Day 1271: The First Time

No, the above picture is not from my first trip to Walt Disney World, but really, at this point, I don't have a lot of pictures from that trip. I do have some video, which I'm hoping to transfer, but beyond that I don't even have any memories of my own. I mean, I was 15 months old, so I don't know how I would remember any of that, but still. 

The truth is, things were pretty different at Walt Disney World during my first trip. The first time I saw Cinderella Castle, and I love to tell this story, it wasn't blue. It was pink. For the 25th anniversary they decorated the castle as a giant pink birthday cake, and the outcome was sort of...odd. When I find the pictures of it I'll be sure to share, but in the meantime you can definitely find some on Google. Just search "Cinderella Castle 25th Anniversary." Actually, the first two trips I took, that's how the castle looked. Can you imagine if I had been older? I probably would have thought that it was supposed to look like that. 

Horizons was still there, as was the Skyway and Dreamflight. Food Rocks was the highlight of The Land, and Dreamfinder was even still hanging with Figment. World of Motion would have just closed for it's transformation into Test Track, and, at the time, a giant Toy Story Parade graced the streets of the then MGM-Studios. In the Backlot, things were drastically different, with an extended tour and residential street still intact. Oh, and Animal Kingdom didn't even exist. 

As I go through that old video I'll be sure to share some of the differences I find with you, and hopefully I'll have pictures and video clips to back myself up! But I do think that looking back to our first trips is sort of an important and fun thing to do. After all, Disney World changes quickly, and sometimes we don't realize just how quickly until we take a look back. 

Have a magical day!

Day 652: Attractions of the Past

This particular blog post kind of goes with a number of other ones, but it's actually inspired by THIS article from Mental Floss that I happened across the other day. With Malestrom and the Backlot Express and who knows what else closing, it does give us a chance to go back and reflect on some of the Disney attractions of the past, in this case 11 Wonderful Former Disney Rides from Disneyland And Walt Disney World.

I can't say I remember most of these since 1. I wasn't alive for most of them and 2. Most of them are at Disneyland, and I've only been there once. Actually, there are only two attractions on the entire list that I could even possibly remember, although I don't remember any of them (aside from some faint memories of Journey Into Imagination).

It's it odd though, that there can be so many Disney attractions completely lost in the history books? If you look at how many attractions are open at even just Walt Disney World today, there's more than you can see and do in any one day, or eight or nine for our matter in January. When things close though, you have this strange sense of wonder at what will come next, especially when they include little hints of things within the new attraction. Take Mission SPACE for instance, where there are little hints to Horizons all over the place, and one of my brother's favorite things about the redesigned Test Track is probably the garbage cans with the old World of Motion Epcot symbol.

There are a lot of old attractions I do remember though, and I talked about a few of them in my Malestrom blog post (That was, ironically enough, also written this evening on October 19). I think the most vintage of them would have to be the Skyway though. I think that's one of the things I really love about Disneyland though. I feel like there's a real sense of the old Disney there, between the Matterhorn and the Autopia and everything else. That's not something we have at Disney World, and I find that to be really sad. I love looking back at the past attractions, and I really wish we would do it more often.

What was your favorite lost attraction?

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 19).