Early Installment Weirdness/Theme Parks

Oddities of the early days of Theme Parks:

Examples

Disney Theme Parks

• Fantasyland was at one point the only land with rides based upon feature films; rides found in other lands were original. This began to change with Splash Mountain in 1989, and also Star Tours (the first ride based on an outside property) in 1987, and now movie-based attractions can be found in several lands, if not most of them.
  • Fantasyland also did not have an original ride until Matterhorn Bobsleds. The Matterhorn itself counts as this trope due to its comparatively cramped structure and outdoor queue, and being one of the very few original rides in a Fantasyland.
• The Silly Symphonies used to be more prominent; one can still see a reference to the obscure Lullaby Land on Storybook Land Canal Boats to this day. The same applies to the "package features" and hybrids, which were mostly phased out come the Renaissance.
• Dark rides, in general, were darker in tone, and also a lot cheaper in their production values, influenced by old-fashioned pier dark rides/spookhouses, such as Pretzel dark rides. While many of the Disneyland dark rides remain The Artifact of this, over time the dark rides have become more gentle and technologically elaborate, thanks to the popularity of Peter Pan's Flight. Compare something like Pinocchio's Daring Journey to Pooh's Hunny Hunt, for example.
• A number of lands/pavilions lacked true rides; examples include the early days of Indian/Bear/Critter Country prior to 1989, as well as much of World Showcase. Nowadays, lands are designed more or less around rides. World Showcase pavilions often still lack rides to this day as The Artifact
• Frontierland featured rides that utilized real animals to pull the vehicles. There were no conventional rides there until Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, which later became Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
• There were a lot of paid shooting galleries in the parks early on. Nowadays, only Frontierland seems to have them. Special mention to Adventureland's Big Game Shooting Gallery; a ride that would likely come off as insensitive today, where riders shot various kinds of big African game, unthinkable in today's world where such an act is seen as evil and destructive. These galleries even used BB guns, rather than infrared lights like how the Frontierland ones do today.
• Much of Disneyland was inspired by, but not truly based on, the True-Life Adventures and other live-action Disney films of the era. Nowadays, it is more common to see things directly based on animated features, with live-action influence being largely centered around the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Lucasfilm.
• In the early days of Disney's Hollywood Studios, a large number of outside IP were featured prominently, even in the name, Disney-MGM Studios. Over time, these outside IP were purchased by Disney (The Muppets and Lucasfilm), or removed, with the exception of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
• EPCOT's early days didn't really have much child-friendliness prior to Journey Into Imagination; part of the reason why the attraction is so beloved is that it brought levity to what was previously a somewhat dry park.
• Many third-party restaurant chains had prominence in the early days of the Disney parks, with McDonalds in particular still having one present at Walt Disney World.

Universal Studios Parks

• Marvel Super Hero Island in the Islands of Adventure in Universal Studios Orlando is this, now that Disney owns Marvel. While we never see Marvel characters in Disney World due to this, we do see them A LOT in Disneyland, making the fact that Universal technically has Disney characters in their Orlando park incredibly odd. As Andre Meadows pointed out in Black Nerd Comedy, Universal is (accidentally) promoting DISNEY's movies and TV shows with Marvel Super Hero Island. Simply put, if the Islands of Adventure were built now, Universal wouldn't even think to have one dedicated to Marvel characters.
  • To a lesser extent, this applies to their The Simpsons land as well. Unlike with Marvel, this applies to both coasts.
• The early days of Universal Studios Hollywood were centered on the tram tour, rather than on other rides and attractions.