Remembering why we go to Disney!

[Belle's Castle]

Hi Everyone-
I have been on the boards a lot the last few weeks, never post much but do lots of reading. As the weeks go on, there seems to be so many threads that are just... well for a lack of a better term "ARGHHHHH." I read Disney is going downhill because of this or that . - it is a business they do what they feel they need to do but for me I love the boards because I learn things I did not know and it allows me to plan a trip for my wonderful hubby and DD. So....I was hoping to start a thread that will 100 percent focus on the positive.

Two questions...
1. What is the most magical moment you have had at Disney?
2. What are you most looking forward to on your next trip?

For me:
1. My engagement...we were waiting for the Spectromagic Parade to start on Main Street. My mom puts this silly Minnie Mouse hat on me. When I turned around my DH said "Would you be my Minnie?" (while wearing a Mickey hat.) He can be a little shy and did this in front of a zillion people. A cast member then proceeded to pull us into the middle of the empty street and announced it to the waiting crowd that lined the sidewalks. AHHHHHH it was so nice!
2. I am looking so looking forward to watching my DD and seeing her excitement. She was amazing at 18 months in Disney and at 3.5 years old it will be even better. I am looking forward to hearing her giggle when we are on Dumbo again!

 

[mg10rb13]

I agree, but I try not to take a lot of it to heart. It's good to hear what people say has "gone downhill" and then it gives me a chance to think about it or maybe pay attention to it a little more on the next trip. But I'm still so crazy about Disney I don't think any refurb, less than par meal, cast member could ever ruin it for me.

I think the most exciting Disney moment for myself was when I finally overcame my fear of the characters. I was so afraid of them my first few years of Disney at age 5-6 I wouldn't go near them for an autograph. Then around 7-8 something just came over me and it was gone. I had SO much fun filling up the autograph books, and taking pictures.

I am looking forward to next year's trip with my boyfriend. It'll be his 1st Disney experience and I'm so excited and happy to be the one showing him all the fun things to do at Disney.

 

[cjnix29]

I have several favorite memories. I was married at the Wedding Pavilion, so that was incredible. But we took my son when he was 2 1/2. We had lunch at Cinderella Castle. At that age, he loved the princesses. Snow White came to our table, and my son looked at her with these eyes that were as big as dinner plates and in complete awe! It brought tears to my eyes to see his excitement.

I also LOVE seeing kids reactions to their first time at Disney. You can never get that first time back, and the amazement and wonder on a little girl's face the first time she meets "her" princess, or when a little girl dressed up as Minnie gets her picture taken with Minnie. Just priceless!!!!

 

[Belle's Castle]

I also LOVE seeing kids reactions to their first time at Disney. You can never get that first time back, and the amazement and wonder on a little girl's face the first time she meets "her" princess, or when a little girl dressed up as Minnie gets her picture taken with Minnie. Just priceless!!!!

I can not wait to see DD meet her first princess! I think there are two many things I am excited about!

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

1. What is the most magical moment you have had at Disney?

On our first trip as a family we went to DHS the day we arrived. It was raining and we wanted to show the boys some characters. So we asked a CM where Mickey was. When we got there we had to wait to watch a show, than goto see Mickey. So luckily a CM saw the look on all of our faces and allowed us to bypass this and go directly to Mickey. There was no one in line and my youngest, than 14 months, saw him and ran under the ropes and started hugging and kissing him!(At this point in time my son had minimal speech and hearing- he's had a couple ear, tonsil and anode surgeries and is pretty good now) The look on his face will never be forgotten by my family.


2. What are you most looking forward to on your next trip?

My boys will be old enough to do most attractions and maybe a non-character sit down meal

 

[yost1931]

First to OP, if your daughter loves princess's or dressing up, please take her to BBB! We took our 3.5 year old in January and it was the most magical part of the trip for both my daughter, myself, and my husband. Just seeing her face during the transformation, having all the castmembers fuss over her, and taking her to meet the princess's at CRT after her appt was AWESOME!

My other memory from that trip was the day we were at AK and my husband took my DD3 and DS<1 to see the Nemo show while I parked the stroller. We were running late for it and on my way to park the stroller a sippy cup fell out and rolled down the hill. I was frazzled over trying to catch up to my family and chase lose objects around. A castmember chased down the cup, caught up to me and took the stroller from me to park it. He said "let me park that over there for you and you get back to your family to enjoy the show." Ok, a small thing but still a wonderful gesture in a time of (probably unnecessary) stress.

 

[hebbynan]

1. My most magical moment - the first time my kids walked down Mainstreet and saw the castle. It was wonderful to watch it through their eyes. It makes me tear up now!!

2. What I'm most looking forward to the next trip - watching my brother and his family and my sister and her family experience everything Disney for the FIRST TIME! My grandma passed away 2 years ago and my dad just now sold her house. He decided that he was using some of the money to take his ENTIRE family to Disney (Mom and Dad have gone with me and my hubby and kids numerous time) since the others were never there. I really can't wait to watch my 3 year old twin neice and nephew meet Mickey. They're gonna FREAK!!

 

[disnut8]

My most magical moment at Disney was on my first trip back in 1977. I can't name one particular thing because there were so many but they all related to how my family was happy and together with good friends. We had a convoy (remember, this was in 1977) of about eight cars going from Pennsylvania, we all camped together at Fort Wilderness and everyone had a great time. We ranged from me, age 15, up to my aunt, aged about 60. Even though that was 33 years ago, I remember parts of it like it was yesterday.

What I'm most looking forward to on my next trip (in two weeks) is simply not being at home. Being away for a simple weekend, being with my husband in a place we both know and love very well. We find a natural rhythm while there, almost never disagree and come back to reality refreshed and ready for whatever comes next in our daily lives. I can't get that anywhere else. At Disney World, I feel relaxed.

 

[solpo]

1) We stopped over at DW on the way home from our Honeymoon for a few nights during the first few days of October, 2000.* We wore our bride & groom ears and had a bunch of magic moments including:

• At Millennium Village we got congratulations from every country written inside the cover of our Epcot 2000 book
• Watching Minnie berate Mickey since SHE didn't have a ring yet. Although she did almost dislocate my DW's shoulder...
• Getting a private boat at the Maelstrom since we were newlyweds.

2) We're coming up on our 10th anniversary trip (on the plane in 34 days) and it'll be our first stay at a deluxe (AKL). We heard about AKL on our honeymoon and figured we'd never be able to afford a stay in a savannah view room. We still can't afford it but we're doing it anyways. I'm just looking forward to a wonderful week plus with my DDDDDDW in my favorite place on earth. Of course, if the original Tiki Room show reappeared that'd be nice too, but that may be asking too much.





* Yes, I know it should have been our entire honeymoon, but I was young and dumb...

 

[d1gitman]

Remembering why we go do Disney!

So when we get back from vaca we can come on the DIS and be extra snarky, judgemental, holier than thou, rude, insensitive, conclusion jumping, mean, uptight and down right awful to each other

 

[kmk1180]

Two questions...
1. What is the most magical moment you have had at Disney?
2. What are you most looking forward to on your next trip?

1. We took our son to H&V for character breakfast when he was 2.
At the time Little Einsteins was THE show to watch.
(and my son was speech delayed so he didn't talk yet)
When he saw Leo there, his smile couldn't have been bigger and ran up to Leo and gave him the biggest hug possible.

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/disney-27s-hollywod-studios/p35782-breakfast-with-leo-2.html

2. We skipped it on our last trip because my daughter was only 3 and you need to be 4 or older. But we can't wait for rope drop to be first in line for Jedi Academy so my kids can lightsaber with Darth Vader ("the baddest bad guy ever")

 

[ilovepete]

1 - Most magical moment: Seeing the castle light up at Christmas time!

2 - Most looking forward to on the next trip: Seeing my 2.5 year old enjoy it, this is the first time that she is super excited about it.

 

[ilovepete]

My DH wanted to answer, too.

Most magical moment: They day after we got engaged and ate at the castle and just had nothing to worry about. (that was a great day!)

Most looking forward to: MNSSHP (we've never been)

 

[Ktharee]

What a refreshing thread! Thank you OP! I have so many moments that come to mind, but one that is truly my favorite is this: I was traveling with my DH, DD, Sister, Brother in-law and my parents. My Sister had taken DD on Snow White's Scary Adventure and we were all meeting at Philharmagic. While I was waiting, I was browsing through the gift shop next to Philharmagic and stumbled upon the fill a bag of jewels display. Knowing my daughter would love these, I picked them up then had a GREAT idea. During Philharmagic, Ariel throws a bunch of jewels into the crowd. Well at that point in the show I told my daughter to try and catch some. As we were exiting I asked her "did you catch any jewels?" She laughed at me and said "no Mommy, you can't catch them". I said "Well I did" and showed her a handful of the jewels I bought. HER FACE LIT UP! I could cry just thinking about the honest to goodness wonder and magic in her eyes. It was truly a Disney moment to remember!

 

[Chelley00]

1. Our most magical moment: Pinnochio coming around the corner at DHS, taking my daughter by the hand and skipping off with her to his meet and greet on our first trip. She talked about it afterwards for weeks.

2. Looking forward to: Sharing the world with my mom. She's never had a big vacation, and we're going down and meeting my brother, SIL and 3 year old nephew (who we've only been able to see once because of the distance between us) She's going to have her 3 youngest grandkids with her, both her children, and she's going to have a slumber party with her best friend who lives near Orlando. I'm so excited for HER.

 

[Symphony]

1. When me, mum and dad walked into the magic kingom one evening after christmas in 2007 and we saw the castle christmas lights come on. It was amazing. This was back when we just used to turn up and not know what was going on, we never dreamed the castle would be covered in all those lights.

2. Looking forward to my trip in 2 weeks. I'm taking my boyfriend on his first ever trip and I can't wait to go. Hoping that he enjoys himself and we get to go back one day when I'm finished university and we have money

 

[Dunkeress]

I think my most favorite moment was seeing Wishes with the most important people on this earth ... My husband (who had never been to Disney before), our son (who was a college internship cast member at the time) our 14 yr old daughter, our 3 yr old daughter, and our 1 1/2 yr old daughter... I looked up... looked around and saw all of them looking up...and cried like a baby lol.

Any time going to Disney I can't wait for! It's the only time our family slows down and we all are together from the time we get up till the time we go to sleep... those are the best times!

 

[sophie832]

We're DLR APs, so I'm going to talk about a magical moment at that park:

1) It's hard to pick just one moment over the years, but a recent moment that sticks out was when DH and I were about to ride Dumbo. We were in a contest where we had to ride as many rides as possible in one day. When we were on Star Tours towards the end of our day, it broke down (first time for us on that ride), so we got a fastpass for any ride. We still had to go on Dumbo, so we used it, and got to stand in the area where they normally load disabled guests. Because we were loading from there, I got to hold a black feather, just like Dumbo does in the movie (that's how they keep track of who loads from that entrance). For some reason, after our long day of rides, holding that feather just made me feel all giddy and child-like. DH still talks about the look on my face and how excited I was. It's those little moments that keep us going back to the parks.

2) What are we most looking forward to on our upcoming WDW trip? EVERYTHING! This is the first time for DH, and the first time for me since I was a child (horrible trip in the hot July of 1992). I guess we're most looking forward to staying at the YC and walking right over to Epcot. I know there have been a lot of negative threads on these boards lately, but I am still totally and completely happy about our vacation

 

[Disfamily0405]

Most Magical Moment- sitting on our balcony at the Poly watching Wishes and eating a big bowl of ice cream with my hubby on our honeymoon

Most looking forward to- Treating my parents to their first full week long Disney Vaca.

 

[spacemountainmom]

So many reasons:

1. It's the happiest place on earth!
2. My dh, who works so hard so I can be home with the kids, turns into the World's largest kid and has the best time there.
3. My dd15 turns back into that 3 year old that I remember from her first trip.
4. My ds11 who was not going to enjoy WDW at all walks around with a huge smile on his face and indulges mom with a ride on IASW.
5. My two beloved kidlets actually get along there most of the time.
6. I still get that WOW feeling driving along I-4, entering the property and especially the first time I step onto Main Street and see the castle.

I just booked our next trip and I just can't wait!!!