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[kate&phoo]

Hiya,

I'm really new to this forum so please forgive me if there is a thread for this somewhere (no doubt there probably is but I've tried searching and the phrase needle in a haystack comes to mind!).

Anyway, I first went to Disneyland in 1992 and am really really interested to see how the park differed then to how it does now. I know the obvious differences and remember some things myself (it's a small world was different then wasn't it?) but I was wondering if anyone had any pics or a You Tube link? (Likewise I have looked on You Tube but can't seem to find much personal footage - it all tends to be professional adverts or the opening ceremony which doesn't show an awful lot of the park nooks and crannies which i'm interested in).

Thank you in advance and apologies for the repetition!

[CafeFantasia]

Anthony has a great collection of photos from 1992 over on his website Euro Souvenirland. Here's the link:

http://www.eurosouvenirland.com/gallery/year/1992/

The main differences back then were:

• No Space Mountain
• No Les Mystères du Nautilus
• No Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
• No Le Pays des Contes de Fées
• No Casey Jr. - Le Petit Train du Cirque
• No Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril

• The park was much much cleaner
• The trees weren't as mature
• The quality of the food was amazing
• There was a tremendous variety of merchandise
• There were a lot of live musicians around the park
• The cast members were more friendly (i.e. more americanised)

[kate&phoo]

Those piccies are great, if anyone has anymore I would love to see them  

I can remember the food being better, they also had more variety from the vendors dotted around the park as I recall. I can remember eating pretzels and crepes which were lovely. I must say I hate the fact that all you seem to be able to get now is horrible sweet popcorn and a limited number of soft drinks.

It's a Small World was a different ride too wasn't it? Was it still located in the same area?

The street musicians were amazing - my dad's highlight at the time. I think they're very sadly missed  

I can't say I have noticed a lack of cleanliness to be honest.

[dagobert]

Anthony has a great collection of photos from 1992 over on his website Euro Souvenirland. Here's the link:

http://www.eurosouvenirland.com/gallery/year/1992/

The main differences back then were:

• No Space Mountain
• No Les Mystères du Nautilus
• No Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
• No Le Pays des Contes de Fées
• No Casey Jr. - Le Petit Train du Cirque
• No Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril

• The park was much much cleaner
• The trees weren't as mature
• The quality of the food was amazing
• There was a tremendous variety of merchandise
• There were a lot of live musicians around the park
• The cast members were more friendly (i.e. more americanised)

In few words:
DLRP was a lot better than today! Maybe the American influence, especially from TWDC, was bigger.

[Festival Disney]

There's a brilliant set of pictures from Euro Disneyland's opening day here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djdamian/9 ... 810990914/

And a nice video of the days' events here:
[dailymotion:3eukhgp3]x251ob[/dailymotion:3eukhgp3]

[Festival Disney]

Here's some people "personal videos" from back in the 90's too:
[youtube:366e407e]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iHcWGQt_VA[/youtube:366e407e]

[youtube:366e407e]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ijHeJ8Vbs[/youtube:366e407e]

[Martyn]

A quick side note, I saw quite a few "Opening crew 1992" jackets this week!

Quite odd really, as I've never seen any before, then I see quite a few in one trip.

[Timbo]

Anthony has a great collection of photos from 1992 over on his website Euro Souvenirland. Here's the link:

http://www.eurosouvenirland.com/gallery/year/1992/

The main differences back then were:

• No Space Mountain
• No Les Mystères du Nautilus
• No Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
• No Le Pays des Contes de Fées
• No Casey Jr. - Le Petit Train du Cirque
• No Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril

• The park was much much cleaner
• The trees weren't as mature
• The quality of the food was amazing
• There was a tremendous variety of merchandise
• There were a lot of live musicians around the park
• The cast members were more friendly (i.e. more americanised)

Happy days ! It was so wonderful back then , I will try to dig out my photos to post them , we went twice that year in May and for New Years Eve !

[davewasbaloo]

Here's some people "personal videos" from back in the 90's too:

[youtube:1c499mlp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ijHeJ8Vbs[/youtube:1c499mlp]

OMG - several vehicles on Main Street including the Horse Drawn Street Car, geysers working in Frontierland, Nautilus is bubbling and smoke on the water at the entrance to DL. Did you see that, a live band in Discoveryland? Le Visionarium. And on Autopia all the lanes are working adding far more kinetics and capacity to the attraction. The salad bar in Videopolis. The Old Mill big wheel working.

Now there is the DLP I fell in love with. And to be honest, stuff like this is far better than any of the toon rubbish that has been layered on over the years.

And the first one had the Dapper Dans, more characters in appropriate places, clean and well maintained. Oh man, I miss it so much. The resort may be bigger, but it is definately not better IMHO.

[dagobert]

OMG - several vehicles on Main Street including the Horse Drawn Street Car, geysers working in Frontierland, Nautilus is bubbling and smoke on the water at the entrance to DL. Did you see that, a live band in Discoveryland? Le Visionarium. And on Autopia all the lanes are working adding far more kinetics and capacity to the attraction. The salad bar in Videopolis. The Old Mill big wheel working.

Now there is the DLP I fell in love with. And to be honest, stuff like this is far better than any of the toon rubbish that has been layered on over the years.

And the first one had the Dapper Dans, more characters in appropriate places, clean and well maintained. Oh man, I miss it so much. The resort may be bigger, but it is definately not better IMHO.

Last year there were several vehicles including the Horse Drwan Street Cars running on Main street. The vehicles included the jail car, the double decker bus, a smaller yellow car and I think a red one. The spinnin wheel of the Old Mill was also working. Is it broken again?

I have never tried Autopia, but do you mean that today not all lanes are used?

Is it really so expensive to fix all the effects, especially the Nautilus bubbles or the smoke on the water at the Discoveryland entrance. I'm sure many people would appreciate that. Me included.

So true that bigger isn't always better. Take a look at WDW.

[davewasbaloo]

That's great news. Last few trips to DLP, some (like 1 at a time) of the vehicles have been running. I have not seen the horsedrawn streetcar in years (bearing in mind we went during the summer season). It used to be there would be 3 or 4 vehicles plus the streetcar all day long.

Once the 15th rolled around and the stupid rubberhead train debutted is when I stopped seeing so much of the vehicles.

And what I meant of the wheel, is the actual ride itself (though I have not seen the sails of the windmill move in years).

And yes, despite monster queues, the last few times we have riden Autopia, they have only had two lanes running, not all four, despite queing for an hour.

Agreed though, DLP is still miles better than the Magic Kingdom in WDW (though I would love their fireworks, and they do still have the Dapper Dans).

[lil-shawn]

To bad my 2.5 hour long Video of DLP 1 week after Opening isnt working anymore, wished i could have share it with you all.
it was the first time i visited DLP, i was 7 and since that day we were going every year, and when the millenium got around, the quality got less we were visiting DLP every 2nd year.

My parents are dissapointed that so much has changed to a less high quality in food, entertainment, and the little things you never see in another park. This year i try to get my Parents back to the park and hope they begin to like it again after 10 years of break they did... But i know they will be shocked by the toon invasion...

[davewasbaloo]

I just watched the longer video with the children. My gosh, they said DLP looked better back then (they are 5 and 7 and had no prompting). They were particularly taken with the Dapper Dans (just like in America, my son said). And they loved the storybook show (they asked why they didn't do it now - I replied that is where you can now meet the princesses, my daughter, aged 5 and who likes princesses, said "awwwwweee I want the storybook show".). And my son was intrigued with the space lunar module at the enterance of Discoveryland. They both were blown away with MSEP (which had more performers here than in the final years) and real fireworks (not the small junk in the Enchanted show).

Then I was taken by the lighting on Space Mountain, the cleanliness of the Hyperion airship, and all the amazing lights on Main Street moving around.

This is the DLP I fell in love with in April of 1992 and felt was getting better and better until just after Space Mountain opened. Fromm 2000 on, I agree it started going down hill in a big way. The 15th restored some of the quality, but not quite. And now I am resolved to the fact that a generation has been brainwashed to think Disney parks = toons. This has only really been the case for the last 10 years or so, the 40 years prior to that Disney used to be about blow them away themed experiences. This is why I get angry at some of the fan community, because I feel they are a big part of ruining the place.

Getting excited about meet and greets may be fine for you, but that is all disney are now focusing their attentions on. And that ruins it for those of us who like the traditional Disney park experience. I don't think they should get rid of all the characters, as I recognise that is highlight for many, but I would like some balance please.

[ed-uk]

when DLP first opened it was a fanancial disaster in 1992. It faced bankruptcy and closier. It lost 100's of millions. They were forced to cut back on staff. That's what I can't get over. Many people thought the hotels were too expensive, the CM's not very freindly. The French couldn't get a bottle of wine with their meal in the park. I remember the year in the early 1990's when visitor numbers droped to 8 million, nearly twice that amount go now. i also remember the time they closed the NPB Club because thinks were so bad. I don't think it's fair to blame the fan community for ruining the place, when thinks were going so badly wrong from the very begining. We all want it to be perfect.

[davewasbaloo]

Agreed, there were problems in the beginning, but to have twice as many guests and less entertainment is not a good thing either. Also, HKDL has a much smaller park, with far fewer guests, but they have real entertainment and fireworks.