Think happy thoughts!

[Boopuff]

Alright! enough doom and gloom, crowds, covid and lines. Let's get happy!

What's your favorite memory of Disney? The one that makes you laugh, smile or just go awe.... Here's mine. We were traveling with my parents. My girls were teenagers. Very connected to my Dad. We were at HS. The girls wanted to ride RARC. I said "Dad hang with me and mom, the girls can go with my DH". Nope. He looked at me and said "where my girls go I go". So my DD held his hand and they got in line.... After the ride, Dad walks up to me and my mom and says "Well.... that was a H*LL of a thing!" I died laughing. Lesson learned for Grandpa. Don't blindly follow teenage girls onto rides.

 

[Kitty 34]

I will honestly say the majority of my memories of WDW are awesome. Loved the rides, loved the food, loved the different hotels we stayed at, and mostly loved the times with DH and sons.

 

[rileyroosmom]

My son was 4/5 years old and we were waiting in line for the original Test Track. We get to the front of the line and the car pulls up. As the people are getting out of the car my son looks at me at says, ”you mean we don’t die on this ride.” My poor boy thought we were going to be test dummies and put through crashes! I couldn’t believe he never said a word, was just waiting calmly for our turn to die! He’s 24 yrs old now and we all laugh hysterically reliving the memory.

 

[Snowysmom]

My favorite memories are of our first Disney trip with DSs who were 6 and 10 at the time. They were so happy and had so much fun. It was nice to enjoy the rides with them. Another great memory was when we went with younger DS, DDIL, and our 11 month old DGD. She had a great time. In the morning DS would open the door between our rooms and she would crawl in, sit down, and give us a big smile. She was ready to go have fun. On Small World and the Mexico boat ride and would dance along with the music. She had her first Mickey bar and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Nice idea for a thread!

We were in line for RD at Blizzard Beach one day. Cast members came out and started chatting up the crowd. They asked about a dozen people if they were planning to ride Summit Plummet that day. They all said No. They then came up to DD, who was 10 at the time, and she, daredevil that she is, of course said Yes she was! They then pulled us out of the crowd and made us Family of the Day. It was very cool - they gave us a bunch of freebies, ie towels and huge refillable mugs and such, then brought us to drop off our stuff at the King’s Hut (or something like that as it’s called, which is a hut in a prime spot), then, before they even let anyone else into the park, took us all on Summit Plummet for the first ride of the day, while they took pictures of us all going down. I had never been on it before but I didn’t want to ruin the moment, lol, so I went on. It was a lot of fun! So we were made to feel pretty special, and it was really an amazing day! My one regret is not buying the pictures that they gave us on a disc or something. I waited too long. But memories are forever! We also once got chosen as the Soarin’ Family of the Day. As we were walking up with our own CM, people were beginning to run past us, to which I expressed a little concern. CM said to me, “Don’t worry, no one’s getting on that ride before you guys!” And they didn’t!

 

[princesscinderella]

We were there for the opening of rise of the resistance and had planned to get in line at 6am to be some of the first people in the park to get on and get a boarding pass. We had packed up all our electronics (Nintendo switches, iPads etc) planning to wait in line for two hours before getting into the park and wanting to keep the kids busy. To our surprise the park was open at 6am and we went on slinky dog 5 times in a row with sunrise breaking and it was awesome. We did tower, RR and midway mania all before 8am and got boarding group number 10. We were in line for the ride and it broke down so we were given a fast pass to come back when it reopened. It was so early we were actually able to get another BG for later that night. We got on the ride at about 10am. When our boarding group got called later that evening we got even further along in the line right where you get sorted into the rooms that put you on the ride when it broke down again. By that time it was close to park closing so they gave us all a one day park hopper to come back another day.

 

[TippyThomas]

I was traveling in my RV last year and was on my way south to visit Disney World for the first time. All of the campgrounds starting closing and I ended up spending nights in Walmart parking lots. I finally had to give up. My happy thought is that I survived all of that and am looking forward to finally being able to go there once things are a bit safer. I can't wait!

 

[tvguy]

Really splurging and not only deciding to spend the money but also securing a reservation for the dessert buffet to watch Fantasmic from the balcony at the Disney Gallery over the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. An unobstructed second story view over the crowd of Fantasmic and some pretty amazing desserts. Our kids were delighted.

Of course, the Disney Gallery has moved to main street, and the old location is now the Disney Dream Suite, and Fantasmic has been indefinitely suspended, so that experience can't be duplicated.

 

[Southernmiss]

So many.

But, this summer, my brother took our 75 year old mom for the first time, and she absolutely loved it.

He texted my sister and I pictures of her that he was secretly taking as she was getting on rides. It was the best day. I forwarded pictures all day to my 4 kids. I stopped sending them for a couple of hours and our son texted me-"What happened? Pictures of Grandma at Magic Kingdom has been our entertainment while we are at the beach."

One picture was of her who had pulled out a disposable camera! What?? He said he heard the noise of her advancing the pictures while on a dark ride and realized she pulled out the disposable camera! Who knew they still made them?

We were all supposed to be there at the same time, but due to Covid and park reservations we couldn't.

To see the parks for the first time through mom's eyes, was magical.

 

[bushdianee]

My favorite memory is when my sister and I took our 2 1/2 yo niece ( she's 15 1/2 now!) to Disney World. It was my sister's first trip also. We were surprised that our niece didn't get homesick or cry for her parents at all. One night we had dinner at the castle and S was dressed like Cinderella. As we were leaving I went ahead to use the restroom while my sister took it a slower with S. They met me as I was coming out of the restroom. S had told my sister that she had to go potty, we had been working on potty training but it hadn't gone too well at that point. My sister took S's diaper off but there was a long line and I had remembered seeing another restroom down stairs so we quickly put her diaper back on and started down the stairs. About halfway down the stairs S's diaper fell off and the man behind us called out "Hey Cinderella, you're supposed to lose your slipper not your diaper!"

 

[ronandannette]

Mine would have to be opening the drapes on our first morning in an AKL Savannah-view suite and being what seemed like nose-to-nose with the giraffes.

 

[nemodad]

On one of our trips we had been in commando mode all week and my youngest was 3 or 4 we were crossing the bridge into animal kingdom. She suddenly drops to her knees and exclaimed in the most dramatic mode “I just can’t go any further. I picked her up and carried her for awhile but laughing as hard as I could on the inside. She was pushing commando more than her older brothers. after carrying her for 20 minutes she was back to go go go. Good times. We had a great trip that week

 

[spiders]

My oldest daughter was just getting old enough where she could stay up a little later and she was determined that this year was going to be the year she made it to extra magic hours. So my wife took the youngest back to the room around 8pm and I hung out with the oldest and she kept telling me to let her know when it was extra magic. That night we were at Epcot and it started at 10. 10:00 struck and I looked at her, gave her a high five and said “it’s extra magic hours!” She was very excited and I think we did Soarin. But after that she was done. I said “what’s next?” She said “I think I’m done. I just want to go to the hotel.” She passed out shortly after and I ended up carrying her back to the bus.

 

[RF536]

In Dec. 2005, we went on a extended family trip to Disney World, with my parents and my sis. and her family. At that time there were 4 kids ages, 5,4, 3 and 1. My mom is scared of bats and the kids love to try and scare her. When the kids found out there were fake bats at the beginning of Big Thunder Mountain, they all had to show Grammy. My poor mom ride it 3 times in a row and acted surprised each time, so each kid had the chance to scare her. They all came laughing at her reaction.

Same trip and my son, the 3 year old, was just tall enough for tower of terror. He wanted to ride, so we rode it with my mom. The picture at the end of the ride was hilarious. My mom looked like she was going to be sick. Next to her all you can see is the top of DS head and his 2 hands in the air.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My wedding. It was at the wedding pavilion at the Grand Floridian. 20 years ago this October.

 

[BrianL]

It's hard to pick one, but one that sticks with me was a couple of years ago when I went on a quick solo trip to Villians After Hours. Since I couldn't enter MK until 7PM on that ticket, I thought I'd go check out some of the resorts on the Seven Seas Lagoon/Bay Lake and have a quick dinner beforehand. I wend down to Fort Wilderness by boat to look at some horses and such. I hopped back on the boat to the Wilderness Lodge and I was the only passenger - a private tour! Boat Captain Marty sang over the PA, just for me. He sang "Brandy" the whole way there. When I got off, I told him that he made me feel like a VIP. He said, "You are a VIP, sir." Now, that's the magic right there. That little two ay venture turned out to be one of my absolute best trips!

 

[Stratman50th]

Not one, but more than 30 trips. We used to go as a family, my parents, sister's family and mine. My mother was the Disney fanatic and just seeing how much she enjoyed it made it fun for everyone! My dad, he could care less but did whatever my mom wanted, LOL! She was so bad she ruined our daughter who only wants to do Disney. (She's 27 now).
Our last trip together was 2008. My mom died a year later. So yeah, memories from every trip.

 

[leebee]

So many trips, SO many memories! I think the best one was when DD was about 6 years old. Her favorite movie was Mulan, but it'd just been released, Mulan wasn't "a princess" yet, and it was challenging to find her in the parks. On the day we were at the Studios, there she was, in her own M&G queue. DD was over the moon waiting in line, sooooo excited and chattering happily about finally getting to meet Mulan. When it was DD's turn, she ran up to Mulan and said, "Mulan, I've been waiting forever to meet you!" Mulan dropped to one knee, held open her arms, and said, "Oh Sarah, I've been waiting forever to meet you, too!" There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd!

Another Mulan memory, when DD was about 15. We weren't really 'looking' for Mulan (because what cool teen would admit to that?) but as we were entering the China pavilion, there she was, with her handler and no line at all, so DD decided to go say hi. They chatted for a bit and then Mulan invited DD into the pavilion. They went through the museum part together, with Mulan telling DD stories of her homeland. Don't know if they were true or just "being in character," but DD was enthralled, and awed that Mulan spent so much time with her!

 

[fla4fun]

Mom and I went on a trip together and we were staying at WL. My mom was very short, and at that time, the beds were really tall. They were almost waist high on her. She was trying to climb up and get into bed, and I am trying to help, and failing, and we are both laughing hysterically as I start singing Climb Every Mountain from the Sound of Music. I bet whoever was next door thought we were on drugs or drunk.

 

[Travel60]

I have two. About 34-35 years ago when DD was 3 1/2 it was Mickey's birthday (?50th?) And WDW had added the birthday land. It was her first trip to WDW and she was as excited as could be. We went into Mickey's house and got to meet him. She was just bubbling over.

Fast forward 30 years and we took our DGD on a family trip. We got to see Mickey and she had her picture taken with him. She turned to her dad, smiled and said "Daddy, Mickey kissed me!"