My first trip there (in my old life) in 1998, I was there for 4 days.
My first trip as an adult was in 1998.
1998 was a popular year for first trips! Same with us.
I didn't even have a computer. At some point between 1998 and 1999, I bought a webTV. Pretty sure that was after this trip.
We had 4-day (no expiration date) park-hoppers that cost I believe around $120 each at our local Florida Disney Store (long since closed.) They were given to me as a Christmas gift by my then-BF, along with some kind of unofficial guide book. (He knew I liked to be informed when making decisions -
not controlling at all LOL.) I didn't have a lot of time to read the book before our trip because it was just days after Christmas, but did the best I could. He had booked a $35-ish room on 192 next to a Chinese buffet. We drove up from Fort Lauderdale.
He had been before (but not recently) and I had not. I relied more on his experience, but was not in any way "prepared" and really didn't need to be. We had paper fast-passes, long lines everywhere (the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve.) We ate at the McDonald's inside the park, at the McDonald's on 192 on the way into the park (steak bagels - do they still make those? I don't do fast food anymore.) (We ate at the Chinese buffet.) Zero table service restaurants, and we barely paid for what we could.
As I mentioned on the other thread, I didn't know I had to prepare. My only point of reference was Great Adventure in New Jersey. There was no preparing for that other than finding the Coca-Cola can with the buy-one-get-one ticket offer on it. I had no way to conceive of what to expect at Disney World. I literally thought it was going to be Great Adventure with Mickey Mouse on the rollercoasters.
We had no kids; the stakes were not that high. This was not a "thousands of dollars" trip. This was a hundreds of dollars, 4 night trip.
And with all the lines and the McDonald's, we had the time of our lives. Park commandos from open til close. Every single day. No breaks. Every few steps, there was another thing to do/experience/watch. I was blown away. (I don't think I realized how blown away until I got home and wanted to go back LOL.)
As usual, my biggest point seems to be: Everyone does Disney differently. Don't expect everyone else spends the same amount of money, has as much riding on it, is having the one trip of their lives, etc.
Also: the way we do Disney has evolved and changed over time. While I still have no problem with a $40 room, more and more we stay on property. We never go from open to close. We plan fine dining more than anything else.
I presume people have more ready access to more information before their first trips these days; but I can't blame them for not knowing what they don't know and arriving unprepared. With that said, if they book well enough in advance, WDW will send them reminders about magic bands, ADR's, and FP's when it's time to do all of those things.
But we live in a world where some have embraced technology and others eschew it. Some have the lastest phone, some have a flip-phone, either by choice or by financial limitations. Live and learn; live and let live.
I will say it was much easier back then though, didn't have to worry about Mymagic +. I will say that I learned if you think your going to try and park hop 3 parks in one day and see everything, you'd be sadly mistaken 