If you could go back...

[caryrae]

to any time in the past, what year would you like to visit the Parks again. Is there a time when you thought the Parks were at their best with better attractions, shows/parades, just the overall feel, etc, or maybe you like it better now then in the past?

[chefmickey3]

I would go back to summer '99. It was my first trip and so magical. The parks were empty because everyone was waiting until 2000. Pirates and Haunted Mansion were pre-renovation. They did e-ride nights as a hard ticket event and a limited number of tickets were sold and no extra magic hours.

[ftwildernesskid]

I don't know why, but I always loved If You Had Wings. I don't think I'd enjoy it as much now, but I would love to ride it again.

[BrerGnat]

Wow, what a great question!

I think I'd go back to Summer, 1991. WDW was celebrating "20 Years of Magic", Splash Mountain was brand new, as was Spectromagic. Epcot was still "old school", and I had just turned 13, and my sisters and I were turned loose in the parks on our own for the first time! I loved that trip, and that year is one that stands out in my mind as a time when I really, really enjoyed WDW the way it was.

[MKFD43]

I'd go back to the first year of Epcot it used to be amazing, with Horizons, foodrocks, seeing a diver swim up the tube in the living seas. Eating tacos in mexico watching the lazer show. :mickey:

[grumpyguy]

2000.My "rediscovery" of WDW.All I knew then was what I remembered from when my mom took me in 1977.It was just my son and I and we stayed at AS and it was just all so cool to be there.Now I have made WDW a part of my daily life and am alot smarter about Disney.Now,a WDW vacation has a different feel,still awesome,just different.

[Tinkerfreak]

I would like to go back to our second trip in 2003. The crowds were still low over Halloween. The parties were still new and not so crowded and our disney discovery was just beginning. You could still walk up to most restaurants and get in without planning 180 days out. It just all seemed so much more magical back then. Maybe because we have been so many times now but we just miss those more relaxing times. We would just get up in the morning and decide what park to go to and go. When we got hungry we decided what we wanted to eat and went to that restuarant.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Probably my first trip in 2003, not necessarily that the rides were better....its just that great experience seeing everything for the first time and it was probably the lightest crowds any of our visits (first week of January).

[waymickey]

I would love to go back to 1996 when I took my daughter for the first time. It was awesome. The parks were clean and the CMS were full of magic. The park seemd to sparkle :pixie: and walking around it felt like a whole different world.

[Dulcee]

I'd go back to 2000. When I think about disney I can hear the commercials for the year 2000, the put your hand on the future from the Epcot parade...A trip with my parents and little sister, our unit of 4 was still some of the best trips of my life. We were get up and go early people, no teenage antics of being too cool because my sister and I were still in love with the parks. My mom and I discuss wanting to go back as that unit now even though I've grown and moved out, got engaged, my sister is in college...we'd still love to relive those trips together.

[ryca1dreams]

I don't know - each trip is wonderful on its own. Even the parks are fun to see how they change.

I think I would go back and do my 1986 trip again. It was such a fun high school trip. If I knew then what I know now, I'd do a lot more and take more pictures! It was still a great time though.

[merlinmagic4]

I would absolutely go back to November of 2003 for our Make a Wish trip!! I would love to relive the trip but I would also like to go with the knowledge I have now!! We didn't know much about Disney and I always feel like we didn't take advantage of all there was. We had the front of the line GACs and still missed so much due to lack of knowledge!! It was still the most amazing trip :cloud9:

[darthmacho]

I think the parks are currently at their best, so I'd only go back as far as our last trip in 2010, which was special because it was our first as a family of four! :mickey:

However, there is still a little part of me that wouldn't mind going back to our 1998 honeymoon trip, which was our first, and it would be just me and DW... :blush:

[dizneydeb22]

I would go back to our Honeymoon trip in 1998. We knew so little about Disney then. We stayed at the Polynesian, and did not take advantage of all that we could do. We are re-doing our honeymoon for our 15 yr Anniversary in 2013...I guess thats the next best thing.:balloon:

[DisneyDINK]

I'd go back to 1983 to 1985, back to when I was 12(ish) years old. I'd do a day of River Country, play 9 holes with my dad on the Wee Links. I'd stay at the Poly and surf the Seven Seas Lagoon on the old wave machine.

In the MK I'd ride IYHW over and over because the line was basically nothing, watch cartoons in the Fantasyland Theater (they'd yanked the Mickey Mouse Review by that time, escape the heat in the CoP and sing along to "Now is the Time", and if the Swan boats were running I'd take a ride to begin my day.

At Epcot Center I'd go to the video kiosk and make what would later be called an ADR which was just a dinner reservation back then. Then I'd hit all of the Epcot Center slow moving dark attractions 2 or 3 times each, doing Horizons many times, watch Magic Journeys a time or two and play upstairs at the Imagination pavilion. I'd take in Kitchen Kabaret at the Land and the World of Motion. I'd check out all of the exhibits at Communicore in-between and make my own rollercoaster.

Since there were only 2 parks there would be a full couple of days at the resort to just hang out by the pool; no need to go-go-go all of the time to take everything in. Heck, I might even find time to leave the property.

I guess this question is really about nostalgia for me as it is for most of the other posters; it would be nice to reexperience it all again for the first time. I like the changes WDW has made for the most part. I'll never see the parks the way I did with my 40 year old eyes, but I still love going every couple of years and seeing how things have changed, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. :mickey:

[SandmanGStefani24]

I love 80s stuff, and would love to have seen Epcot mid 80s or so. It must have looked pretty high tech then, plus I like all the older logos for the rides.

Rad!
:high5:

[ransam]

Disneyland-I'd love to back to the first couple years it was open. I think it be cool to maybe see Walt walking around his park. I went this last January, and it been a really long time since i've been. and just walking down mainstreet knowing Walt walked down the same street was kind of cool.

WDW-it be in the early 80's when Epcot was new. Just to see the old rides, and also to be young and in shape so i can enjoy it more.

[DVC2004]

I'd love to go back to my two trips as kids, one in 1979 and then in 1991. I don't remember a whole lot from the first time, I was very little. I remember more from the second trip. I would love to do 20,000 Leagues again. I would also have loved to tell my mom to get in on the ground floor of DVC- ha ha!

[ValenciaCalling]

So many choices...lol

-Disneyland in 1955.

-Walt Disney World in 1971.

-Epcot in 1982.

I'd love to go back to my first trip in 1991, so I could truly appreciate everything (I was only 3 at the time. haha). I'd give anything for Epcot to be EPCOT Center again.

[Daisy712]

I would go back to the years when they had E nights. If I remember right, it was around $14 per person. The parks were nearly empty and we rode rides over and over again. My kids were also young and we have such great family memories from thos E nights. I wish they would bring those back instead of EMH.

[tiggerbuddy]

Mid 80's ....

Epcot was still "old school", :thumbsup:

[AlliMo]

1990...because MGM and GF and TL just opened but everything else was still the same...epcot center, river country, etc. I miss it all!

[Fastpasssteve]

I wish I could go back so I could see either the Tapestry of Dreams or Tapestry of Nations parade in EPCOT. I can watch them on You Tube, but would have loved to have seen them live, in person.

[DisneyorBust]

I'd return to 2001, it was our first family trip and I remember just how magical it was. It would be nice to relive that one more time!

[Mogie]

1986. Id like to see everything I saw as a 5 year old as an adult without having to rely on my memory or home movies!

[Gator]

That's a tough choice. I would say 2002 with the 100 Years of Magic celebration. No matter how many times I go, I keep wishing the 100 Logo banners were up.

So what was good: The Socerer's Hat was brand new and totally cool, Fantasmic! was every night, Epcot had a parade, Stich hadn't ruined a very fun ride, pre-Illuminations music was at it's best, and I was on my honeymoon. :D