1987-98 - the florida project - spots of time

"Try to make your directions clear, because we get lost easy."
— Max (voiced by Paul Reubens), Flight of the Navigator (1986)

1987: Who's Johnny

Our family relocates to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. I am 8 years old, and my brother Matthew is 3.

Our living room is completely dominated by the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I am mastering Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid, while introducing Matthew to his very first video games.
In September, Star Trek: The Next Generation premieres its pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint,"introducing us to Captain Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. This instantly sets off a lifelong fandom for me.
Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger completely dominate our action diet. We are constantly renting their back-catalogs. I introduce Matthew to Arnold's high-octane firepower in Commando (1985) and the jungle terror of Predator, which hits theaters this June. We also watch Stallone's arm-wrestling epic Over the Top and rewatch Rocky IV (1985) until the tape nearly wears out.
When we aren't watching heavy action, our VCR is getting a workout. I head to the local rental store to grab Short Circuit (1986) on VHS, making sure to rewind the tape completely before returning it. Matthew and I spend weeks mimicking Number 5 shouting, "Input! More input!" and "Number 5 is alive!"
On premium cable, we track the monthly HBO Guide like it's a sacred text. This is where we catch SpaceCamp(1986). Watching a group of teenagers accidentally launch into orbit in a space shuttle fuels my tech imagination perfectly.
We also watch Paul Verhoeven's visceral, futuristic corporate dystopia RoboCop, which leaves a permanent mark on our sci-fi tastes.

Theme Park Adventures

At EPCOT Center, our mother takes us to explore the brand-new The Living Seas pavilion, marveling at the massive 5.7-million-gallon saltwater aquarium.
During our stays at the Contemporary Resort, Matthew and I slip away to the cavernous Fiesta Fun Center arcade on the ground floor. The mini-theater inside was the place we first experienced TRON.

1988: Only in a rerun

Matthew and I rush home to watch afternoon cartoon blocks like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Disney’s DuckTales. Our NES library expands with hours spent on Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mega Man 2.
On the action movie front, we witness Arnold's dystopian game-show thriller The Running Man (late 1987 theatrical release making its way to video and HBO) and Stallone's brutal return in Rambo III.
Flight of the Navigator (1986) becomes an absolute favorite in our household. Whether we are renting the tape or catching it on heavy rotation on HBO, the concept of a kid flying a sleek, shape-shifting alien spacecraft and returning home to a changed world completely captivates us.
We also catch Michael Crichton's Runaway (1984) on premium cable, where the image of Tom Selleck tracking down rogue household robots and dodging heat-seeking bullets gives us a beautifully eerie sci-fi thrill.

Theme Park Adventures

This is a massive year for our WDW hotel tours. Our mother books us stays at the brand-new, Victorian-style flagship Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa right after it opens in June. Later in the fall, we explore the sprawling, colorful loops of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, experiencing WDW's very first "Moderate" category hotel.
At EPCOT, we ride the new Maelstrom boat ride inside the brand-new Norway Pavilion. At the Magic Kingdom, we visit the brand-new Mickey's Birthdayland land built to celebrate Mickey's 60th birthday.

1989: How about a nice game of chess

The 16-bit era arrives in our living room with the launch of the Sega Genesis. Matthew and I experience the sudden jump in speed and arcade-quality graphics, playing games like Altered Beast and Golden Axe.
The Wizard Premiere: In December, Matthew and I head to the theater to see The Wizard starring Fred Savage. It serves as the ultimate feature-length commercial for our gaming obsession. Seeing the legendary Power Glove on the big screen blows our minds, but nothing prepares us for the climax of the movie: our absolute first glimpse of Super Mario Bros. 3. It drives our anticipation for the game to a fever pitch.
Timothy Dalton takes his dark, gritty second turn as James Bond in Licence to Kill. For Matthew and me living in South Florida, the film's setting—featuring action sequences taking place right down the coast in the Florida Keys—makes the movie feel incredibly close to home.
Stallone and Schwarzenegger are still ruling our rental nights. We watch Stallone team up with Kurt Russell in Tango & Cash, and continue renting classic Arnold action.
I use my growing PC knowledge to thoroughly enjoy a home video rental of WarGames (1983). Watching Matthew Broderick nearly start World War III using a dial-up acoustic coupler modem and a command-line interface directly mirrors my expanding real-world interest in personal computing.
Adventure movies dominate our weekend viewing; we watch The Goonies (1985) and Romancing the Stone(1984) on cable, falling in love with the fast-paced treasure hunt style.

Theme Park Adventures

On May 1, Disney-MGM Studios opens to the public. My mother, brother, and I are there to ride The Great Movie Ride, take the Backstage Studio Tour, and check out Superstar Television and the Monster Sound Show. We also watch the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.
We catch the quirky, short-lived Dick Tracy Starring in Diamond Double-Cross stage show on Theater of the Stars, riding high on the movie's summer hype before it disappears a year later.
On June 1, Disney opens Typhoon Lagoon. Matthew and I spend our summer trips floating down Castaway Creek, riding the storm slides, and swimming in the largest outdoor wave pool in North America.
We visit the brand-new Wonders of Life pavilion in Future World, riding Body Wars (a simulator directed by Leonard Nimoy) and watching Cranium Command. We also ride the newly updated Delta Dreamflight in Tomorrowland, replacing the old If You Could Fly.

1990: Give these people air

Nintendo finally releases Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES after our sneak peek in The Wizard, and Matthew and I spend hours uncovering its secrets.
Star Trek: TNG airs its legendary cliffhanger, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I." It leaves my brother and me waiting all summer in agonizing suspense to find out what happens to Locutus of Borg.
In theaters and on tape, we consume Arnold's mind-bending sci-fi hit Total Recall. Meanwhile, Stallone steps back into the ring for Rocky V, which my brother and I analyze deeply, debating how the street fight with Tommy Gunn holds up against the classic entries of Rocky II and Rocky III.

Theme Park Adventures

On June 7, Universal Studios Florida opens its gates. My family is among the first to experience E.T. Adventure, Kongfrontation, Earthquake: The Big One, and the Dynamite Nights Stunt Spectacular on the lagoon. We also witness the notorious opening-month mechanical breakdowns of the original Jaws ride.
We walk through the hilariously bizarre Ghostbusters Spooktacular stage show and sit through Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies, learning how the classic shower scene was shot. We also step into the Screen Test Home Video Adventure, where families are greenscreened into movies.
Disney counters Universal by opening Star Tours and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure playground. We also watch the incredibly short-lived live show Here Come the Muppets, which only runs for a little over a year before making way for permanent Muppet fixtures.
Our mother books stays at the visually striking Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin right after they open. In the late fall, we also stay at the newly opened Disney's Yacht Club Resort and Disney's Beach Club Resort, meaning Matthew and I get unlimited access to the ultimate sand-bottom hotel pool: Stormalong Bay.

1991: I'll be back

August 1991 brings the North American release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The console war heats up in our house as my brother and I compare Super Mario World and the Mode 7 graphics of F-Zero against the blinding speed of Sega’s brand-new mascot game, Sonic the Hedgehog.
The theatrical release of Arnold's Terminator 2: Judgment Day completely resets the bar for visual effects, combining our love for sci-fi with mind-bending CGI liquid metal. We also head to the theater to see the original series crew take their final bow in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Theme Park Adventures

Universal opens Back to the Future: The Ride. It instantly becomes a favorite for my brother and me, utilizing a massive OMNIMAX dome screen and intense hydraulic Delorean simulators that make us feel like we're actually time traveling. They also add The Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show.
We watch the brand-new, cutting-edge Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D theater show at Disney-MGM Studios.

1992: Opening windows

Microsoft releases Windows 3.1 in April. And for my birthday I asked for a full desktop PC setup. It literally included the desk, printer, printer paper, surge protector and everything else one would need. It actually shipped with Windows 3.0 and had to be upgraded via a dozen flop disks to Windows 3.1
On the console side, the SNES delivers The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Street Fighter II, sparking intense competitive matches between my brother and me.

Theme Park Adventures

In the Magic Kingdom, we cool off from the Florida heat on the newly opened Splash Mountain in Frontierland, singing along before the 50-foot drop. At Disney-MGM Studios, we see the new Voyage of the Little Mermaid puppet and live-action stage show.
We head to Universal to watch the newly debuted Beetlejuice's Graveyard Mash-Up(originally Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue) and take Matthew to run around the brand-new Fievel's Playland.
On our frequent resort stays, my brother and I rent the iconic Water Mouse boats (the mini-speedboats) from the resort marinas, buzzing around the Seven Seas Lagoon or Buena Vista Lagoon, and rent multi-passenger surrey bikes to pedal around the boardwalks.

1993: Welcome to Jurassic Park

I am operating on MS-DOS 6.0 and upgrading our PC hardware with a Sound Blaster 16 card and a 2x CD-ROM drive to experience the dawn of multimedia gaming. Doom releases in December, changing my gaming world forever.
Stallone and Arnold’s 1993 Face-Off: This year is huge for our action heroes. Stallone hits back hard with the vertigo-inducing Cliffhanger and the classic futuristic sci-fi action flick Demolition Man. Arnold counters with the meta-comedy action of Last Action Hero.
Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park shatters box office records, cementing an absolute obsession with dinosaurs and CGI effects for both of us. The Star Trek universe expands further with the premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9).

Theme Park Adventures

After a complete mechanical and structural redesign, the Jaws ride officially re-opens for soft openings after the 1990 failure. My brother and I finally get to experience the skipper firing a grenade launcher at an animatronic great white shark surrounded by real walls of fire.

1994: Warp speed

Seeking an alternative to the MS-DOS/Windows environment, I install IBM’s OS/2 Warp (Version 3). I spend weeks experimenting with its true 32-bit multitasking capabilities, its "Workplace Shell" GUI, and its ability to run DOS and Windows 3.1 programs seamlessly, marveling at how it prevents a single crashed app from bringing down the whole system.
We watch Arnold Schwarzenegger team up with James Cameron again for the massive spy-blockbuster True Lies, while Stallone drops The Specialist.
Star Trek: TNG airs its final television episode, "All Good Things...", before transitioning directly to the big screen. In November, I head to the theater to see Star Trek Generations. It is a massive milestone moment for me: seeing Captain Kirk and Captain Picard share the screen, signaling the permanent shift of the franchise into the modern era.

Theme Park Adventures

On May 28, Disney opens Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Our mother takes us to stay at this breathtaking Pacific Northwest-inspired resort, complete with a massive log lobby, a roaring fireplace, and a regular erupting geyser out back. On the value side, we also stay at the newly opened Disney's All-Star Sports Resort (April 29) and explore the freshly opened Planet Hollywood at Pleasure Island.
At Disney-MGM Studios, my brother and I ride the park's new crown jewel: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We stand in line inside the dusty Hollywood Tower Hotel lobby before experiencing the thrilling, unpredictable drop-sequence technology. Over at EPCOT, the old Communicore pavilions transform into Innoventions, where I get to hands-on test cutting-edge computers and virtual reality tech. We also watch Legend of the Lion King open in the Magic Kingdom and step into the updated Imagination pavilion for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.

1995: Start me up

August 24, 1995 changes everything in computing with the launch of Windows 95. I transition our PC away from booting Windows from a DOS prompt to a fully integrated, modern operating system featuring the iconic "Start" button.
In November, Pixar's Toy Story drops in theaters. As a massive fan of cutting-edge tech and animation, watching the first completely computer-animated film blows my mind and sets a completely new bar for blockbusters.
Stallone steps into comic-book lore with Judge Dredd, which we analyze alongside our regular rental marathons.
I earn my driver's license! One of my very first major driving-era theater trips is to see Pierce Brosnan’s triumphant Bond debut in GoldenEye, revitalizing our favorite spy franchise with modern 90s action styling. I saw it multiple times.

Theme Park Adventures

On April 1, Disney opens Blizzard Beach. Modeled after a melting ski resort in Florida, my brother and I take the chairlift up Mt. Gushmore and brave Summit Plummet, plunging down one of the tallest and fastest free-fall body slides in the world.
The Magic Kingdom officially launches its complete "New Tomorrowland" redesign. My brother and I ride The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, a shockingly intense, sensory-driven sci-fi horror attraction designed in collaboration with George Lucas, and watch The Timekeeper circle-vision 360 theater.
Our mother books us a stay at the brand-new Disney's All-Star Music Resort, keeping up our streak of checking out every single lodging addition on property.

1996: When I'm 64

I start working at Blockbuster Video for the summer! It is the ultimate gig for me. I get to handle the wall of VHS tapes, talk movie trivia all day, and get an absolute front-row seat to the most anticipated console launch in history.
Before the Nintendo 64 officially launches on September 29, Nintendo deploys playable demo units exclusively to Blockbuster stores during the summer. Being right there as customers lay hands on Super Mario 64 for the first time is electric. Once the console finally drops, I'm handling those heavy-duty, molded plastic hardshell "suitcase" rental cases with the blue foam inserts, sending N64s home with eager families.
In the summer, I see Arnold's latest high-powered action blockbuster Eraser right around the time I start at Blockbuster. We also rent Tom Cruise’s explosive Mission: Impossible on tape, falling in love with the high-tech, modern spy reboot.
On Friday, November 22, Star Trek: First Contact premieres. Matthew and I catch our very first showing locally in South Florida. The thrill of seeing the sleek, powerful new USS Enterprise-E and Data's skin-graft temptation is so intense that we immediately decide we need to see it again before the weekend is over. For our second viewing that same weekend, we head up to the brand-new, idyllic master-planned town of Celebration, located right near the gates of Walt Disney World. We pull up to the stunning, Postmodern-designed cinema complex in Celebration's downtown area. Watching the epic space battles and the flight of the Phoenix inside a brand-new theater in Disney's freshly opened signature community makes the experience feel incredibly special.

1997: She was touching her face

I am 18 years old and move to Winter Park, Florida to start my freshman year at Rollins College. Matthew is 13.

The N64 gets its ultimate multiplayer masterpiece in August when GoldenEye 007 drops. It completely consumes my gaming time with friends at college and becomes the definitive split-screen battleground whenever Matthew and I get together. (We'll have to wait until May 2000 for its spiritual successor, Perfect Dark).
In November 1997, my brother comes up to visit me on the historic, lakeside Rollins campus. To celebrate being reunited, I assemble a group of my college friends and we head out to see Paul Verhoeven’s highly anticipated, ultra-violent sci-fi epic Starship Troopers. The movie blows our minds so completely with its cutting-edge CGI bugs and satirical propaganda pieces that Matthew and I make a legendary movie-buff move: we see it twice in the exact same day. For our second viewing that day, I drive Matthew and my college crew straight to the newly expanded 24-screen AMC theater at Downtown Disney West Side. Watching the bug war on Klendathu inside Disney’s flagship theater complex cements the movie as a definitive shared core memory.
Two days later, on November 9, I head to the Orlando Arena to catch Fleetwood Mac live during The Dance tour. Witnessing the classic lineup back together on stage performing for the first time in 15-years. They were already my favorite band, and that night cemented my love.
In December, Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated Pulp Fiction follow-up hits the cultural radar. The killer soul-infused soundtrack drops first on December 9, 1997, letting you spin Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" on repeat weeks before Jackie Brown officially hits theaters on December 25, 1997.

Theme Park Adventures

Matthew and I spend hours browsing the multi-story Virgin Megastore, a massive music and movie palace where we can don headphones at listening stations to sample new albums, look at import CDs, and browse massive rows of laserdiscs and VHS tapes.
The excitement peaks when the towering DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park opens its doors. Spanning five floors, it is the ultimate realization of our childhood gaming and PC interests. I take my brother inside to experience cutting-edge virtual reality tech, paddle a virtual prehistoric river, ride a simulated roller coaster we designed ourselves, and play infinite rounds of classic arcade cabinets on the upper floors.