Disneyworld - Part One
Trip Start
May 23, 1982
1
14
74
Trip End
Ongoing
Loading Map
Orlando,
Florida,
United States
Saturday, February 7, 1987
I remember Disneyworld as incredibly frightening - all the rides scared me beyond all belief. Like the Peter Pan ride where you get in a small ship carriage and it flies through the sky over models of scenes from the movie. I kept on looking over the edge wondering if my particular little flying ship would decide to stop flying and drop to the ground. All the models looked really real because you were up high and they looked like they were way down below milling around. I gripped to the sides of the carriage in fear, especially when we got to the Captain-Hook-loses-his-hand bit with the scary crocodile and the clocks and all that.
The Snow White & The Seven Dwarves ride had pretty much the same effect on me. It was the same formula for the ride, except instead of being in a small ship thing, we were in some kind of magical floaty thing of which I have no recollection as to what it may have been. The scenes for the Snow White ride were much scarier with the witch and the poison apple and the scary little Dwarvian miners who lived in the dark pretty much all the time.
For some reason, I really loved the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride, which was a roller coaster in Frontierland.
A lane in Tomorrowland
My sister and my Mum hated it with a passion because it was really fast and tilted on its side and went through dark caves and all that good stuff. Totally contrasting the Peter Pan and Snow White rides - it was outside and fast and you could feel the wind beating on your face. It's the kind of ride where you have a moment of silence and close your eyes - the noises become muffled and you feel yourself in a vacuum - away from the entire world.All of the rides in Tomorrowland were a bit too much for me, so I didn't go on any of them, although my father loved one called Space Mountain. Apparantly it is a roller coaster or something that is really crazy and in space and all that space stuff...
I got bored at the EPCOT Center, and it looked so impressive from the outside, like a giant golf ball waiting to be tee'd off. The brochure says that "When you enter EPCOT Center, you step into the world of the possible." Personally, I stepped into a world of sore legs and blank staring at the wall from boredom. I'm sure that the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow would be a great thing to visit if you are a bit older than I was, but save your kids the trouble and try not to let them be taken in by the illusion of a fun golf ball type land.
The Journey Into Imagination was more of my kind of thing, a place of completely imaginative and way out there things to keep you occupied and engaged. Plus there was this cool dragon guy character who was called "Figment", he was a figment of the Dreamfinder who guides you through the realm of imagination. Like all things though, the most interesting part of the EPCOT Center and the Dreamfinder's little journey, was the fountains outside that shot jets of water between a number of circular discs to give the impression that the water was jumping around.
They are the main points that stand out to me from Disneyworld (apart from the most important bits that will be in Disneyworld - Part Two), even though there is loads more to it and we spent a lot of time there.
Going through all the old photos has really put a smile on my face - it made me feel happy - the day dream fantasy world that Disney has created really is an amazing place. I think that adults would notice all the crap factors about the place, like rude people and hyper-consumerism in your face all the time, but as a child - Disneyworld really was a magical place for me.
