Good things that *haven't* changed much since opening?

[geekza]

My formative experiences at WDW were between the mid-70's and mid-80's. There have been some great and (many) not-so-great changes to WDW over the years. I'm planning my first trip to WDW in over a decade and want to show my wife, who has never been, some of the cool things that I remember from my childhood.

My question is this: What are some special things (attractions, music, landscaping, etc.) in the parks that either haven't changed at all or have changed very little since the parks opened?

 

[larryz]

Mickey Ice Cream Bars. They've gone up in price, but they're still pretty good.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

Hospitality is still second to none. Cast members going above and beyond, always smiling and being polite. That's never changed.

Stuff like Country Bears, Small World, Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, Tom Sawyer Island hasn't changed. Pirates and Haunted Mansion has had minimal change. Liberty Belle Riverboat, the Castle, Peter Pan..........very little has changed there. I am not sure if Jungle Cruise was meant to be done in a comedic fashion on opening day but it is now. Swiss Family Treehouse hasn't changed either, Tiki Birds...............

 

[ParentsOf4]

The Swiss Family Treehouse was there on opening day and, I believe, is largely unchanged.

Sadly though, the cool water effect wasn't operating when I last walked it in March.

Peter Pan's Flight was also there on opening day and although the queue has changed, I think the actual attraction is largely the same as what it was in 1971.

 

[correcaminos]

Mickey Ice Cream Bars. They've gone up in price, but they're still pretty good.

The current ones are also not the same as the originals. I grew up with the ones that had a face on it.

The Swiss Family Robinson tree house is one I still love! The mozaic in the castle too when you can go in to look without massive crowds.

 

[John park hopper]

Agree, Mickey ice cream bars have changed sadly no face, Many of the attractions of the 70's in MK are still there but they have slight changes. I think the WDW RR hasn't changed since the 70's worth riding loved it in 72 still love it

 

[geekza]

Every time we went when I was growing up, my father would go on and on about Carousel of Progress and how much he loved it. The first couple of times I saw it, aside from the fact there were robots, I didn't get the hype. That third time, though... I don't know. It just connected with me and I was able to understand my father's excitement. The last two times I went, in 1997 and 2006, my Dad made sure to ask me when I returned if I had visited the Carousel of Progress. Of course I had. Each time, he would say, "That's my favorite." My father passed away in 2010. When I finally get to go back to WDW in November, the first thing I'm going to hit is the Carousel of Progress and bring a photo of my Dad I can hold while I watch it. As cheesy as a lot of modern audiences find the attraction, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

My formative experiences at WDW were between the mid-70's and mid-80's. There have been some great and (many) not-so-great changes to WDW over the years. I'm planning my first trip to WDW in over a decade and want to show my wife, who has never been, some of the cool things that I remember from my childhood.

My question is this: What are some special things (attractions, music, landscaping, etc.) in the parks that either haven't changed at all or have changed very little since the parks opened?

Unchanged since park opening is very limited. If I go instead with 'your last visit, and by and and large the same', then some of my favs are:

AL:
Tiki (but the great water fountain is gone from the show. There is, frankly, nothing in WDW that is as great now as it was before Eisner and Iger got their clutches on Disney)
Treehouse (Water system seems perennially broken though)
Jungle Cruise (Boats and dock look very different)
Pirates has changed so much it is similar only in its basics.
The rest of AL is changed, cool shops, live music, seating space and fountains out, and closed off restaurants and millionaire wining and dining space in.
The Tropical South Seas area is now Aladdin Land.

FL/LS:
Thunder is still there! Again though, many effects removed, ego-stroking Baxter poster in.
TSI! Restaurant gone, otherwise as fun as always.
Country Bears. The jokes and banter is removed, for a shorter, less meaningful show.
Diamond Horseshoe. No longer an attraction, but a restaurant
Hall of Presidents. Slightly worse off, but by WDW standards still going strong.
Mansion! Horrid queue, but the interior is great! Replaced the weak spider scene by the equally weak and bafflingly unfitting Escher staircase scene.
Keelboat and canoes removed. Live entertainment removed too, except for the fun hoedown.
Liberty Square is now Tiana and Rapunzel Land. Frontierland is B'rer Rabbit, Pecos Bill and Toy Story Land.

These two areas are the least affected of the MK. Main Street and the hub have been razed, painful to see, Tomorrowland is a weird mix of 71 / 75 TL underneath a 94 Toon Space Port overhaul and 2000s Pixar Land, currently being converted into Tron Land. Space and the PeopleMove are both awesome. The Speedway is classic WDW too but shortened to almost half its length. The Skyway and Mars are gone. Fantasyland is now hell, although Peter Pan and Small World are still classic.

 

[DisneyFreak]

Country Bears. The jokes and banter is removed, for a shorter, less meaningful show.

I believe there was a song removed as well. The show is about 2-3 minutes shorter. Shame.

 

[larryz]

The current ones are also not the same as the originals. I grew up with the ones that had a face on it.

Agree, Mickey ice cream bars have changed sadly no face

The Mickey Ice Cream Bar is still a stick holding a blob of chocolate-shell-covered ice cream in the shape of a Mickey head. Losing the face is, to my mind, a minor change... hence, meeting the "Good things that *haven't* changed much" criteria.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I believe there was a song removed as well. The show is about 2-3 minutes shorter. Shame.

It's mostly 5 minutes of minor dialogue and a line or two from a few songs. However 2 songs were removed from the show.. Henry & Wendell's Fractured Folk song, and Zeke's Devilish Mary.

 

[DisneyFreak]

However 2 songs were removed from the show.. Henry & Wendell's Fractured Folk song

They shouldn't have wrote such lousy lyrics or the words.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

This might be very minuscule in comparison to rides, food and what not, but they still have the original Innoventions music track when you are walking around the Innoventions area, as well as the lights in the ground that light up at night in Epcot.

I know, small nuances, but these things were always great to me.

 

[geekza]

Country Bears. The jokes and banter is removed, for a shorter, less meaningful show.

That is so depressing to read. That was another one of my favorites and the jokes were solid. Another victim of shortened attention spans and attempts to increase capacity.

Liberty Square is now Tiana and Rapunzel Land. Frontierland is B'rer Rabbit, Pecos Bill and Toy Story Land.

I'm so confused by this one. I'm assuming Tiana is somehow associated with the Liberty Belle, but unless she got there in a time machine, she doesn't fit at all. Rapunzel?!? It is because you can see her tower (bathroom) from Liberty Square or does she actually have a physical presence within the land? Splash Mountain, though one of my favorites, was never really a fit for Frontierland, but considering Disney has done it's best to disassociate the characters and attraction from Song of the South, I let it slide. Pecos Bill fits. Toy Story?!? Where?!? Why?!? Is it a Woody's Roundup kind of thing?

Tiki (but the great water fountain is gone from the show. There is, frankly, nothing in WDW that is as great now as it was before Eisner and Iger got their clutches on Disney)

Were we to meet, we'd get along fine.

I have an understanding of where Eisner was coming from, but I hate his legacy. "Original" Disney World and EPCOT Center were truly glorious. My heart and soul are there. If I solely look at things from a business point of view, though, I understand a lot of the tough decisions that Eisner had to make. You have to take into consideration why Eisner was brought in. After Walt's death, the company was on autopilot. For a number of years, they tried their best to run the company by the edict, "What would Walt do?" His son-in-law was the Chariman, Roy, who was planning on retiring before Walt died, stayed on to oversee the construction and opening of WDW. The Imagineers still had a heavy presence from his former animators. They basically just did their best to complete anything and everything that Walt had been actively overseeing before his death. While the Magic Kingdom turned out to be a huge success, by 1984 the company was in a different place. The movies weren't making money, EPCOT Center cost a fortune, had trouble securing sponsorship, and was hemorrhaging money. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Disney, as a company, had no choice but to push out Ron Miller and turn to outside help in an effort to save the company. Enter Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Eisner had been a successful film executive, as had Wells. In the beginning, things weren't so bad. Eisner and Wells were a good team, with both men respecting one another's talents and opinions. Wells balanced out Eisner's more cutthroat tendencies. He was Eisner's Jiminy Cricket, if you will. Katzenberg led the movie studio into its "Silver Age" and started bringing in more money, the WDW resort as a whole expanded, with hotels being built and Disney/MGM opening. They really did save the company. It came at a cost, though. Whereas Walt was more of an idea man who was concerned with the experience more than the profitability, Eisner was all about the bottom line. Not worrying about money had led the company into ruin because they no longer had the guiding force of Walt. While having all of the shops in the parks be unique was certainly fantastic when it came to immersiveness, they didn't make money. Eisner dictated that, if something wasn't profitable, it was gone. For a while, Wells kept Eisner somewhat reasonable. Once Wells was killed in the helicopter crash, though, Eisner was on his own. What we all discovered is that, like McCartney and Lennon after the Beatles, some people do their best work when they have someone to challenge them. Post-1994, Eisner didn't have anyone to tell him when something was a bad idea and it really showed. Unfortunately, by that time all of Walt's people were long gone and the only people left running the company were those who came in under Eisner. When Eisner left, we got Bob Iger and, well, we all know how well that has worked out.

Sadly, the Disney World we knew and loved won't ever come again. Then again, had Eisner not come in, it's very likely that NONE of it would still be around.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

This might be very minuscule in comparison to rides, food and what not, but they still have the original Innoventions music track when you are walking around the Innoventions area, as well as the lights in the ground that light up at night in Epcot.

I know, small nuances, but these things were always great to me.

I love those lights in the ground too! It's the small things, too. ^_^

I quote it also because these are one of the few instances of actual improvement over the years.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I'm so confused by this one. I'm assuming Tiana is somehow associated with the Liberty Belle, but unless she got there in a time machine, she doesn't fit at all. Rapunzel?!? It is because you can see her tower (bathroom) from Liberty Square or does she actually have a physical presence within the land? Splash Mountain, though one of my favorites, was never really a fit for Frontierland, but considering Disney has done it's best to disassociate the characters and attraction from Song of the South, I let it slide. Pecos Bill fits. Toy Story?!? Where?!? Why?!? Is it a Woody's Roundup kind of thing?

Tiana has a m&g in the hubside LS courtyard, plus an upcharge event on the Liberty Belle during parades.

Rapunzel has that tower / bathroom area between the Columbia Harbour House and the Mansion, which is weird from the Liberty Square side. Otherwise she is not present.

Splash I somewhat give a pass, perhaps out of sympathy. Old characters and all.
Pecos Bill is a pointless and deteriorating skin redo of the Mile Long Bar.
Woody has an outdoor FL m&g.

All three innocent? Innocent, until eventually the once arid, empty Southwestern Area is now a walk from Toon Pecos Bill to Toon Rabbit inhabited by toon toys Woody and Jessie. A toontown rather than frontierland.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

They shouldn't have wrote such lousy lyrics or the words.

Well, the chordes were pretty simple in fact there was only 3. First it was C, then G then D and then going back to G...BUT! You had gotta be quick!

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

This might be very minuscule in comparison to rides, food and what not, but they still have the original Innoventions music track when you are walking around the Innoventions area, as well as the lights in the ground that light up at night in Epcot.

I know, small nuances, but these things were always great to me.

Yes, original to the 1990's refurb which turned Communicore into Innoventions. I recently found the audio loop that was there 1982 up to the 1990's refurb.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

Yes, original to the 1990's refurb which turned Communicore into Innoventions. I recently found the audio loop that was there 1982 up to the 1990's refurb.

Ah. I didn't know there was another one before that. Might have been way too young to remember the original soundtrack.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Ah. I didn't know there was another one before that. Might have been way too young to remember the original soundtrack.

It's nice too but I prefer Innoventions. It's my favorite loop on property. Closely tied with Pirates queue loop.