How did you plan your trips before the Internet

[kerplop]

We've had the internet since about 1996 (first as a kid then as a grownup) so honestly I have no first-hand knowledge of it. That's a weird thing for me to think about!

 

[Tamiami]

I do know some planning WAS required, even way back when! I've always heard the story of how my dad just HAD TO stay at the Contemporary from the minute he heard it was being built.......but it took him a full YEAR to be able to get a reservation. This was in 1972/3. So......it wasn't all always "just show up and you'll get a room, table, etc".

I also remember in later years having to make dining reservations at Epcot as soon as you got into the park. You had to go to SSE, and I think there were phones or something that you would use to call? And if you didn't do this, you might not be able to just 'walk up' and get a table.

I, for one, enjoy using the internet to plan and confirm that I have firm plans and reservations BEFORE I make the 1100 mile drive. Jmho. (Plus I don't have to budget for a bunch of books anymore! All the information is free and at your fingertips. All you have to do is look and read!)

 

[Tamiami]

Oh....and I remember my mom pouring over the AAA Guide Book for months before a trip, marking pages of possible hotels, then having to call to see if they even had any openings for our dates. I also remember how mad she'd get if it wasn't a toll-free call and the took forever looking it up, LOL. Then we'd sometimes have the horror of discovering when we got there that the '1.5 miles to Disney Maingate' that they claimed was actually 15 miles, or that the 'heated' pool was anything but, or that the 'onsite' restaurant was actually the Denny's across the street, lmao! Because, you see, there were no online reviews or mapquest, either....
No, unh-uh, no sir, no way, I'm not goin' back! And you can't make me! LOL. =D

 

[emilyindisney]

I didn't. I'm a child of the internet age and have a hard time imagining travel planning without it. My first Disney trip was in 1997, and by that time we not only had internet we already had broadband.

Ditto! My first trip was planned by mom and dad and now that I'm planning on my own, MDE, FP+ and MBs are in full swing. To be honest, I sort of like all the planning! It would be nice to be able to wander the parks and not have to stick to such a regimented schedule, though.

 

[powellrj]

My first trip was as a teen back in 73, so I didn't make any of the plans. My next trip was as a young parent in 88 and we used a travel agent and the unofficial guild. I had made little index cards of what we wanted to see and do.

Those trip were so much easier to plan than the trips are now. I read up on everything before we left and then we just enjoyed our trip!

 

[princessmocha]

I was mostly a go with the flow kinda person. We would buy books and talk to others that we knew that had gone before us. I remember as a kid going to AAA to get things to look at on the places we wanted to visit.

 

[Portugal1000]

Really interesting reading all your replies. It's funny but my family don't realise the amount of planning it requires for a successful trip to Disney. Well when I say successful I mean getting in lots of rides!! My brothers family came this year and we added the rides up and the kids had ridden between 150 and 160 rides each. When my brother got home he was discussing with friends who had gone in August with no real planning and they said they hadn't even ridden 40. My brother said they just didn't believe him and he felt stupid as they thought he was lying. I think it was only then my brother realised all the planning it took for two families. I am so glad they came this year when I knew what I was doing. Could be a whole new learning curve for FP+ and staying off site. I must say that my best planning aid has always been disboards. I am so glad I discovered it early.

 

[Jennasis]

Back in the day we used those Birnbaums Guides. In fact I still collect them.

 

[wuzzy6]

I was born in 1971 and grew up about an hour away from WDW. We didn't "plan" anything more than what day we wanted to go - it was pretty routine, honestly. Wake up - jump in the car - stop for breakfast at the McDonald's in Clermont - Disney 'til we drop - drive home. We ate whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and we never - not once - ever made a reservation for a meal. I remember the ride tickets - we NEVER had enough E-ride tickets!

It wasn't until my DH and I took our 4 children to WDW for Spring Break that we finally had to make reservations for accommodations. That was in 2002 - we used the telephone to call and book our room. We didn't need to make any other reservations or worry about FPs back then.

 

[Bullseye]

All Hail Al Gore...inventor of the internet

Life is so much easier with the internet

 

[Portugal1000]

I was born in 1971 and grew up about an hour away from WDW. We didn't "plan" anything more than what day we wanted to go - it was pretty routine, honestly. Wake up - jump in the car - stop for breakfast at the McDonald's in Clermont - Disney 'til we drop - drive home. We ate whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and we never - not once - ever made a reservation for a meal. I remember the ride tickets - we NEVER had enough E-ride tickets!

It wasn't until my DH and I took our 4 children to WDW for Spring Break that we finally had to make reservations for accommodations. That was in 2002 - we used the telephone to call and book our room. We didn't need to make any other reservations or worry about FPs back then.

I always wonder what it must be like to live so close to WDW. I wonder how many times I would have visited. I love England and would never leave but wish it didn't take over 9 hours on a plane to get to Orlando!!

What are E ride tickets?

 

[MsThumper]

This is a good question.

My family vacationed at Daytona Beach in July for several years in the 70's. My parents would just decide what day we were going to drive over to WDW and we would go. IMAGINE THAT! At that time, MK was the only park. We would stay all day, then drive back to our hotel in Daytona Beach. Several times I remember having to ride back in wet clothing, because we got caught in the rain while at the park.

I now live on the east coast of Florida, and while we do enjoy going to WDW several times in the winter months, we stay on site for at least 4 days and you couldn't pay me to go in July.

LOL, true, there were never enough E ride -Tickets.

E ride tickets: Back in the olden days, when you paid your admission to WDW, you got a pack of paper tickets. The tickets were lettered, A,B,C,D,E and I guess the "E" rides were the most popular rides, or as they call them today, the headliner rides. So if you wanted to go on a particular attraction, you had to have one of those tickets with the corresponding letters left. You got more of the tickets for the less popular rides, and I believe you only got 1 or 2 E ride tickets. If you wanted more of any level of tickets you had to purchase them separately.

 

[bcrook]

I always wonder what it must be like to live so close to WDW. I wonder how many times I would have visited. I love England and would never leave but wish it didn't take over 9 hours on a plane to get to Orlando!!

What are E ride tickets?

This is a great site to see what WDW looked like in 1973 (my first visit). You can see the ticket breakdown.

 

[Portugal1000]

This is a great site to see what WDW looked like in 1973 (my first visit). You can see the ticket breakdown.

I love this. I never even knew about it. Is there a list anywhere of what rides were what letters.

Also, I swear by the Unofficial Guide now and have bought countless for friends and family since 2005. Is there a good book that gives lots of trivia about WDW since it opened and up to current day. Thats the sort of stuff I love reading on the long journey there. I guess I have never really looked out for anything like that before.

 

[bcrook]

I love this. I never even knew about it. Is there a list anywhere of what rides were what letters.

Also, I swear by the Unofficial Guide now and have bought countless for friends and family since 2005. Is there a good book that gives lots of trivia about WDW since it opened and up to current day. Thats the sort of stuff I love reading on the long journey there. I guess I have never really looked out for anything like that before.

At the bottom there is a link called magic kingdom 1973, it gives an analysis of each land and the ticket structure.

In 1973 my father wouldn't buy any additional tickets, so we had to make some tough choices.

 

[Metro West]

Our first family trip was in 1975 so no planning at all except what the arrival and departure dates were. We always stayed at the Contemporary and ate breakfast at the Buffeteria in the Grand Canyon Concourse. Played in the video arcade (I remember a huge pinball machine) which kept us entertained for hours. We had the ticket books but rarely used all the tickets for some attractions but had to buy more tickets for others.

Our last family trip was in 1984 and still didn't have to plan anything. By that time we had resort passes which hung around the neck and didn't have to fool with ticket books. Now we had two parks to visit. EPCOT Center was great back then (RIP Horizons and World of Motion).

Those were the days!

 

[AmyB2006]

Well before internet you could actually show up at Disney, get on every ride, multiples times (without FP) and make dining reservations the day of or walk up to a restaurant and get in, with no problem.

So it was totally different. But to answer your question, before internet we didn't plan anything. We showed up, decided what park we wanted to go to that day. There were no extra magic hours. Usually, we ended up in a different park in the afternoon. You didn't need to "plan" then.

 

[aml3679]

Guidebooks. The last time we went to WDW we winged it and only had 4 days and we rushed through everything.

This time we have 13 days a lot planned. We leave tomorrow

 

[pepe of ohio]

We began then, as adults....since we never heard of the WDW complex, only the MK for our first trip, no internet....we sort of went naked...

We had so much fun, missed so much and couldn't wait to book our next trip..first was in June and we went back that October....prepared thru Birbaums..

Flash forward, 50 trips....we hardly plan anything...we're veterans, know it all's...no ADR's, no advance folder, cue cards needed trips...we just go, pick our parks once we're there, relax when we want and stay away from commando types....multiple trips and trips of 9-12 nights have change our style of doing Disney.

 

[chartle]

My first trip was in '77 as an older teenager and there were social networks back then just not online.

My father heard about it from guys at work and of course there was the Wonderful World of Color on TV.

We got some stuff from them and then sent away for a packet of info from Disney that explained everything you needed to know.

I can recall where I was sitting when my father made the call to reserve a campsite (we never reserved campsites) at FW in December for the next end of july. FW was all booked up and they tried to help us make a reservation at I think a local Jellystone park but we wanted FW so we made the res for the following year so we waited 18 months.

We bought tickets at a kiosk in FW not at check in.

Now for the next trip we did buy a book and I must have printed every page from www.wdwig.com the precursor to allears.net.