What ignited your Disney love??

[cheshiregoofy22]

Our first family trip in 2004 when the kiddos were 7,7 and 8. Broke the bank to go . . . Thought we could only afford to stay offsite but the best castmember ever talked me through the benefits and costs of staying onsite and we spent seven magical nights at POR. My pessimistic hubby beamed right along with the kids at their first glimpse of the castle from the bus window - friendly strangers offered up "first time?" to which I nodded, holding back those inevitable tears...quite unsuccessfully (rather like now). The cherry on top came at the end of our trip when hubby said "wow, that was easy - Disney really does take care of everything." (Planning skills secretly confirmed!). We still break our little bank every few years, this year to celebrate our graduates as they head off to greatness and the tears of saying goodbye...for now.

 

[Jeannie in NJ]

also when husband and I first starting going to WDW we would stay in cheapo places in Kississimee and then once we starting taking our kids we stayed in Old Key West . My husband and son and husbands sister went once for Star Wars weekend, they stayed at Pop Century and dh said never again. And then one year my daughter got us a good deal at Grand Floridian and then the next year she got a great deal at GF club level so now we are hooked on GF.

 

[Asellus]

Went for the first time to Disney World when I was 5....by the time I was a teen, my Mom was taking me every year. I can't imagine going anywhere else on vacation....even Europe loses that bet .

 

[IndianaRRT]

For me, a child in the 70's/80's and teenager in the 90's, Disney was everywhere. TV movies on Sunday nights, old Mickey Mouse Club reruns on pre-dawn Saturday mornings, and of course, animated movies in the theater. My best friend went to WDW every year with her family, and my family...well, we had no pixie dust in our bank account. All her stories and photos made me want to be there in the worst way. Our first family trip in 2007 was my first as well, and it's now my favorite place to be. This last trip, DH kept talking about DVC and retiring there. I'd be okay with either!

 

[4under4]

Sunday Night Wonderful of Disney Intros!

 

[loves to dive]

I was born in Cucamonga (before it was Rancho Cucamonga) and am told my family went to DL all the time, it was the 50s and it was cheap. My mom had a silver charm bracelet that had charms of important events in her life, her marriage to my daddy, our births, her den mother charm, etc. She had a charm of tinkerbell which I was just fascinated with. Any time she wore that bracelet I was playing with tink, that began a love of tink. I would sit glued in front of the TV on Sunday nights, patiently waiting for tink to start the magic with the Wonderful World of Disney. Watched all the 50s shows and my brothers were huge fans of the original MMC with Annette. My parents believed in kids being kids and adults playing with them, so they watched with us and danced and sang. My parents moved to Clearwater Fl in the early 80s, which is just 3 or 4 hours from Orlando so they had AP and would drive up for just the afternoon. I lived in Georgia at the time but when I started taking my son to visit we would go up and stay at what is now Shades of Green. That was all it took for me and my son, the first time staying on property. As a single mom I could only afford for us to go every other year since it took me that long to save enough for us to stay on site, we stayed at all the monorail resorts, sometime with my mom, sometimes just my son and I. After 30 some years of taking him every other year, we've moved over to the YC/BC resorts, he has introduced his wife to the World as an adult. Now that he is grown I can afford to go more often and go at least once a year, sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. I still love tink, she has a spot on my very own charm bracelet, as a matter of fact she is on my silver one, my gold one and I even have one that is completely Disney. I always wear something disney related if I leave my house, most of time its a watch but sometimes its ear rings, a necklace, a ring, a purse or even just a scarf but there is something disney on my person if I'm out of my house. I have a tinker bell that sits on my coffee table and when I'm feeling blue my DH will pick it up and ring it, to give me a little pixie dust. My son loves it just as much as I do, it allows us to be kids again if we want.

 

[nilla]

Splash Mountain. I fully expected the ride to be a conveyor belt to the top, the big drop, and that's it. Clearly, the ride is so much more than that.

Within the first hour of our family being in WDW, I asked my wife, "why is this the first time we're here together, and why didn't we honeymoon here?"

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

Watching the 70s version of Mickey Mouse Club as a young child and getting my first Mickey stuffed animal at 2. It was a gift from my brother-in-law who has since passed away. That Mickey now sits on the shelf above my daughter's bed with the other Mickey's I collected on my previous Disney trips.

 

[DisneyFive]

I didn't know anything about WDW until 2010. Really, all I knew was that WDW was by Orlando. I didn't know how many parks there were. I didn't know there were Disney resorts. Nothing really, except I knew the castle was in the Magic Kingdom. I had always loved Disney movies, and the Sunday night Disney shows as a kid, but that's about it.

When I was a kid, literally ALL (minus one to Yellowstone park area) of our vacations were driving to see family. Both sets of grandparents and relatives were out of state.


Don’t know what it was really, but back in 2010 it struck me that our youngest (3 1/2 at the time) was old enough to handle a family vacation. I started looking around at ideas, and friends of ours had just gone to WDW and loved it. Never really considered it, but started researching… First, I was a little shocked by the price. I started looking into a short 4-5 night stay, but after researching (including the DIS) I found out that just wasn’t going to cut it. We went for a 7 night stay on property. Pop Century, late Sept with FD (paid to upgrade to regular DP). We brought my in-laws 1) because they are fun, and 2) extra hands to help with the kids. We had two connecting rooms.


The rest is history. Pop holds a special place for us, being our first ever visit. We love the bold theming, the only one better being AoA in my opinion. The opening show at MK sealed the deal. I gotta admit, it got me teary eyed. The whole trip was amazing, with so many magical moments that just happened organically. No forced agenda, just our top three rides that we had to hit each day. We fit so much in that trip I’m still surprised when I look back. Our kids opened up to all that WDW offered, and it was just as magical for all of us. When we were done, we were exhausted. I remember saying to my wife in the Orlando airport “I can’t believe some people do this every year”. She agreed. Well, fast forward, and we did four years in a row before we took a break last year.


Thanks for reading my blabber…


Dan

 

[GillianP1301]

I liked the movies and as a pre-teen, I started to get very fascinated with Walt himself and his life story & success. My parents took me to WDW for the first time when I was 16 (finally!) and that solidified it, totally hooked at that point.

 

[Moonwolf]

I've always been a Disney movie fan. My dad started me on Disney at a very young age. Back when the VHS's would come with the "collect them all" checklists it was our goal to get every movie. My love waned for a bit in the early to mid 2000s when i was a teen. I never rejected Disney but I didn't seek it out either. Then after college my friend and I decided we wanted to go to Orlando, mainly to see WWoHP but we figured since we were down there we might as well hit Disney as well. That was the first time I had been to WDW in 14 years and it brought back the Disney spark in me. So much that I was planning my return trip almost before I got back. And I even couldn't wait for that because I think proceeded to convince my family to go to CA in between my two trips and when I happened to be in FL for a conference alone I extended my stay to do 2 days in the parks.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

For me it was my first onsite stay. That sealed it for me.

As a kid I loved The Little Mermaid. I believe my uncle took me to see it in the movie theater. I don’t remember the theater but I remember loving everything Ariel.
We grew up pretty poor and vacations were never. When we lived in upstate NY for a few years we would drive to NJ to visit family twice a year. That’s it. WDW was out of the question. I don’t think we even asked. We just knew it was never happening.

Then I met my now XH. He went every year as a kid. His whole family would rent vans and they would go in a caravan driving from NJ/Philly to WDW every single summer. Sometimes his grandparents would take him a second time in the summer. They would usually go in July, stay offsite, get to the parks by 12 (they can’t make anything on time), pack food for the parks and he LOVED it! Would always tell me how great WDW was and he couldn’t wait to go with me and DS (pre DD).

Now when he went his parents did the timeshare presentations to get free tickets or cheap resorts. He loved Disney but hadn’t been in about 5 years.

We did two offsite trips, one with family and one timeshare presentation. So I discover the DIS and planned our first onsite stay. The numbers scared him but he said ok.

We go, we stay at CBR, I planned it out, we did the DP, we did rope drop almost every day, no packing food, an ADR everyday, the castle, Chef Mickey’s, etc. We had the time of our lives! He said he would never go to WDW any other way and thanked me for planning. He said he had never done so much on one trip. He loves his sleep but he couldn’t believe what we could accomplish by being there at rope drop. Oh and he didn’t have to drive anywhere! Neither did I!
That sealed it for me. I’m going on my 3rd onsite stay in August. XH isn’t coming (obviously lol) but it truly sealed it for me.

 

[Disgrammy]

Watching Wonderful World of Color Sunday evenings in the late 60's. Always thought Walt would be a wonderful grandfather. My parents didn't have the time or money to go on vacations. My first trip to WDW was in 1985. We have been fortunate enough to be able to take our sons every few years and now our grandchildren. Both of our sons love Disney and we have passed it to the grandchildren. Our youngest son married a Disney fan too. I visited Disneyland for the first time in 2013 (at age 58). I felt like a 10 year old and the opening music to World of Color was overwhelming.

 

[disnut8]

Okay! So, what/ who sparked everyone's love for Disney World. Mine was my mom. She used to put on the CD's Disney sold in the parks of the ride music, parade music, and movie songs. Plus always taking us there helped out too.

That's easy. My father would always get a two week vacation in the summer after working as a tractor trailer driver (just called "truck driver" back then). My family of four (mom, dad, sister and me) didn't have a ton of money so my dad put aside a certain amount of cash for the trips. He saved all year long. And he always planned the next year's trip before we went on the current year trip. In 1976, he planned to go to Disney World for my sister's high school graduation trip the week after she graduated. So, we were set for June, 1977. And then invited others. Nine cars, all with camper trailers attached, started from Pennsylvania and drove down in two days to Disney World. Not that spectacular with that description but I was 15 years old and had camped with my family every single month since I was six months old. We knew camping, we knew driving, we had a routine.

Fort Wilderness knocked my stoic father on his butt. He couldn't believe how easy it was to check in, he couldn't believe how clean the place was.

The thing that changed me forever? On the very last day, after we had packed up up and were ready to leave, my father just standing in the middle of the roadway at our campsite, hands in his back pocket of his pants and just looking around the campground and then he said it. The most praise my father could ever give - "this place is just neat". And then he smiled and got into the car to go back home.

"This place is just neat". Says it all for me.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

It was our families first real vacation when I was a kid of twelve. Stayed off site. I got my first real crush on a girl I sat next to for jungle cruise. I always wonder what happened to her. Since, I have stayed on site and off. I've taken girlfriends and my wife. I always associate Disney with the first time I felt love. That's why I always return.

 

[Bomahog]

Through the years, many people have asked me this question. The answer has remained the same........ducking down to avoid the cannonball on POTC!!!

 

[Mousemommy1]

I grew up on Disney movies and my 1st trip was when I was 7 (almost 30 years ago....) and I was in love!!! Been obsessed ever since!!!!

My 11th trip is next week!!!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

SpectroMagic. I liked Disney as a kid but the first time I saw SpectroMagic in my early 20s, it was when the transformation to DisAddict happened.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I'm going to go with the corny answer but my mommy...

She was a single mother who worked 2/3 jobs to make ends meet and we would always have Disney movie week from the rental store and it would make us forget how hard life was watching that dreams come true

That's why to this day when a new movie comes out from Disney or Pixar I make sure I take her

 

[Jfsag123]

I've always loved Disney, having grown up a major Disney kid. I was taken to DL and WDW one time each during my childhood. In 2013, an unexpected windfall prompted me to plan a spur of the moment trip to WDW for my family, thinking that may have been our once in a lifetime chance. DH didn't get it at first, having never been to WDW, but was bitten by the bug within the first day of being there. What was supposed to be our one-time thing has turned into a full-blown family passion. We just got back from a trip last month and plan on going every other year until we can afford to step it up to an annual thing. We have regular Disney nights at home and DD dressed up as an imagineer for career day at school (was fun to try to plan a costume for that...). My kids now refer to WDW as home, probably aided by the pleasant shouts of "welcome home!" we were greeted with each time we entered BLT for the week we stayed there. I can't even think of my memory of my kids singing "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" at the tops of their lungs on the Peoplemover (don't worry, we were alone in our vehicle ) without getting teary-eyed. The feeling we get when there is like nowhere else and we are fully hooked.