Universal Studios Florida in 1998

Today let’s park hop over to another company: Universal Studios.

I visited the original Universal Studios Florida park as a teenager in the early 1990s. I remember quite a few of the former Universal Studios attractions such as the Alfred Hitchcock exhibit/show and Ghostbusters. I don’t remember when my first visit was, but I’m pretty sure I also went in 1994 and 1995. Oddly, there was apparently a tram tour there until 1995 and I don’t remember that at all. Either it was completely forgettable, or for some reason we chose to never go on it. (Honestly, I had no idea there was ever a tram tour there until a few months ago!)

But I digress…

When I started my “traveling job” in 1995, I found myself in Orlando several times a year. While I had an annual pass to Walt Disney World (and Disneyland) for many years, I rarely visited Universal Studios. The first time I went outside of a few earlier family vacations was in 1998.

In my earlier visits, Universal had a large parking lot out front. By 1998, everything had changed as they prepared to open the new Islands of Adventure park. This was a bit similar to what was starting to happen at the Disneyland Resort around the same time for their upcoming Disney’s California Adventure park.

The famous Universal Studios archway entrance on November 17, 1998.

Since my camera could only hold 99 photos, I don’t have many to share from this one day visit. But, some things I found are a bit interesting.

Before there was a Mummy rollercoaster, there was a Mummy movie exhibit:

Step inside and see movie props from the Mummy, on November 17, 1998.

The Boneyard was still there, which featured various props from movies. Including literal bones (from the Flintstones movie, I think?).

Bones in the Boneyard on November 17, 1998.

I don’t remember where that was. Is this where the big stage area is now? Now neither Disney or Universal have a place with us to look at old movie vehicles. Oh well.

At the original Universal Studios Hollywood, there is a Waterworld stunt show. But at Universal in Florida, you could only see a prop from the movie:

Waterworld prop on November 17, 1998.

Behind it you can see the stage for the Wild Wild West Stunt Show. I don’t think I ever saw that.

Something that I miss were these unique photo spots. They had a place where you could place your camera and line up a shot. Then, they would have matte paintings or miniatures that you camera could see as well as a real background. This one was supposed to make it look like the Back to the Future building was part of a launch site for the Space Shuttle.

An in-camera effect you can do yourself, on November 17, 1998.

Unfortunately, my camera had no view screen (the optical “look through here” lens was in the corner, and the camera lens was in the center) so I couldn’t properly line up the shot. But you get the idea.

There was also a preview center for the upcoming Islands of Adventure theme park. I have one picture that kind of shows it:

Islands of Adventure preview center (right) on November 17, 1998.

Oddly, I have no photos inside of it. Either it wasn’t open yet (it looks like it was?), or it was and I was out of camera memory, or perhaps photos were not being allowed. Does anyone remember? I visited again in 1999 and have photos inside. I’ll do an update on “Before Islands of Adventure” soon.

There was a Nickelodeon section! I remember that channel for the early years of cable TV.

Nickelodeon at Universal Studios on November 17, 1998..

Also, the Hard Rock Cafe was different. For some reason, I thought that it had been moved. I recall you could get into it from the park — is that still the case? They had the bus (was it the real one, or a replica?) from The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour.

The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour bus on November 17, 1998.
Pity digital cameras was so low resolution back then, or we could read this. November 17, 1998.

Men in Black was under construction in 1998…

Men in Black – coming soon – on November 17, 1998.

And of course, we had Twister! That hasn’t been gone too long, so I’ll just share one thing I found interesting:

Inside the Twister queue on November 17, 1998.

See that red cup? That’s an Eskimo Joe’s cup from Stillwater, Oklahoma. I had a friend who was going to school in Stillwater, and when I passed through on my way home from Texas to Iowa, she took me there. I had several cups from the place, and was surprised to see on here. Universal Studios did their research! (Though, it’s worth noting that, while the movie was set in Oklahoma, a lot of it was filmed in Iowa. In 1995 when I moved to Iowa, I heard on the radio about them filming some tornado movie there. “Oh, great, I’ve moved to a place so famous for tornados that they film movies about them here!”)

That will do it for now, but I’ll have another Universal photo essay soon showing off the Island of Adventure preview center, as well as some other long-gone things.

Until next time…

Future World entertainment in 1996

In 1996, Epcot was celebrating 14 years of existence. That’s newer than Disney’s California Adventure is from the time that I write this (2018-2001=17 years-ish). And to me, DCA (and Animal Kingdom) still seem like new parks!

During the 90s, Epcot began changing from the original intent of the 1980s park to whatever it is today. With Disney and Pixar characters being added everywhere, especially in World Showcase, the park feels more like a light Fantasyland in many ways:

  • A Frozen water/dark ride (Norway).
  • A Three Caballeros dark/water ride (Mexico).
  • A Ratatouille dark ride (under construction in France).
  • …plus all kinds of character meet-and-greet opportunities.

Originally, the attractions were themed to the experiences found in the countries they were in. Today and in the future, it seems they are just more Fantasyland dark rides.

But I digress…

Let’s stick to the Future World section of the park and look at a few entertainment offerings you could find back in 1996.

Do you remember the “visiting family of space aliens” (if I recall the guide description) that appeared and did …this?

August 29, 1996.
August 29, 1996.

At the time, I’d never seen anything quite like it. Saying they were “visiting aliens” was a stretch, but by doing that and putting them in spacey outfits at least gave us some reasoning for why they were in Future World. Since then, I’ve seen dozens of acro-balance acts at Renaissance festivals and other events. But I can at least say “I saw this for the first time at Disney!”

Just like Main Street USA has their “citizens of Main Street,” there were various characters found at the Future World pavilions. This character was in front of Horizons

August 29, 1996.

I have no recollection of what was going on there, but it caught my attention enough to use one of my 99 digital photos I could take that day.

Meanwhile, over near the still-new Test Track, this nerdy scientist character was conducting some cooling experiments…

August 29, 1996.

He had set up a walkway with traffic cones (outlandishly outfitted with caution tape) and was allowing guests to go through his human “car wash” … Yep, he was spraying them with water mist bottles.

With his bowl cut hairdo, his extreme overbite, and stereotypical Asian accent, it was … something.

Epcot had “struggled” for years to not be thought of as a boring park. Changing the slow moving World of Motion to the fast moving Test Track (the fastest ride at Walt Disney World) was probably the first extreme example of this.

But, lesser extreme examples were the park introducing Disney characters quickly after opening (it opened without them), and then adding more and more odd street entertainment like these.

Had I know then direction the park was starting to take, I would have taken many more photos of various other things they had in those years.

Is anything from that era still part of Epcot? Magic Kingdom still has their mayor, but does Epcot still have that guy? 🙂

Until next time…

Mickey’s Toontown Fair in 1996

The first “new land” added to Magic Kingdom since it opened was Mickey’s Birthdayland in 1988 (or so says the Wikipedia). It was renamed to Mickey’s Starland in 1990. Something I had never read was that it supposedly was briefly known as Mickey’s Toyland in 1995 (again, from the Wikipedia — this is the first time I’ve read that). I think I only saw it as Starland during my family trips in the summer of ’94 and ’95.

It began a large refurbishment to become Mickey’s Toontown Fair in 1996. I remember a promotional photo that was released showing Mickey, Goofy and Donald hard at work:

NOT MY PHOTO. Sorry. The watermark is added by WordPress.

This version made the land a bit more similar to Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland, though it was missing the Roger Rabbit references and most of the “town” part. It did, at least, add Mickey’s house, Donald’s boat, and a few others elements.

According to this sign, the grand opening was expected October 1996:

Coming soon sign on August 27, 1996.

Because of this sign, I believe all the photos I have from this August 1996 visit should be considered Mickey’s Starland. I suppose this means some of the buildings were already there, or they were opened before the grand opening. I’m too lazy to go look anything up.

Here’s a map:

Map of Toontown Fair on August 26, 1996.

Going with the “fair” theme, there was the big tent with character meet and greets:

Toontown Fair tent on August 27, 1996.

You can see how they were able to keep the tent when this area became Storybook Circus.

Some of the nicer elements at the time where the buildings that were, more or less, brought over from the other Toontown(s). Pete has his garage:

Pete’s Garage on August 27, 1996.

Donald had his boat, the Miss Daisy:

Donald’s Boat on August 27, 1996.

Minnie had her house:

Minnie’s house on August 27, 1996.

And there was even a simple version of the Toontown Park:

Toontown Park on August 27, 1996.

The train station depot was rather bland, though.

Toontown Fair Station on August 26, 1999.

Compare that to what Disneyland’s Toontown looked like, the Florida version was sparse and barren. But, at least it was a step up from the earlier encarnations.

And you could meet characters…

Hall of Fame sign on August 27, 1996.

I’m, uh, not sure what “Practice your hugs” was all about.

When I visited in 1997, the rest of the land was ready, including the Barnstormer roller coaster. But it’s nice to have an in-progress look at one of the lesser lands ever built in a castle park.

Until next time…

Magic Kingdom in 1996

Let’s take a trip back to 1996 and see what was going on at the Magic Kingdom. Who remembers the Tropical Serenade? It was the East Coast version of the 1964 Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland.

Tropical Serenade on August 27, 1996.

I believe they still had the “barker bird” out front, letting us know what wonders await inside. Pirates of the Caribbean had their own barker bird back then, too.

I recall we usually just called it the Tiki Birds, and indeed, that’s what the sign said at the top. This later changed to the Under New Management version, then finally returned to a version of the original, but using the Disneyland name. Full circle!

One of my strongest memories from family vacations in the 1970s where these carvings that played drum music. They later became water sprayers, but they were just drumming away in 1996:

Waterless drummers on August 27, 1996.

Over in Fantasyland, the Cinderella Castle was … a cake! Happy 25th Anniversary, Walt Disney World! Here’s a few photos from my collection (click on them to see larger versions):

Folks where riding the Skyway rather than wishing it would be restrooms:

Fantasyland Skyway station in August 1996.

And my beloved 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had recently closed, and was being used as a character meet area.

Former 20,000 Leagues area in August 1996.

Well, at least Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was still there. I always thought it was the best and most popular dark ride.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in August 1996.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t find the Mickey Mouse Revue that I remember seeing, but there was this relatively new Legend of the Lion King puppet show:

Legend of the Lion King in August 1996.

Over in Frontierland, the Diamond Horseshoe was NOT a restaurant.

Diamond Horseshoe on August 27, 1996.

Meanwhile, in Liberty Square you could hop aboard a Keel Boat for a really unique ride around the Rivers of America:

Keel Boat on August 27, 1996.

This painting had also been recently added inside the attic of the Haunted Mansion. Few had digital cameras back then, so I left a long gap of Doombuggies before I boarded (with no one behind me) and broke the rules so I could take a flash picture of this to share:

New painting in the attic of the Haunted Mansion in August 1996.

I do not recall the story behind it, but I think it might have been a painting from Phantom Manor at EuroDisney.

I am told that these hands in the “corridors of doors” have been removed, so here they are in 1996:

Door hands on August 28, 1996.

And back then, we didn’t have much for Haunted Mansion merchandising, but at least we had a cart:

Madam Leota cart on August 27, 1996.

I’ve already shared some things from Main Street USA, so I’ll just include a photo of the old “wait time” signs:

Wait time signs on August 27, 1996.

And here is the wonderful side street that has since been filled in and turned in to more retail space:

Tester-side street on August 27, 1996.

Look how lovely that little area was! Such a shame it’s gone. At the end was the barber shop, I believe, and I even got my hair cut there around this time.

Over in Tomorrowland, the still-new Alien Encounter was there:

Alien Encounter in August 1996.

…and the Skyway station was also not restrooms yet:

Skyway cars on August 27, 1996.

And the GoodyearGrand Prix Raceway was still quite retro:

Grand Prix Raceway on August 27, 1996.

There is a bit more still to share, but I think I’ll save Mickey’s Toontown Fair for a posting of it’s own since it’s completely gone today.

Until then…

Kudos: Brad from PA at the BaseLine Tap House

Sometimes it’s the little things that make a visit special. For today’s “Cast Member Kudos” article, I wanted to thank Brad from Pennsylvania. We met him while enjoying drinks and snacks at the BaseLine Tap House at Disney’s Hollowood Studios.

BaseLine Tap House at DHS on September 10, 2018.

The Tap House is relatively new. I did not recognize it as the former location of Costume Shop…

Costume Shop at D/MGM on August 26, 1996.

…or Ellen’s Buy the Book

Ellen’s Buy the Book at D/MGM on May 19, 1997.

…or Disney’s Buy the Book

Disney’s Buy the Book at D/MGM on October 16, 1998.

…or even Writer’s Stop:

Writer’s Stop at D/MGM on October 3, 2007.

In fact, I probably still wouldn’t know this if it weren’t for Werner of yesterland.com clueing me in last year.

But I digress…

This spot is hot and trendy on with folks on Twitter, so I wanted to check it out. Since it was new to me, I would probably have popped in anyway to see what it was.

During my most recent visit, we stopped by just as it was opening at 10 a.m. (“What’s a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?” Wait until 10 a.m., apparently.) I am not a huge beer fan, so I tend to just try things that are special (local craft brews, or beers made exclusively for a theme park). This visit, I inquired about the shelves of liquor that were on display. It seems they can make all kinds of drinks beyond what is on the menu.

I had a Long Island Iced Tea, and noticed the number of liquor shots that went into it made it a much better cash-to-booze value than probably anything else I had in the park during my visit 😉 I forget what the second drink was, but perhaps a California Sunset or the Ace Space Bloody Orange Hard Cider.

BaseLine Tap House drinks and eats on March 3, 2019.

As we sat outside enjoying the crowd-less patio, I asked the cast member who was near us about their costumes. I was curious about what components might be their’s, personally, versus supplied by Disney. (Many company dress codes might say “black slacks, black shoes” and only provide a Polo shirt or apron or whatever.)

We ended up having a delightful chat with Brad from Pennsylvania and learned more about how much attention to detail Disney puts in to even the shoes their employees wear to work. Everything seems to have a reason.

I won’t try to bore you with a recount of my Q&A session asking about footwear, but suffice it to say, we found Brad to be a great example of the type of cast we expect from a Disney visit. (And, hey, he’s even been to Kennywood in West Mifflin, PA!)

Thanks, Brad, for taking a few moments to spend some quality time with a few random tourists from Iowa.

Until next time…

Fantasmic in 1996.

On this anniversary date, May 13 (if Wikipedia can be believed), let’s talk about one of the greatest entertainment spectacles the world has ever seen. Or at least Anaheim has ever seen.

Disneyland’s Fantasmic! blew me away when I first saw it, though I didn’t intend to see it.

During my return to visiting Disneyland, my first trip was spent just trying to see all the things in California that did not exist in Florida’s Magic Kingdom. During my next few trips, the first with a digital camera, I was still focusing on other rides and re-learning how different things were at “Walt Disney’s Original Magic Kingdom”.

I was not interested in shows or parades.

But when I was walking through New Orleans Square to get to a ride (Haunted Mansion, most likely), I stumbled into a performance of Fantastic and was mesmerized.

I had never seen anything like it.

Fantasmic on August 16, 1996.

So, obviously, I wanted to see it up close (which was easy to do back then just by showing up early) and take pictures of it with my brand new Epson PhotoPC camera.

Unfortunately, there was no zoom lens on the camera, so this is as close as I could get. And because my camera only had 1 megabyte of memory, I was taking photos in 320×240 resolution. If you blow them up on a modern computer screen (or even a phone!) they are so pixelated they look like 8-bit graphics 😉

So here are a few more…

Oddly enough, I didn’t take a picture of the Mark Twain in the finale. Maybe it wasn’t running the night I saw it? Or perhaps I ran out of memory?

Ah, the days of early digital cameras!

I must have found these light poles fascinating. I took two pictures, and in “high resolution” mode!

Fantasmic light pole in 1996.
Fantasmic light pole in 1996.

And that’s about the worst quality of photos I will be sharing in this essays. Hopefully.

Until next time…

Talking water fountains of Epcot in 1996

Goofy Water at Disneyland’s Toontown in 1996.

There is a water fountain at Disneyland’s Toon Town that talks when you drink from it. It was there in 1996, and was still there in early 2018. But did you know Epcot also had its own talking water fountains in Future World?

Scattered around Future World were several normal looking water fountains that made noises when you drank from them. It’s been too long and I no longer remember what they sounded like, but once I stumbled on them, I tried to find all the others. I have pictures of three of them, showing where they were located. I believe they are long gone, and I don’t know when they were installed and removed.

But, here are some photos from 1996.

Epcot talking water fountain on August 29, 1996.
Epcot talking water fountain on August 29, 1996.
Epcot talking water fountain on August 29, 1996.

Ghads. Is that water play area still there? There was a moment in time where Disney World started adding water everywhere. They added misters to queues, water play areas, and converted some original Magic Kingdom drumming totems to be water sprayers. I guess they really didn’t want to have “dry parks” and adding alcohol wasn’t enough 😉

Until next time…

Disney/MGM Studios in 1996

When the Disney/MGM Studios opened in 1989, it was a substantially different theme park than what you find today at the renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I missed seeing it the first several years it was opened — my first visit was probably 1994.

There are many things about the park that remain unchanged, but here are some that were still there in 1996 that are now long-gone.

Super Star Television on August 26, 1996.

I only saw Super Star Television a few times, but basically you’d see members of the audience up on stage in recreated sets from TV shows. They’d “perform” some lines and their footage would be intercut with footage from the actual show. I believe there was a Home Improvement segment, but none of this really stuck around in my memory. Perhaps that is why it was ultimately replaced, rather than just being updated with more current shows?

Disney article from 2014: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/04/a-hollywood-classic-superstar-television/

Monster Sound Show on August 26, 1996.

The Monster Sound Show was a look at how sound is added to movies. If I recall, this was the show that had Chevy Chase in it. It was later replaced with a Drew Cary show, Sounds Dangerous, which featured the audience in a dark room listening to binaural sound effects through headphones. (Disney got on a binaural sound kick for a bit. It was used in Alien Encounter at Magic Kingdom, and even a version of Great Moment’s With Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland. But I digress…)

Some may recall the news about the Alien Pizza Planet opening at Disneyland a few years ago. If I recall, they had to add “Alien” to the name because there was a real pizza business called Pizza Planet. (True? Internet “detective” rumor?) But, Pizza Planet was at the Studios park before then…

Toy Story Pizza Planet on August 26, 1996.

I don’t think I ever ate there. I did like seeing the Toyota Pickup truck outside, though:

Pizza Planet delivery truck at D/MGM on August 26, 1996.

There once were some “spitting” camels in a Disney parade… They ended up on display at the Studio park:

Decommissioned parade camels on August 26, 1996.

I believe those, or some others, were eventually inside the Animation Courtyard restaurant when it had an Aladdin overlay. Today, I think the same ones still live on at Magic Kingdom at their Aladdin flying carpet ride.

ABC’s hit show, Ellen, was causing an early IP overlay to happen…

Costume Shop on August 26, 1996.

Buy the Book was a location featured in the show. Today that building is home to the Baseline Tap House.

The Animation Courtyard included a tour where you could see Disney animators working on upcoming features. Thus, the entrance was far more … animated.

D/MGM Animation Courtyard on August 26, 1996.

There is much more to explore, but I’ll save that for future installments.

Until next time…

Kudos: Brandon at Epcot’s Festival Market

It’s time for another cast member kudos post, this time about an exceptionally helpful one I encountered during a visit during the Garden festival.

Scattered around Epcot’s World Showcase are various Festival Market booths like this one near the Outpost:

Epcot Festival Market booth on April 10, 2019.

I’d seen and taken pictures of these booths, but hadn’t felt the need to buy any festival souvenirs. When a display listing various tours caught my eye, I went over to take a closer look.

There, a cast member named Brandon described some of the various tours they had available. I knew there were Epcot tours (I’d taken Behind the Seeds in The Land a decade ago), but I was unaware that there were special festivals tours, including some that were free!

For instance, over in United Kingdom you could sign up for an English Tea Garden Tour, sponsored by Twinings Tea:

A FREE tour at Epcot?!? Well, the photo was taken on April 1, 2019…

Brandon letting me know about something free at Disney should be enough to get him on the kudos list, but he was also great at suggesting things folks shouldn’t miss during the event. He specifically suggested trying The Honey Bee-stro over in Showcase Plaza.

The Honey Bee-stro at Epcot on April 10, 2019.

He said the honey cheesecake was one of his favorite items.

The Honey Bee-stro menu at Epcot on April 10, 2019.

I guess I’m easily suggestible, since I did end up at the Bee-stro and did indeed try the cheesecake. Although the portion was small for $5 (like all items at these events), it was indeed delicious. I also tried the honey ale, but that one is on me.

Kudos to you, Brandon, for being outgoing, friendly, and helpful. Rather than just answer questions, you took a proactive approach with suggestions that really helped enhanced my visit.

Until next time…

Animal Kingdom in 1998

Last year, Disney’s Animal Kingdom celebrated 20 years of being “not a zoo.” The park opened on Earth Day in 1998 (April 22). This was the first U.S. Disney park to open during my adult lifetime (I was a teenager when EPCOT Center opened in 1982). I considered making a trip out for the grand opening, but decided I’d wait a bit and let the crowds settle.

I wish I had visited earlier, because by the time I saw it in October 1998, things had already started changing — including the removal of one original attraction!

But I digress…

I wanted to share a sample of what it was like experiencing this park for the first time.

While I was walking towards the entrance, I noticed how beautiful the greenery was. This light caught my attention:

Disney’s Animal Kingdom parking area light October 17, 1998.

I don’t remember what it said not the rock, or if that is even still there. I’ll look for it my next trip.

I remember it being a long walk to get to the entrance.

Walking to the entrance of DAK on October 17, 1998.

I remember being amazed when I saw this waterfall. What a great entrance for this new park!

The waterfall entrance on October 17, 1998.

A minute later, and I would realize this was not the entrance at all. It was the Rainforest Cafe! Neat. Of course, today, you can’t even see the waterfall from here. The trees have grown in and blocked that view.

The real entrance was cool, but now I was a bit let down.

The DAK entrance on October 17, 1998.

I don’t recall what that truck was doing, but I’m betting it was trying to sell tickets to Pleasure Island 😉

I could continue with these photos and take you on a tour of my day, but instead we’ll stick to the outside of the park. Back then, the trees were freshly planted:

The trees needed a bit of help on October 17, 1998.

Even though it didn’t open with the park, we were still pretty excited to see what might come when the fantasy animal realm (Beastly Kingdom) was added. You could see the dragon in the logo, so we knew it would be happening…

Original DAK logo featuring the Dragon on October 17, 1998.

I’m still waiting.

I’ll end with two pictures from the outside of Rainforest Cafe. Click to open the full-size gallery:

I’m not sure how much the inside has changed since I never spent much time in it after this first trip. I got to visit the first three Rainforest Cafes in the Chicago area, so I already had my T-shirt collection started.

There. Now I’ve given Walt Disney World a bit more love. But they will be much, much more love to give in future installments.

Until then…