Ahhhhh you youngsters, Let an Old man tell you things you won't remember. I went to Disney World the first Time in 1975, anyone know what ride was being built that year while we were there, Yes you in the back correct , Space Mountain. There was no Mountain range in 1975 at WDW.
My mom and my brother went and we did 2 parks in 1 day those 2 parks were Sea World and Disney World, yes Imagine that now. Sea World had Shamu and seal and dolphin show and very little else but it was very nice.
Walt Disney to a 12 year old back then was HUGE, I just remember being in awe of everything. I remember the parade, Remember meeting Chip and Dale (Being a twin that was an awesome experience) Disney was so vivid for me I grew up watching The Wonderful world of Disney on Sunday night TV. I remember seeing news clips as they built the park (we lived in Jacksonville and Brunswick during the building)
We went in The summer is all I really remember we did the Big Rides, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean(no JOhnny Depp,,lol) and The Jungle Island Cruise. Also folks this was back in the days of the tickets. You would buy the books with the A, B, C, D and the Best of Course were E ticket rides. I know we did like the trolley and the ferry boat to Tom Sawyer and Rode the Train all of that was one of your tickets.
This was all pre cable TV, and zillion of Movie channels and video games and internet so imagine before all that what going to Disney was Like. I went back in 81 or 82 and the New Hot ride was Thunder Mountain Railroad. I didn't do Epcot till 1987 the first time and we went Dec 26th, I learned a big lesson never go to Disney at Christmas,,lol. The Big new attration that year was The Living Seas the wait was over an Hour plus to get in.
I went to Disney MGM studious on there 2nd or 3rd week open the only major thing they had going was the Much Bigger studio tour with catastrophe canyon. The tour had things you see around the park it was very different then it is now. The Indian Jones Stunt show was in rehearsals and you only saw the first 2 acts. It was such a small park i had no idea how Disney was going to make it work, the next time I went was the 1st Year of Tower of Terror were it only dropped you one time. But it was just as scary as it is now.
I also went the first Month of Animal Kingdom another park that is nothing like the park I first went to. They had it's Tough to Be a Bug and Countdown to Extinction/ Now Dinosaur The ride was differnt as the end the big ass Dino leaned down in your car when it went pitch black. They also had a boat ride were they showed you animals as you cruised around. Also the Safari was amazign we did that when the Park opened at 730 in the Morning, I remember that because it was such a strange hour to open a theme park.
So I have been fortunate to do a lot of the Parks there opening months to have the perspective of how they really were to start with.