Disneyholics---When did you become a Disneyholic?

[kaabost]

My first trip to WDW was in 3rd grade with my family. I loved it but I didn't become a Disneyholic at that time. I returnedd to Disney in 8th grade with my school chorus class. We were only in WDW for 1 day and it was simply not enough!!!! I came back from that trip and began annoying my parents everyday about going to Disney. "Let's go to Disney....comeon please!....we need a wholesome family vacation...etc." (My poor parents had to put up with this alot). Needless to say, we never took another family trip to WDW until I got into graduate school halfway across the country --see Trip Report-it's entertaining if I do say so myself ) Since that little trip in 8th grade I have done everything I can to go as often as possible, dreamed about it regularly, and have found odd little things here and there that sound like Disney, smell like Disney, simply remind me of Disney for no particular reason, etc.

Anyway, did you become a Disneyholic after your first trip or did it take a couple of trips (or a particular age) to really sink in?

 

[TinkerbellMama]

Anyway, did you become a Disneyholic after your first trip or did it take a couple of trips (or a particular age) to really sink in?

I went to DL when I was 7 years old and had a great time. Went several other times throughout my childhood/teenage years including Grad Night '90. I had a great time but still wasn't a Disneyholic. After graduating college (in Los Angeles...four years and I never once went to DL! ) and moving across the entire country for grad school, I took my brother to WDW (MK only) in '96, and it was fun but still no addiction. Didn't go back until 2003 with dh, and we had such a great time that we went back twice in 2004, even though I was pregnant Jan.-Nov.!! Now we are planning a trip for this November with family and next April/May with close friends. So I'd say we became addicts together in May 2003.

 

[dmslush]

Standing on Main Street USA looking at the Castle for the first time. I was 29 years old. It was a once in a lifetime trip for us, and standing there I knew that there was no way that I would not be able to come back.

We have since decided that we will every 4-5 years. That is enough time for their to be plenty of new things, and not so hard on the bank account.

 

[LadyLuc361]

My mom was a disneyholic and the first time I was at Disney, I was 3, and I think it started then. I was only 19 when I lost my mom to cancer. Disney has become a very special place because of the times I spent at Disney with my Mom.

Rachel

 

[Sorcerer Figment]

I too enjoyed several trips as a kid. I knew Disney World was a great place, truly unlike anywhere else on earth. But I didn't really become a full fledged Disneyholic quite yet. I think it was in high school when I started looking into colleges. The question was, "What do I want to do with my life?" And after awhile it just dawned on me. I've got to work for Disney! Since then, it's all just snowballed. So while my roommate listens to punk, I'll take The Living Seas area music any day...

 

[fmelchor88]

As a kid I always dreamed of going to DL or WDW. My parents could not afford to take us. As I got older I forgot about the magic that I had always dreamed of. Well in 1998 at the age of 29 I was at a friends house and came upon a Disney vacation video. I asked if I could borrow it. I took it home and started to remember about all those times I wished I could see MICKEY in person. I ordered my video and starting to save for my 1st trip. In May 1999 my partner and I spent 7 days in Orlando. I can still remember the feeling of seeing the castle for the 1st time and seeing Mickey mouse for the 1st time. Well in 2000 I took my niece to share the magic. Since 2001 we have been going twice a year. We are going on May 27 with a group of 14. There is no other feeling of sharing the magic with family and friends and seeing there face the 1st time they see the castle.

 

[Aidensmom]

I was at Disney the first year it opened as a very young child (please, no one do the age calculation!) and thinking about it I must have been hooked since. I have recently started noticing how much Disney is present in my family's everyday life (I guess living in FL you just don't see it until you think about it.)....

Today I was wearing a Mickey shirt, and DS was wearing JoJo's Circus, and DH was wearing a Hawaiian looking print that has Mickey, Donald, Goofy, etc. I spend half of my weekend (and all my lunch hours during the week) on these boards. DS has more Disney stuffed animals than I can count, and not a day goes by when he does not ask to watch part of our massive Disney video/DVD collection, and he starts each weekday watching Playhouse Disney while getting ready for preschool. I read DS a Toy Story Book as a bedtime story tonight. His backpack has Mickey on it. On the wall in my office is a collection of favorite photos, postcards, and drawings I have done - and in the center is my POR postcard. My cat and my dog both eat out of bowls sitting upon Disney pet placemats. DS brushes his teeth every night with a Disney Princess toothbrush and toothpaste (no laughing!). We went to a birthday party for my niece today, and we gave her a Princess card and Princess sunglasses. We watch the WDW vacation planning DVD when there is nothing to watch on TV. We are really one obsessed family!

 

[bubba73]

My first trip when I was about 5 years old I became addicted. But the first time I took my wife and kids took that addiction to a whole new level.

 

[Mandabella]

Well, I've always been a Disney fan...3rd generation fan.

Sadly, my mother felt food/shelter/clothing were much more important than a trip to WDW. (Yeah, I know...what was she thinking?!?! ) I never got to go as a child because my parents could not afford it, but pretty much everyone I knew went to WDW w/o me. My grandmother went without me. (So what I was only a month old at the time, I could have tagged along!) I was in college and my mom went without me for her first trip right in the middle of the fall semester. How rude...leaving me behind...grrr....NO I AM NOT BITTER!

So, I convinced DH to go there on our honeymoon. Now, DH used to live in FL and visit WDW regularly....grrr....yet another one who went to WDW w/o me....grrr.... Wait, where was I?

I finally got bit by the Disney bug BIG TIME 5 years ago on my honeymoon to WDW. Before my first WDW trip I was just a casual Disney fan, now I'm a bit of a Disney freak.

 

[buckylarue]

I became a Disneyholic a year before DL opened, watching the Disneyland and Mickey Mouse Club TV shows faithfully. My parents took us to DL about a year after it opened, and many summers after that. I moved to LA after I left school and had an annual pass to DL then. 2-3 times a week I would get off work and catch a bus from downtown LA to DL just to have dinner in New Orleans Square, listen to some jazz, ride the Haunted Mansion and PotC, then bus home to bed. (Sure wish I lived close enough to a Disney park to do that now!)

About 90% of my wardrobe consists of Disney apparel, my CD player always has a few Disney theme park CDs in it, the DVD player usually has a Disney film in it...I'll admit it, I'm a Disneyholic; I'm addicted to Disneyhol!!

 

[Uncleromulus]

I'm also a 50's Disney addict--the TV show, the old Disney movies, etc etc.
The first trip to WDW in 1975 was the start of 28 more trips and the DVC.

 

[newholidayx2]

In 2001 when we became Disney Vacation Clubers
This Aug DS13 & I are returning for our 3rd trip "home" to the WL

 

[WDWLVR]

I'd say it was back in 1976 before my first trip. I worked at Sears Headquarters at the time in the Children's department. This was back when they had exclusive use of Winnie-the-Pooh and had a working relationship with Disney (we owned Disney built and serviced costumes). I had a boss who was deep into the Disney way. Back then most people were still addressed Mr. or Mrs. Smith etc., but he was into using first names like Disney (which we all know is very common now). That same year I made my first trip to WDW and it was magical.

Fast forward to 1990 when DH and I were discussing where to honeymoon. I really wanted Disney but he was not sure. His only trips had been at Easter Break with his family (not the most enjoyable time crowd wise). We did honeymoon at the Grand Floridian and he fell in love with Disney too. That led to trips back every other year or so. In 2000 we were finally able to afford DVC and bought in at the Boardwalk.

Now we do a trip every year and try to work is some other Disney as well. For example this year we are blessed to be having a June trip to WDW, a September cruise with the Disney Vacation Club, and then a December trip to Disneyland. Life as a Disneyholic is good!

 

[imatoad]

My second trip, at age 12. My first trip was in '72, and while I know I had a great time, it wasn't until the second trip that I really got "it". It was all downhill from there. Hey, there are worse things to be addicted to.

 

[F1Julie]

I went to WDW a few times as a little kid. I don't really remember much of those trips. It wasn't until I took my own DD that I became a Disneyholic. Seeing her face light up and watching her love every minute sold me. We're going back for her 5th birthday in just over a week.

 

[Martha7]

Ever since my first trip at around two years of age (DL.) We used to come back from the park, and after being put to bed, I'd call my Mom back in, so that we could discuss going again the following year. If I'd only had the DIS back then...

 

[Storminator]

Growing up, I always wanted to go to WDW but my family couldn't afford it. We took our 1st trip with DS in 1999 when he was 4 years old.

Trip #12 is coming up in December. You could say we are just a little bit addicted.

 

[miller2470]

I've got it bad!!!! My husband enjoys WDW but is a little tired of it. This year he said he'd like to do something different, so I booked the cruise...I thought it was different since we have never been. My children too are disneyaholoics. I have passed it down. It's so contagious!!!

My husband says that if Mickey were real, that I would have left him for Mickey by now...or at least had an affair!!!

You just gotta love that mouse!

 

[bornwiththeears]

My husband and I have a theory. You are either born with the ears (hence my name) or you are not. Thankfully (unknown to me at the time) I married a man that loves Disney as much as I do. He puts up with my obsessive planning and turns into Mr. Vacation when we hit WDW. We have taken years of ridicule from family and friends who cannot understand why we would want to visit the mouse year after year. I agree with some of the other people posting that it can be hereditary. We gave our son (who is 26 and finishing his first year in a doctoral program) a choice of vacations to celebrate completing his first year. His pick???? You know it, we are heading back to the world in 16 days. I am grateful for discovering the Dis Board and learning that my obsession is shared by many people.

 

[Mom Of 2 Girls]

July 2004-- The day we got back home I sat down and started reading the guidebooks. I was craving anything Disney and missing being there so much. You know you are crazy addicted when you read the guidebooks immediately AFTER your trip!