How did YOU fall for Disney?

[pigletto]

My love has increasingly grown for Disney. I went to Disney in 1977 when I was a little girl and my dad was there. He was in a car accident and in a coma for five years and died when I was 13 so any memory I have of him is extra special. I fondly remember the ticket booklets and standing in awe near Space Mountain!

During my dad's coma and the years after his death, my mom really tried to take us kids on vacation (we had 6 kids but one couldn't go with us because he's severaly mentally disabled). Florida is a popular vacation spot for those of us from Michigan and we would go to Busch Gardens and Magic Kindom. When Epcot opened, my mom was so excited to visit it and we did! As I was in college, she took my nieces and my sister and I had to come!

So my love of Disney really increased in the years that my sister and I bonded at the Adventurer's Club and I was able to enjoy this fun place with my mom - still!

When I had kids, I was so excited to take them. Well, it was exhausting that first time with my 2.5 and 4 year old. And it was HOT. So we went the next year for a land/cruise vacation in May and it was better. And I've found every year that it is 'easier' on me and DH because the kids are older, can do more things, and know their way around as much as we do.

Now we find Disney to be the happiest week for our family - no work & calls for me and DH, and no school and activities to drive to for the kids, just time all to ourselves to go on BTMR over and over and over again!

And let me add that the death of my father taught me very early on that family is so important. You really don't know when something can happen so enjoy the NOW as much as possible!

Your post made me teary. Thank you for sharing
I have a lot of wonderful memories of my childhood..but those vacations are the biggest and brightest days of my life. And family mixed with the atmosphere of Disney are a magic combination.

 

[rootbeerkid]

August 1974, 17 years old, golf-addict, vacationing with best-friends family. Disappointed to lose a day from the course for Mickey Mouse (even though the day was free to me). Expectation for the Haunted Mansion was low – think county fair fun-house or Halloween gory/scary walk-through. What an E-Ticket experience! My imagination expanded and has with every visit since.

Hurry back! Hurry Back! I’ll be sure to bring my death certificate.

 

[bjscheel]

I had no desire to go to Disney. If I wanted to ride rides, there was Adventureland in Des Moines. When DDs were 3 and 6 they were of course way into princesses and DH suggested we take them. We didn't have much money, but with eBay profits and other saving, we managed a trip with 3 days in the park, offsite, depending on the hotel's twice a day shuttle.

After we got back we knew how fun it was and I read more on here and realized we could do it better for the same money or less. So we did. And then two more times, because we were hooked and because DH would start dropping hints or outright ask to go. Of course we all love to go, but at this point some of us are looking to go other places (and we do), but DH always wants to go because he doesn't have to drive while there. So, since we drove to Wisconsin last year, this year he gets his way again.

 

[mill4023]

I grew up in Oregon and we had friends and family in So Cal, so we would often take trips that included visiting Disneyland.
I'm not sure how old I was for my first visit, but Disneyland was my favorite place in the world as far back as I can remember.
My mom still tells the story about one of our trips when I was probably 7 or 8 years old and I looked up at her and said "Wow, Mom, Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth!".

I never made it across the country to WDW as a kid. The only time we every flew anywhere was to visit family and we didn't have any family in Florida.

Once I had kids of my own, we started taking them to Disneyland and I loved experiencing the park through a child's eyes again. We finally made it to WDW for the first time in spring, 2005 and it was absolutely, without a doubt, the best family vacation we had ever taken. We had an absolute blast and even after 12 days, we did NOT want to go home.
We went back again in 2006 (twice) and in 2007.
Finances, work, and other stuff kept us from returning since then, so I'm now super excited to be going again in June!

My wife also likes WDW and had a great time on our previous trips, but she's not quite the Disney nut that I am. Four visits in 3 years was a little too much for her and she was ready for a break. But it's been long enough now, that she's really looking forward to going again. This will be the first trip for our 2 year old DS and i can't wait to see what he thinks. Unlike our other kids, he doesn't have a shy bone in his body, so I think he'll love seeing the characters.

 

[DaniB]

I had wanted to go since the early 80's. Last year I suggested we take the kids to White Wolf Lodge. When my husband found out it would cost about $800 for 2 nights, he said "for that money I would rather go to Disney World." And so it began...

It felt magical when we arrived, unpacked and stopped at CSR's gift shop! The CMs gave our kids a couple of free trading pins. And my son a huge stack of MM stickers - 1/2 of which he was to hand out to other kids. He had a blast doing this DTD that evening. I surprised my husband with La Nouba tickets for our first evening.

I fell in love on our first full morning. We were 1/2 an hour late for our Crystal Palace breakfast, and I read people have had their ressies cancelled if they were even 10 minutes late. I had to stop at CSR front desk for our SoA tickets later that evening. Totally forgot when we checked in. Plus, as frantic as I was to get to CP, I kept making my family stop at EACH PPP down Main Street up to the last one before the Castle! Ohh, and I also thought the restaurant was IN the Castle somewhere...

When we finally arrived, CP still had our ressies and a short wait. We were given window-side tables with a view of the Castle!

And our DD... she is so difficult with us because of her learning/social issues, even though she is a good kid. Well, our DD had the most AMAZING smiles on her face that I have NOT seen in years! Ok, not years - but ohh so long and rare!! And she stayed like that our entire 10 days!!! (There should be a happy crying icon for me to insert now). I wish I could hug Walt & Roy Disney!

 

[mousiemom]

i also went to DW/Dl as a child, no big deal, went with dh in 97 and had a blast and we went back for our honeymoon in 99, took our dd in 2000 and she is 10 now and she will be going on her 22nd disney trip in oct. so hooked! we did the AP one year and went to wdw 6 times that year. one trip only had 2 weeks in between them. now, when i'm not planning our trips, i planning everyone elses. i had a family come over last weekend for a 3 hour planning consultation!!! it is the most magical place on earth to us and we want everyone else to experience the disney magic when they go. my husband and i will retire and we will move to wdw and work. everytime i'm in the parks and i see people reading their maps, i want to grab them and just take them everywhere. there's nothing like disney!

 

[ndfi78]

Somewhat long, but it is what it is. And the easiest is just for me to put links here from many years back. When i wrote these on the trip report board, that board had very little traffic, not like it is today. These four wound up being a pre trip report I guess, though I started them out to be a trip report. And I never did do an actual trip report. I wrote them originally back in late '99 and I think that many links and smilies are broken now with all the many board software changes over the years. I did have quite a number of photos embedded also, and back then almost no photos on the board, how times have changed. I think all the photo links are broken now also.

If you read them, thanks.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=30388

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=30389

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=30390

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=30391

I opened the first one, figuring I would skim over it and not planning on reading them all. I just finished the fourth! Those are great! Would have loved to read the actual trip report if you would have written it.

 

[SenoiaDawg]

My mother has always loved Disney and passed that on to me very early in life. She and I liked all the movies and anything on "Wonderful World of Disney". We went twice, when I was 3 and again at 9 I didn't go again until I was 25 with my wife. She had never been, but had always wanted to go. We were hooked after that trip. When we went with our oldest two children in 2005 was when we truely fell in love with Disney World. We've discussed going other places on vacations, but everytime we budget a trip, we always say,"for just a little bit more, we can go to Disney." It is most definately our happy place!

 

[PHXscuba]

If I had to sum it up, just look at my avatar.

It's on my third birthday, at Disneyland, and my father's distinct handwriting labels it "Grumpy and friend." I grew up less than an hour from Disneyland and went often with my Disneyland-loving Dad (who actually SAW Walt Disney once near the treehouse not long before he died). Going to DLR was just a part of being a kid in Southern California.

My high school band went to WDW and I got to see Epcot and MK (all there was then). I took DH to Disneyland for part of our honeymoon, his first trip since he was 10. We moved to Ohio and were poor grad students for years, no Disney. After we moved back to AZ and had our kids, we started taking them to Disneyland as each kid hit about 4 1/2 (and 40 inches) It was a momentous day when we had all four of them there finally in October 2009.

DH and I went to WDW on a very short, very last-minute trip (hurricaned out of our original plans) in Sept 2008, and while there I started thinking about our first family trip, which will finally take place this October. I overheard DH tell his brother that it "would only happen once" ... I haven't the nerve to tell him he's wrong.

PHXscuba

 

[CLPClarinet]

Well, I wanted to visit my friend last year and she lives about 30 minutes from Disney World. Our plans were to go to the grand opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I thought it'd be cool to do a day at Disney World as well since we'd be right there. Well, my friend was talking about Shades of Green and how her family always stayed there because her dad is retired military. Fast-forward a few days and I see on the SOG site that there was a 4-Day $99 ticket available for military, their families, and friends. So her mom ended up booking us 4 nights at Shades of Green and she paid for it, which I was shocked about! It was so generous of her to pay for our hotel! I even offered to pay part of it, and she refused!

So I ended up having a fun time at Disney World, but didn't get to experience nearly as much as I'd have liked to (haven't been to Animal Kingdom yet!). My mom heard me talk about Disney World alot and has never been, although she went to Disneyland twice as a little kid, and decided to give me a trip to Disney World for my graduation present. I wanted to add in a day for Harry Potter, but she's paying for the trip, so we're doing Disney World the whole time! I think it'll be a blast!

 

[Tinks1984]

I was brought up with Disney on VHS as a child and to be honest, being from England, I wasn't really aware of 'Disney World' or 'Disney Land' until much later in my childhood. It was never really talked about, I just continued to watch my films and my Mum and Dad would buy me the odd Disney gift every now and then.

It was only when Disney Land Paris adverts appeared in 1991 for it's opening in 1992 that my parents decided it was time to take myself and my younger Brother there. They priced it up and wow scared1 wasn't it expensive!

It was then a family friend told them to save and book for Walt Disney World in Florida, as the prices were pretty competitive against the Paris park. We'd never been abroad as a family, so at age 9 (brother age 7) my parents took us there - and I fell in love for the first time

Since that trip, I consider myself very lucky (and hardworking!) that I've managed to go back and share the magic another 4 times and cannot wait to hopefully go back there and get married to the other love of my life, my DF, Simon in another couple of years time

 

[Littlestar2001]

My hubby and I never went to Disney as children and we knew that once we had a child that we would want to give that experience to our child.We went for the very first time almost two years ago when my son was seven and I fell in love the moment we set foot on Main Street and saw Cinderella Castle for the very first time!I did not understand how people could love Disney so much before that first trip but within seconds of being there I instantly fell in love!I became obsessed with Disney after that first trip.In my opinion there is no place on earth that compares to Disney to me....I love everything about Disney from the feeling I get being there(I feel like a child)to experiencing it through my son's eyes,to the beauty of the parks,to meeting the characters,to the parades/shows/fireworks.....I could go on and on about my love for it!!!

 

[comedyclaire]

I was brought up on a diet of Disney films and those Disney's sing-along-songs videos. I even remember my mum taking me to the cinema to see Beauty and the Beast when I was off sick at school. We ended up seeing it three times.

When I was 3 my mum, dad and I went to WDW Florida - this was in summer 1992. I loved it. Admittedly, I can only remember very small snippets (I seem to remember a Disney show with Darkwing Duck?!)

A few years later in 1997, we went again with my little brother and I was just amazed at how a place could seem so magical.

We went in 2010 when I was 21 and I still love it to pieces. Every trip makes me feel like I did when I was 3.

And incidently, I don't know whether this happens to anyone else, but I could easily watch Disney films when I was little and not cry at all. As I've got older I turn into a complete wreck.

 

[Mary T in PA]

I visited Disneyland when I was 12 and really liked it. But my first trip to WDW was my honeymoon. IT was very magical!

 

[JenSop]

I don't have time to read through all the replies right now, but really wanted to share how I got hooked!


My first trip was as a little girl back in 1984. I SO vividly remember standing near the castle watching the fireworks, and "When You Wish Upon a Star" played through the air. I cried with joy. I was hooked 100%!

Then I was VERY lucky to have grandparents who only had my sister and I for grandkids - they took us 3 more times when I was between the ages of 9 and 13. I loved those trips and think back on them so fondly - especially since my grandfather has been gone for almost 15 years now.

Then in high school, I got to march in the parade on my band trip, AND got to enjoy Disney again with friends on my senior trip.

I only went once while in college, and then returned again for my Disney honeymoon in 2001. That's when I turned DH into a WDW fanatic! Now DH and I go every year and are DVC owners.

We LOVE WDW!!!! We love the rides, we love the restaurants, we love the whole everything about it!!!

And it all started when I was that little girl on that very first magical trip!