50 years of photographic etiquette
As said here, with all the phones and new technological photography, picture-taking etiquette has changed somewhat over the years. However, you need to be familiar with the hardware of the time to understand how we got where we are today.
The 1950 thru the 1970's - photography hardware made few major advances during these years. Just about everyone was using:
Kodak Brownies -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_(camera)
35mm cameras -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangefinder_camera
or SLR Cameras -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-lens_reflex_camera
or wind-up 8mm movie cameras
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_film_camera
Still photograph film and developing as well as throw away flash bulbs forced you into taking quality photos. You were very selective about each photo and many of the early cameras were all manual. This meant the photographer was very aware of where and who he was in the way of.
8mm movie cameras could hold one roll of film that took 3:30 minutes worth of image.
The cost of film and developing was very expensive for the time and many movie cameras relied on a wind-up key. What you filmed was seen through a viewfinder that wasn't exactly the frame you were filming and hopefully you had it in focus.
Also, 8mm movie cameras basically required daylight to film and film for low-light conditions and processing was even more expensive.
Only very expensive cameras and projectors had sound.
Once again, due to cost, the cameraperson was very select in where, what and how they filmed.
During this time 8mm became "Super 8" that was said to be an even better moving image.
Also, if you took vacation movies and wanted to tell a story with several rolls of film,
editing was physical. You literally cut the segments away you wanted and actually glued them back together to get the clips in story form and thread it on one metal reel.
Some people were lucky to own an "Instant" Polaroid-Land Camera that developed your picture in front of your eyes within a minute. The drawback was they were large, black and white pictures at first and there was a small container of "developer" you had to wipe onto the picture as soon as it rolled out of the camera.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_camera#/media/File:polaroid_Automatic_350_instant_camera.jpg
Once again, while "instantaneous", film cost was higher and you generally got only 12 shots to a pack, the photographer was careful and meager with pictures.
During the mid 60's into the 70's, built-in flash units and pocket 110 cameras upped the technology a little more.
The 80's-
was a technological leap for consumer photography.
While it wouldn't be until later in the 80's when the digital photography hardware would become present, the video cassette changed how we all stored moving images.
My first video system in 1983 was actually that. Original video cameras were separate from the VCR. That meant carrying around two big pieces of equipment, blank tapes and lead-acid batteries that lasted about an hour recording time
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=Aap4VxyJ&id=F02689EE7C63B8E97DAB0C124C02EDBD74A19903&thid=OIP.Aap4VxyJ2rTsUR7Rao1H6wAAAA&mediaurl=http://www.thecolefamily.com/italy/840109camera.jpg&exph=148&expw=150&q=panasonic+pk-957+picture&simid=608011546106594016&selectedIndex=5
http://www.rewindmuseum.com/vhs.htm
The cameras were becoming more able to video in low-light and now there was stereo sound to go with your impressive 240 lines of resolution.
This is when more and more people began taping on rides.
So at this point, video tape was good for two hours and the marginal portability allowed more video photography throughout the parks.
While looking like Neil Armstrong on the moon and being laden with bulky and heavy video equipment, I began to become very conscious of my presence in front of people.
I was very aware of being as little a nuisance as possible.
Later in the 80's camcorders became the rage reducing the size of video recording hardware even further while incorporating those annoying built-in video lights.
Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's European Vacation.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=48Joq0+r&id=49C242A18897DD321F543E2900C1D47B6700B461&thid=OIP.48Joq0-riSHvRsKr1V1akAHaE8&mediaurl=https://irishbear3455.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/1980s-video-camera.jpg&exph=600&expw=900&q=1980s+camcorder+picture&simid=607990560872334393&selectedIndex=2&ajaxhist=0
From the late 80's to early 90's, full size video cassettes were then reduced in size as well giving us VHS-C, 8mm video tape and then a better Hi-8 tape. These changes also doubled picture clarity to 480 lines of resolution.
Now video cameras were the size of the old 35mm film cameras and allowed more people to video at the parks. More people, more rude incursions.
During the early 2000's, video tape of all types was being phased out for digital media where cameras were equipped with internal CD and DVD burners.
That phase was short lived as the size of memory chips and hard drives also continued to shrink.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=viqofTNW&id=E13D5BFCDE0AD131C8EB9A2A745A08289EC13FB4&thid=OIP.viqofTNWwm1frD4lr0CqIQHaFl&mediaurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41N4Q1D4A5L.jpg&exph=377&expw=500&q=dvd+camcorder+picture&simid=608018903335895935&selectedIndex=20&qpvt=dvd+camcorder+picture&ajaxhist=0
The miniaturization of computer components allowed the smart phone to come into being.
And in the words of Doc Brown, "That's amazing. An entire TV studio in that little device."
There was a time when you would be the only one in the neighborhood to have actual legible footage of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Now everyone has that capability so there's really nothing magical about any footage that you have as compared to anyone else. So I would say don't let your selfie or Kodak moment keep you or others from enjoying the real-life moment.
For me, the footage I have of the parks way back when, or more importantly, family way back when, is really the subject matter I was trying to capture making it invaluable for me without being rude to other park guests.
BTW, you can digitize your old movies and VHS tapes rather easily, I did
