For those who have found the trip report, you can catch up with Day 1 Part 1 so you can get up to speed with the upcoming post. It was a busy morning and afternoon. It was also becoming a long day since we were at 4:30 am Eastern time and it was now rapidly approaching 6 pm Pacific time. Could we stay awake until our 6:50 pm dinner reservation at Blue Bayou Restaurant.
Monthly Archives: August 2015
Wordless Wednesday – Signs of Disneyland
It’s another Wordless Wednesday and I’m focusing on the signs that I came across during my visit to Disneyland last week. Enjoy!
Adventures in Disneyland – Day 1 Part 1
Like most our trips to Walt Disney World, our trip to Disneyland started in the early hours of Monday morning. Though we live only a short drive away from the Albany Airport, we rarely fly out of there due to the high ticket costs. Fortunately, Albany is near many major airports so we have plenty of choices to shop around for airfare. This time, Newark came up as the fare winner and luckily for us, I have friends who live near the Newark Airport and they were willing to drop us off and pick us up from the airport. A nice savings from having to spent a night in an airport hotel and then spend more money to park the car.
General Impressions of Disneyland
Late Friday night or early Saturday morning (depending on your perspective), I returned from five days at Disneyland. This marked my first visit to Disneyland since the early 80’s. A lot of things of change and I am glad to say that most of the changes were positive. My family and I had a wonderful time at Disneyland. I’ll be sharing my trip report in blog posts over the next couple weeks but today I wanted to share just my overall impressions from the vacation.
Walt Disney World Vacation Planning in 1984
Dad For Disney is heading into the time machine today and going back to Walt Disney World vacation planning in 1984. It was a much simpler time when it came to planning your Walt Disney World vacation. There were a few hotels and the restaurant selection had just rapidly expanded with the opening of EPCOT Center in 1982.
If guests wanted a complete package which included their room, park tickets, and dining like a Walt Disney World package in 2015, they only had four resorts to choose from: The Contemporary, A Vacation Villa, a Treehouse Villa, or Fairway Villa.
From a planning standpoint, it was very simple. There was two price plan: one for the Contemporary and one for the villas and you could choose from a five, six, or seven night plan.
Pricing for The Contemporary
Rate Per Person 5 nt./6 nt./7 nt.
Two Adults $614/$732/$825
Three Adults $515/$615/$715
Junior (12-17) $293/$349/$407
Child (3-11) $186/$225/$259
Pricing for The Villas
Rate Per Person 5 nt./6 nt./7 nt.
Two Adults $680/$813/$852
Three Adults $553/$660/$768
Junior (12-17) $293/$349/$407
Child (3-11) $186/$225/$259
These plans must be booked 30 days in advance of travel and were required to be paid in full by 21 days before travel. Deposit was one nights payment on the room and the package could be cancelled with just five days notice.
Guests received a six/seven/eight day World Passport along with six/seven/eight days use of the Walt Disney World transportation system (monorails, ferryboats, and buses) and unlimited use of the recreational facilities at Walt Disney World. Guests received a coupon book for the breakfast, lunch, and dinner which included any breakfast and dinner shows. Lastly, they received a copy of Steve Birnbaum Brings You the Best of Walt Disney World (one book per party).
Guests had, at the time, a wide variety of locations to choose from when it came to dining.
Breakfast Locations
- Trophy Room (Golf Resort)
- Tangaroa Terrace (Polynesian)
- Top of the World (Contemporary)
- Lake Buena Vista Club
- Verandah Restaurant (Walt Disney World Village at Lake Buena Vista which is now becoming Disney Springs)
- Trail’s End (Fort Wilderness)
- Terrace Buffet (Contemporary)
Lunch Locations
- All Resort and Lake Buena Vista locations (excludes all Theme Park locations)
In 1984, Disney actively encouraged guests to take a mid-day break at the resort and use the recreation services at the resorts and leave the parks.
Dinner Locations
Resort Hotels
- Trophy Room (Golf Resort)
- Papeete Bay Verandah (Polynesian)
- Outer Rim (Contemporary)
- Pueblo Room (Contemporary)
- Tangaroa Terrace (Polynesian)
- Polynesian Revue
- “Hoop-Dee-Doo” Revue (Fort Wilderness)
Lake Buena Vista
- Steerman’s Quarters
- Fisherman’s Deck
- Village Restaurant
EPCOT
- Good Turn (Now Garden Grill)
- Rose and Crown Pub and Dining Room (United Kingdom)
- Le Cellar (Now Le Cellier – Canada)
- Biergarten (Germany)
- Les Chefs de France (France)
- Alfredo Di Roma (Italy)
- San Angel Inn (Mexico)
- Mitsukoshi (Japan)
Reservations could only be made by calling or stopping by the restaurant early in the day and only for that day. For the EPCOT restaurants, reservations could be made either at the restaurant or at the Earth Station located by Spaceship Earth and again only for that day.
Restaurants that were not included in the 1984 Dining Plan were:
- Any character meals: Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast (Polynesian), Breakfast a la Disney (Walt Disney World Village), Dinner a la Disney (Walt Disney World Village)
- Empress Room aboard the Empress Lilly in the Walt Disney World Village
- South Seas Dining Room (Polynesian)
There you have it. Planning a Walt Disney World vacation in 1984. In a lot of ways, it was simpler but in some ways, mainly dining reservations, it proved to be more difficult.
Thanks for reading!
dadfordisney 