You might think it’s just AI, but back in 1987, EPCOT Center had something called the Daredevil Circus Spectacular! It was a wild, space-themed circus right in the middle of Future World. Can you believe it? Elephants, trapeze artists, motorcycles, and it was all real!

The Autopia used to give away free souvenir driver’s licenses for decades before switching to $10 fancy versions. We wonder if guests even care about little giveaways anymore? Disneyland still has a few, but they’re increasingly rare.

Remember fumbling around in your wallet for a piece of paper before boarding a Disney bus?! For decades, resort guests were issued ID cards that had to be shown before riding monorails, boats, or even buses. It’s really nothing new! Of course, only nuts saved them! (We saved them.)

Do you know what this is or what’s on the back? If you do, count yourself a Pleasure Island OG! Surprisingly few have survived, and now they are sought-after collectibles.

Can anyone tell us why the Winnie the Pooh movie from 2011 has the Horned King from the failed flop, The Black Cauldron, hidden in the trees? OK, yes, we know it’s actually a reference to the “Backson”, but we can’t help imagining the strangest crossover film in Disney history!

Disney used to hand out complementary tickets to shareholders who attended its annual meetings. They were good at either Walt Disney World or Disneyland and never expired. If you owned even one share, you got in free! Can you even imagine something like this happening today?!

How in the world is this still a thing?! Disney’s Electrical Water Pageant is old, anachronistic, low-tech, and many might call it boring! And we LOVE it! It’s a rare connection to the early days of Walt Disney World and full of its original charm and whimsy!

A magical Disney pass used to exist that few guests knew about. The Gold Key card granted UNLIMITED access to all parks, recreation (boats, horses, golf, EVERYTHING), snacks, and meals. In the early days, there were no limits! Can you imagine what this would cost today?!

Disney really had a thing for sea serpents at one point! Sadly, only two of these have survived at Walt Disney World, and, of course, they are the two most boring ones. How many have you seen? Bonus points for all four!

Tokyo DisneySea’s Soaring: Fantastic Flight has added details missing from other versions of Soarin’. For example, the ride vehicles have “wood” and “leather” akin to period-correct fantastical flying machines. Small touches, but they have a big impact. But do guests notice?

The Mulan parade at Disney-MGM Studios was a big deal! It featured massive floats and dozens of performers. The movie was animated at the park, a big hit, and the film and parade premiered the same day. So why does no one talk about or even seem to remember it today?

Huge lines are forming to try Disney’s new viral sensation, the Tower of Terror TOTs (get it?)! OK, they’re not actually real (it’s ai), but when Disney does start selling them, remember, you saw it here first. Real question: would you buy them?

When EPCOT Center opened, fans were obsessed with attractions, not popcorn buckets or limited-edition drinks. Remember waiting hours for a slow-moving “educational” ride? It was a different time. Imagine this today!

Look how open and isolated EPCOT was when it opened, surrounded by trees. This was before its second entrance (International Gateway), and several hotels were added in 1990. The vast majority of guests have no idea that it was like this! Did you know?

Some guests totally miss EPCOT’s American Adventure pavilion. Aside from the main attraction, there is a remarkable gallery of original art. This piece, titled "Reaching for the Stars", is by Robert McCall, the same artist who created the murals for Horizons. Have you visited?

Have you ever spotted the hidden Viking broad sword in EPCOT’s Norway pavilion? It’s a secret detail we love, and one that a surprisingly few guests discover. It’s one of several interactive elements waiting to be found around World Showcase!

The beauty of these new projection-faced animatronics is that they can easily be swapped out. We kind of like this version: a generically handsome pirate who clearly loves money. He fits right in!

There are vending machines, and then there is the fascinating world of Tokyo Disney’s hyper-themed machines. Shouldn’t this just become the norm?

The Magic Kingdom’s original House of Magic was much more than today’s facade. It was an actual magic and novelty store. We love magic and gags, and the many monster masks they were known for. OG’s may still remember.

Does anyone remember “Eyes & Ears,” Disney’s internal cast members’ newsletter? In pre-Internet days, getting a new copy was an eagerly anticipated event. Sadly, it ceased publication years ago, and such an anachronism could never exist today. They are still fun to read!

Before bizarre, projection-mapped faces, Pirates of the Caribbean fans had The Hairy Leg! Remember? Disney even featured it in promos!

When we tell people that Disney used to have a frozen corpse on display, as part of a Coke sponsorship no less, they think we are lying. Remember how weird EPCOT was in the 90s?!

The Magic Kingdom has Main Street Vehicles, but not to be outdone, Tokyo DisneySea has Big City Vehicles! Unlike at Walt Disney World, they run all day to boot!

This Chicago block once housed DisneyQuest, ESPN Zone, and Jekyll & Hyde Club, a spooky-themed restaurant. Urban legend has it that the original elevator shaft is all that’s left of this mega-fun zone. A lucky few managed to visit during its brief run over 25 years ago. Did you?

An entire generation of park fans is clueless about this! “Maybe something from Universal? What’s that old plane?” Disney Hollywood Studios has changed, but somehow, we still expect this!

Disney had a flagship store in Chicago, now it’s a generic, overpriced candy shop for tourists. This is true all around the country. Forget the pop-ups, is it finally time to just bring them back for real?

Remember the Magic Kingdom’s "Walk Around the World"? It was an iconic experience for a generation but now younger guests have no clue! Was your family cool enough to have one?

Mickey Mouse-shaped grates can be found around trees in Chicago. Why? Is the city low-key celebrating being Walt’s birthplace? Some say they’re standard tree expansion grates. Others claim Disney sold overstock cheaply. It feels totally random!

The Tower of Terror is loaded with details, some so small that they are basically just inside jokes amongst employees. But how about the “13 Diamond” AAA award? Have you ever noticed it? It’s one of our favorite touches that few guests see.

Pooh's Hunny Hunt was Disney’s first trackless ride (we love Universe of Energy, but it’s a different thing). We still think it’s the best! The moment you encounter a free-roaming ride vehicle filled with characters changes everything. Why haven’t they done more with that idea?

Splash Mountain used to feature a huge air cannon that sprayed water out over onlookers! Do you miss this namesake effect? It really sold the effect of the logs hitting water and cooled down those watching. We think that it would be a fun addition even today.

The Magic Kingdom’s Peter Pan’s Flight has an effect that no other version has. The ride vehicles appear to start on a track, before it abruptly ends as the ships lift off the rail and, um… fly. It’s always been a favorite detail of ours. Have you noticed?

When was the last time characters waterskied at Walt Disney World? 35-40 years ago? There was a time when waterskiing shows were everywhere, especially in Florida, just another memory lost in time.

Have you looked closely at this waterfall on Kali River Rapids? Imagineers wanted live tigers on the original version of the ride. While that didn’t happen Disney did hide a tiger in the attraction, you can even hear roars! We are surprised how many guests miss it completely.

Disney infamously built bathrooms for a proposed Denmark World Showcase pavilion, prior to actually securing the country’s participation. In EPCOT's early days, they had no pavilion to call home. Denmark dropped out, but the bathrooms remained. Do you know where they are today?

BANG! BANG! BANG! Have you ever been first into the Mansion?!

This is a carousel. A merry-go-round. A carnival ride. It is not something special or unique. Yet look at it. In the right hands, the mundane becomes magic. Do you see something special or something unremarkable? We see care and commitment.

Did you ever see the (apparently now removed) geysers at Kali River Rapids? We can’t remember the last time we’ve seen them working. It’s been years! Is it our bad luck or are they really gone for good?

Disney used an ultralight aircraft, complete with a pilot, to make a Fantasyland dragon fly! After one official flight, it now hangs in Walt Disney Imagineering offices. The "living characters" never seem to last long. Would you have the nerves of steel to fly with him?

Would you go full on swimming in a theme park fountain? We all know how Disney feels about fountains, now we know why! Oh yeah, also money.

Did you learn about the birds and the bees from EPCOT’s “The Making of Me”? Visitors may not have suspected that their day would include a movie starring animated sperm, but it turned out to be the secret star of the Wonders of Life pavilion.

Would you rock one of these babies today? All the retro merch is great, but it's cooler if it's truly from the 80s (like these). Still, these things would fly off the shelves today, are we wrong?

The "good old days" when chain-smoking tourists blew smoke in your face at the Happiest Place on Earth. Disney even gave away beautifully designed matchbooks. Today, free anything may be harder to believe than being allowed to smoke was. Would you collect these if you could?

Disney attractions used to use individual tickets, which meant that the parks also had ticket booths. Does anyone remember those?! Now imagine this aesthetic in the parks today! Would you be excited by a mid-century retro-futuristic re-do? People would flip!

Did you know that Disney’s Animal Kingdom used to have a perfectly themed outdoor shower designed to cool off guests? We hate when incredible place-making details disappear, especially functional ones, but it’s still fun to remember the care that was poured into this park.

This is Orville, from The Rescuers, or maybe it’s his brother Wilbur, from the film’s notorious flop of a sequel? Nah, it’s Orville. Regardless, could you imagine him prancing about the parks today!? The film was a hit during Disney’s darkest days, but have you ever seen it?

Were the giant spiders the unsung heroes of the Haunted Mansion? For decades these behemoths felt like cheap space filler, Halloween decor at best. Objectively the M.C. Escher stairs that Disney replaced them with are "better", but somehow we kind of miss the old arachnids.

When The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opened, only the middle seat of the top row used a seatbelt; all the others were benches with shared lap bars. Floating off the seat made the fall much more exciting. Did anyone else experience this zero-G adrenaline rush?

Remember Copperfield Magic Underground, a magic and dining concept planned for outside Disney-MGM Studios? Glen Tullman, the man behind it, has just opened a similar venue in Chicago called The Hand and the Eye. 30 years and $50,000,000 later, and we can now finally experience it!

We loved the wild early days of Disney-MGM Studios when non-Disney IP outnumbered the official Disney stuff. Want some Mutant Ninja Turtles or Ace Ventura? They’ve got you covered? Ever see it? The OG’s remember!