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Old 30 Jan 21, 08:50 PM  
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Memories, Maps, and Mementos 2001


This time some photos and park guides from our 2001 trip to Orlando. I thought this time I'd skip some of the standard park photos - but they'll still be a few - and post a few bits and bobs we collected whilst on holiday.

Above were our Disney tickets - 5 day Park Hopper for $236 plus tax. They say 2000 on the front but we bought them in 2001 from our rep. Those were the days when we bought our tickets over there instead of online, we only spent 5 days at Disney, and we also wasted time going to the rep's welcome meeting!



Like our first two holidays to Orlando, our March 2001 vacation was a package holiday. This time with Thomson. We stayed in room 2308 at the Best Western at the southern end of International Drive. It's the Avanti now.

The hotel was okay, but not great. It was more like a motel. We weren't in it much, just a base for sleeping, and for that it was fine. The location was good though.

This year we actually kept a rough record of what we did each day. We arrived on Saturday 3rd March and that evening visited the Mercado shopping village/mall for a look around and some food. Sadly it's not there any more and was eventually replaced by that Orlando Eye big wheel.

The next day we went to the welcome meeting which was at the cinema at Universal's Citywalk. That was a bit weird - we sat in a cinema, watched some movie trailers, and then the reps tried to sell us some excursions. That was the last welcome meeting we went to.



As mentioned, we bought our tickets from the reps - some 5 day Disney hoppers, 1 day Seaworld tickets (you always got a second day free back then), and 2 day Universal tickets. A total of 9 park days. Back then you didn't get 14 day Disney tickets.

Below is a zoomed-in picture of some of the prices from 2001.



So... a 7 day Disney ticket for $325 and a 1 day ticket to Islands of Adventure for $49. Also you had to buy a ticket for DisneyQuest.

As we were already at CityWalk for the welcome meeting, our first park day was at Universal Studios...



Mardi Gras was on at Universal Studios. I think this was the only time we visited during Mardi Gras. There was a parade, which was very good, where they threw bead necklaces and coins to the crowd...



We also kept some of the beads but I'm not sure where they are at the moment.



Here are our thin cardboard 2-day 2-park Universal tickets.



Michelle in front of the DeLorean from Back to the Future. This was outside the amazing BTTF ride, which is now the Simpsons ride (this is also amazing).



That's me in front of the Men in Black ride. Gawd, I look young.



One thing that some people don't know, or have forgotten, is that the Universal Express system used to be free. It was a bit like Disney's old fastpass system - you put your ticket in a machine and got a return time. It was actually better than Disney's fastpass because you could get fastpasses for 3 attractions at the same time if you had a multi-day park ticket.

Of course, a few years later, Universal decided to start charging for its Express passes. I'm surprised Disney didn't follow a year or two later.



On to Islands of Adventure...



...And here's the entrance to Duelling Dragons, which then became Dragon Challenge when the area was rethemed to Harry Potter. Sadly, it's now gone and has been replaced by Hagrid's motorbike ride.

Duelling Dragons was an excellent inverted coaster, and was especially good due to the duelling aspect. Although the last time I went on Dragon Challenge just before it closed I felt a dizzy coming off it.



A Dr Seuss show inside Circus McGurkus. I'm not sure whether they still do this little stage show in the quick service restaurant any more?



On to Disney, and here are a small number of photos from Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride and Test Track were fairly new in 2001, having opened less than 2 years beforehand. Maybe it's just me but the Pooh ride seems a lot older than that.



The obligatory photo of Cinderella Castle at MK.



Here comes the Vengabus!



Epcot used to have a double-decker bus that appeared near the World Showcase lagoon full of lots of characters. Interestingly/Strangely Disney called it the “Characters on Holiday” bus and not the “Characters on Vacation” bus. The bus would stop and you could meet Mickey Mouse and friends.



A photo of the wonderful Tapestry of Nations parade at Epcot. As I mentioned in my previous retrospective trippy, I consider this to be one of the best parades at Disney.



Ah, the old paper fastpasses. Those were the days.



No photos from Seaworld this time, just the park tickets. They were much more decorative than the Universal tickets (which were always a bit boring to look at) and even the Disney tickets.



Oops, forgot to post the park guide maps from Disney MGM Studios (now called Disney's Hollywood Studios) and Animal Kingdom.

Rock'n'Rollercoaster was fairly new - it also opened less than 2 years beforehand. I think Countdown to Extinction had recently been renamed to Dinosaur at this time.



The old FAO Schwarz toy shop on International Drive. It was where Pointe Orlando is now. I think I preferred the area when it was more of a outdoor shopping mall before it became Pointe Orlando and more of a bar and restaurant area.



That bear at the side of FAO Schwarz was huge!

I miss that shop.



We often used the I-Ride Trolley to get up and down International Drive to see the sights and go shopping at all the cheap outlet shops along the road and at Belz shopping mall at the north end.

In those days the UK didn't have many (if any?) outlet malls, so it was great bagging lots of bargains in Orlando.



Finally, a leaflet from Joe Muggs, a coffee shop inside the large Books-A-Million bookstore on International Drive (sadly no longer there). The UK didn't have large bookshops with cafes in them either, so - as a big fan of books and coffee - this was also a great experience at the time.

A few years later the UK started doing large bookstores with cafes in them (we used to have a Borders with a Starbucks inside near us) so Joe Muggs became less unique over time.

And that's it. Thanks for reading!


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Old 30 Jan 21, 10:39 PM  
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Fantastic bit of nostalgia there. I can't believe how cramped the area around the castle looked back then! I remember the universal fast passes, I remember they didn't always take them off you and using a few of them a couple of times
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Old 30 Jan 21, 10:50 PM  
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Old 30 Jan 21, 10:55 PM  
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Nimbus
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Originally Posted by formosagirl View Post
Fantastic bit of nostalgia there. I can't believe how cramped the area around the castle looked back then! I remember the universal fast passes, I remember they didn't always take them off you and using a few of them a couple of times
Yes, it does look cramped in front of the castle in that photo. Thankfully Disney did open up the hub area many years later to accommodate the increasing number of guests at MK.
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