Anita Talk

My last story left off in the late 1970s. After my 1975 trip, I wouldn't be able to get back to the World until 1986. It sat at the back of my mind to make a return trip, but things got in the way, like college, jobs, layoffs, moves, lack of funds and the like.

By the very early 80's, I had met Mr. Answer, and after a few years, we decided to get married. We originally wanted to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon, but just starting out, we didn't have much money, and Hawaii is expensive. We sat down with a travel agent to explore our [meager] options. "Well, how about Disney World?" he asked.YES!! Why didn't I think of that?

He set us up with a package that included 5 nights at the Howard Johnson on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, tickets, including the new park that had opened in 1982, EPCOT Center (Woohoo! A NEW PARK!), Discovery Island, and River Country, plus one lunch.

We couldn't afford to stay at any of the Disney resorts, which then consisted of the Contemporary, Polynesian Village, Fort Wilderness, the Disney Inn and the Village Resort. The Grand Floridian and Disney's first moderately priced hotel, the Caribbean Beach, were still under construction. As our wedding date approached, we found we were far more excited about the honeymoon trip than we were about the wedding and reception!

Finally, after months of planning, it was time to go to the World! Mr. Answer had never been, but was a fan of Disney's films, and of their technology and innovative techniques. We were both anxious to see them in action at EPCOT Center.

EPCOT stood for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow". Walt Disney's original concept was to build an actual community, but when all was said and done, EPCOT became more of a permanent World's Fair than anything else.

The "community" was built nearby in what was then called Lake Buena Vista Village. Model homes, townhomes, unique Treehouses, and apartments were built, but due to politics that I won't get into here, the homes were never sold or used for personal dwellings. Instead, for the first couple of years, they were rented out to corporate entities, and they later became The Disney Village Resort and were rented to guests.

Anyway, back to our first look at EPCOT. Entering the turnstiles, we were both completely blown away by what lay before us. The beautiful geosphere that towered over us! The fountains and gardens! The clean modern architectural lines!

We explored Futureworld pavilion by pavilion, savoring every detail. Somewhere, I had gotten a copy of a guide (Birnbaum's?) that advised us to tour the parks clockwise; and when given the choice, to always choose the left-hand queue. To this day I still tend to follow that advice, but now that I've shared it with all of you, everyone will do it and I'll have to learn to tour counter-clockwise and choose the right-hand queue. I'll have to break 25 years of habitual veering to the left.

My lasting impression of that first trip to EPCOT Center was how absolutely visually stunning the park was. It was artful and modern in Future World, yet tempered with gorgeous plants, trees, fountains and lagoons.

Spaceship Earth was majestic. It truly was an icon, so beautiful when seen from anywhere in the park. Now that the Millennium Wand is finally down, I can't tell you how happy I wias to see it a couple of weeks ago in it's original pristine state, and to view it the way it was meant to be viewed. Unfortunately, the granite monoliths will still stand in what was originally a more wide-open area blocking that wonderful fountain beckoning you to move toward it and into Future World. I hope against hope that someday, the plaza will be returned to something like it originally was, with that lovely plexiglass sculpture in the middle of the fountain and with flower beds instead of boulders which interrupt the entire flow of the plaza.

I think I miss the rows of palm trees that framed the geosphere the most, but I did read recently that the oak trees surrounding Spaceship Earth will be removed and replaced with palms. These days, the plaza is most definitely lacking in Feng Shui and sports a rather cold and uninviting look. Removing the Leave a Legacy kiosk at the bottom of Spaceship Earth, and the sales/photo area on the west side of the plaza is a huge start toward restoring it to it's original beauty and flow. With Epcot's 25th birthday coming on October 1, 2007, it looks like this park will finally be getting some much-needed attention,along with a re-dedication ceremony.

But that is now, and I want to talk about the early days. Besides the name and the entrance plaza being different in 1986, there were some other things that made the park differ from the Epcot of today.

For instance, Innoventions didn't exist. Those buildings were known as Communicore East and West. Spaceship Earth had a different show and a different narrator. The Universe of Energy also had a different show: There were dinosaurs, but no Ellen. The Wonders of Life didn't exist yet. I guess that pavilion has come full circle, since it pretty much doesn't exist today, either.

A pavilion called Horizons, featuring a trip through the possibilities of the future where you could choose your own ending, was located where Mission:SPACE now stands. In the space station area of the queue in Mission:SPACE, you can still see the Horizons logo.

The World Of Motion, a great "dark ride" about transportation with a track that went up the outside of the show building and a catchy theme song, stood where Test Track is today.

That strange looking building perched on the lagoon between Test Track and the Mexico Pavilion didn't used to be just a bathroom and first aid stop--It used to be a counter service restaurant called The Odyssey.

Meanwhile over in Future World West, a brand new pavilion called The Living Seas had a ride called the "Sea Cabs" that took you on a slow, very short ride around the aquariums. No one had yet found Nemo.

Next door at the Land, there was a fun show called Kitchen Kabaret, with an earworm theme song called "Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit". Yes, my friend Flo and I can still do the entire show complete with song, even though it closed in 1994, when it was replaced by "Food Rocks". Flo, this one is for you: "He won't forget the lickin' he got from that big chicken, so now he gets his poultry from the store..." The Kitchen Kabaret theatre used to be where Soarin's queue is now.

And last, but by no means least, was my favorite Future World pavilion and ride, Journey Into Imagination.

Why in the world the original ride was gutted and destroyed is beyond me. The original ride with DreamFinder and Figment was such a wonderful sensory experience, filled with sounds, smells, and colors. The White Room featured an incredibly beautiful glass wall. When you were done with the ride, you could go upstairs and play in the Image Works. That rainbow neon tunnel was so much fun, as were the pin tables and giant kaleidoscopes.

As if that wasn't enough, you could then go see a 3D film called Magic Journeys in the attached theater, and then go outside and play in the leapfrog fountains. Today, we're on the third, better by light years than the second, but still lame version of the ride, the ImageWorks is now downstairs and features not much in the way of imagination, the theatre houses Honey, I Shrunk The Audience, which is possibly the strongest of the three attractions, and luckily, the fountains have all survived intact. Phew! The Rumor Mill has been buzzing lately with tales of a major overhaul for the whole pavilion, to which I say, "hurrah!"

Back to 1986. Leaving Futureworld and moving into World Showcase, each pavilion transported us to those far-away places we had not yet even dreamed of visiting. The only time I had been outside of the US was a car trip to Canada around the Niagara Falls area. Since then, I've been lots of places including Mexico, China, England, France and Canada, and World Showcase turns out to be a pretty darned good representation of these countries!

World Showcase in 1986, like Future World, was different from the one we know today. The Norway pavilion wouldn't debut until 1988. My favorite pavilion, Morocco, with its incredibly intricate tile work, had just opened in 1984.

The other pavilions have remained much the same, occasionally changing out displays, revamping old rides, updating films, and changing theater seats from lush and comfy to cheap, hard and easily broken. (You guilty pavilions know who you are!!)

Some of the restaurants have undergone changes as well. Le Cellier used to be a "buffeteria," for instance. This is where we chose to have our "free" lunch that came with our package. I had prime rib for lunch. How very decadent! Mostly what I remember about dining on this trip was how bad both the food and service were everywhere around Disney property!

Our best meals were at the HoJo coffee shop in our hotel. One really bad meal stands out for me: We ate dinner at Captain Jack's in the Disney Village. My steamed shrimp had been cooked into oblivion, and were served as tasteless mush. The service was worse than the food. My husband and I joked about how bad the restaurants were on that trip for years after that, even when they had vastly improved. Unfortunately, on our most recent visits, we're seeing a return to the bad food and service of the 80's.

In the entertainment area, there was a nighttime spectacular on World Showcase Lagoon called "Laserphonic Fantasy". This show was actually the third show on the lagoon since the park opened. The first two were "Carnival de Lumiere" and "A New World Fantasy". If we saw Laserphonic Fantasy, I have no recollection of it. I do have vague memories of airplanes trailing colored smoke over World Showcase Lagoon and some bizarre boats on the lagoon during a short-lived daytime spectacular called "Skyleidoscope".

It took us at least two full days to explore all that EPCOT Center had to offer, and I'm sure we still missed a lot. I still recall how much my feet hurt after pounding around the park for hours in flat sandals. What was I thinking?? Since then, I have never gone to the World without at least two pairs of tried and true comfy shoes or sandals. Lesson learned!

Of course, we thoroughly covered the Magic Kingdom as well, since my husband had never been before, but we seemed to concentrate our attention on EPCOT Center. We tried to use our River Country tickets, but the day before, a guest had run his rented boat aground on the berm that separated RC from Bay Lake, so it was closed, darn it! We never did get to RC until the 1990's just prior to its closing. At least we got there.

I don't think we made it over to Discovery Island either, with all there was to do at the bigger parks.

As we flew home from our first Disney adventure together, we mused about the things we had missed, so of course, we'd have to make another trip to see those things! It was then that I knew my husband had fallen in love with the World, much like I had a few years earlier. Our next trip would be in 1989, a few months after the Disney-MGM Studios opened.

Next time, a look at the World of the late 80's.

Anita

Special thanks to Brian Martsolf for the use of his extensive postcard collection!
Postcard Scans are courtesty of Brian Martsolf who has an online guide to WDW Postcards.

With Disney-MGM Studios' renaming to Disney's Hollywood Studios recently, what better time to talk about my very first trip to that park?

Turn the clock back. It's 1989.

Mr. Answer and I had not gone back to the World since our 1986 honeymoon, and we were ready to go again. Not having to follow school schedules, since Minnie Answer wouldn't make her debut for another year and a half, we decided to take an early October roadtrip.

Our first stop would be in Atlanta for a long visit with our close friend and former roommate, who had recently relocated there. The plan was to leave Atlanta and drive down to Orlando for the second part of our trip. We had booked a few days at the Radisson, just outside of property. At the last minute, Ms. A decided to join us.

The drive seemed interminable, because we were so excited about seeing the parks again! This was Ms. A's very first trip, so she was doubly excited. Truth be told, I remember very little of this trip other than the Studios and the hotel! The Radisson was nice enough, though not fancy.

I longed to stay at one of the glamorous Disney Resorts, which by then included the Grand Floridian and the Caribbean Beach, Disney's very first moderate resort. Being poor newlyweds, that dream would have to be put on hold for another few years, however, so there we were at the Radisson. I believe we picked the Radisson from a AAA hotel guide. Can you imagine even trying to plan a trip without the internet? Thank goodness Al Gore had the foresight to invent it a few years later! (Just kidding...)

We purchased 4 Day Passports for around $100 each. $100 was a hefty sum for us, but well worth it. We had to buy a 4 Day because the 3 Day Passports didn't include Disney-MGM! We planned to use 1 day for each of the parks, and the remaining day to revisit a park, but as it turned out, after the 4 days, we didn't want to leave, and extended our stay and our tickets for another couple of days. Hey, it's only money, right?

As I mentioned earlier, I remember little of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot on this trip, probably because so little had changed since our 1986 trip.

At the Magic Kingdom, a new land had opened (Mickey's Birthday Land), but the village of Duckburg held little of interest for anyone over the age of 6.

EPCOT Center had a few exciting additions, including a new World Showcase Pavilion (Norway), a 3-D movie (Captain Eo,) and an almost-finished Future World Pavilion, Wonders of Life.

Wonders of Life didn't officially open until a week or so after we went home, but I have vague memories of touring the pavilion on this trip, which may or may not have happened. Those particular braincells are stored in the back of the vault, if you get my drift. Also at EPCOT, IllumiNations had made its debut.

The star of this trip, however, was definitely the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, which had opened on May 1, 1989, a few months later than its original targeted opening of Oct.1, 1988.

In those days, Disney-MGM actually was a working production facility as well as a theme park. The focus at the park's beginning was on a "living movie set," according to early park guides. What we see on the Backstage Tour now is a pale imitation of the original, where you actually might have seen a TV show or film in production.

Much later, I was lucky enough to work very briefly behind the scenes on one of the last TV series produced there before the soundstages closed forever to be turned into first the Millionaire attraction and now into Toy Story Mania.

In 1989, the animation tour featured what at least looked to me like real animators working on real animated films. To clarify, animated films were definitely produced there, but I don't know if the people I saw during the tour were really animators or actors. I suspect they were low level members of the animation team, since they did appear to be working. Animated features produced at the Studios included "Mulan" and "Lilo and Stitch."

But let's get back to 1989. So, there we were, three young adults about to experience a brand new park. We walked under the Art Deco archways housing the ticket booths, and through the turnstiles. The park was divided into three main areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Lakeside Circle/Backlot Annex and the Production Center/Backlot area.

Hollywood Boulevard was much like it is today, with an avenue of stores designed to resemble early 20th Century Los Angeles, with the crown jewel looming at the end of the street: A wonderfully detailed replica of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, home of the Great Movie Ride.

Today, there's a...um...rather large, out of place and obtrusive hat blocking the view of the theater, completely ruining Hollywood Boulevard's intended sightline. Sure wish we could just airlift it out of there and put it someplace else, say near the Animation Courtyard, or perhaps outside of the park in the entrance plaza, but as usual, I've taken a side trip from my subject.

We pretty much by-passed the stores, as we were being drawn to the beautiful theatrer at the end of the street. (This is why Walt Disney and the Imagineers call park icons like Cinderella Castle and Spaceship Earth "wienies" -- they draw you deeper into the park.)

Speaking of Hollywood Boulevard, if you turned those early Studios park maps upside down, you would have seen that you were standing in the middle of the World's largest hidden Mickey! The plaza in front of the theater comprised Mickey's face, Echo Lake formed one ear and the area by the tipboard and the Brown Derby formed the other ear. With the addition of the...um...rather large and obtrusive hat and the development of the Sunset Boulevard area, this cool "secret" is pretty much gone now. What a shame.

We entered the queue area of The Great Movie Ride, and ooh'ed and ah'ed at the movie prop and costume displays. In the theater area we watched the same clips we're watching today. As far as I can tell, this has never been changed. Once on the ride, we marveled at the moving theaters, gliding silently through movie scenes. Everything but the final film clips is the same as it was then, with the exception of the Busby Berkeley scene, which used to rotate.

What to do next? There wasn't much to do attraction-wise here on Hollywood Boulevard; only The Great Movie Ride and a stage show in a tiny outdoor amphitheater called "Theater of the Stars" that was squeezed in between the Brown Derby and the shops on Hollywood Boulevard. In 1993, it was moved to it's current and much larger home on Sunset Boulevard, where it now houses the Beauty and The Beast Live On Stage show.

We skipped the show, and headed for Lakeside Circle/Backlot Annex to see Superstar Television (where the currently unused ABC Theater is now, and where the future American Idol show will go.) I was picked from the audience to be in the show to be part of a girl-group trio called "The Vonzels." We sang "Da Doo Ron Ron" on the Ed Sullivan show. It was the beginning and the end of my onstage showbiz career. Some people would call that a blessing.

Also in Lakeside Circle, next to Superstar Television, was the "Monster Sound Show," where audience members added sound effects to a hilarious "horror" film starring Chevy Chase and Martin Short. "Sounds Dangerous," which is in that spot now, isn't even remotely as entertaining as "Monster Sound Show" was, and in fact after I experienced it once, I have never been back. I went back to see "Monster" over and over again before it closed in 1997.

We also spent some time in the post show area, "Soundsations," which today is pretty much the same as it was back then. We wandered back a bit and saw the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, which I'm fairly sure hasn't changed since then either. Maybe with the new Indy movie opening this summer, we might see something new? By the way, one of Mr. Answer's life's goals is to be chosen to participate in this show, but so far, no offers. Showbiz is so fickle!

After stopping for lunch at the Backlot Express, we found our way over to the Backstage Studio Tour. In the early days of the park, the Backstage Tour was at least two hours long and divided into two parts: the tram tour and the walking tour. This attraction was so long, guests were encouraged to make a potty stop before beginning the tour.

The tram tour took you through Costuming, the Scenic Shop, the late, lamented Residential Street (where Lights, Motors, Action! is now,) Catastrophe Canyon, and New York Street (now Streets of America.)

The walking portion of the tour began with the Water Effects Tank (you know, where hapless guests get completely drenched,) the Special Effects Workshop, the Soundstages where you might see an actual production being shot, Post Production Editing and Audio department, and finally a film with clips of upcoming movies presented in the Walt Disney Theater.

Our final attraction for the day was the Magic Of Disney Animation Tour. The old tour started with a hilarious film called Back To Neverland, which featured the voices of Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite. Next was a tour of the Animation Studio, which showed the various processes necessary to bring an animated film to life. Finally, clips from favorite Disney animated films were shown in the Disney Classics Theater.

Our first day in the Disney-MGM Studios was over. Reluctantly, we went back to our hotel, and Immediately began to plan out our extended stay so we could go back again!

Special thanks to Jack Spence for the loan of the pictures of the Disney-MGM Studios.