Technology and My 8-Year-Old Self
It was a crowded day at the Toronto airport as I was walking to my gate recently. On the way, I heard a soft but steady swooshing sound coming up behind me. I looked up to see a red monorail drive on by above me. I immediately had a monumental flashback to my first visit to Disneyland circa 1964. I was roughly 8 years old and was in awe of all the amazing things that I witnessed, most of which was in of the Tomorrowland exhibits.
The Disney monorail was the first daily operating monorail in the United States. In my flashback to my early visit to the park, I remembered wondering if something like this would ever be commonplace. It was amazing to see it operating in Toronto and going right through the building much like it did in Tomorrowland many years ago.
As I stood there watching the monorail go on by, I realized that during that same visit (or one soon after), I also spent time gawking at the first ‘push button’ telephones and first ‘touch screen’ computer monitor (it had 9 sections and all you could do was play tic tac toe). The push button phones transitioned into daily use in the following decade but the touch screen technology took many more years to become commonplace.
It makes me want to go back to Disneyland to see what the future holds for the next generation. What technology did you first see at a Disney Park or World Fair? I’d love to hear about your experience.
Facetime! I remember the Carousel of the Future had a teenage girl speaking to a friend and an she could see an image of the caller. I didn’t think that would ever happen and it is here!
The Carousel of the Future! I remember the video phone concept they were showing. The vision back then was to have the phone company do video conferencing. Wow, did they totally miss that opportunity. That said, it certainly has come to pass – just in a different way that people thought back then.
I think about Disney as a business. Walt was a man that pursued all his passions. He had a distinct purpose.
Think back, how much advertising did Walt Disney have to do for his park.. Almost none!
It was all word of moth, referral if you will.
When a friend came back from Disney world in 1975. We had to go as a family. Then later as Space Mountain opened, and again when Epcot opened. I never once saw a singe ad on television, or in my local paper except the local travel agent touting the ” special Disney travel package”
Makes me think referral marketing can build an empire.
This technology thing reminds me of a situation a couple of years ago in a tech museum. They had installed an old mechanical telephone system with those old dialing wheel phones. The face expression of my about 8 or 9 year old daughter was priceless when I told her to give me a call by one of these phones 😉