Blast from the past: rec.arts.disney.parks

[Ronda93]

PaulT was a hoot. And quite the stirrer. Someone started posting parodies by TallP. Great stuff.

Ronda

 

[CathrynRose]

Yep used to go there before the DIS and other boards came about. It was kinda like the wild west there.

There was a guy who posted as PaulT, or something like that, that used to stir up trouble.

I liked Paul. LOL! I think he was an acquired taste.

I remember him posting about dumpster diving carpet from AS(movie, music, sports - cant remember) And said how he was going to carpet his game room with it. It still makes me giggle when I think about it. I just imagine some middle aged man, dragging a massive roll of carpet through the parking lot and stuffing it in his car. OMG! LOL!

There was another guy who posted this list of where you can "get frisky" around WDW - which ride had InfraRed Cameras, which ones didn't. I still have that list, only because it made me laugh and still does. It was supposed to be silly, and people got all up in arms about it.

And I remember - and it could have been Paul because it wouldn't surprise me - who lined his camers bag (I'm laughing typing this) with saran wrap - and would take home food from the buffet's.

 

[dsny1mom]

I remember PaulT. He had a daughter he would take to WDW and always had a way to stir the pot.

I was very active on ADD, but did read RADP.

ADD was the DL version of RADP. Al Lutz, the now owner of MiceAge and Doobie, the now owner of Laughing Place, were two of the main contributers on ADD.

dsny1mom

 

[KathyTX]

Wow- I had forgotten all about PaulT!

I just found my trip report post from our very first WDW visit in that I posted on RADP... what a hoot, and what great memories. The trip was in April, 1997.

We (Tom and Kathy, both thirtysomething, and Andrew, 3) just returned from our very first trip to WDW. We stayed at the Polynesian for a week (April 12- 19), and must extend our effusive thanks to all here in RADP for the wealth of information and enthusiam found herein! Without the benefit of your experience and opinions, I don't think we would have been nearly as prepared or relaxed on this trip.


Some highlights and thoughts from our visit:


We arrived at the Polynesian around 1:00, and were immediately drawn into the tropical theme- it felt like we were really ON VACATION! The desk CM (oh dear, I forgot his name now) took great care of us. He got us into a room that was available early (this was two hours before check-in), and we had an *amazing* view- we could watch the MK fireworks from our beds! (We were in Tahiti, which has not been updated yet.) We paid for a garden view room, so this must have been a substantial upgrade....
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To purchase our APs, we had to wait in long, slow lines at the TTC. Other admission media are available at the resorts.
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We *loved* being able to either take the monorail or the launch to the MK.
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I think I became a child along with Andrew- we were both really swept up in the magic, especially at the MK.
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We ate at 'Ohana, Coral Isle, Crystal Palace, Whispering Canyon, Marrakesh, Hoop-de-Doo, Polynesian Luau, Mama Melrose's.... found food to be no better than fair anywhere, and consistently high-priced. We'll choose restaurants based on "entertainment value" rather than expected gastronomic delight on future trips.
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Dole Whips- thanks for cluing us into these, RADP! (still smiling at the memory...
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GOH Nametags- Andrew was *amazed* that everyone at WDW knew his name! And a few people seemed to think I was a CM <vbg!>
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We started with a loose schedule (a few priority seatings, a list of which park(s) we planned to hit on which day, "can't-miss" attractions.) Even that went out the window by day 2! The only things we did which were planned were the dinner shows...
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Andrew met so many characters that he just didn't care anymore by the end of the trip. His first encounter- Ariel waved and blew him a kiss from her Spectromagic perch. His look of stunned astonishment was priceless. (We met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Mary Poppins, Jasmine, Davy Crockett, Pocahontas, John Smith, Meeko, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Quasimodo<"mommy- I saw a MAN inside Quasimodo!"><vbg!>)
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The fireworks- we watched them from the lauch as it approached the MK the first night we were there. Amazingly *magical*. Later, saw them from the Polynesian beach, from our room, from the MK grounds..... *sigh*. The ramp leading to the Resort monorail may be the best location for viewing them: you can hear the music, but you don't get trapped by the enormous exiting crowd afterward.
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After seeing HoND, Andrew pretends he's Quasimodo and our third-floor balcony is his belltower for the rest of the trip.
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Andrew sleeps with his Figment doll after the Dreamfinder tells us that Figment *eats nightmares*! Every three year old needs a nightmare-eating buddy.
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I stumbled into the barbershop and had a really fun conversation with a couple of the Dapper Dans and the barber- nice guys with really cool jobs! (They were telling me that Tinkerbell gets "flight pay"...)
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We weren't prepared for the chilly weather. Next time, we'll pack more long pants and light jackets.
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How many times can a family ride PotC in a week? We're all still mumbling (well, Andrew's bellowing) "yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me!"
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Early in the week, we told Andrew to look around for a few days, choose the one special souvenir he really, truly wanted, and we'd buy it before we went home. Anything he wanted. No price limit. He chose a pirate hat and sword. Cheap date!
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How do they keep everything so *clean*? Maybe there are secret, invisible vacuum suckers built into the streets, swooshing away wrappers and bits of debris before they even hit the pavement... hmmmm.. (wonder if I can get one that works for dog hair...)
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I love the magical automatic windows on that demo home in Innoventions.
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When it's raining, you can walk on to just about any ride!
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Tom's too scared and Andrew's too small for a lot of the rides, so I rode TZToT, the Mountains and AE alone.
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Kids from about 8 to 12 give the *best* ride critiques ("... then ALIEN SNOT sprays all over you!"). Talking with them in lines can be as entertaining as the attractions themselves!
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Buying coffee on my first day back at work, I found my wallet full of pressed pennies and Canadian coins received as change... (smiling at the memory)
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The crowds were small, especially early or late in the day. We walked onto a lot of rides (terrific!), but whizzed through the queuing areas so fast that we missed a lot of fun stuff.
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Room service and room delivery are way cool.
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My favorite souvenir: the Beauty and the Beast musical snowglobe.
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Bought the Music From the Parks CD. Does anybody else have a really hard time listening to Tim Curry doing "The Legend of Davy Crockett"? I keep picturing fishnet stockings and blue eyeshadow <vbg>.....
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I REALLY wanted to meet Gardenia, but couldn't get my brood together and figure out where we were going to be (and what kind of mood everyone was going to be in) from hour to hour..... (great big sad sigh)
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FINALLY- We had such a great time that we've already gotten prices for the Magical Holidays package for the first week of December. There is NO WAY I'll miss the RADP meet this time!!!! Now, we've just got to choose a hotel and decide how many days we can afford to stay.......(my vote is for another week at the Poly!)


Kathy (who is thrilled beyond words that she finally got to experience the magic, instead of just hearing about from y'all!) (and who is posting this via DejaNews, because it doesn't look like it made it past my really sllloooowww news server the first time)

 

[GraysMom]

I joined RADP before I found the DIS. My username was Grays Mom on there and I last posted May 23, 2006. I haven't gone back since becoming addicted to the DIS

 

[JCJRSmith]

Remember Ron Ng, the guy who would hammer any parent for thinking of taking their kids out of school to take them to Disney? It didn't matter to him that he didn't have any kids. He was a child raising expert in his own mind.

As for PaulT - yeah, he was an acquired taste.

 

[Mickey527]

Who was the guy who talked about ripping up the rug in his room at Pop, All Star etc and finding money and stuff underneath? I think he was PaulT too, but I seem to remember he had 2 daughters. He didn't say he pulled the rug up, just the corner and hid stuff under there to keep it away from the cleaning people.
I think it was Travematte who did the saran wrap in his camera bag. He lived in Orlando and did Beach Club buffet every week and brought in baggies and would brag that he had shrimp for the next few days.
I remember once I wrote how I needed to meet a single guy in Orlando and he wrote back that he was single so then I wrote that I would be moving down with my 3 boys within the week. Scared the $%Ap out of him, he sent me an email right away telling me he was only kidding...
I did meet him for lunch once when I was down at the parks... not to worry Matt.

 

[disneyjunkie]

So, were you a member of rec.arts.disney.parks on Usenet? I was back in the day, before I joined the DIS. Many, if not most, internet service providers have dropped Usenet access from their services, mainly because of the rampant piracy and pornography, not to mention the added expense.

Well, Google has a Groups section and a lot of the groups are usenet groups, and rec.arts.disney.parks is still going strong.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.disney.parks

They have over 123,000 posts archived on Google. I did a search and my last post there was in 2001. I used JCJRSmith as my handle there.

So, were YOU on R.A.D.P as it was known? What was your handle? Do you still read it?

I never posted on RADP, but lurked often when I was dreaming of our first trip to WDW. Took me years to get there. Funny thing. when we were finally able to go, I found the DIS and never went back to RADP.

Anyone remember the old mouseplanet site? I loved the trip reports posted there.

 

[Judy from Boise]

when I google my name my old trip reports from there still pop up ! I think Brian Bennett did a great job.

 

[RobDoc]

Great Memories!

I started on RADP back in 1996 - was even at the RADP "Toad-In" - the day the attraction closed and was among the last 50 to ride Toad - along with Deb Wills. We went to several RADP meets (the forerunner of the MouseFest programs).

From RADP, I found Rita Aero's site - which at the time was wdw4adults.com and later became ReadersClubhouse.com (both now defunct) - and was the first chat host there. Howie is a veterinarian on Long Island and is still active on Disney internet sites. He was the one who started the CRT reservation service.

1998 led me to the DIS and became a chat host here in December, 1998. There are a number of other former "clubhouse" members here on the DIS now.

I was the one who recruited Bicker and the other members of the "E.A.R.S. Academy" (Expert Advisor Rating System) - a panel of Disney experts who rated attractions, resorts, dining etc. for Rita Aero's Walt Disney World : The Essential Guide to Amazing Vacations. Bicker's pre-diet photo is even in the book. Pete Werner and Deb Wills were part of that same panel along with Dave Marx/Jennifer Watson (Passporter), Jeff Spencer, Brian Bennett (MousePlanet), Donnie/Amy Sullivan (Mousetales), John Yaglenski (Intercot), Andy Dannelley (MousePlanet) and a few others.

I hadn't been to RADP in years ... until today. Thanks for the Memories!

 

[Judy from Boise]

Rita Aero
I was a contributor to that book. Wasn't part of the FBI silliness.

It was a great book, I really thought it hit a niche and had a voice that hasn't been duplicated. I also loved her columns about the "tao" and "zen" of Disney. Very insightful. Whenever I read someone complaining about the "magic" missing I remember the columns and believe that the magic is in YOU.....so look inside for what is lacking.

 

[Carl]

You are all talking about RADP as though it only existed many years ago. They had meets scheduled at the last Mousefest. I went to one hosted by the Hidden Mickeys author at Pirates of the Caribbean.
However, I rarely went to the forums.

 

[Planogirl]

I was there briefly, but I really started at that site , can't remember it but you had to buy the book, and then the butler let you in....she went wacky at the end ? Got the FBI involved?

The other site I started at was Analirahs?

I think that Ahnalira still has a website. I was a member at one time too long ago.

 

[sasywtch]

Wow, when I was in Oklahoma, I use to go to all these sites. Especially remember Howie and all the people who called and got the ressies for Cinderella and PaulT. AOL boards when they were easy to read is where I spent most of my time and most for WDW because we were planning a 10 day vacation there. For awhile, my pictures were on (forget the name now, the one with all the menus) for the SOG rooms.
If anyone here ever hung out on the AOL WDW board from 97-05, let me know. I was sasywtch there or dabmusic I think???
Always wondered if Priscilla was here on DIS who makes cakes.

If I remember correctly, there were sites where former clique members went to bash their former poster friends on those other boards. Some were telling how Howie did what he did, etc. It was entertainment for me when I was bored 1700 miles away from home and all!

 

[Crissup]

I was a member of Rec.Arts.Disney (RAD) back before the big split into 5 seperate boards. A lot of people left after that split. Last I looked, the other four boards from the split are wastelands. RADP is basically what's left of RAD. Of course, web based sites signaled the death of RADP (and many Usenet newsgroups in general). I found the DIS back in '98 when I used to do a web search once or twice a year looking for a web based Disney message forum. I kept thinking someone is bound to port Disney message boards to the web. Of course, search engines weren't that great back then. In 1998, the Disney Information Station (The D.I.S.) finally popped up on the search engine. Which is the reason that I still refer to the site as the Dee-Eye-Ess today, instead the Diss.

 

[Joe in VA]

Remember Ron Ng, the guy who would hammer any parent for thinking of taking their kids out of school to take them to Disney? It didn't matter to him that he didn't have any kids. He was a child raising expert in his own mind.

As for PaulT - yeah, he was an acquired taste.

Man Ron Ng was a GREAT villain.

 

[PatriciaH]

OMG! Ron Ng and PaulT-LOL. I was MouseEars on RADP but I think my last post was 1999. I was on AOL around 1995 as well. I remember the whole castle breakfast problems on Rita's site too.

 

[JCJRSmith]

I was on the AOL boards too. I was USN EW1 then. I was part of a beta test of Geoworks software and they gave us free AOL accounts as part of the testing program so we could report bugs and issues. After the test we got to keep the accounts for 5 years. By then I was off AOL and on to Earthlink.

 

[Tantor]

yep, I was on there too.

 

[Tantor]

Man Ron Ng was a GREAT villain.

oh I remember him......