Friday, December 26, 2014

Now and Then at Disney World

 
I mentioned in a previous post that the last time the family visited Disney World, we took the opportunity to 're-create' some of the photos we had taken in previous visits. In some time travel stories, it is a major plot point that someone going into the past MUST know the geography of where the traveler is going. You wouldn't want to show up inside the wall of a building that used to stand in that park you're traveling from. Nope.

That makes Disney World a pretty good destination because, while changes are made, generally, it is pretty stable. They're not going to take out the whole Magic Kingdom and start over. And if you did go back to 1971, as you can see in this photo, you would find things were a little sparse in places. Florida hadn't had the opportunity to fill every inch with vegetation yet. 

So we went over the forty-two years of Disney World photographs we had last year and chose some to re-create.

Here is Deb from 1972 on the left and 2013 on the right standing on the bridge by the castle gate in the Magic Kingdom. You can see they added some pointy things to the rail to keep people from sitting on it and some filler in the holes to keep children from falling through. Thanks, Walt.


This one is Deb on the bench by Cinderella's statue in the courtyard of the castle. In 1972 on the left, she's holding our daughter Leah while she naps and on the right in 2013, she's holding our granddaughter, Grace. Looks like the same bench!


And in this photo in the little courtyard by the first aid station by the Crystal Palace, Deb is holding Heather while Leah looks on in 1977 on the left and 2013 on the right.


And in that same little courtyard, the same three people pose first in 1990 on the left and 2013 on the right.


Over in Epcot, a random photo of Deb, Leah and Heather on the bridge leading to France was easy enough to reproduce. 1990 on the left, 2013 on the right.


It wasn't so easy in England since they had removed the little chairs and tables, but we made do. 1996 on the left, 2013 on the right. My, how the hedges have grown!


We had to push people aside in Germany, but once I cleared a space, everything worked out. 1987 on the left, 2013 on the right.


We tried everything to find the same flower in Mexico, we had the staff searching in their storage area, but no luck, but Heather had NO trouble locating the hat. 2004 on the left, 2013 on the right.


Not everything worked out, however. We wanted a shot at our favorite table in Columbia Harbor House in the Magic Kingdom, but they had turned it into a serving station. I was going to pull the station out and move a table in, but my family stopped me because they wanted to come back to Disney World at some point. Perhaps next time. 2004 on the left and 2013 on the right.


And, yes, of course there will be a next time! Yay!