What do you Remember or Miss at WDW

I went to Disney alot as a kid, and one of my favorite things to do was watch the Kitchen Cabaret. Somewhere, we have a stuffed head of brocolli wearing sunglasses. But I do love the new attractions, too!

I miss Bella Nova, The Living Statues, Gordoon, the double decker buses in EPCOT, the Junkanoo Bus, the ability to buy something under five dollars in each country (and actually have something to show for it).

I remember when the parks and everything about WDW was pristinely clean. It's clean now, but nothing like it used to be.

I remember when the plastic soda cups had the castle on them. We used to keep them for souvenirs!

Discovery Island. The original one.

Resort rooms at All Stars for about $80 a night and that was rack rate.

Watermelon juice at Mexico.

GOOD food and great service at any WDW restaurant.

Cast Members who laughed and interacted with you every time they saw you. I used to wonder how they got their work done they were so busy being nice to people.

Bus drivers who were some of the best entertainment at WDW!

Riding up front in the Monorail.

The Great Millennium Walk... I loved the Sage of Time.

Walk up dining.

And Main St before it became a strip mall.

Finding different merchandise in different parks and resorts. Things you could only get at that specific location were much more interesting than the mass market merchandise that is all over the place now.

I used to really be lured to Disney by its uniqueness. I "once upon a time" learned much there, new things, new ideas, new tastes.

Met so many wonderful chefs, and learned new techniques for food preparation, cooking, growing...

Learned so much from CMs who were from the countries in which they were working. Now? Not so much...

Remember or miss? Hmmm...

How 'bout:

• E Ticket rides (and the associated A, B, C, and D rides).
• The Mad Hatter's Ball
• The Fort Wilderness Railroad
• The Dixie Landings Resort name.
• The Skyway between TomorrowLand and FantasyLand.
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll update if I come up with more.

Tom (:macwave:... nostalgia...)

And that lovely "kitchen" shop they used to have at Downtown Disney. :sigh:

I would love to bring back 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as my first visit to Disney was after it had been removed. It sounded like a lot of fun.

I miss Liberty Tree Tavern being a character dining experience. It has some of my favorite food in the park, and we always had so much fun with the characters there. I remember on one visit, Chip decided to whisk me away from my family's table and we just skipped around the restaurant together, being silly and having fun.

Not that I would necessarily bring it back (lol), but I remember the cake castle for WDW's 25th anniversary. That was actually my first-ever trip to Disney, and I was in the 4th grade (I think), and I remember my mom being so angry that I didn't get to see the "real" castle!

I really did enjoy Body Wars, and I miss the earlier Journey Into Imagination. It had been quite a while since I'd ridden it, and the last time I did, it all felt different, although I wasn't sure why I didn't enjoy it as much. Then I read about all the refurbs, and it made me remember more of what I loved about it in the first place.

I've also read about how the characters used to randomly show up on rides. I would LOVE to experience this, but I guess they don't do it anymore. :(

And bring back the pet supply store at DTD! I loved that place! I loved the t-shirts with all the Disney dogs, and the one with all the Disney cats. I thought those were adorable.

And I would absolutely bring back the "Villains in Vogue" store in Hollywood Studios. It's technically still there, but it used to be filled with all kinds of wonderful villain merch (which I LOVED), and now it's 100% Nightmare Before Christmas. Nothing against Nightmare, but I need more villains in my life!