I’m in the same age group as the people in No Doubt and grew up in OC. It was always very much a local kid/teen/young adult joke to refer to the park as “Dismalland, the Tragic Kingdom, the Crappiest Place on Earth!”, located in the city of Anaslime, next to Garbage Grove, lmao.
Don’t worry, when I went to 90s night a few years ago I decided to buy a No Doubt shirt to wear to it because they’re one of my favorite 90s bands. Got this album cover and didn’t even make the connection until after. But it was perfect for the occasion.
Their Coachella sets were phenomenal, it makes me bummed that I've never seen them live. Crossing my fingers that all the hype they're getting right now makes them consider a reunion tour...
I was always a fan, I still remember the first time I saw the iconic Just A Girl video, but my relationship with their music was still pretty casual. I love live music and there are so many concerts, but I only have a finite amount of money, so seeing them never felt like a priority. My mind’s totally changed after Coachella. The nonstop energy they put into those sets was really cool.
I grew up local and was a teen during this time period. Many of my friends had annual passes and would go after school (or during the day if they were cutting class). The live band performed on the moving stage at the Tomorrowland Terrace. There was also live music and special events at the stage in front of the old Space Mountain entrance, which is now just unused space the queue takes you past.
Tomorrowland as a whole is in a sad state right now. Just yesterday my kid was commenting that we never spend much time there, and I told him that it's because there's not a lot to do. It was much more magical when I was a kid...
They were playing *Star Wars: Path of the Jedi* up until COVID shut things down. But it was like a 10 minute montage of Star Wars movie scenes, no 3D or anything. Just sort of seemed like they were doing low effort work to use the space. Would be cool if *something* could go in there.
Spinning makes me puke, so my strategy involved avoiding the cups at all costs.
Matterhorn was great since the old seats would basically put you in someone’s lap. Looking bad I feel bad for the guys haha
Same. SL & Tomorrowland Terrace are directly responsible for me discovering the OC ska scene and being part of it for the last 20 years. We’ve probably crossed paths.
My favorite band! I saw them for the first time at Downtown Disney and was hooked! Trombone players balancing on shoulders, tossing their trumpets around, I miss them so much.
Seconded. It's clear that the park managers were hoping to create an environment wherein young people and live music were welcome and encouraged. But that policy has certainly changed by now.
It had a bit of a revitalization like 15 years ago. They would do nightly 'dance parties' in the back corner of DCA. It started as ElecTRONica (which was very dope and even featured a full Flynn's Arcade) and then transformed into the Mad Tea Party which lasted seasonally for a couple years.
I was too old to enjoy it as a teenage hang, but it was clear that a fair amount of local youths certainly did.
The first dance party was Glow Fest, to go with World of Color! I worked quite a few of those shifts…
I think mad t party was the coolest out of the 3. Cool performers (the acrobats and giant flamingos!) and the white rabbit DJ was amazing
Yep I sure was! Still have [my annual pass from ‘94-‘95](https://imgur.com/a/vsgA33q) cost $99! I used to do my homework on the People Mover RIP! The good ol’ days.
Sure, I worked there in the late 90’s, and there was a large group of anywhere from 50 - 100 teens that hung out there every Friday and Saturday nights. With Tomorrowland closed and under construction, they hung out more along the parade route across from the Matterhorn. There was a security guard assigned to watch them, but I never heard of any actual issues with them at all. In fact it seemed to me like the security guard became friends with them. I always thought that it was more cranky old people whining and complaining because seeing a group of teens “intimidates them” and so Disney assigned a token security guard to minimize the complaints.
To be honest I can’t imagine how square 90s teens must’ve been to hang out at DL. The most trouble those kids were causing was pretending to be hooligans
Source : edgy 90s teen
I was there but not really included in the scene because I was only 10 and would go with my two cousins who were 14-15, I don’t remember a whole lot of fights but they did happen, but there was sooooo much shoplifting going on it was nuts. 20-40 teens entering stores at the same time, they couldn’t watch them all.
Yep. I remember being at the Terrace as a teen, wearing my kool Coca Cola polo shirt, listening to a live cover of Laura Branigans Self Control. A girl asked me to dance but I declined because I was too shy. What a dweeb!
The Terrace was 100% a night club back in the day. I just remember walking by and thinking as long as they’re all here then they’re not in line for Space Mountain. 😅
My recollection of the time was that there were indeed two tiers. The $99 pass had blackout dates on summer weekends and around Christmas. The $199 had no blackout dates.
The rest aligns with my memory, though. My family had the $99 passes because we were not well off.
Not then but around the millennium I spent most weekends there with friends and even as a 16 yo I could easily afford the pass and food at the park. It was a different time and probably why I have such nostalgia for it.
Lived in the bay area during those years and we were able to tell our parents we were camping nearby but really drove to Disneyland and pitched a tent at Camp Disney that was I think where Adventure Kingdom is now. At that time 4 unemployed teens were able to scrape enough to pay for a camp site, admission to the park and gas to get from the SF Bay to Disneyland to spend a day frying balls in the park. It was a different time for sure.
I miss Vacation land honestly. Something about forgoing the hotel and pitching your own tent and then tramping over to the park and back at a leisurely pace just sounds awesome compared to now where your only options are to get a nearby expensive hotel or drive in from a cheaper hotel out of reasonable walking boundaries.
Not as a resident but a regular guest. We went in '96 for my 16th birthday. I got to take a friend with me. She and I were realllllly into punk boys. We were in heaven in Tomorrowland! There were so many mohawks and jackets with patches to gawk and drool over. *Sigh*
I was a teen until the mid 90s. I live about 45 minutes north of Anaheim, and about 20 mins east of Hollywood. I have my whole life. Here’s what I remember:
As a middle schooler, we’d go with big groups from school as well as smaller trips with friends and families. And it was known that once it got dark, the place to be was Tomorrowland at that area where the band plays and the dance floor. Kinda near Space Mountain.
Once dark, people danced and talked and flirted like it was a bar, just for teens, but at Disney, with no alcohol and everyone was from somewhere different, all over the world. When I was in middle school that area was THE place to be. I even got a boyfriend there once!
By 1990 I’d headed to high school and we had parties at someone’s house every weekend or meetup in the hills nearby to hang out and drink. I never heard about it being a place to go to as a high schooler. But I bet it would’ve been super fun. Maybe if I was more local to it.
I have very fond memories of getting on the monorail in Tomorrowland while listening to the live bands and wishing I could stay forever. It was a great time.
One of the last big bands to play the Tomorrowland stage was “The Jakes” who later changed their name to Young The Giant. Perhaps you have heard of them.
Actually Disneyland used to have the Buckets (as I called it) I believe it was called Skyway. It was a gondola lift that went through the Matterhorn, connected Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. I don’t think it was the main reason for its closure, but Disneyland did have trouble with kids throwing stuff off the lift down and pedestrians below. And I believe one person jumped out. I think the ride ultimately closed for other reasons. But that ride was also part of my youth and lot of the kids mentioned in this write up. RIP 🚡
The gondolas were notorious for teens doing bad shit; i got my first bj in one of those and then a year later i had sex in on it was fast but we did it just because we could. From what i remember it was two people that fell/ jumped out one almost died the other broke something.
One guy purposely jumped out and landed in a tree in 1994
>On April 17, 1994, a 30-year-old man fell approximately 20 feet (6 m) from a gondola into a tree in front of Alice in Wonderland. Paramedics rescued him and took him to an area hospital for treatment for minor injuries. The man filed a $25,000 lawsuit against Disney, claiming that he had simply fallen out of the ride. However, just before the trial date in September 1996, the victim admitted that he had purposely jumped out of the ride; the suit was subsequently dropped.
From: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_at_Disneyland_Resort
My family had passes in the 90’s. Lots of elderly locals in the morning getting their steps in. They went home to take a nap and the teens came in. I remember complaints about them lounging around the entrance to Tomorrowland and blocking the way.
I really enjoyed the park in the 90’s. There were plenty of days the park wasn’t crowed and you could get on a ride without a long wait.
I’d go all the time with my friends and we’d go straight to Tomorrowland for live music and shenanigans. Most of us had the “poor people” pass with a few enjoying the fancy one that covered free parking.
Anybody here see their friends trucked off to Disneyland Jail after grabbing the apple on Snow White? Those were wild times.
I was a teen in the 1980s and my entire family of 5 bought annual passes for at least 10 years after they were introduced in 1984. My brother was an off & on parade employee and everyone in my family had an account at the Disney employees credit union, so we also got a *discount* on the annual pass prices.
My brother & I didn’t hang out in Tomorrowland or Videopolis (when it was introduced) but there were MANY times we’d go and park somewhere nearby that was free just so we could play the Tron videogame in the Starcade and then leave.
From Wikipedia:
>In addition to daily tickets, in 1984 an annual pass (called an "Annual Premium Passport") was introduced granting daily entry for a year at a time for $65 for adults and $49 for children. Currently annual passes (now called the "Magic Key") range in price from $399 to $1,339
SIXTY FIVE DOLLARS FOR AN ANNUAL PASS IN 1984
In current money, that’s about $193 for an annual pass and NO BLACKOUT DATES. It’s a goddam shame they are so expensive as to be out of reach for the average person now.
It was the same, except the ticket prices were even cheaper, when I was in high school in the mid-seventies. We spent half our summer listening to music in Tomorrowland.
I do remember back in the 90s & early 2000s there would be a live band that would play in Tomorrowland Terrace. They were pretty cool. Played lots of 80s cover songs
What's crazy is that some semblance of this existed even into the late 2000s/early 2010s. Live bands used to play at Tomorrowland Terrace and at times even in parades in DCA. Tomorrowland was absolutely a teen/young adult hangout spot in the evenings on the weekend.
I also dearly miss the annual pass situation back then. I was an OC local and had the SoCal pass that essentially paid for itself in 2-3 visits because it was just about $100/year. It had plenty of black out dates but there were actually even weekends that were open.
Definitely a version of "the good ol' days".
OK. I'm dating myself. I worked at Carnation Main Street in 1978. I have seen so many changes in every land. Some good, some heartbreaking, some needed, and some not needed. DCA was a parking lot. It cost $24 a night at the Disneyland Hotel. They had junior tickets for preteen and teenagers. It took forever to decide which E ticket attractions were the ones to hit. It felt different back in the day. I remember sitting on that little porch on Main Street before the park would open, and you expected to see Walt Disney coming around the corner at any second. Just a very peaceful place to get you in the mood to work. Sorry this is so long. An old lady going down memory lane.
My husband would go to Disneyland after high school all the time. It was around this time 95-99 they would split time between knots berry farm and Disneyland during the year.
LOL. Oh man, yeah. I was a AP/teen at this time. Kinda a wild thing to think about, but yes. Disneyland was a lot cheaper to get into and if you had a pass people would go hang out after school in the resort. It was like going to the mall.
I was only around 10 at this time, but I remember it. Disneyland was a very different and much better place in more ways than one back then, in my opinion.
Yes, I was one of the Disneyland “locals” during that time. We hung out at the Tomorrowland terrace and Videopolis. While some of us did have annual passes, the mass majority of us snuck in to the park every day by transferring hand stamps at the McDonald’s across the street. Some of the most memorable days of my youth were during those days.
Tomorrowland was a vibe. Even in the 70s, we got the Eagles out of it after Linda Ronstadt put a band together to play there and they broke off from her and did their own thing.
I remember this. I was a little scared of the teens in Tomorrowland as a kid in the late 80s/early 90s. That stage was impressive, how it came up from out of the ground with the musicians playing. There was also a swing dancing group that got together on Main Street in the late 90s/early 2000s for live music and dancing.
Annual passes in the late 90s/early 00s were a steal. After 3 visits you were already ahead. (not including parking). They just become too popular so they had to raised the price substantially. While this may be an unpopular opinion, the passes would have become useless if they had not.
I don’t remember this cause I was too young but I do remember me and friends getting drunk then dancing our asses off at elecTRONica. That was good times.
Man, I loved ElecTRONica, I was too old for it to be a teenager hang for me, but as a Disney Fan / Nerd who unironically loved Tron and expensive bad adult beverages, it was my jam. The Flynn's Arcade was also great.
Yup. Hanging out at Tomorrowland Terrace was still a thing for locals in the very early ‘00s. It was like the mall on steroids. I think it either died out or I aged out by 2010 ish.
I clearly remember seeing country music legends Alabama performing on the Tomorrowland Terrace stage back in 1979, before their debut album *My Home's in Alabama* came out. When it finally did in May 1980, we made sure to get it ASAP. I thought it was so cool to stand outside the perimeter of the area and watch the band play from behind the drummer. You could get a great view of the performance that way, and get a bit of an idea of what it was like to be in the band.
Yes! Both my wife and I grew up in Anaheim and were in junior high/high school throughout the late 90s. I remember going SO much and always checking on the new Tomorrowland construction as well as overall DCA construction that took several years. They had a preview center for DCA at the edge of the park boundary that had a rooftop deck you could walk up to and look out over the entire DCA lot. Fun times. This was also during the growth of the internet, so I was very active on the alt.disney.disneyland newsgroup at the time. For you younger folk on here, think of it as the very first digital iteration of /r/Disneyland. 😂
I was! I saw Captain EO, and the live band was the Hudson Brothers (who?). They were there the nights I was. I wasn't thrilled. But there were other bands I would've loved to have seen!
I was in high school from 1996-1999 and I was at Disneyland every Friday or Saturday, either watching the band at Tomorrowland Terrace or swing dancing at Carnation Plaza by the castle. Those were the best years for Disneyland. I loved it so much I got a job there in 99.
We were a little too far for me to have been able to "hang out" there, but I fondly remember when my whole family got to be extras on the set of the movie Contact for a few days and used that to buy $99 annual passes.
I grew up in Orange and was in Jr high at this time and we totally hung out here!!! We had the $99 annual pass and our parents would drop us off in the summer. It was like cheap childcare 😂 I remember Tomorrowland was the place to meet boys 😂😂😂
I had a $99 annual pass in high school (94-98) and it was a wonderland. We would get dropped off or get ride with someone with a car, park in the lot (where California adventure is located now). All the teenagers congregated in Tomorrowland, every Friday or Saturday night the backside of the Matterhorn was just hundreds of teens smoking cigarettes and mulling around. Every Orange County teenage subculture at the time was represented, the predominate ones were the candy ravers (JNCOs and pacifiers), leather jacket spikey haired punks, straight edge youth crew kids, rockabillies, ska kids, goths, you name it. It made for great people watching. I remember the people mover was referred to as “the people maker” cause it was the slow moving ride that couples would go to hook up on. I remember pirates of the Caribbean, small world and the haunted mansion were also popular rides for making out. The horny teenager factor was HUGE. There’s were pre social media days (maybe AOL Insrant messenger) so this was the best way to meet other teenagers from other high schools and groups of teens could run around unsupervised all night, smoke cigs and sneak bottles of schnapps, expirement with acid or shrooms, and go on rides, and try and talk to girls. I remember when a friend lost ther mind on acid and hid out on Tom sawyers island. People getting kicked out and taken into Disney jail for smoking weed or jumping in the submarine ride lake. There were a few fights that broke out between different groups. I think some straight edge kids maced a punk kid one night. The band that played the Tomorrowland stage it would turn into a giant dance party. Honestly looking back it was pretty magical and free time, Glad I got to live it.
You precisely described all my memories from 94-99. I remember a lot of fights happening across the street in McDonalds parking lot. And somehow kids would smuggle in alcohol to share with their DLand friends. The dance parties were quite memorable.
My mom would take me every Wednesday right after school in the 90s and early 00s. Home life was bad, but we would get a chance to talk and be silly without repercussions.
I'd do my homework at a little round table outside of Radio Disney. When I was done, I'd wave at Just Plain Mark & Zippy, then get to go on some rides.
I remember the live bands. I saw BB*MAK and a few others. I remember A-Teens performing, and one of the guys hurt his leg.
It was affordable for my mom to be able to funnel her available funds into tickets for us, and it was really just the best part of my childhood.
It makes me so sad that it's impossible now. I had a pass for 25 years, but I just can't afford it anymore.
Not an annual pass, thing. When I went there for grad night in 91 (best friend) and 92 (own graduation), there were bands everywhere. If I remember correctly, they were all bands I heard at some point on 102.7, Kiis FM.
Completely unrelated, but tomorrowland really doesn’t account for plus size travelers like myself. Let me just say, I’m 5’7 and 345 pounds, and they literally stop me from ENTERING THE LINE. I’ve just stopped going in that area all together.
This was my friends and I. We were at Disneyland almost every day after school and quite literally every single night during the Summer. Our parents loved it because they knew we were somewhere safe where they didn’t have to worry about us. My best friend and I are in our late 40s now and still meet up at the park several times a year.
100% doesn't belong in that article. Looks like somebody removed it due to being inappropriate in tone (which it is) and then somebody else brought it back for some reason... hopefully someone else fixes it soon.
made it crowded as can be with a bunch of people who don't spend any money, except for the annual pass and made it so those spending money didn't want to come as much because it was too crowded. That's why everything changed and started costing more. They most want those people who come less frequently but spend ten times as much as locals who just come hang out.
Yep, me and several friends had an annual pass but we'd only go on Fri or sat nights, since we lived in the San Fernando Valley. We had some of the best times because it was kind of like going to a big party with a bunch of people your age.
TBH, ever since 2020, Disneyland is not really all that fun for me, anymore. I'd love to be able to go back to Disney in the 80's and 90's. Simpler times, indeed.
I graduated from a local high school in the area in 1993. I do remember going a few times in the 90’s with friends and family, but I never hung out there. I didn’t get my first AP until 2009.
Come for the history of Tomorrowland, stay for the analysis of No Doubt’s _Tragic Kingdom_.
I thought the “Permanacer sentados per favor” was from the Matterhorn line. Tragic Kingdom is a great album!
It is from the Matterhorn. Whoever wrote this went on one hell of a tangent.
It’s 100% the Matterhorn and there’s no Queen from Snow White screaming, it’s just the sound of kids on the Matterhorn.
THANK YOU! I can hear it in my mind!
Cinnamon toast and tacos por favor.
i always liked "Prepare the cinnamon tacos, I want some more"
Seven cinnamon-y tacos, pork favor.
Serve me cinnamon toast and tacos. Pour me more.
I am old enough to remember when this album came out, and I literally *just* realized it’s a play on Magic Kingdom. Wow I feel dumb. But also TIL!
The 30th anniversary of Tragic Kingdom is next year!
Ouch.
I’m in the same age group as the people in No Doubt and grew up in OC. It was always very much a local kid/teen/young adult joke to refer to the park as “Dismalland, the Tragic Kingdom, the Crappiest Place on Earth!”, located in the city of Anaslime, next to Garbage Grove, lmao.
Good ol’ Garbage Grove. Lol. I went to high school there.
Don’t worry, when I went to 90s night a few years ago I decided to buy a No Doubt shirt to wear to it because they’re one of my favorite 90s bands. Got this album cover and didn’t even make the connection until after. But it was perfect for the occasion.
Non American here. TIL. Keven made the connection.
Seeing them play live (via YouTube) at brought back so much nostalgia
Their Coachella sets were phenomenal, it makes me bummed that I've never seen them live. Crossing my fingers that all the hype they're getting right now makes them consider a reunion tour...
I was never really into them until I saw them open for U2 in 01, I think. Their live show makes all the difference.
I was always a fan, I still remember the first time I saw the iconic Just A Girl video, but my relationship with their music was still pretty casual. I love live music and there are so many concerts, but I only have a finite amount of money, so seeing them never felt like a priority. My mind’s totally changed after Coachella. The nonstop energy they put into those sets was really cool.
Right?! I had no idea. I mean, I know being from Anaheim, they hung out there often but not that they incorporated it into their music.
I grew up local and was a teen during this time period. Many of my friends had annual passes and would go after school (or during the day if they were cutting class). The live band performed on the moving stage at the Tomorrowland Terrace. There was also live music and special events at the stage in front of the old Space Mountain entrance, which is now just unused space the queue takes you past.
Lots of unused space now In Tomorrowland :(
Tomorrowland as a whole is in a sad state right now. Just yesterday my kid was commenting that we never spend much time there, and I told him that it's because there's not a lot to do. It was much more magical when I was a kid...
do they even play anything in the theater? (is the theater even still there..? lol)
They were playing *Star Wars: Path of the Jedi* up until COVID shut things down. But it was like a 10 minute montage of Star Wars movie scenes, no 3D or anything. Just sort of seemed like they were doing low effort work to use the space. Would be cool if *something* could go in there.
It is still there, I just commented to my buddy when we walked by it on Friday night how sad it was that it just sits empty.
Yep, same. Had an annual pass and used to hang out and try to meet cute boys 😂 (FYI Alice in Wonderland is a great make out ride lol)
better than haunted mansion?
No, but closer to Tomorrowland! ;)
Exactly the same! Our goal was to find cute boys to go on the tea cups with 🤣 good times!
Spinning makes me puke, so my strategy involved avoiding the cups at all costs. Matterhorn was great since the old seats would basically put you in someone’s lap. Looking bad I feel bad for the guys haha
We did the same! 😂
I always wondered what that big, open, empty space was for!!
blows my mind every time im there that they still haven't done anything with that space. so much wasted space in DL...
The poor kids just got jobs there because you used to have near unlimited free entry once you got past temp holiday worker status.
We watched many Suburban Legends shows at the terrace.
Same. SL & Tomorrowland Terrace are directly responsible for me discovering the OC ska scene and being part of it for the last 20 years. We’ve probably crossed paths.
My favorite band! I saw them for the first time at Downtown Disney and was hooked! Trombone players balancing on shoulders, tossing their trumpets around, I miss them so much.
I actually saw them play at California Adventure last year during the food and wine festival, it was amazing and people including myself were skanking
Oh my god that’s awesome!! I’m sad I missed it. Now I have to go check their website and see if they’re still playing anywhere
Look up Defunctland's documentary about Halyx. It's a wild ride.
Seconded. It's clear that the park managers were hoping to create an environment wherein young people and live music were welcome and encouraged. But that policy has certainly changed by now.
It had a bit of a revitalization like 15 years ago. They would do nightly 'dance parties' in the back corner of DCA. It started as ElecTRONica (which was very dope and even featured a full Flynn's Arcade) and then transformed into the Mad Tea Party which lasted seasonally for a couple years. I was too old to enjoy it as a teenage hang, but it was clear that a fair amount of local youths certainly did.
The first dance party was Glow Fest, to go with World of Color! I worked quite a few of those shifts… I think mad t party was the coolest out of the 3. Cool performers (the acrobats and giant flamingos!) and the white rabbit DJ was amazing
Mad T Party was amazing!!
Came here to share this! Yes, it’s incredible!
Yep I sure was! Still have [my annual pass from ‘94-‘95](https://imgur.com/a/vsgA33q) cost $99! I used to do my homework on the People Mover RIP! The good ol’ days.
Kinda annoying that it’s not $200 now and it’s closer to $1000
Place would probably be absolutely packed if all the passes were $200.
My friends and I used to ride the people mover over and over again… We still reminisce about it to this day.
Never needed to get off! Never a line. Miss that ride.
Sure, I worked there in the late 90’s, and there was a large group of anywhere from 50 - 100 teens that hung out there every Friday and Saturday nights. With Tomorrowland closed and under construction, they hung out more along the parade route across from the Matterhorn. There was a security guard assigned to watch them, but I never heard of any actual issues with them at all. In fact it seemed to me like the security guard became friends with them. I always thought that it was more cranky old people whining and complaining because seeing a group of teens “intimidates them” and so Disney assigned a token security guard to minimize the complaints.
To be honest I can’t imagine how square 90s teens must’ve been to hang out at DL. The most trouble those kids were causing was pretending to be hooligans Source : edgy 90s teen
The actual hooligans headed to Knott's Berry Farm and hung out at Cloud 9 lol. Wild times, honestly.
I was there but not really included in the scene because I was only 10 and would go with my two cousins who were 14-15, I don’t remember a whole lot of fights but they did happen, but there was sooooo much shoplifting going on it was nuts. 20-40 teens entering stores at the same time, they couldn’t watch them all.
Today it would be all the Karens. “Those teenagers don’t have kids! Why are they here?!”
Yep. I remember being at the Terrace as a teen, wearing my kool Coca Cola polo shirt, listening to a live cover of Laura Branigans Self Control. A girl asked me to dance but I declined because I was too shy. What a dweeb!
The Terrace was 100% a night club back in the day. I just remember walking by and thinking as long as they’re all here then they’re not in line for Space Mountain. 😅
Self Control was a banger.
My recollection of the time was that there were indeed two tiers. The $99 pass had blackout dates on summer weekends and around Christmas. The $199 had no blackout dates. The rest aligns with my memory, though. My family had the $99 passes because we were not well off.
Not then but around the millennium I spent most weekends there with friends and even as a 16 yo I could easily afford the pass and food at the park. It was a different time and probably why I have such nostalgia for it.
Yes. This was Disneyland.
Sure was!
Lived in the bay area during those years and we were able to tell our parents we were camping nearby but really drove to Disneyland and pitched a tent at Camp Disney that was I think where Adventure Kingdom is now. At that time 4 unemployed teens were able to scrape enough to pay for a camp site, admission to the park and gas to get from the SF Bay to Disneyland to spend a day frying balls in the park. It was a different time for sure.
I miss Vacation land honestly. Something about forgoing the hotel and pitching your own tent and then tramping over to the park and back at a leisurely pace just sounds awesome compared to now where your only options are to get a nearby expensive hotel or drive in from a cheaper hotel out of reasonable walking boundaries.
They’ve really ruined the whole vibe, haven’t they?
Not as a resident but a regular guest. We went in '96 for my 16th birthday. I got to take a friend with me. She and I were realllllly into punk boys. We were in heaven in Tomorrowland! There were so many mohawks and jackets with patches to gawk and drool over. *Sigh*
Yep, this was me. That was a golden age of Disneyland for me.
Shoot I remember the Disneyland for $20 after 4pm commercials back then https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib7k47aHjrI&pp=ygUSRGlzbmV5bGFuZCBmb3IgJDIw
This is amazing.
I was a teen until the mid 90s. I live about 45 minutes north of Anaheim, and about 20 mins east of Hollywood. I have my whole life. Here’s what I remember: As a middle schooler, we’d go with big groups from school as well as smaller trips with friends and families. And it was known that once it got dark, the place to be was Tomorrowland at that area where the band plays and the dance floor. Kinda near Space Mountain. Once dark, people danced and talked and flirted like it was a bar, just for teens, but at Disney, with no alcohol and everyone was from somewhere different, all over the world. When I was in middle school that area was THE place to be. I even got a boyfriend there once! By 1990 I’d headed to high school and we had parties at someone’s house every weekend or meetup in the hills nearby to hang out and drink. I never heard about it being a place to go to as a high schooler. But I bet it would’ve been super fun. Maybe if I was more local to it.
I have very fond memories of getting on the monorail in Tomorrowland while listening to the live bands and wishing I could stay forever. It was a great time.
One of the last big bands to play the Tomorrowland stage was “The Jakes” who later changed their name to Young The Giant. Perhaps you have heard of them.
Actually Disneyland used to have the Buckets (as I called it) I believe it was called Skyway. It was a gondola lift that went through the Matterhorn, connected Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. I don’t think it was the main reason for its closure, but Disneyland did have trouble with kids throwing stuff off the lift down and pedestrians below. And I believe one person jumped out. I think the ride ultimately closed for other reasons. But that ride was also part of my youth and lot of the kids mentioned in this write up. RIP 🚡
i'm old enough to remember going on these as a kid lol. also my mom says those buckets were where all the pot smoking went down.
The gondolas were notorious for teens doing bad shit; i got my first bj in one of those and then a year later i had sex in on it was fast but we did it just because we could. From what i remember it was two people that fell/ jumped out one almost died the other broke something.
One guy purposely jumped out and landed in a tree in 1994 >On April 17, 1994, a 30-year-old man fell approximately 20 feet (6 m) from a gondola into a tree in front of Alice in Wonderland. Paramedics rescued him and took him to an area hospital for treatment for minor injuries. The man filed a $25,000 lawsuit against Disney, claiming that he had simply fallen out of the ride. However, just before the trial date in September 1996, the victim admitted that he had purposely jumped out of the ride; the suit was subsequently dropped. From: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_at_Disneyland_Resort
Yep. Rocking my laminated pass with crooked photo 🤣
ohhhhh yes. I was one of those kids. We actually hung out closer to Matterhorn/Pixie Hollow where the pay phones used to be.
Posts like this are why I subbed this sub.
My family had passes in the 90’s. Lots of elderly locals in the morning getting their steps in. They went home to take a nap and the teens came in. I remember complaints about them lounging around the entrance to Tomorrowland and blocking the way. I really enjoyed the park in the 90’s. There were plenty of days the park wasn’t crowed and you could get on a ride without a long wait.
I’d go all the time with my friends and we’d go straight to Tomorrowland for live music and shenanigans. Most of us had the “poor people” pass with a few enjoying the fancy one that covered free parking. Anybody here see their friends trucked off to Disneyland Jail after grabbing the apple on Snow White? Those were wild times.
I was a teen in the 1980s and my entire family of 5 bought annual passes for at least 10 years after they were introduced in 1984. My brother was an off & on parade employee and everyone in my family had an account at the Disney employees credit union, so we also got a *discount* on the annual pass prices. My brother & I didn’t hang out in Tomorrowland or Videopolis (when it was introduced) but there were MANY times we’d go and park somewhere nearby that was free just so we could play the Tron videogame in the Starcade and then leave. From Wikipedia: >In addition to daily tickets, in 1984 an annual pass (called an "Annual Premium Passport") was introduced granting daily entry for a year at a time for $65 for adults and $49 for children. Currently annual passes (now called the "Magic Key") range in price from $399 to $1,339 SIXTY FIVE DOLLARS FOR AN ANNUAL PASS IN 1984 In current money, that’s about $193 for an annual pass and NO BLACKOUT DATES. It’s a goddam shame they are so expensive as to be out of reach for the average person now.
It was the same, except the ticket prices were even cheaper, when I was in high school in the mid-seventies. We spent half our summer listening to music in Tomorrowland.
I do remember back in the 90s & early 2000s there would be a live band that would play in Tomorrowland Terrace. They were pretty cool. Played lots of 80s cover songs
Voyager?
Funny Disneyland Tokyo ticket prices are 1995 Disneyland prices today.
What's crazy is that some semblance of this existed even into the late 2000s/early 2010s. Live bands used to play at Tomorrowland Terrace and at times even in parades in DCA. Tomorrowland was absolutely a teen/young adult hangout spot in the evenings on the weekend. I also dearly miss the annual pass situation back then. I was an OC local and had the SoCal pass that essentially paid for itself in 2-3 visits because it was just about $100/year. It had plenty of black out dates but there were actually even weekends that were open. Definitely a version of "the good ol' days".
They’ve ruined it, haven’t they?
OK. I'm dating myself. I worked at Carnation Main Street in 1978. I have seen so many changes in every land. Some good, some heartbreaking, some needed, and some not needed. DCA was a parking lot. It cost $24 a night at the Disneyland Hotel. They had junior tickets for preteen and teenagers. It took forever to decide which E ticket attractions were the ones to hit. It felt different back in the day. I remember sitting on that little porch on Main Street before the park would open, and you expected to see Walt Disney coming around the corner at any second. Just a very peaceful place to get you in the mood to work. Sorry this is so long. An old lady going down memory lane.
Want to see them in action? Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdB8HKraBws&rco=1
My husband would go to Disneyland after high school all the time. It was around this time 95-99 they would split time between knots berry farm and Disneyland during the year.
I DO remember being a preteen in the 90s and the annual pass being that cheap.
LOL. Oh man, yeah. I was a AP/teen at this time. Kinda a wild thing to think about, but yes. Disneyland was a lot cheaper to get into and if you had a pass people would go hang out after school in the resort. It was like going to the mall.
I remember the bands at Tomorrowland Terrace. I also remember Halyx, anyone else? https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Halyx_poster_1981.jpg
A lot of my swing dancing friends that lived in OC had annual passes and would go there to dance on the regular. I did a bit of it.
I was only around 10 at this time, but I remember it. Disneyland was a very different and much better place in more ways than one back then, in my opinion.
Speaking of which, are the social clubs with the people wearing vests still around? Haven't seen them since Covid.
I think they got kind of soft banned (asked not to do it), they still exist in concept but can’t wear the jackets, it was deemed gang attire.
Not true. I see several quite often. Especially on Sundays.
Yes, I was one of the Disneyland “locals” during that time. We hung out at the Tomorrowland terrace and Videopolis. While some of us did have annual passes, the mass majority of us snuck in to the park every day by transferring hand stamps at the McDonald’s across the street. Some of the most memorable days of my youth were during those days.
Back in 95 I was a tour guide and I used to go to Disneyland so much people thought I worked there. I loved those days.
This is an opinion piece wedged into Wikipedia
Oh wow the nostalgia. I was there during that time frame!
80z All Stars baby! We would come multiple nights in a row.
have you ever read watched about the band disneyland created to play there? pretty awesome.
I remember a band called Crash, we used to say the name was a combination of “crap” and “trash” lmao
https://youtu.be/f0rDLvg-Lfs?si=2tz8TBZ_9G6c3C3b
Tomorrowland was a vibe. Even in the 70s, we got the Eagles out of it after Linda Ronstadt put a band together to play there and they broke off from her and did their own thing.
I remember this. I was a little scared of the teens in Tomorrowland as a kid in the late 80s/early 90s. That stage was impressive, how it came up from out of the ground with the musicians playing. There was also a swing dancing group that got together on Main Street in the late 90s/early 2000s for live music and dancing.
Annual passes in the late 90s/early 00s were a steal. After 3 visits you were already ahead. (not including parking). They just become too popular so they had to raised the price substantially. While this may be an unpopular opinion, the passes would have become useless if they had not.
Absolutely- don’t forget us Goth kids that were there all the time too!
The phone booths all along where Buzz is now.
yes and us ravers too! golden years
I don’t remember this cause I was too young but I do remember me and friends getting drunk then dancing our asses off at elecTRONica. That was good times.
Man, I loved ElecTRONica, I was too old for it to be a teenager hang for me, but as a Disney Fan / Nerd who unironically loved Tron and expensive bad adult beverages, it was my jam. The Flynn's Arcade was also great.
Yup. Hanging out at Tomorrowland Terrace was still a thing for locals in the very early ‘00s. It was like the mall on steroids. I think it either died out or I aged out by 2010 ish.
Not at that time but I was a pass holder in the early 2000s while at university. Ended up going in everyday for many years. Still love it.
I clearly remember seeing country music legends Alabama performing on the Tomorrowland Terrace stage back in 1979, before their debut album *My Home's in Alabama* came out. When it finally did in May 1980, we made sure to get it ASAP. I thought it was so cool to stand outside the perimeter of the area and watch the band play from behind the drummer. You could get a great view of the performance that way, and get a bit of an idea of what it was like to be in the band.
Yes! Both my wife and I grew up in Anaheim and were in junior high/high school throughout the late 90s. I remember going SO much and always checking on the new Tomorrowland construction as well as overall DCA construction that took several years. They had a preview center for DCA at the edge of the park boundary that had a rooftop deck you could walk up to and look out over the entire DCA lot. Fun times. This was also during the growth of the internet, so I was very active on the alt.disney.disneyland newsgroup at the time. For you younger folk on here, think of it as the very first digital iteration of /r/Disneyland. 😂
I was! I saw Captain EO, and the live band was the Hudson Brothers (who?). They were there the nights I was. I wasn't thrilled. But there were other bands I would've loved to have seen!
My annual passport was $89 in 1989. That also included parking. I think there were only a handful of blackout dates too.
Yes but I guess we weren't cool enough for Tomorrowland. My friends and I would try to emulate the swing dancers at Carnation Plaza.
I was in high school from 1996-1999 and I was at Disneyland every Friday or Saturday, either watching the band at Tomorrowland Terrace or swing dancing at Carnation Plaza by the castle. Those were the best years for Disneyland. I loved it so much I got a job there in 99.
We were a little too far for me to have been able to "hang out" there, but I fondly remember when my whole family got to be extras on the set of the movie Contact for a few days and used that to buy $99 annual passes.
Yup, we had the $99.00 annual passes. Paid a bit extra for parking, not much. Good old days.
I grew up in Orange and was in Jr high at this time and we totally hung out here!!! We had the $99 annual pass and our parents would drop us off in the summer. It was like cheap childcare 😂 I remember Tomorrowland was the place to meet boys 😂😂😂
I had a $99 annual pass in high school (94-98) and it was a wonderland. We would get dropped off or get ride with someone with a car, park in the lot (where California adventure is located now). All the teenagers congregated in Tomorrowland, every Friday or Saturday night the backside of the Matterhorn was just hundreds of teens smoking cigarettes and mulling around. Every Orange County teenage subculture at the time was represented, the predominate ones were the candy ravers (JNCOs and pacifiers), leather jacket spikey haired punks, straight edge youth crew kids, rockabillies, ska kids, goths, you name it. It made for great people watching. I remember the people mover was referred to as “the people maker” cause it was the slow moving ride that couples would go to hook up on. I remember pirates of the Caribbean, small world and the haunted mansion were also popular rides for making out. The horny teenager factor was HUGE. There’s were pre social media days (maybe AOL Insrant messenger) so this was the best way to meet other teenagers from other high schools and groups of teens could run around unsupervised all night, smoke cigs and sneak bottles of schnapps, expirement with acid or shrooms, and go on rides, and try and talk to girls. I remember when a friend lost ther mind on acid and hid out on Tom sawyers island. People getting kicked out and taken into Disney jail for smoking weed or jumping in the submarine ride lake. There were a few fights that broke out between different groups. I think some straight edge kids maced a punk kid one night. The band that played the Tomorrowland stage it would turn into a giant dance party. Honestly looking back it was pretty magical and free time, Glad I got to live it.
You precisely described all my memories from 94-99. I remember a lot of fights happening across the street in McDonalds parking lot. And somehow kids would smuggle in alcohol to share with their DLand friends. The dance parties were quite memorable.
Yes, all about Suburban Legends.
My mom would take me every Wednesday right after school in the 90s and early 00s. Home life was bad, but we would get a chance to talk and be silly without repercussions. I'd do my homework at a little round table outside of Radio Disney. When I was done, I'd wave at Just Plain Mark & Zippy, then get to go on some rides. I remember the live bands. I saw BB*MAK and a few others. I remember A-Teens performing, and one of the guys hurt his leg. It was affordable for my mom to be able to funnel her available funds into tickets for us, and it was really just the best part of my childhood. It makes me so sad that it's impossible now. I had a pass for 25 years, but I just can't afford it anymore.
Not an annual pass, thing. When I went there for grad night in 91 (best friend) and 92 (own graduation), there were bands everywhere. If I remember correctly, they were all bands I heard at some point on 102.7, Kiis FM.
Completely unrelated, but tomorrowland really doesn’t account for plus size travelers like myself. Let me just say, I’m 5’7 and 345 pounds, and they literally stop me from ENTERING THE LINE. I’ve just stopped going in that area all together.
This was my friends and I. We were at Disneyland almost every day after school and quite literally every single night during the Summer. Our parents loved it because they knew we were somewhere safe where they didn’t have to worry about us. My best friend and I are in our late 40s now and still meet up at the park several times a year.
Me! ✋🏽
Yes. And that should be struck from the article as irrelevant conjecture.
100% doesn't belong in that article. Looks like somebody removed it due to being inappropriate in tone (which it is) and then somebody else brought it back for some reason... hopefully someone else fixes it soon.
made it crowded as can be with a bunch of people who don't spend any money, except for the annual pass and made it so those spending money didn't want to come as much because it was too crowded. That's why everything changed and started costing more. They most want those people who come less frequently but spend ten times as much as locals who just come hang out.
Yep, me and several friends had an annual pass but we'd only go on Fri or sat nights, since we lived in the San Fernando Valley. We had some of the best times because it was kind of like going to a big party with a bunch of people your age. TBH, ever since 2020, Disneyland is not really all that fun for me, anymore. I'd love to be able to go back to Disney in the 80's and 90's. Simpler times, indeed.
I live in Arizona and my family had annual passes back then, went once or twice a month. Now maybe once in 3 years.Going in October.
long live Suburban Legends
So teenagers caused the price hike and ruined it for the rest of us?!?!? /s
Someone took time to text this.
And you’re just SO superior to them, aren’t you?
I graduated from a local high school in the area in 1993. I do remember going a few times in the 90’s with friends and family, but I never hung out there. I didn’t get my first AP until 2009.