A Favorite Memory from WDW

[Toadlover]

I originally thought this should be from a first trip- maybe as a kid- but I think it can be from any trip. What was magical about your first trip? Did you meet Mickey for the first time? Was it your honeymoon? Did something specific happen?

My first trip, we went with my extended family. My grandmother, her husband, my family, my aunt and uncle, and their kids. In all, there were about 17 of us. Epcot had just opened a few months before so it was all brand new. It was Christmas, so it was pretty busy, too. I remember a 2-hour wait for spaceship earth.

I was 10 at the time. We were waiting in that long line for SE. My dad took me into a shop in one of the pillars to buy a tshirt. It was very dark blue and had SE on the front with a thin line of monorail track around it. I got back in line and my mom wouldn't let me change my shirt! I argued with her that I was only 10!

There are others, like getting off Mr. Toad and not being able to say "Hell" to my dad, but being so excited that that's where we'd gone on the ride.

 

[katt789]

My first trip wasn't until I was 21, and that didn't make it any less magical! Walking around that corner in MK and seeing the castle for the first time, just walking down Main Street was amazing enough. One of my friends stopped to take a selfie with Chip and chip handed him fast passes for Splash Mtn! I think the most magical of the first trip for me was:
-We didn't have hoppers, and by our second last day we hadn't seen Ariel, who was my favourite, I'd come to deal with the fact that we wouldn't be seeing her at all, especially when we walked into Akershus and I looked around, didn't see her, and counted enough princesses to think that she wouldn't be there. Imagine my surprise when I saw her walk around the corner into the little nook of the restaurant we were eating in! She was super bubbily, fantastic and just PERFECT so it made it that much more amazing!

A memory from not my first trip that always holds a place in my heart are those when I travel with my Mom and she really gets a chance to be a kid again! We were watching MiSiCi and she really wanted to go dance with her favourite Baloo, but when she tried, he got mobbed by kids, so she defeatedly started to come back to the sidewalk and pouted (half jokingly) to me. Timon clearly saw what happened, and grabbed her and proceeded to dance with her for the FULL rest of the dance party, he didn't pay any attention to the rest of the crowd around him, and when they got back on the floats to leave he blew her so many kisses and made the "call me" sign.

Disney creates such special and magical memories with each & every trip that I could go on forever, but I think that one is definitely my favourite

 

[SLK1]

I was about 6 and my family came down from Virginia to see Disney World. My brother was about 10. That was way back in the 70's, when the park was still new and characters could just walk around freely! Well, first, Grumpy scared the crap out of my mom while she was sitting eating ice cream. Second, Mickey signed our autograph books and my brother said, "Oh look, Mickey is left-handed". I don't know why that observation stuck with me, but I always notice which hand the characters use now!

 

[CAL2]

one of my best memory was from our trip in 2009, we had eaten at WL and decided to get the boat back to MK. there weren't many of us on the boat and we were all sitting on the deck, we were in site of MK when the boat stopped and a CM came up on the deck and said the captain wants to know if we would all like to stop and watch the fireworks as they were about to start it was a lovely magical moment even though we didn't have any music
cal

 

[aristocatz]

-Exploring the Polynesian & Poly beach with my brother during our first trip in 1979, Seeing the castle from our room (no extra charge back then!!)

-Getting engaged to my wonderful DH in front of the castle after the park closed.

-Our entire wedding and honeymoon trip (this was also a Christmas trip!).

-Seeing my DD's face light up at Crystal Palace when she met the characters. & watching her boss them around at Garden Grill & make them all sign her menu lol

 

[boltfan]

One of mine would be of my daughters first ride on Dumbo. They were so excited. Luckily I had a video camera and got the whole thing on video.

 

[momofboyz3]

I'm a single mom of 3 boys. When my husband walked out I was preg with my youngest. He left the country. I had nothing. We ended up in my parents living room. Never in a million yrs would I have guessed that I would be taking my boys to WDW 10yrs later. When I planned the trip it was more of a dream. I sat on the floor w/the laptop at 3:00am and planned every day. A few months later I was doing my taxes & realized that dream vaca could be a reality. By then I had a townhouse, bills were paid & this was something I wanted to do.
Our trip was flawless. My son 13 @ the time is very serious.. We went to the HDDR & had the center table. My son got a lot of attention & one of the actors made up a song about him, he laughed so hard tears were running down his face. Hanging out at the POR resort, swimming in the pool, renting bikes and pole fishing were also memorable. Every aspect of that trip (2013) was amazing, pixie dust seemed to fly around us. Best use of a tax refund ever & so many people were negative about my decision. Now they all are green with envy when they see my beautiful photos of my boys with Micky & friends @ GG.
~ I look fwd to reading everyone else's experience, I LOVE disney magic!

 

[ShannonMB]

I love Disney memories! One special one that comes to mind was DD was having her birthday at Crystal Palace, I think it was her 7th BDay. The table had been decorated with confetti, she got the bday cupcake, she totally got a crush on our Australian server named Kip - who signed a card for her and got all the characters to sign as well. I was having the time of my life watching her reaction to it all. Then Pooh comes over to see her. They did a pic and autograph and a hug, then he waved goodbye and headed toward the next table. Before he got there, he turned around and ran back and gave DD another hug, then he did it a couple more times like he couldn't bear to leave her. I was bawling so hard I was actually embarrassing myself!

 

[ZehnJahren]

My favorite Disney memory is probably being a few months shy of turning three and being carried out of MK by my Dad after the fireworks one night. I didn't get a lot of time with him when I was a kid because he worked very hard and was gone for days at a time, so I remember feeling very safe and secure in his arms and opening my eyes to watch the crowds behind me as the castle faded in the distance as he walked us out of the park. There were so many people around us but I wasn't afraid, as I laid my head on his shoulder and went back to sleep.

 

[abmitch01]

my first trip was when I was 14. It was a huge deal for our family, our first vacation that wasn't camping in a tent, I'd never flown. We stayed with my grandparents two hrs from Disney so we had 4 hrs of driving each day. We carried mushed PBandJs in our fanny packs. My dad, at that time in my life, was very stern and serious, he marched us around Disney without cracking a smile. Then a bird pooped on his head and he went "ah, ****!" I said, "literally," and my brother and cracked up and couldn't stop. We thought we were really gonna be in trouble for laughing. It was a make it or break it moment. Thank God he smiled. we still laugh about this.

he's mellowed as he's gotten older and he went on a trip with my kids and he had a great time. He went on every ride. He posed with Mickey. I value those memories. And I appreciate how hard he had to work to get the time off and the money to take us back when I was a kid even though he didn't feel the Disney Magic.

 

[abmitch01]

my other fav moment happened when I made a word scramble for my kids at Christmas that spelled out "we're going to Disney! ". The kids were elementary school age, they were frantically trying to figure it out. My son yelled out, "I got , I got it- we're going to Denny's!" And he was jumping up and down. If I had known all I had to do was take the kid to Denny's and he'd be happy.....

 

[karensi]

-Exploring the Polynesian & Poly beach with my brother during our first trip in 1979, Seeing the castle from our room (no extra charge back then!!)

-Getting engaged to my wonderful DH in front of the castle after the park closed.
-Our entire wedding and honeymoon trip (this was also a Christmas trip!).

-Seeing my DD's face light up at Crystal Palace when she met the characters. & watching her boss them around at Garden Grill & make them all sign her menu lol

aristocatz, that sounds sooo romantic, I'm just wondering how your husband pulled that off since you say the park was closed. Did he make special arrangements with CMs ahead of time? Just wondering how it came about that you got to remain in the park after closing.


Karen

 

[MacDalt]

my other fav moment happened when I made a word scramble for my kids at Christmas that spelled out "we're going to Disney! ". The kids were elementary school age, they were frantically trying to figure it out. My son yelled out, "I got , I got it- we're going to Denny's!" And he was jumping up and down. If I had known all I had to do was take the kid to Denny's and he'd be happy.....

I just literally laughed out loud!! I can totally picture this happening!!!

 

[4one6]

This is hard. First trip I drove down with my girlfriend on a long road trip. The entire drive there was full of laughter and love and singing out load to songs. Great times.

Best in disney memory might seem odd but it was after noon on a day that the park was super packed this was out first day there. We had lunch at Columbia harbour house. We found a little nook upstairs that was quiet and near a window. It over looked the super busy Disney down below but it was super peaceful up stairs. We just talked and it was the most we've ever opened up to each other I think that's the moment I knew I found my soul mate. It was a very important moment in our relationship I will cherish forever.

 

[jemlover]

I know this thread is about memories from WDW but I have a special memory from Disneyland. It was a very special trip with my Mom and my son. My Mom loved Disney and had actually gone to Disneyland the year it opened. She loved It's a Small World and I can still see her smile when we rode this ride. She's gone now but every time I ride It's a Small World I think about her.

 

[Tpiejg]

I went on my first trip to WDW for the first time when i was 36 years old. It had always been my dream from a little girl to go. I grew up watching The Wonderful World Of Disney every Sunday night. one of my favorite parts was when Tinkerbell would appear on the screen aNd tap her wand, it was just magical. My family and I went to wishes on the last night of our trip, as the show started I was in awe. It was beautiful. Then all of a sudden I saw tinkerbell! She flew right over our head! I had no idea it was going to happen! It brought me straight back to my childhood, it brought tears to my eyes. How lucky I felt to finally be here with my DH and 4 children. since then we have made 11more trips and that childlike wonder is with me every trip!

 

[pammydw]

My first trip was in 1983, I was 9, and I'm sad to say that I don't remember MK much, except for my moms excitement about riding Its A Small Workd! Epcot, on the other hand, is what I do remember. I remember having chocolate mousse in France (I couldn't wait to go to France). And in China, watching the movie on that huge screen (yeah, was bored stiff and couldn't wait to leave!). Spaceship Earth was the coolest thing ever! Epcot had just opened maybe 6 months before, so there was still a ton of construction going on. We stayed at the Polynesian and the Contemporary. Vague memories of both, except for when we bought Thumper at the Contemporary gift shop ( I still have that Thumper somewhere!). Now, as an adult, my memories are much more defined as my DH and I surprised our DD for her 8th birthday with her first trip to WDW 2 years ago. I got to relive that first time through her experience, but it also felt like my first visit as well because my childhood memories were so vague. Seeing the castle was the best! I still can't conjure up my first experience there, even after seeing it again. My DH and I are excited to surprise our DD again for her birthday thus year with another trip to The World! Looking forward to making more memories at this magical place!

Contemporary / Polynesian March 1983 Boardwalk Villas October 2012