time when while riding PoTC some guy was filming things with this huge bank of flood lights on as bright as the sun. The ride was stopped and announcements were made to turn off the camera. The lights would go off and as soon as the ride started again, on they went. We must have stopped 5 times before they got the message to shut it down. That was just in the beginning of the ride before the drop. I don't think they could have stopped it after the drop.
All those words to just say...I have no need for any of that stuff, so I look at WDW with my eyes instead of through a camera lens. It's much more fun that way.
