I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures (I had to take pics of pics as I couldn't get my scanner to work) and for the lateness of the chapter. Unfortunately both Photobucket and the DIS weren't kind to me last night and I had to wait until this morning to get this up. It will be in two parts. Part one is below. Part two will follow sometime today.
Oh, and to honor LegoMom's request, you probably won't need the tissues just yet. That will probably be necessary for the second part.
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We all have a story about how we came to be enamored of the World. The moment when, suddenly as if sprinkled with some magic dust, we fell in love with the place so deeply and completely that we wouldnt think twice of returning again and again, of starting Disney coin jars for all of our spare pennies, of purloining tri-global paint samples from a certain home improvement store which will remain nameless, of browsing an internet web board for countless hours for even the tiniest bit of unknown trivia about our favorite spot on this little planet called Earth.
Not that Id know anything about those last two.
It often happens that we can credit a person or people with that sudden spark of love those who introduced us to 'The World' (sometimes the same as those who brought us into 'the world') or those who accompanied us on our first visit. Its no different for me.
1987. I was 7 and my grandparents decided it would be the perfect time for my first trip to the World. I cant remember how far in advance I knew about the trip. I dont think it was that long. I just remember being very excited at having the trip with my grandparents all to myself. And not having to share it with my younger brother, who was 2 at the time. His newness had worn off. Like an old toy, I was hoping Santa might let me trade him in for a new Barbie playhouse.
My grandparents (my dads mom and stepdad) were like second parents to us. Our parents worked full time (and then some) to make ends meet and to save for a house and we spent most days after school with my grandparents. We lived close by and, later, in the same apartment complex and so on many weekends wed sleep over too. Suffice it to say I spent as much time at their house as I spent at my own. They loved to take us out to the Museum of Science, to the mall, to the movies. My grandmother took me to see my very first movie in a theatre Benji, The Hunted. You could still smoke in movie theatres back then and I can very vividly remember seeing the trails of cigarette smoke reflected in the light from the projector.
Smoking was bad. Even at 7 I knew this. No, you havent just stepped into a Smokey the Bear public announcement. This has relevance. See, right about the time my parents surprised their parents with the announcement of my impending arrival and their marriage plans, my grandmother quit smoking. And a few years later was diagnosed with lung cancer. Back then, not having the technology we have now, this was a pretty grave diagnosis. You were lucky if you made it a few years. (For the record, once she finished her treatment, my grandmother was in remission for 7 years. She was on some records type list at one of the hospitals for making it that long.) So it was drilled into my head, Smoking is bad. So its not odd that the one thing I remember most about that first movie was the cigarette smoke. Oh, and that I was really upset about Benji being hunted.
All of this backstory to make a simple point, really. We adored our grandparents. I had a particularly strong and special bond with my grandmother. Even that young I recognized it. As I got older I knew she got me like no one else did. Not even my mom, at that point. There was something very special between my grandmother and I and I held it very close and protected it fiercely.
So when I found out I had the chance to have them all to myself for a week at Disney World (a place I didnt think Id ever get to go to because I knew it was very expensive and only the rich kids in my school got to go there) I was over the moon.
So lets go back.
Waaaay back.
Back into time.
To February School Vacation Week, 1987.
My first trip to the World.
Disney was still young then. In its preteen years, perhaps? The Magic Kingdom still ran the Skyway and Mr. Toad still conducted his Wild Ride time and time again, day after day. There were only two mountains at the time Space and Big Thunder. It was a time when the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Lagoon was still, well, a lagoon and not a Pooh themed play area for little tots.
Quick aside this is probably the Disney ride I mourn the loss of the most. Even at 7 I loved this ride so. I think I demanded to ride it every time we passed by. And so, in homage, I give you my Ride of 1987 in all its glory:
Imagineers, please note: BRING THIS BACK!
This was the time that predated waiting in line for a picture with the characters. You saw them and then it was a mad dash where your parents would snap pictures furiously
of you and the 17 other children having their pictures furiously snapped.
Unless you were me. My inaugural picture with the Man, er, the Mouse, the Big Cheese, if you will, is with me, Mickey and this guy:
(Note: I had donned my favoritest shirt ever, with the ballerina kittes, just for the occasion.)
I dont know who he is, but if he was going to be in my very first picture with Mickey, youd think hed be more excited about it, no? We have one other shot, not the nicest of the two, where the man is facing away a bit and biting his nails.
I, for one, am all for the Keepers the characters travel with now. Particularly if it means I dont have someone maintaining their cuticles with their teeth in my pictures.
(Ever wonder what these people are doing today? Do they have families of their own? Are they in prison? Did they invent Velcro?)
Epicot was still relatively young and new. The ball was gloriously naked and would remain so for years to come.
After Living with the Land you could watch Kitchen Cabaret and then head over to take a spin on the World of Motion and then Horizons. Mission Space, Test Track, even the Wonders of Life were just ideas on the drawing board. Universe of Energy and its dinosaurs was the bomb (although back then I think we might have called it radical):
The World was celebrating its 15th anniversary. Rather than frosting Cinderella Castle into a pink pastry nightmare (was Tim Burton in charge of that project?!) or adorning the ball with a randomly dismembered arm, the World celebrated with some special parades and a small and rather unassuming cake at the entrance of Epicot.
Me and my grandma with said cake:
My grandma and gramps with said cake:
And just to confirm, yes, I totally loved to pose. See the hand on the chin? That's just one of many. Dont believe me? Heres a little more evidence me in front of ZZUBs favorite country, Canada. I do believe those sunglasses are heart-shaped and why yes, that is like the first kids Kodak in the history of creation :
We also went to Sea World on this trip. When Shamu was the actual Shamu and not some distant relative. We ate at the character breakfast offered at the Laughing Kookaburra Restaurant at our hotel the Buena Vista Palace across the street from the Disney Market Place. Home of the Empress Lily (Fultons Crab-wha?). We went to Rosie OGradys (though for the life of me I dont remember what that was) and spent a lot of time in the pool, as is the MO for most families traveling with a child under 10 without year-round access to a swimming pool.
I wish I had more vivid memories from this trip, but I dont. Seven was almost 22 years ago now. But I do have a very distinct feeling to this very day from this trip. A warm feeling. One that Ive always, ALWAYS equated to the way I felt after a hug from my grandma. Warm. Happy. Loved.
I knew it then as surely as I know it now. Wed be back.
The second half of the chapter will go up later today. Thanks for your patience!
Anyway, I'm in for the duration! 
