The era of paper tickets;before FP, ADR's, MB's..........

[soar2014]

In the time before the internet, how did ADR's work?
I was reading the post that read "Is it Disney's fault?" In it we debate the folks who show up at WDW totally naïve, no reservations etc. and end up having a rueful vacation.
So what did people do in the 80's or 90's?
I mean I went in 1990 but I think the internet was just a new thing, I certainly didn't buy my tickets from it! So how was it done? I remember trying to go to a restaurant and there was no availability, so who were these people with a table and how did they know to make a reservation?

 

[hakepb]

I think the 1st "T" in the TTC meant a lot more.

For a while, EPCOT had these futuristic dining reservation terminals.

And there has been a dining phone number for a while 407 WDW DINE?
(Although those long distance #'s were painful before cell phones w/ cheap long distance minutes)

 

[Novakm]

I went in '94. I'd call the ressie line each morning to see what was available. I was surprised I couldn't just walk up to a restaurant and get in. Calling morning of, I was able to get into Spirit Of Aloha, HDDR, San Angel Inn, Liberty Tree, Germany, Ohana, Crystal Palace, and several others. Basically 2sit down meals each day for 7 days. I don't think that's possible today, even if you call 180 days in advance.

I will say I did not know anything about any restaurant until I arrived for dinner, so I just took what was available.

 

[mountdew1]

You could walk in an make reservations day of pretty frequently. As @hakepb mentioned, Epcot had interactive video screens where CMs would help you out by making reservations for you to dine that day. Some days you would walk up, other times you would call in when you arrived for your trip, or had a helpful TA working for you. Didn't use to be that much different from a local restaurant that gets busy during prime meal time.

 

[hakepb]

All tickets used to be non-expiring, so you could sometimes show up with remaining unused days from past trips.

 

[epcotty]

Also back then 1 day tickets weren't exorbitantly expensive so people often got those on the day from the TTC or at the park entrance. When I was growing up that's what my family did, and even that time I went with my class at the end of the year that's what we did

 

[AGoofykindagirl]

When we first went in the late 80's, the only reservations you really had to make ahead of time were Hoop-De-Doo and the Broadway type show dinner at the top of the Contemporary Resort (I forget the name of the restaurant but it had great prime rib!) Everything else, it was as others have said; call the morning of or walk-up. And Guest Services would help you find someplace if you ran into trouble using the kiosk at EPCOT. Most of the time, we went either park opening for breakfast (Crystal Palace) or lunch and be near the front of the line, so we usually were pretty lucky.

 

[grandmomhop]

When I went in '74, for my 19th birthday, we got a book with paper tickets, A's through E' s. E tickets were Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and I don't remember what else. If you wanted to go on again, you went and bought more E tickets. They had a sky ride to get from one side of the park to the other. Characters were at random spots. I don't remember how long wait times were, but remember having a really great time!
Going in 20 days for my 60th birthday with my daughter and three of my twelve grandkids A bit more expensive, planning is a bit more complex, but I'm sure we'll be having a really great time.

 

[minnie mum]

Yep, in the 80s and 90s, same day dining reservations were the norm. But then again, the parks weren't nearly as crowded as they are today, and a larger percentage were staying offsite. So, less demand, especially for breakfasts. And, of course, preopening breakfasts, F! Dining packages, dessert parties, candlelight processional dinners, and the DDP didn't exist, further reducing demand.

I blame everything bad on the DDP, but especially the clamour for ADRs. JMHO.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Yep, in the 80s and 90s, same day dining reservations were the norm. But then again, the parks weren't nearly as crowded as they are today, and a smaller percentage were staying offsite. So, less demand, especially for breakfasts. And, of course, preopening breakfasts, F! Dining packages, dessert parties, candlelight professional dinners, and the DDP didn't exist, further reducing demand.

I blame everything bad on the DDP, but especially the clamour for ADRs. JMHO.

I'm so with you on all of this. Many disagree but I truly think the DDP is the root of all evil.

The old way really was fun and soooo not stressful. We didn't plan what parks on what day ahead of time. We just went where we felt like it. We planned our same day ADR in the morning after we had a sense for what the weather would be like and what park we'd want to go to. Sometimes we'd book it the day before it it was breakfast. I really miss that.

I think we booked our ADRs at guest services in our hotel, or guest services in the park. We also used the WDW DINE number later on.

 

[dfb]

The good ole telephone. Still can call today. 407 939 3463 Disney Dining. You get a magical bell greeting sound. We used to laugh when we called to make a reservation and we heard that bell we would start to salivate. You could speak to a real person and everything.

 

[PlutoFan10]

I was just thinking about this the other day! I remember either calling the reservation line or stopping by the resort front desk to check on available dining reservations for either that day or the next. We also took our chances (especially for lunch) and checked wait times in person at places like Sci-Fi and others. ah, times (and crowd levels) have changed. I feel bad for rookie visitors who did not read enough in advance and decide to "wing it".
I also remember having a paper 3-day or 5-day passport ticket that I wore pinned to my shirt. Used that instead of the books of tickets for an unlimited attraction experience. I think back then you needed to show tickets to ride the busses.

 

[soar2014]

Okay, so in the 21st century if you plan a trip and you don't research it on the web you are stuck in time. I can't even remember how we did it before the internet!

 

[Ava]

As recently as 2011 we were able to make same-day dining reservations through guest services at the hotel. Granted, we were only booking for a party of 2 and weren't expecting to get into the most popular restaurants at peak times, but we also had plenty of good options to choose from.

In the early 2000's, I always called to make dining reservations. I can't remember if Disney had an online dining reservation system yet at that point, but if they did I didn't use it.

 

[hakepb]

Okay, so in the 21st century if you plan a trip and you don't research it on the web you are stuck in time. I can't even remember how we did it before the internet!

You would buy or rent a guide book (at the library) like Birnbaum's to plan your trip.

 

[loves to dive]

We did it a number of ways. First, we always bought park hoppers and bought the non-expiring ones. For special things like tours or the Luau I would either call before I got there or go to concierge when I got there and have them book it. I never had any problems getting any tours without booking them in advance. For ADRs, I would go to the nifty little screen things in Epcot and do it with those. Before that, we would just go to whatever restaurant we wanted to eat at and make the reservation for later. Of course, we also waited in lines for rides back then, boy don't I sound like your mom and dad who had to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways. Oh, just for the record, I still don't book ADRs until either the night before or the day of, just get on MDE or go to GS at whatever park we are at, again with the park hoppers and only adults so time and characters don't matter. We rarely book FP either, if I do those get booked just for the headliners like TSMM and Soarin, otherwise it's the night before or morning of. Again with the park hoppers, if a park is too crowded we just move on.

 

[soar2014]

Okay, so the people of today must know about the internet and the ones who have a bad experience due to lack of research are either clueless about travel in general or just detest using the computer. ---I'm guessing---
Computers and the internet truly have changed our lifestyles

 

[Jestocost]

I first went in 1976, when the Poly, CR and the old Golf Resort (now Shades of Green) were the only resorts and the MK was the only park. You had to call to make resort reservations--don't remember how far in advance--and Disney's innovation was they didn't pick up the line and keep you on hold but just let the phone ring so that guests didn't get hit with long-distance charges. For my first trip as an adult in 2000, everything was still done by phone and if you wanted a CRT reservation the strategy was to have as many people as possible start calling for an ADR as soon as the line opened and hope that one got through in time.

If you didn't know about those quirks back then, you would have a hard time getting what you wanted. Not much different than today.

 

[minnie mum]

Okay, so in the 21st century if you plan a trip and you don't research it on the web you are stuck in time. I can't even remember how we did it before the internet!

You would buy or rent a guide book (at the library) like Birnbaum's to plan your trip.

Guidebooks were the answer back then and today. I think the first Unofficial Guide I bought was in the mid 80s. And back then, as today, many people used TAs to plan and book their trips, and could offer tips and advice. It wasn't quite the dark ages.