That one moment **TISSUE ALERT**

[matthew_hull]

Sub'ing

 

[kshattuck]

Ok, here we go. First, a little background. I grew up in New Orleans, La. Not the fun place that most know of, but the place that had and still sometimes have the highest murder rate in America. I grew up in a public housing project where I witnessed robberies and even murder. My uncle was murdered when I was 4 and I've known at least 50 people that were murdered since then(All under age 30).And if that wasn't enough to deal with, my father decided that his drug addiction was more worthy of his time than his family, so he left. Needless to say, my life was rough. Meanwhile, my wife was growing up in another part of the city in even worse conditions. But, by the grace of God, he blessed me with the desire to not indulge in the negativity around me and the courage to live elsewhere. I met my wife when I was 18 and she was 17. We had one major thing in common. We didn't want to live like we did growing up. At the ages of 21 and 20, we left New Orleans for good when she was pregnant, because I refused to raise a child in that environment. Fast Forward 8 years, we had a 7 year old son and my DW decides she wants to go to WDW. I didn't want to go. I ignored her when she tried to talk about it and even tried to talk her out of it. I eventually gave in and we went for the first time in Aug, 2006. I thought we'd go, I'd have a bad time, we'd come home, and it'll be behind us. Obviously, it didn't work out that way. As soon as I hit Main Street, it hit me. I was utterly amazed. The castle that I'd seen on TV was in front of me. But my "MOMENT" was when I looked at my son and realized that his childhood is completely different from mine. It made me realize how far GOD had taken us. I wasn't supposed to be there. I was supposed to be dead or incarcerated, but I wasn't. I was in WDW with my DW and DS and the feeling overwhelms me to this day. At that moment, I came to the realization that my DS doesn't know anyone that has been murdered. He doesn't live in a bad neighborhood and he will never feel the pain his mother and I felt growing up. WDW is more than rides, shows, and resorts. It symbolizes a different way of life for me. But, It's normal for my DS and that is the magical part for me. So please, don't take anything for granted, because what's normal for you may be a fantasy for someone else.

THANK YOU for sharing your story. My DH and I grew up in very different circumstances. His childhood is very similar to yours. He, like you, did all but refuse a trip to WDW. He absolutely loved our trip and is helping me plan our next vacation. He recently talked to a friend of ours who is less than thrilled about his first trip to WDW. I was more than misty-eyed when I heard him say, "You get to see how you would have reacted to Disneyworld when you look at your child get her first glimpse of that castle and it's even better than you can imagine."

 

[LilGMom]

While I was standing in front of the Partner's statue a year ago I asked to nobody in particular "Why is it called Walt Disney World?" and a cast member said to me....

"Because a big brother loved his little brother so much, that he would do anything it took to make sure his little brother's dreams came true."

Walt died before Disney World opened, and even though Roy finished off the plans he wanted to make sure everyone knew who made it all happen and whose dream this really was.

I love this!!!

I don't know that I've had just one moment but I've had more than a few 'eye welling up' moments and moments that have really touched me. The one that stands out for me is on one of our trips our oldest, who was probably around 4 or 5 at the time, was taking it all in and being a bit of a people watcher. He told me that he knew why Mr. Disney had created such a magical place. He said it was so that everyone could feel happy and escape all of their problems for at least a little time.

 

[btallennc3]

OK here is my 2. I went with my Dh(his first time going). My dad and mom in jan 2005. It was seeing cinderella in her castle for the first time, I had gone a few times before but this is the first time that I truley rember being one on one with her. When I was getting my pic taken with her my Dh,mom and dad where standing there on the side. And she leans over to me and said is that your PRINCE CHARMING. I looked over at my dh and almost started to cry and said yes he is.

The second is on the same trip. It was my dad's bday and of course we made him wear a pin. We where going on to the star wars ride. And a cm say the pin and wished him a happy bday (as many people and Cm had done that day), my dad was happy with just that. Well when we get out of the ride that same cast member hands my dad a bday card. It was signed by the who crew of the ride. It made that ride extra special of him. That is why I love disney it is the little things and can not wait to go back in june.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

I just sat here and read the entire thread--I got teary multiple times....this is why I love going to Disney and why i keep going back

 

[adventure_woman]

My moment is going to happen next week...

Back in 2005 my mom decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Disney with my son for his 5th birthday, she wanted him to experience the magic when he was young and the plan was to go back in 5 years when his sisters were older. My mom, my DS Ryan, me and my sister took off to Disney for a 4 day weekend and had a great time together watching the magic being created through my son's eyes. I have such fond memories of sharing Disney again with my mom as an adult and with my little boy.

Well here we are 5 years later, Ryan is 10, his sisters are 7 and 4, it is the time my mom was waiting for to go on a Grand Gathering with her, my dad, me and the kids, my sister and her husband. My mom told us of the idea to go in March 2009 last September and that we were going to keep it a surprise from the kids until they got to the airport.

We booked the trip and had just started secretly planning when my mom died suddenly of a heart attack on October 31.

The past few months have been horrendous .. but never once did we veer from our plans to do this trip, as a surprise, for her grandchildren, in her honor. She so wanted to be here to see their faces and I know she will be with us in such a special way on this trip.

So, the children think they are going to fly to the beach next week, they have no idea we are taking them to Disney ..we will get to the airport and find Grandpa and their aunt and uncle waiting for them .. then they will find this letter addressed to them from their Grandma.


Dear Ryan, Emily and Caitlin,
I know it has been hard for you all since I have been gone. I miss being with you and sharing all of the special times together. I didn't know I would have to leave you so soon, there were still so many things I wanted to do with you. I was planning a special surprise for the whole family before I went to Heaven, and I hope you will all still go and have the time of your lives. I hope you are as surprised as I wanted you to be!
I miss you every day, but I'm still with you – always watching over you.

So have lots of fun and make lots of memories together, as a family.
Love Forever,

Your Special Angel

Grandma
P.S. Say "Hi" to Mickey for Me.


and that's when they will realize we are going to Disney and that it's a gift from Grandma.

Okay - I am sobbing now... I am sure your mom will be with you.

 

[Snoozan]

I'm just back from my 18th trip to WDW and I think this trip was one of my most favorite - it was a trip for just my DH and myself(lots of our trips are with other family members/friends). I was at the MK on my last night, this past Thursday and was watching Wishes. I was so enjoying it as it was (finally) a nice night to be outside and the sky was clear - I got all choked up at the end of Wishes thinking that I'm one of the luckiest people I know as I get to take these wonderful trips and I'm still madly in love with my DH, after 30 years together!

 

[JRoyster86]

What beautiful memories these are!

 

[swald91]

My "moment" was the Sunday after 9/11. I was ticked that the UT/UF football game had been cancelled and was just sick of the endless loops of the two planes smashing into the towers being the only things every single television station was airing, so at like 10 pm Saturday night I just snapped and told my wife we were going to EPCOT the next day (she was ecstatic, she had never been). So, early the next morning, we jumped in the car and made the drive down from Gainesville. There couldn't have been more than a couple thousand people in the park that day. It felt as if we had the whole park to ourselves. My moment came at the American Adventure. We were standing in the rotunda, listening to the Voices of Liberty perform before the show started. As they started the Star Spangled Banner, an old man sitting in a wheelchair next to me attempted to stand. He was having a difficult time getting up and his wife was doing her best to keep him seating. He kept beating her protests away and finally I had enough and just grabbed him under his arm and lifted him. We stood there, two complete strangers, listening to our National Anthem at the end of one of the worst weeks in our history and we wept like little babes. At the end of the song, he looked at me and just said, "Thank you." I nodded and he was back in his chair and off into the theater. It was a moment I'll never forget.

This by far is such a wonderful story!!! (I can remember being glued to the tv & seeing that over & over again.) But when you said you finally went to the chair & helped him up.... that did me in!!! I think that is not just patriotic but so very respectful. Thanks for sharing!

 

[swald91]

My moment is going to happen next week...

Back in 2005 my mom decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Disney with my son for his 5th birthday, she wanted him to experience the magic when he was young and the plan was to go back in 5 years when his sisters were older. My mom, my DS Ryan, me and my sister took off to Disney for a 4 day weekend and had a great time together watching the magic being created through my son's eyes. I have such fond memories of sharing Disney again with my mom as an adult and with my little boy.

Well here we are 5 years later, Ryan is 10, his sisters are 7 and 4, it is the time my mom was waiting for to go on a Grand Gathering with her, my dad, me and the kids, my sister and her husband. My mom told us of the idea to go in March 2009 last September and that we were going to keep it a surprise from the kids until they got to the airport.

We booked the trip and had just started secretly planning when my mom died suddenly of a heart attack on October 31.

The past few months have been horrendous .. but never once did we veer from our plans to do this trip, as a surprise, for her grandchildren, in her honor. She so wanted to be here to see their faces and I know she will be with us in such a special way on this trip.

So, the children think they are going to fly to the beach next week, they have no idea we are taking them to Disney ..we will get to the airport and find Grandpa and their aunt and uncle waiting for them .. then they will find this letter addressed to them from their Grandma.


Dear Ryan, Emily and Caitlin,
I know it has been hard for you all since I have been gone. I miss being with you and sharing all of the special times together. I didn't know I would have to leave you so soon, there were still so many things I wanted to do with you. I was planning a special surprise for the whole family before I went to Heaven, and I hope you will all still go and have the time of your lives. I hope you are as surprised as I wanted you to be!
I miss you every day, but I'm still with you – always watching over you.

So have lots of fun and make lots of memories together, as a family.
Love Forever,

Your Special Angel

Grandma
P.S. Say "Hi" to Mickey for Me.


and that's when they will realize we are going to Disney and that it's a gift from Grandma.

OK--I can barely comment on this one...I know what it's like taking your parents so they too can experience the Magic of Disney through their grandchildrens eyes. It's always tough to take that 1st trip without them...what you are planning sounds wonderful-have a great trip.

 

[Tigger79]

Bump

 

[Pixieflip]

Okay, I have absolutely lost it here! My kids already think I'm crazy, but now that I'm crying over people I don't even know... oh, well.

We have a lot of moments. One favorite was back when my DD was 4 and so into everything Ariel. We actually found Ariel and Prince Eric at a meet and greet in their show queue (have never seen them do that again). We were at the end of the line and yet Ariel and Eric spent all the time my daughter wanted to visit. DD was wearing a princess charm bracelet and wanted Ariel to understand that even though all the other princesses were on her bracelet, SHE was her favorite, and pulled the Ariel charm up to the top of her wrist to show her. Ariel was very impressed and so sweet about it.

The NEXT DAY, we saw the snowglobe parade in MK, ... DD was politely trying to contain herself as Ariel and Eric drew closer and ARIEL waved right at my DD and rubbed her wrist and pointed and waved at her!! She totally remembered my DD from the day before at MGM!! My DD held up her arm and her Ariel charm right back at her. Disney magic lives again...

 

[rosiejo]

What a great thread. I've had several moments but I think my favourite has to be getting married at Sunset Pointe with the Castle in the distance...

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

My moment is going to happen next week...

Back in 2005 my mom decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Disney with my son for his 5th birthday, she wanted him to experience the magic when he was young and the plan was to go back in 5 years when his sisters were older. My mom, my DS Ryan, me and my sister took off to Disney for a 4 day weekend and had a great time together watching the magic being created through my son's eyes. I have such fond memories of sharing Disney again with my mom as an adult and with my little boy.

Well here we are 5 years later, Ryan is 10, his sisters are 7 and 4, it is the time my mom was waiting for to go on a Grand Gathering with her, my dad, me and the kids, my sister and her husband. My mom told us of the idea to go in March 2009 last September and that we were going to keep it a surprise from the kids until they got to the airport.

We booked the trip and had just started secretly planning when my mom died suddenly of a heart attack on October 31.

The past few months have been horrendous .. but never once did we veer from our plans to do this trip, as a surprise, for her grandchildren, in her honor. She so wanted to be here to see their faces and I know she will be with us in such a special way on this trip.

So, the children think they are going to fly to the beach next week, they have no idea we are taking them to Disney ..we will get to the airport and find Grandpa and their aunt and uncle waiting for them .. then they will find this letter addressed to them from their Grandma.


Dear Ryan, Emily and Caitlin,
I know it has been hard for you all since I have been gone. I miss being with you and sharing all of the special times together. I didn't know I would have to leave you so soon, there were still so many things I wanted to do with you. I was planning a special surprise for the whole family before I went to Heaven, and I hope you will all still go and have the time of your lives. I hope you are as surprised as I wanted you to be!
I miss you every day, but I'm still with you – always watching over you.

So have lots of fun and make lots of memories together, as a family.
Love Forever,

Your Special Angel

Grandma
P.S. Say "Hi" to Mickey for Me.


and that's when they will realize we are going to Disney and that it's a gift from Grandma.

Ok, that did it . Bless your Mom, what a sweetie

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

Ok, here we go. First, a little background. I grew up in New Orleans, La. Not the fun place that most know of, but the place that had and still sometimes have the highest murder rate in America. I grew up in a public housing project where I witnessed robberies and even murder. My uncle was murdered when I was 4 and I've known at least 50 people that were murdered since then(All under age 30).And if that wasn't enough to deal with, my father decided that his drug addiction was more worthy of his time than his family, so he left. Needless to say, my life was rough. Meanwhile, my wife was growing up in another part of the city in even worse conditions. But, by the grace of God, he blessed me with the desire to not indulge in the negativity around me and the courage to live elsewhere. I met my wife when I was 18 and she was 17. We had one major thing in common. We didn't want to live like we did growing up. At the ages of 21 and 20, we left New Orleans for good when she was pregnant, because I refused to raise a child in that environment. Fast Forward 8 years, we had a 7 year old son and my DW decides she wants to go to WDW. I didn't want to go. I ignored her when she tried to talk about it and even tried to talk her out of it. I eventually gave in and we went for the first time in Aug, 2006. I thought we'd go, I'd have a bad time, we'd come home, and it'll be behind us. Obviously, it didn't work out that way. As soon as I hit Main Street, it hit me. I was utterly amazed. The castle that I'd seen on TV was in front of me. But my "MOMENT" was when I looked at my son and realized that his childhood is completely different from mine. It made me realize how far GOD had taken us. I wasn't supposed to be there. I was supposed to be dead or incarcerated, but I wasn't. I was in WDW with my DW and DS and the feeling overwhelms me to this day. At that moment, I came to the realization that my DS doesn't know anyone that has been murdered. He doesn't live in a bad neighborhood and he will never feel the pain his mother and I felt growing up. WDW is more than rides, shows, and resorts. It symbolizes a different way of life for me. But, It's normal for my DS and that is the magical part for me. So please, don't take anything for granted, because what's normal for you may be a fantasy for someone else.

So true, and bless you and your beautiful family

 

[happymommy]

Wow.

Our first trip taking both kids...

We had a trip planned to go to Hawaii without the kids for the first time in October 2001. Airline tickets were bought, my mom was going to fly here to stay with the kids, everything was set. Then, September 11 happened.

I thought, there is no way I'm going away from my kids. We cancelled everything, bought a minivan (it was time for a new car) with a DVD player (we didn't own one yet) and I planned a drive to Disneyworld for all 4 of us. I bought a bunch of Disney DVD's to watch, and we did the 12 hour drive together to Disneyworld (DD was 2 and a half, DS was almost 5).

The whole drive down was magical for me. My husband kept commenting on how fun it was to watch the movies while we drove, and the kids were great!

We enjoyed 10 nights at the Boardwalk villas - early December - all the decorations were up - it was so beautiful. The kids loved Epcot the best. The place was very quiet.

One afternoon, we were letting the kids take a nap in our double stroller at AK while we had a beer at the Bawa Bar. The bartender asked if we were staying for the parade. I didn't know about it, but said sure, then he asked if we wanted to be in the parade. He told me who to go look for (Manny and some other guy) - they were looking for families to be in it. I found them, and lo and behold, we got to be in the parade. It was so fun! My DD sat on my lap clapping her hands - it was so fun!

We had such a great time that trip. I have been taking my kids ever since, sometimes without DH as I just love it.

 

[RN4Babies]

Mine isn't really a tearjerker but involved my DS on our trip last May. He was 3 1/2 and while he had been potty trained for pp he had not been able to get the hang of the other. About 2 weeks before our trip I told him that Mickey Mouse would really like him to poo in the potty. That he didn't like stinky pullups. We had tried EVERYTHING. But that did it. A week before our trip he became fully potty trained and didn't have a single accident the entire week at WDW! That was truly a special moment.

Neither of my kids were fully potty trained until they were over 4YO ...yikes...the one thing we didn't try was a trip to WDW.

I can't believe your MIL gave your son bacon for Christmas...hilarious!!!

 

[RN4Babies]

We just came home from my kids' first Disney trip. I had three extra special moments from our best vacation ever.

We got to MK about 2:30 on the first day, after our plane had landed. I had my sister hold dd8's hand when we were about to round the corner and she'd see the castle straight ahead for the first time. I got about 15 feet in front of them, then turned so I could see her face. I purposely didn't dig my camera out; I wanted to have that image of her reaction in my head without worrying about "framing a shot". Her total look of awe and amazement was absolute magic! We then started walking down Main Street, just browsing, when the 3pm parade started. We sat on the curb to watch, and my dd gave me a big hug and said, "Thank you for making my wishes come true." She's high functioning autistic, and for her to express this much emotion and verbalize what she's thinking was miraculous.

My ds17 hadn't seemed too excited about the trip; I think he thought it was mainly for little kids, with a couple of roller coasters thrown in. The first two things we did were to see "Monsters Laugh Floor" and to go on the Buzz Lightyear Shooting Gallery. He had a ball, and from that point on was totally into the whole experience, no matter what park we were at, and even seemed to enjoy the princess breakfast in Norway. (It helped that Jasmine was there).

On the plane on the way home, we were going down the runway to take off, and I felt a little tap on my hand. DD was looking up at me with big crocodile tears rolling silently down her cheeks. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "I don't want to leave DisneyWorld" I gave her a hug; I knew exactly how she felt.

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

2007 was our DS4's first trip to Disney and he couldn't wait to meet Buzz!
Well, we spotted him in Tomorrowland (Tomormow as DS calls it)
and we get in line. Once it's our turn, we position the boys to get their
picture taken with Buzz.
All of a sudden, Buzz starts pointing to my DH's arms and pointing to the ground Then he squeezes DH's arms (he does have nice guns)
Then we realize, Buzz is challanging DH to push-ups!
My DH assums the position and they are off, the people all lined up behind us
are saying 'what are they doing?"
Needless to say, DH "let" Buzz win But I looooooved the looks on my sons
faces, and it also was a magical moment for DH
and here it is...

[/IMG]

 

[disneyfanUSA]

Bump