Great thread Kid@Heart2! I love what you wrote too. It captures such a great feeling.
I just wanted to post what I posted in another thread a while back called
Why Do You Love Disney. It just caught my eye when you mentioned watching the Wonderful World Of Disney on TV as a kid and the memories it brings.
I just wanted to add my $0.02 on what you started above.
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Cdn Gal, that is a really good question. Sorry for the long post but I thought I'd share some memories and thoughts.
I know some people really get it and some really don't. We get it. It started for me with the Sunday night "Wonderful World of Disney" shows that my family would watch when I was really little. I also remember watching the Swiss Family Robinson show on TV and the classic Disney movies. I think that planted the seed for later things to come.
I remember going to WDW with my family when I was under 10 and thinking what a really cool place it was. I had never seen anything like it before. I remember riding Space Mountain with my Dad, the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, the Haunted Mansion with the Doombuggies, the Castle, Pirates of the Caribbean, the WDW Speedway, the really neat buildings, the ride tickets, etc... I also remember riding the monorail and having it actually go right through a hotel. Wow! With all of it, I had this feeling of awe and "How did they DO that?". Magical in a way.
Unfortunately my parents didn't have the money to stay on site or go every year or every other year. So we went once. Yep once, which meant a single day at the Magic Kingdom back in the 70's. It's amazing that all that stuff from 1 day stuck in my head after so many years. I guess it shows how incredible it must have been to a little boy from Canada.
Through my teens I stopped thinking about Disney and WDW but when I got married and we had our first child in 1999 thoughts about Disney changed again. In 2000, through work, I decided to attend an engineering conference in Florida, Orlando to be exact. Actually when I looked into the details before I started booking I realized that the conference was actually at the Contemporary Resort in WDW. Wow that's pretty cool. Wait a minute, that is SUPER cool! All the memories starting coming back to me from when I was little and I started getting super excited about staying at that A-frame hotel that the monorail actually went through. Wow! No WOW!
I told my DW about the location and she was really excited too. Our little guy at the time was too young to travel with us so the 2 of us headed off to WDW for the first time together. I think I was kind of in shock realizing that I was actually going to WDW and staying on site in a deluxe Disney resort. Totally different from when I was little and that my parents couldn't afford to be on site.
The conference lasted a week so we would have flown down on the Saturday and came back on the next Saturday. Wow the Contemporary Resort. I think a lot of the excitement for me came from knowing that I was actually staying at the place that when I was a kid I just looked at it in awe. For me the CR measured up pretty much to what I expected it to be. It was awesome!
Unfortunately I didnt have a lot of time to go to the parks during the week as I was busy with the conference. However, one of the nights of the conference was a Special Event and no one knew what it was. So the night of the special event we went outside of the CR and were loaded into Disney busses. My DW and I wondered where they were taking us. Boy did we find out. They dropped us off at the back or side entrance to HS (MGM at the time). Only it was totally made up with extra Disney magic. There were huge red carpets when you got off the bus to where you walked in. Tons of people (actors) lined the carpets on the sides as you walked in, flashing photos, asking for your autograph, fainting, etc
really, really well done up. We WERE movie stars. I had never felt anything like that in my life. Wow, talk about magical. What I soon found out was that the park was closed for our conference and they had the rides and attractions open only for us. There was food and more food, drinks, you name it we had it there. It was truly wonderful. There was a New York City themed street party, a Sunset Boulevard themed party and other MGM rides, attractions and shows. Still today Im in awe of that event and to the level of detail Disney showed us all. Wow.
After that first trip with my DW I was totally hooked and 3 years after that first trip we booked our second with our DS who was 3 at the time. This time we stayed at the WDW Swan in the club level section and met many wonderful cast members including Thabo and MamaT. They made our second trip truly magical. My son still talks about Thabo and how awesome he was. This second trip to WDW was truly magical again. My DS had a smile on his face literally from the second he got up to the time he went to bed. Quite frankly so did I.
My DW was just pregnant with our second child on that trip. We got in late to the resort on the first night and it took some time to get our bedding for the pull out couch for our DS. We were put beside the elevator and at 3 in the morning my poor wife could not sleep at all. She didnt want to wake us so she got up went down to the night manager and just asked nicely if we could be moved away from the elevator for the next night. Well not only did he move us from the elevator but he put us in one of the Swan studio suite rooms!!! My DW woke my son and myself up the next day and surprised us with the new room. I was in shock. When we walked into the new room I was in awe. I asked my wife how long we were staying in this room and she told me For the rest of the trip!! 11 nights in an awesome room. We loved it.
That started an awesome second trip. There are too many highlights to mention from that trip that just made it truly magical for us all, especially for my little guy. Seeing the wonder and excitement in his eyes as a parent makes you kind of speechless. Thats a feeling in of itself. I will say one thing though. One night after eating at Beaches and Cream we decided to walk over to Epcot. It was a warm June summer night and really pleasant. Everywhere I saw people smiling, holding doors for others, and just generally in really good moods. My DW even commented to me about the atmosphere at Disney. Its just a place that makes you feel happy, relaxed and in my opinion just a kid again. That is what I truly love about Disney. Im amazed at Walt Disneys vision and his companys ability to create fun, discovery and learning, bringing out the innocence and the kid in us all.
Since our first trip at Disney in 2000 weve been back 3 times and are somehow trying to figure out how we can go back next year or maybe 2011. All the times weve been back to Disney we are truly amazed again and again the level of detail Disney creates to bring a feeling or emotion out of you. Their ability to tell or show a story is incredible. Their ability to put a smile on your face is endless. Thats what makes us come back again and again and again and to be truly immersed in the Disney magic.
Andy
and i was hooked. When i get home i can't wait to plan my next trip. People don;t understand it. they keep saying, why don't you take the kids to something new to experience 
