Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<>In later years it seemed to be primarily a place for off-duty CM to hang out in the streets and get drunk. > Oh, it was very much like that in the early years. >> Yea, but at least in the early years there actually TOURISTS there too!!
Originally Posted By xrayvision I miss Horizons, Kitchen Caboret, Submarines and Mannequins Nightclub.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Oh and also miss the monorails where all passengers sat and were never waiting for traffic clearance.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn I've spent many sunscreened afternoons here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6olA22Fo1I
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn If you want to take a long break and experience extreme awesomeness, but on your earbuds, sit back, and listen to this: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZaU-Oqo-qs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...U-Oqo-qs</a>
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Those are paddle boats. The ones in the mk were motorized and sat 26 passengers
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn They're at an Orlando city park, right? I'm ok with them gone. They were out of scale with the castle
Originally Posted By sjhym333 No, that is also a myth. The boats at Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando are 2 person paddle boats. The ones in the MK were much bigger.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Here's a link to a picture of the Swan Boats <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xVcM6q6cl3E/TD3hfg54TaI/AAAAAAAAADA/hsNWSp6p4vk/s1600/swan+boats.jpg" target="_blank">http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xVcM...oats.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA And here's a picture of the swan boats on Lake Eola in Orlando. https://artstuffbyk.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/swan16.jpg
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I never got to see the swan boats, they were long gone before I ever arrived there. Were they on rails like the other boats within the park or were they free floating?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Onto the next thing: Ticket booklets>> Back to the future?? The ticket books with A, B, C etc. tickets guaranteed that guests would be distributed between both the lesser and greatest attractions. It was the first time I had seen something like that. My local amusement park also used ticket books, but all tickets were valued the same, and you used 1-5 tickets depending on how good the attraction was. That system still allowed people to overload the popular attractions while leaving the lesser ones unused. Then Disney tossed the ticket books and threw open the doors and let anyone ride anything all day long for a single price... creating massive lines at the popular attractions in the process (reportedly to compete with Magic Mountain, which had gone to that system). Now by installing Fastpass at the lesser attractions, they seem to be trying to create a better distribution of guests between attractions... something the old ticket books originally did.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn The old ticket system made riding WEDWAY and If You Had Wings super-exciting, because they were free, and a great way to end the day when you were out of tickets.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "The old ticket system made riding WEDWAY and If You Had Wings super-exciting," Nothing could make WEDWAY super exciting.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip For me the People Mover has long been a "Must Do". Some visits I'll skip Space Mountain, but I NEVER skip the People Mover!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Were they on rails like the other boats within the park or were they free floating?<< The Swan Boats were on a fixed guideway, similar to the Jungle Cruise. I read recently that the attraction originally used an underwater cable that the boats latched onto and were pulled along; it sounded like this system had issues and was eventually replaced by a traditional onboard motor >>Now by installing Fastpass at the lesser attractions, they seem to be trying to create a better distribution of guests between attractions... something the old ticket books originally did.<< I think that is a large reason behind the NextGen system. The early tests required guests to choose between a couple different lists of attractions, ensuring that they got FPs to some headliners, some low-visibility attractions, and some shows. This aspect is part of what I think will truly revolutionize the WDW theme park experience, either for better or worse once it's worked out with real people >>Nothing could make WEDWAY super exciting.<< While it may not be considered super exciting, it is one of my favorite attractions at MK, and I make sure to ride it at least once (or twice, or three times...) per trip. When I visited in 2009, Space Mountain was closed for a year-long refurbishment; I was a little sad that I'd miss the coaster, but much more upset that the PeopleMover was also closed as a result of it.
