3. Everyone had a favorite guidebook

Guidebooks were a big deal—from Birnbaum’s Official Guides, to PassPorter’s, to the ever-bold Unofficial Guides, everyone had a favorite source where to get the most up-to-date advice.

Disney guidebooks had a significant impact on me—I loved going to the bookstore every year to pick up the latest editions of Disney park guides. If you weren’t a local, it was one of the best ways to get up-to-date information on what was new, exciting, and changing in the parks. I particularly enjoyed when they released the For Kids, By Kids guides—something unheard of at the time. Perusing guidebooks for the best tips became one of my favorite ways to prepare for vacations, to the point I eventually decided I wanted to write my own someday and would practice taking notes any time we visited the parks as a kid and teenager.

In the age of social media and blogs, guidebooks have lost some of their popularity for the average Disney planner, but we do still feel tugs of nostalgia whenever we spot the few still standing in bookstores. I may not have ended up writing a guidebook but writing for Theme Park Tourist these last few years fulfilled that wish in a wonderful way I never expected.

4. Character mobs were a thing

The 90s were a little rough if you liked characters but not crowds…

There were a lot of upsides to character hunting during that time—you saw a lot of unusual characters appear periodically and finding special characters always felt like a win since you had no idea who would appear where. Wandering characters were also a thing, something you don’t see often at Disney parks these days outside of places like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The one catch was that the spontaneous way characters appeared at Disney parks in the 80s through 2000s was they tended to draw character mobs—big crowds of people all pressing in to get a photo. While cast member handlers made sure the characters themselves had a little space, on many occasions there weren’t necessarily neat queues to ensure who was supposed to go next. Whoever was at the front and was bold enough to step up next became first in the line.

Needless to say, this could become a pretty stressful situation, particularly for kids who were shy and didn’t like crowds. I’ll admit, I hated approaching characters purely due to the stress of figuring out ways through the mass of people and someone else always stepping in first.

Eventually, Disney did away with wandering characters in favor of placing characters in places where queues could be formed neatly (the arrival of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was the first time we saw a comeback of the free-walking character model). This was a good idea both to keep heads cool and for another reason…

5. Physical film limited picture taking

Image: Flickr, Tony Webster (license)

The whole reason wandering characters were even a possibility was because of one important factor: before the advent of digital cameras, people could only take so many pictures.

Prior to the mid-2000’s, pretty much all photography required the use of physical film. Cameras had started to shrink from the bulky Polaroids and monster camcorders common in the 80s, but you were still limited to however much film or tape you had on hand. Disposable cameras, in particular, were extremely common and only allowed 24-36 pictures.

With physical film as a factor, most people didn’t go too crazy taking pictures with characters. You weren’t likely to see someone take dozens of photos in one session—something entirely plausible with the advent of digital cameras. As digital became more common, character picture taking sessions grew longer and more complicated, and Disney decided the best solution to get things under control was to schedule and place characters more strategically.