Old-Time Orlando?!

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by BerkshireBugsy

Smile: the sound of crickets

Cringe: picking a rough hitel on OBT for my very first nights stay because I didn't know any better

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Aha! Really good call on the sound of crickets. Definitely something that should sound very 'foreign' when you stop to think about it.

And a big for the OBT hotel! That is for sure somewhere most tourist shouldn't visit. There are some on the stretch just south of downtown that charge by the hour, not the day!

[Disney_time]

Originally Posted by SimonV

And a big for the OBT hotel! That is for sure somewhere most tourist shouldn't visit. There are some on the stretch just south of downtown that charge by the hour, not the day!

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Back in the day, a friend was in a group of naive Scottish girls in their twenties and they hadn't booked all their hotels in advance. They had to move on as their current hotel was full the next night and they told the receptionist "it's ok, we managed to get a room in a hotel on the Orange Blosson Trail". The receptionist gasped and phoned round all her friends at other hotels to get them something else. They had no idea and just thought it was just a kind act by the receptionist 🤣🤣

[Bertiebear]

Cringe - going every year as a child and refulling at Bangor on the tristar.

Smile - no fast passes, no long queues, and the exchange rate!

[Buzz n' Piglet]

First time visit as a 9 year old. We got free Hoover flights in 1993!

Smile - 2 adults, 2 kids and luggage for a fortnight and we got some wee green sports car thing

Cringe - my aunt who organised everything didnt get on the plane due a fear of flying. My parents had no clue where to go, other than a cross on a bit of a map for the villa and a phone number for villa management. Got lost, ended up in a McDonald's god knows where.

Smile - parents using a pay phone in McDs to call management company. Simpler times!

Cringe - going to closed office of villa management company late at night to get villa keys from a lock box. Villa was off the 192 somewhere.

Smile - still going as an adult now with my wife and daughter and love it just as much.

[greekgranny]

flickr/photos/hollyw...n/photostream/

We stayed here on OBT in about 1985 with Airtours, it was fab. not a bit racey!

[stan_the_man]

Cringe: as a kid, the following things-
Having to endure the smoking section at the back of the plane.
Getting to watch a tiny overhead TV about 5 seats away with only one film option
Doing 3 indirect flights (15hrs) just to get there as we flew from Norwich.
Having to go to a timeshare presentation for half a day just to get free Disney tickets.

Smile: This is the norm now, but one of my earliest and fondest memories is from communicore at Epcot in 1993 and getting to play with touchscreen computers... 26 years on most of us are probably viewing this on a touchscreen device, but it was unheard of at the time.

[MOUSEMARSH]

Cringe: Flying to Fort Lauderdale with Airtours on the Orion Air Flying Pig via Bangor, TV's in the Aisle showing 1 film at a time on some form of VHS cassette.

Smile: 3 extra days holiday at Fort Lauderdale Hilton fully paid by Airtours and then a cheque for £50 per person when we got home due to the plane breaking down each time it flew

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by Disney_time

Back in the day, a friend was in a group of naive Scottish girls in their twenties and they hadn't booked all their hotels in advance. They had to move on as their current hotel was full the next night and they told the receptionist "it's ok, we managed to get a room in a hotel on the Orange Blosson Trail". The receptionist gasped and phoned round all her friends at other hotels to get them something else. They had no idea and just thought it was just a kind act by the receptionist 🤣🤣

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That's hilarious! And I can just imagine the look of shock on the hotel receptionist's face Parts of the OBT are fine, but others, um, well, let's just say you probably wouldn't go to London and stay in Soho...!

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by Bertiebear

Cringe - going every year as a child and refulling at Bangor on the tristar.

Smile - no fast passes, no long queues, and the exchange rate!

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Ah, another Bangor warrior. There were plenty of us, back in the day!

And a big *sigh* over your Smile. I definitely still remember the 2-for-1 exchange rate, and the absence of huge queues. Sadly, Orlando's visitation figures have more than doubled in the last 20 years, which definitely makes for MUCH busier parks, FastPass or no FastPass

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by Buzz n' Piglet

First time visit as a 9 year old. We got free Hoover flights in 1993!

Smile - 2 adults, 2 kids and luggage for a fortnight and we got some wee green sports car thing

Cringe - my aunt who organised everything didnt get on the plane due a fear of flying. My parents had no clue where to go, other than a cross on a bit of a map for the villa and a phone number for villa management. Got lost, ended up in a McDonald's god knows where.

Smile - parents using a pay phone in McDs to call management company. Simpler times!

Cringe - going to closed office of villa management company late at night to get villa keys from a lock box. Villa was off the 192 somewhere.

Smile - still going as an adult now with my wife and daughter and love it just as much.

See more...

That's almost a lifetime of Orlando experiences! And how did we ever manage without mobile phones..?!