WDW in 1998

[Club Cooloholic]

View attachment 464918

Earlier today I was thinking about this map that I used to have along with others from a May 1998 trip to WDW.

This then had me thinking about what WDW was like in '98 and how much has changed since. Back in 1998 WDW had:

- 4 theme parks (including the then new AK)
- 3 water parks (still had River Country!)
- Discovery Island
- Pleasure Island
- The Disney Institute
- Disney Quest (brand new that June)

That's a lot, and sadly many of those gone. Back then the parks still had:

Magic Kingdom

Alien Encounter
TimeKeeper
Take Flight (until Jan 5)
Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Mike Fink Keelboats
Skyway
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (until Labor Day)
Country Bear Christmas
Pirates with no movie tie-in
Mickey's Toontown Fair
Main Street Cinema (until they changed it later that year)
Galaxy Palace Theater
Sword in the Stone Ceremony


Epcot

Wonders of Life
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Horizons (seasonal)
Journey into Imagination (until October)
Spaceship Earth with an ending
Innoventions
The Living Seas (no Nemo!)
Maelstrom
El Rio del Tiempo


Disney-MGM Studios

Great Movie Ride
Backlot Tour
Disney Animation (with real animators!)
Hunchback stage show
Mulan parade
Soundstage Restaurant


Then you think about the price differences, how much easier it was to get a reservation, no expiration on park hoppers, etc.

I know some will say WDW's prime was earlier that decade, or before that, but in hindsight 1998 was pretty good too!

You know what I find? You are more likely to learn something that WDW has lost or taken away, than added and I am not talking about rides, I am talking about the less advertised experiences.
I just learned today that they had stopped all boat rentals at the resorts on the Sassagoula. No idea when they did this but it just saddens me, another thing gone, but the prices of the resort stay the same.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

You know what I find? You are more likely to learn something that WDW has lost or taken away, than added and I am not talking about rides, I am talking about the less advertised experiences.
I just learned today that they had stopped all boat rentals at the resorts on the Sassagoula. No idea when they did this but it just saddens me, another thing gone, but the prices of the resort stay the same.

Unfortunately, so much of the cool stuff probably came to be seen as an unnecessary cost, not self funding, and/or a liability by the no fun league of accountants and attorneys. A room full of Donald Gennaros in an echo chamber of corporate jargon.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Unfortunately, so much of the cool stuff probably came to be seen as an unnecessary cost, not self funding, and/or a liability by the no fun league of accountants and attorneys.

That attitude is often fueled by fans who say they don't care about xyz, and then that thing gets cut because "that's what the survey told us".

 

[bryanfze55]

I have no nostalgia for most of this... my first visit to WDW was in 2010 and I didn’t go again for several years after that. I miss Snow White. I wish the Subs were still a thing like they are at Disneyland. And any proper Main Street should have a Cinema. Overall, though, I don’t have much nostalgia for the golden years of Disney World.

Reading all of your comments, though, it kind of hits me why so many seem jaded at the WDW of today... especially at @The Empress Lilly’s remarks on three parades a day, open till midnight or 1... I sometimes read these things in a very “matter of fact” way on most threads - but to read them in more of a nostalgic longing sense just hits closer.

Of course, someday I may look back and have nostalgia for today’s Disney World.

 

[erstwo]

I went in 1996 as a teenager. First trip. Hated it. I thought Disney was sooo cheesy. No magic for me. I was WAY too cool.
Fast forward to 2008 and my in laws take everyone to WDW for Easter. My kids were 3 and 1.5. It was an amazing trip. Loved every minute. We were hooked.
I think some of it is inevitably tied to who you are when you walk in the park.
I do miss the late nights/ extended hours though. One of my favorite memories will always be an October trip (must have been around 2013) and MK had EMH from 11 to 2 am??? No joke- I think it was 2 am. It was pouring down rain but my son still wanted to go to the park.He was still young - maybe 10? So I didn’t think he’d make it long - it turned into the most magical night.
We had the park to ourselves almost. We walked in to every ride - rode Dumbo in the pouring rain (back when there was just one Dumbo). I’ll never forget his excitement or his laughter that night. How sweet the CMs were to is even though we were often the only one’s on the rides.
You don’t get opportunities like that when MK closes at 10pm on President’s Day weekend (or maybe it was 11, all I know is it was way early this year and my daughter and I would have loved the chance for some 12-2am EMHs!)

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Also in 1998...This was a thing with Disney....

 

[Raineman]

Personally I’d say 90ish. Consensus from those who were there seems to be 89-94/5 ish. But of course it’s all subjective.

My first visit was in 1990, and that version of WDW is still better than all of the versions of WDW I've seen since then-classic MK with almost all OG attractions, vibrant and bustling Epcot with all of the FW & Communicore goodness, and brand spanking new DIsney-MGM Studios.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

That attitude is often fueled by fans who say they don't care about xyz, and then that thing gets cut because "that's what the survey told us".

I researched it a bit, they closed the marinas in 2014, with Disney blaming the 3rd party outfit choosing to not want to run the boats there anymore. Typical explanation from Disney, leaving out the reality I am sure that the company probably could no longer afford whatever licenses Disney was charging to be there.
And reading comments in the post I found about it, half were sad to see the boats go and the rest were the typical pixie dust addict response of "Oh, I never used them, this move is fine with me probably too expensive for Disney to run"

 

[KBLovedDisney]

I miss the early 90s Disney World...

 

[PiratesMansion]

1998 was my family's first visit. I remember that in-room promo reel just seemed to go on forever about all the things to see and do. The difference between what you know now vs what you knew as a child then (of 8) is always an interesting gap, and its interesting how perception changes (or doesn't). 4 Theme parks and 3 water parks was unfathomable to my young brain.

I wanted to check out Discovery Island, to the overwhelming disinterest of my parents, who vetoed. Gone now.

Animal Kingdom and Epcot largely didn't make much of an impression on me, other than the Safari (cool), being excited by Bill Nye in UOE (I know him from TV!), and getting those passport stamps. But, of course, more than a little classic Epcot was gone by then. I remember that we did Food Rocks, LWTL, Body Wars (and what a bizarre ride that was), HISTA (hated), and that Mom was bummed Test Track wasn't open yet (and probably the biggest case of anticipointment ever for her when she finally rode it in 2014). Taking a boat to Epcot was probably the coolest thing about it, and we went there a lot because we were staying at the Dolphin for the first half of the trip (then transferred to A$$-definitely a downgrade).

We all went to Blizzard Beach, and definitely had more fun there than we did at AK at least. My father, despite his perpetual feeling that he is drowning every time he sets foot in the water, even bought a shirt that he still wore until a few years ago. And of course everything then was new and relatively state of the art.

MGM was so cool with the Backlot Tour (the canyon! costumes!) and the Animation Studio with real live animators! TOT and Star Tours were added bonuses. GMR came across as an oddity.

Magic Kingdom was fun but an interesting experience and definitely colored by having gone to Disneyland the year before; because of that, we didn't do a lot of the WDW versions of the classics (I would experience JC and Splash in Tokyo before I would in Florida). Tiki Room UNM may have actually been the first thing we did! Legend of the Lion King was exciting at the time. SpectroMagic was the first night parade I ever saw and I remember how cool I thought both the idea and the execution of a night parade were. It would be the only time I saw Spectro. I enjoyed the park and it was still my favorite of the four parks, but my opinion was already colored by the fact that IASW, Pirates, and Toontown were clearly inferior in Florida (and Pirates' FL inferiority is what really elevated Mansion to being my favorite ride) and we unintentionally skipped a lot of the better-in-Florida attractions.

We stumbled upon Journey into Imagination and Mr. Toad. Toad in particular became an unexpected favorite for our family that we did several more times, even specifically seeking out another ride on our last day. Little did we know that we were months away from the permanent closure of both of them.

Returning in the mid-late tens was an interesting experience. Fun, but very different and colored by a lot of the changes that had occurred and knowledge of what was going on at other parks, both as a result of internet research and my own experience at other parks.

I know that my parents didn't have a ton of money in the 90s and part of the reason a WDW trip happened at all was because my father had a conference at Swolphin and (at the very least) 3 of the 6 nights were comped, and of course prices were much lower then. If the prices were then what they are now, we wouldn't have gone at all.

 

[Tjaden]

This thread makes me sad.

 

[NelleBelle]

I agree—it is quite sad to see everything that is no longer there. Epcot is our favorite park and it seems that every time we go, it keeps getting slowly whittled away from what it was when I first went in the mid-90s (I think I went in ‘95 for my senior class trip).

I know it wasn’t the “hey-day” of WDW but it definitely seemed very different then from now. I definitely preferred the original MGM studios to the HS now.

I miss swimming with sharks at TL and how less crowded everything was!

I will give o e plus to what wdw has improved—food for vegetarians. There are much more offerings for me to eat now then there were back in the 90s or even the early 00s!

 

[Goofnut1980]

I think one change I really miss is the trees in the hub. They framed the castle so nicely. It felt more like a castle in a forest vs a castle in pavement.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I went in December 1991, and my next trip was December 1997. And it was surprising how things had changed. Some for the better - Splash and ToT were open. Horizons was seasonal, but we still were able to ride, thankfully! Others, not necessarily for the better. SSE was ... different, but still excellent. Imagination was on its last legs but I will always remember walking into that building and queue. WoM was gone. SpectroMagic was still around (and great!).

For me, that 1991 trip, while specific memories fade, will always be a magical one, as it was the last in the truly golden era of WDW.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

You're making me wish I didn't give in and trash some of my old travel memories in one of my moves, years ago. I used to have some of the 1998 stuff stashed in a box of travel memories. While I've been going to WDW since 1985 and had a lot of visits between 1991-1997 (my FL resident years), 1998 is one of the special ones since it's the first time DH and I went to WDW together. That EPCOT list has a number of things I miss today.

 

[larryz]

We lived in FL (Tampa area) from 94 to 99 and again from 02 to 08. I feel fortunate we got to experience WDW at its hey-day in the mid-90's.

We sensed the decline in the ought's and greatly reduced our attendance from at least once a quarter to less than twice a year. We also changed our theme park habits, dropping our yearly Disney APs and branching out with Busch APs. And it says a lot that we took our first visit to US/IOA in 2008.

And we enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed Disney (at the time).

 

[European1992]

Love this thread. I visited in 1997 but was 5 years old so yeah. I mostly remember being terrified by the Snow White ride. Fun times.

 

[Tjaden]

Love this thread. I visited in 1997 but was 5 years old so yeah. I mostly remember being terrified by the Snow White ride. Fun times.

I'm a couple years older than you, but the Alien scene in GMR got me as a kid. I remember being amazed by the way WoM looked from the outside as it went in a spiral into the building, but sadly I don't remember the ride itself or Horizons for that matter. Both would be among my favorite attractions now.