[Chat] Disneyland: Then and Now

[BiggestDisneyFan]

I was reading another thread and somebody mentioned the Abominabable snow man in the Matterhorn. I recalled that it was added some time in the late 70's or early 80's. That made me think of an idea for a new thread about what has changed about attractions that have been in Disneyland for a good long time.

So, does anybody else remember any changes/plusses/etc. made to rides, whether they are obvious or not?

[disneylandfan95]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Well Pirates of the Caribbean, Tom Sawyer's Island, and it's a small world all just got movie-tie-ins. Space Mountain got the total refurb which included new effects, and in 2000, Autopia was changed up. That's all I can think of at the moment. Oh and there was the Pirhana attack in Jungle Cruise. Okay now I'm done.

[Timekeeper]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

POTC(before the movies, after the movies) Star Tours(some time in'05, new effects in the queue area), IASW(let's not go there, please...) I know some others, but I can't think of any right now.

[WDITrent]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

^What were the new queue effects?

[FormerDiz]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Well there is the whole Fantasyland redo in 1983. They updated the whole land as well as Alice in Wonderland.

Mr. Lincoln has changed quite a bit over the years (and will again).

Swiss Family Treehouse was completely ruined.

Haunted Mansion has seen various changes.

Parkinglot land has a giant turd sitting in the middle of it.

[Bob Weaver]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Alice in Wonderland has had some changes. There was a room that had large teacups blocking the track, but just when you got to them, they moved out of the way so your car could pass through. Those are gone now. The part where the queen hits a croquet ball and the ball is projected across a wall - that wasn't there in the original version. Also in that part there was a room with explosions painted on the wall and it was illuminated only by strobe lights. After that the series of doors you go through just before you go outside had a sequence of doors painted on them, with each one being a smaller door than the previous one. Now, that series of doors is painted with the playing-card characters. We once got stuck on Alice in Wonderland, the car in front of us had 4 large adults and couldn't make it on the uphill part next to the giant flowers. The whole ride stopped, the flowers stopped moving, the house lights came on (but the music continued) and 2 employees escorted the adults out through a door. We were allowed to stay in our car, because it was just me, my sister and my Dad. Then the flowers started moving again, the house lights went off, the car ahead of us went through the rest of the ride empty, and we went through the ride normally. At the time I thought it had ruined the ride for us but now I see that it was a novel experience.

[LittleImagineer]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

What things do you think will stay basically the same forever? Little, unnoticeable changes don't count

[leslie_537]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Didn't they move the tea cups ride entirely? I read somewhere that the teacups were initially where the carousel is and the carousel was closer to the castle but it got too congested because of the limited amount of space.

[jasonryan106]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Fantasmic has had good plusses over the years, storybookland has plusses like the twinkly tunnel topiaries, way back when the Peoplemover was plussed with the Tron tunnel replacing the superspeed tunnel (with race cars)

[ttrocc7007]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

The Autopia track was changed radically, as was the Rocket Jet/Astro Jet/ Astro Orbiter.
The Monorail bodies have changed a few times.
The subs are the same with new paint, but what you see when you look out the window's has changed.
Many Main Street shops have changed, or in some cases changed locations.
The Golden Horseshoe building is essentially unchanged, but the shows have undergone a bunch of changes.
Others have covered Fantasyland which is all new since the early 80's.

[BiggestDisneyFan]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Parkinglot land has a giant turd sitting in the middle of it.

Aw, C'mon FormerDiz, don't be bashful. Tell us what you really think!

Regarding the changes to Space Mountain: Other than some modest changes to the visuals in the interior queue, and and the addition of the speakers in the headrests, I honestly can't tell the difference.

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Re: Disneyland: Then and Now

Parkinglot land has a giant turd sitting in the middle of it.

Aw, C'mon FormerDiz, don't be bashful. Tell us what you really think!

Anytime I see posts on this topic, I think about Joni Mitchell giving it the musical treatment:

"They paved paradise, and took down our parking lot."