That one moment **TISSUE ALERT**

[katiejo]

I love these and I'm only on page 1! How could anyone not understand Disney magic after hearing stories like these?

 

[eelderm1]

subbing

 

[Joanna71985]

What beautiful stories!!

 

[SunnieRN]

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.

Oh my goodness. I lost my Mom about a year and 1/2 ago. She got the diagnosis of liver cancer and the doctor told her she had 6-24 months left to live. Being an RN and seeing my Mom, I knew this would not be the case.
The doctor has taken care of my parents for over 30 years and I knew he could not look at the situation realistically or honestly as he had misdiagnosed my Mom a year before and felt guilty.
Unfortunately seeing the debilitation that had occured in my Moms health I knew her time with us would be shorter. We went home from her appointment and she was excited about the fact that the doctor had given her such a "long time to live". We filled out her 5 wishes form for how she wanted things to proceed during the course of her illness and after her death.
My Mom loved all that was Disney! My parents took us on our first trip in 1967. We were one of the first families to ride POTC when it was being "previewed" and she fell in love then.
She wanted to take one more trip with her kids, grandkids and her great grandchildren. We spent the next 4 days starting to plan our disneyland trip.
On day 5 it was the 4th of July and we were all there with her. My brother, and his family, from CA, my daughter and grandson from TX and myself from CO (at the time).
We watched the fireworks from her front yard (a family tradition). The next day Mom was lethargic and not very aware of things. She did talk about disneyland however. The following morning she passed away. She lived her last days with love for her family and her love for disney. She was happy!
Reading this thread I would NEVER have thought of this as my "disney memory" until I rad the quoted thread above.
I so admire your family for still surprising your children!! Spectaculor!! It took quite some time for me to be able to type this through the tears.
I have so many happy memories of Disney, it is truly a magical place!!

 

[boakl]

We were watching Wishes from the observation deck on top of the Contemporary. An extended family came out and stood next to us. The oldest couple (the grandparents I presume), stood with their granddaughter between them and their adult son stood behind them with his arms draped around the grandparents shoulders.

The grandparents had obviously never seen Wishes and were oohing and aahing at everything. About 3/4 of the way through the Grandfather yelled: "I hope this moment never ends!". I am welling as I type this...


That, and every time I see my kids enter Disney ...

 

[Princess Sleepy]

we had gone only once when i was a kid and i hadn't been back until dh took me a few months after we got engaged.

ya ya disney will be fun -

we flew in, checked in and headed over to mk

oh this is kinda cool

ya right - i'm standing infront of that round garden thing infront of the castle watching the show and dh looks at me and askes what's wrong.

here i stood - a 30something women standing in themiddle of a bunch of people, tears running down my face.

to this day i still don't know why i was crying, its not like i remember going as a kid it was just emotional for me.

to this day i get that twinge of emotion the first time we walk down main street each visit.

That was me this year. It was the first time my DH, DD2, and DD5 had been there. We were standing outside MK watching the opening show and they started the countdown. I got chills and had tears streaming down my cheeks. It was like I had been planning this trip for almost 2 years and it was finally going to happen. I'm sure my DH thought I was nuts.

 

[paintnolish]

This thread is long, so I certainly haven't read them all, but the ones I have read are wonderful! I have sooo many memories of wonderful trips...

DD was 5 and saw Tink fly from the castle during Wishes. She gasped and said, "She's real! She's really REAL!"
I went yearly growing up and my first trip with kids was with my mom. I got so choked up when on Dumbo, I looked down and saw her playing with dd (1), while I rode with ds (3). It was just one of those moments that make you stop and appreciate how wonderful life is.

 

[MickeyPalace]

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.

What a beautiful family you have and how wonderful that you are teaching your family that life and love go on. Thank you so much for sharing this story.

 

[disneychic]

For me it was while on our honeymoon. I had only been to WDW once, as a teenager w/ my family. And, I have a husband who has traveled all over w/ his family while growing up. The one place he really hadn't been was WDW (he went once as a teen, but it was a weekend trip and he didn't see all that much.) When it came time to plan our honeymoon, he thought I'd want to go to Hawaii, Fiji, something like that....nope, there was no question about it, I told him that I wanted to go to WDW. He said he'd think about it. I immediately ordered the planning video, when it came he agreed, that it would be a lot of fun. So, we choose to stay at the Grand Floridian for 2 weeks on the "Grand Plan." We had just arrived, checked into the hotel, met w/ concierge, saw our room, etc. It was in the late afternoon, and we took the monorail over to MK because we were going to have dinner at CRT. When we walked into the MK and were on Main St. USA, and I saw the castle & heard the music in the background, it was so overwhelming that I started to cry. My husband said "You're CRYING! Why are you crying!?!?!" And I said "Because we're HERE! At Disney!" It was just so perfect. Even now, 8+ years later, when I think about that moment I get myself all choked up

 

[my2disneyboys]

As a family we'd been to Disney numerous times (and so many times prior to having kids), but the one moment that stands out to me involved my 2nd child, my son. My son was a very late talker. We had already been through numerous evaluations for him and because he always fell into a 'gray' area with the testing, we didn't have a definitive diagnosis. Receptive/Expressive lang. delay? Autism? Natural late talker? Apraxic? We just didn't know for sure. Well, when he was 3 we took our annual trip to WDW and there was just something magical about it. He started talking, he started being more interested in things, he was so full of joy and trying to communicate everything he saw to us! While in line for It's A Small World he said "Mommy" and he clapped his hands and said "Ride." It was by far a turning point for us, for him. It truly will always be a trip to remember for our family. From that point on, his speech really took off. We continue to go to WDW every year, and it seems like every year he is still making improvements!!

I think the curiosity and wonderment that Disney evokes works magic, I truly do. No one will ever convince me of anything different.

Ok- So this one made me tear up a little. Mostly because I have a 19 month old (My 2nd boy) and he is a late talker- has had numerous ear infections, tubes, and testing that isnt "bad" but isnt "good" either. So for now, he just tries to talk but it all kind of sounds the same. We leave in 53 days... who knows, maybe in Disney he will start talking more for us

 

[paintnolish]

SerinaEmily- What a beautiful story.

 

[mhalpern]

Okay this isn't a tissue alert - and it probably falls in the category of WAY too much information - but...what the heck. My DH and I were trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for a year. We went to Disney World in October that year and well, let's just say that our daughter was born the following July. You do the math.

We now have two beautiful kids who will be going to WDW for their fourth time this June and the oldest is only 9.

 

[madams2]

so many memories but the most recent that I can remember that shows the innocents of children..

My son wasn't even 2 yet and we were at MGM waiting for a picture with Pluto. When it was our turn Pluto bent down to be at my son's height. My son thought, since Pluto had his mouth open, he would take his pacifer and put it in his Pluto's mouth. Pluto loved it

 

[luvgoing2disney]

Ok, I've got 2 from our first trip.

The first one happened after SpectroMagic one night. We were standing on the north side of the Hub in front of the "birthday cake" castle and as "Fantasy in the Sky" started, I picked our 4 1/2 year old son up and held him so he could see better. He kept his eyes on the fireworks, but said to me, "Oh, Daddy, I wish I could live here FOREVER!" Suddenly the fireworks, at least viewed from my sentimental eyes, became very blurry.

The next night we were at EPCOT and as we were leaving, decided to stop in Mouse Gear. There were very few people shopping at the moment when all of sudden Mickey comes out. My son saw him and ran to give him the biggest hug, and Mickey knelt down to give him a big hug as well. I was able to capture most of it on video and it is a favorite moment. There were no other people pushing to get autographs or pictures, so we had several minutes with the Mouse.

Gotta love that Disney Magic.

 

[Glendamax]

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.

Love your story! Thanks so much for sharing! We really do need to keep in mind that "what's normal for you may be a fantasy for someone else".

 

[mmtska]

I still remember this 22 years later. Background-I love my dad, but he's a very introverted person and rarely lets his happy-go-lucky side show. Not into theme parks much at all....but that's ok.

I was 7 and my parents took me to WDW for the 2nd time. We went to a character breakfast and my dad likes Pluto. Well my mom found a way to make sure that Pluto came over and hung out with us. He LICKED my dad's cheek and my dad burst out laughing and couldn't stop. It was the coolest thing because I thought my dad and Pluto were friends Hey I was 7! Then all the characters came over and I got a hug from Goofy (my fave at the time). It was the best thing ever and one of my most favorite Disney memories.

Heck I'm tearing up now because I miss my dad. Japan is too far....

 

[SassyTink213]

My most memorable Disney moment was when my family was on my brother's Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World in 1998. He was 7 at the time (spinal tumor and yes is in great health today, you'd never believe it was him if you didn't see his scar and radiation marks). My brother had on a big Give-Kids-The-World pin.We were inthe American Pavilion in Epcot deciding what to eat when a swarm of Meeko started "snacking" on my brothers teddy grams, which he pilfered from my brother's backpack on the back of his red wheelchair. At the time my brother couldn't walk. Goofy started pushing him around in a crazy trail around America. Chip and Dale were chasing after him all the while stopping to mess my sister and my hair. Mickey, Miney, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, and even Pocahontas herself came and joined in our impromptu wheelchair parade. They spent quite a while with us. The CM's even took a family portrait of us and all the characters. It was the first time I'd seen my brother smile in about 8 or 9 months. They had him grinning, laughing, and teasing them right back. It was truely magical. I will never forget how wonderful they were. We will forever be grateful!

 

[HayGan]

Mine and DH's was on our first trip to WDW with our boys. We had dinner at the castle and walked out just in time to have a front row seat for Wishes. It was the perfect ending to our first perfect MK day. It was such a special family moment.

 

[Tbelle1976]

Mine would be this past Valentine's Day when DD twirled in the parade at MK. For as many years as I've been to WDW and have loved to see the parades I've dreamed of how awesome it would be to actually be in one...and now my DD got to experience it. I definitely had to have the tissues ready!

 

[pampam]

This thread is too good to let die.