It’s so easy to stay in touch with the magic at home with the latest technology. YouTube live streamers visit Walt Disney World every day, and you can also view excellent POV videos of every attraction. The situation was quite different at the parks when I was younger. We relied on brochures, guidebooks, and our memories of our favorite rides and shows. My dad also shot home movies during most of our trips when I was a kid. He has uncovered a lot of those videos during the past few years. I’ve posted most of those on the YouTube channel and wanted to elaborate on those vacations here.
These home movies only give a glimpse at what those trips were like, but it’s still awesome to look back at them. Checking out extinct attractions like Horizons, World of Motion, the Great Movie Ride, and more is also incredible. The quality isn’t great, but it’s fun to see them along with clips of our family enjoying them. I’ve condensed the YouTube videos to remove blurry shots of walls and mostly focused on rides and shows. Let’s take a trip back to the early days of Walt Disney World!
The Magic Kingdom in June 1976
I was only six months old during this early visit five years after The Magic Kingdom opened. This movie is pretty hazy, but it’s still awesome to see clips from 1976. Getting the chance to ride the Skyway and view Fantasyland and Tomorrowland from above is a real treat. It also includes America on Parade, the classic bicentennial celebration of America and all its weirdness. We close with a performance on the Fantasy Faire stage with Mickey, Pluto, and other familiar characters. It’s a vintage gem!
Walt Disney World in June 1980
Our time machines have moved four years into the future for this vacation when I was four years old. I do have a few memories of this trip, including our stay at the Polynesian Resort. This movie includes a cool ride on the Monorail from what I believe is the front capsule. We also board the Jungle Cruise, see Dumbo in its original location, and check out both the daytime and night parades. It’s fun to see how different the Pinocchio Parade was to the high-tech offerings today. I still love the Main Street Electrical Parade, so it’s also great to finish with this Disney classic.
EPCOT Center in June 1986
This might be my favorite video from the group because it contains so many classic EPCOT Center attractions. I was 10 years old during this trip, which was my second visit to such an incredible park. The grand pavilions of Future World made a huge impression on me as a kid. I love seeing clips of Horizons, World of Motion, The Living Seas, and the Jeremy Irons version of Spaceship Earth in this video. It also includes Dreamfinder’s School of Drama, which starred Joe Rohde as our host. There is so much to love from this extensive video, which closes with Laserphonic Fantasy on World Showcase Lagoon. Perfection!
The Magic Kingdom in June 1986
While the original Walt Disney World park hasn’t changed as much as EPCOT, it still was quite different 37 years ago. This home movie reveals some of the differences, including the Vacation Hoedown version of the Country Bear Jamboree. We also take a ride on the Carousel of Progress with its previous song “The Best Time of Your Life” featured. The Magic Kingdom was only celebrating its 15th anniversary in 1986, so it was still a fairly young park. Let’s take a trip back to such a cool park!
Disney/MGM Studios in June 1989
We were lucky enough to visit the Disney/MGM Studios just a month after it opened in 1989. The park has few remnants today of the version we visited 34 years ago, so it’s fun to look back at the original. Home movies like this one gives us a cool way to revisit attractions like the Great Movie Ride, Studio Backlot Tour, and even some rare live entertainment that didn’t last long. We also see an early version of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular; I miss so much from the early days of the Studios!
Walt Disney World in May 1998
I had no idea how many classic attractions would be gone soon after our visit in May 1998. I’m relieved we were able to ride Horizons and the original Journey Into Imagination, which would both close soon after this visit. Another huge benefit was experiencing Disney’s Animal Kingdom one month after it opened. In a similar way to the Studios, that park still a lot of room to grow at that time. This video includes footage from that first visit including Kilimanjaro Safaris and the first version of the Festival of the Lion King. This is easily one of my favorite Walt Disney World trips!
Walt Disney World in January 1999
Let’s close with a home movie from a vacation that I actually didn’t take. My dad and sister visited Walt Disney World with my grandparents during an extremely slow time in January 1999. Along with classics like the Great Movie Ride, Splash Mountain, and the Jungle Cruise, this video includes shots of Illuminations before it became Reflections of Earth. We also see footage of the strange dance troupe The Kristos in Future World plus take a brief stop at the Biergarten. This looks like a super fun trip!
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More than ever I love finding any kind of WDW home movie or video from 1993 or prior. To me that year represents the end of the Golden Age of WDW because that year you could go and still enjoy 75-80% of the attractions that had been there since the mid-70s and at the same time still enjoy good new attractions like Splash Mountain, EPCOT in its original state and Disney-MGM when it was new. I think 94 was the year things started to downhill with the Tomorrowland makeover that misfired, the loss of the original Hall Of Presidents, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and later on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. By the end of the 90s WDW had lost so much of what made it special for me growing up.
That definitely was around the time when a lot of attractions started changing, partially due to sponsorships at least at EPCOT. I feel like it started in 1994 but really changed in ’98-’99 with Toad, Horizons,and Imagination all closing in succession. Losing all those in less than a year was a lot to take.