Disney now and then – 1983-2013 – Magic Kingdom

[gl20]

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Magic Kingdom… Definitely the park I was looking forward to revisiting the most. Touring it on many a humid August evening, the smell of warm cookie dough on Main Street and salted popcorn before the parade, always choosing the Omega track on Space Mountain (in the days when you were allowed to choose) and riding If You Had Wing countless times while Dad was using a payphone to call the office are all things lodged firmly in my mind!

Firstly, back to that helicopter tour.. Look closely enough and you can see the lake for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea just past the kart track.



I remember the pilot explaining that Disney had acquired 43 square miles of land and one day it would be fully developed… my 10 year old imagination got a little carried away as I took this to mean it would be completely covered with rides and nothing else!
Back to 2013 and the ferry across the lake.



Dad was right. It’s definitely the nicer way to get there although I overheard several kids trying to persuade their parents they should take the monorail just as I used to. We did use it a couple of times this visit but seems to break down a lot and what’s all this standing up business?! Never used to be like that and I missed the sound of the doors slamming one by one.

Time to get the ticket stamped…



Pretty low tech and the going out pass was no more than one of those UV stamps on your hand. The reverse side shows that a 3 day pass in ‘85 was $45, the free day that year was to celebrate Disneyland’s 30th anniversary. Very much liked today’s spinning light ring thing glowing green to say ‘you’re good to go!’

How the 10 year old looks today…



A shame not to hear the railroad whistle on arrival because of the refurbishment although as I’ve never had any real interest in trying this attraction I’d sooner it was this and not Space Mountain out of action.

You can imagine the buzz at this point of finally entering Main Street after so long (apart from a single afternoon in ’01, it was 25 years since the last visit). Perhaps my favourite bit of WDW and seems more immaculate than ever.



The afternoon parade started right on cue..





.and, yep, the castle’s still here.



Something I really should have planned a bit better was to take copies of the old photos on this trip to make precise 2013 copies. I did at least remember I had the following photo at home and so tried to get the same spot outside Crystal Palace. Not a million miles apart.



And if the photo locations aren't quite spot on, the ages pretty much are. To within a month, I'm the same age in the below image as Dad is in the above.



I know these photos of Frontier Land are from ’84 or ’85 as in the first year we were so transfixed by Tomorrowland we barely ventured away from it and completely overlooked this part of the park!
The Mike Fink keelboats.. one of these is now resting on the side of Tom Sawyer Island as a prop.



Not sure why we took this photo of the Haunted Mansion queue but you can at last see the paddle boat, something I never actually went on until this holiday. Same thing with the Hall of Presidents. Both good, should have tried them before.



continued..

[gl20]

Back to today and starting to get that dusky vibe



The park seems to have ‘filled out’ a fair bit since those first visits.. both in terms of foliage that has matured, and also the crowds that are larger. I know October is considered quieter so it seemed busier than I was expecting. Not sure I could now cope with peak season! The shot here from the Thunder Railroad queue shows a slightly more barren landscape than today.. and no Splash Mountain.



Still one of my favourite rides..



I think in the 6 month run up to this holiday, my wife got tired of hearing about how great the park was at night but, once there, she realised what it was all about. She even thought good old ‘It’s a Small World’ (Disney’s answer to Eurovision?) was OK.



The carousel was one ride I don’t think I’d ridden since the very first visit. Probably didn’t think it very ‘cool’ to be seen on it once I was a little older. Still looking as well maintained as ever.



One thing that completely passed me by was Mickey’s Toon Town ie it was built after our last visits in the 80s and flattened before this one! New Fantasy Land looked pretty good to me. Thank you to the child for the impromptu light painting in this photo – adds to the magic don’t you think?



I’d said earlier I wished I’d remembered to take some old photos with me. I didn’t remember this shot at all until pulling out the album for these reports but we were stood on this very same plinth for the Electrical Parade this time round.



The music hasn’t changed!







Probably worth saying my wife was very sceptical about going to WDW. She’d never been and wasn’t sure what to expect. After a lukewarm reception visiting Animal Kingdom on Day 1, it was Toy Story Midway Mania that was the point at which she ‘got it’ when we visited HS on Day 2 (can you believe I was made to wait until Day 3 before getting to Epcot and Magic Kingdom?!). I always had in my mind that if all else failed, Wishes would do it for her… I think we ended up seeing it about 6 times in all and that wasn’t down to me!



Next report - Seaworld & Accommodation

[JK's Mummy]

Fabulous photos- loving the comparisons

[Pussycat Doll]

Brilliant to see how much things have changed. Pussycat

[KK_Cat]

Oh I enjoyed looking at those. Thank you Keep them coming if you have more, so interesting to see.

[Redrach1903]

Another great report! Thank you for sharing

[KarenG]

Really enjoyed this report, too. I do like how you've tried to recreate the photos.

[rachel-lou]

I love seeing your old photos of the parks - and the pics from your most recent trip are beautiful. Thanks for sharing

[tclaireh]

Brilliant pics!

My Mum has some classics wearing a huge 80's perm standing looking at the castle, cigarette in hand, thank goodness those days have gone!

I love the entry ticket though, life seemed so much more simple back in those days... having spent the afternoon trying to get to grips linking everything for a party of 8 on MDE

Claire x

[gl20]

Originally Posted by tclaireh

Brilliant pics!

My Mum has some classics wearing a huge 80's perm standing looking at the castle, cigarette in hand, thank goodness those days have gone!

I love the entry ticket though, life seemed so much more simple back in those days... having spent the afternoon trying to get to grips linking everything for a party of 8 on MDE

Claire x

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Yep, ADRs were a bit of a shock this time round! Thanks to you and the other posters for the comments. It's been good putting these threads together