The things that made you smile...

[briarberry]

What a positive thread!
We spend two weeks this summer at DW with my sister and her teenage kids. My DD and I love DW and have been twice before on our own. I was really hoping my niece and nephew would enjoy it as much as we did but up until Fantasmic I was a bit sad because they were too busy being "cool" to really enjoy themselves too much or at least that was the message they were sending!
At Fantasmic my 16 year old nephew was sitting in front of me and I could see his expression very clearly. He was delighted the entire time and when Mickey appeared at the top of the "mountain" he shouted right out loud, "it's Mickey!" I could have cried. That one brief moment when he let his guard down I saw the little boy he once was - that made the whole trip worth all the planning I had done.
My DD who is nearly 10 told me after we got home that she will always love DW even when she is a teenager - I was glad to hear that.

 

[jenjen212]

There are so many things that make us smile when we go to wdw.

1. one is when we pull up to the disney resort that we are staying at. there is always a sense of "magic" while checking in to our "home".

2. everytime we get pictures taken with the characters; (we always do a character meal on our first day there, to sort of 'kick-off' the trip)

3. everytime i think of the times when we have taken my godson to disney (now 4). each time we have taken him with us, we picked him up from day care that day, and headed up to orlando right after work. (we live in miami). now everytime that he hears that we are going to pick him up from day care, he asks if we are going to wdw. he gets so excited and giddy. that alone puts a smile on my face just thinking about it.

4. a specific time is when a very close childhood friend of mine (who i never get to see because she lives out of state with her dh in the military), her dh, and her 3 children (8, 6, 3), who none of which had ever been to disney, asked us "the disney pros", to accompany and plan their time at wdw. they could only afford to do one day, park hopper tickets. so we tried to do as much as we could to pack in the most "magic" for their family. the 8 year old was turning 9 the next week. so, i got her the "it's my B-Day" button. we did breakfast at Crystal Palace. Every where we went, everyone said Happy BDay to her, the barber shop quartet say happy bday to her (got it on video). We went to EPCOT for a few hours to catch "talk with crush", crush picked the 6 year old to talk to- she loved it. The 3 year old was too little to ride Soaring, so while we waited, a cast member gave him a chef's hat from the jr baking area, with a couple of cookies. We went back to MK to see spectromagic and wishes. We left the men (my dh and her dh) holding our spots for the parade, while she and i took the kids to toon town for pics with the princesses and pooh and friends. They all got a dose of magic from the great castmembers at wdw. they were in awe during wishes, and had never seen anything like it. Although it was only a 1-day trip, everytime i think of it, it brings a smile to my face thinking of how "magical" we all felt being there that one day. They are now stationed in Germany now, but evertime we talk, we always talk about that trip and how next time we'll have to do it for a week.

 

[ShariM]

This past summer my DH and I were in WDW having lunch at Pinocchio's Haus and sitting at the windows that overlook the Small World ride. A family with a young son sat at the table behind us and the boy (maybe 3 1/2 years old) was waving and watching the people on the ride. He asked his dad if it was okay if he waved at the people on the boats, to which the dad replied, "Sure, and when we are done eating maybe we can go ride it to." The son's face lit up completely and he said, "What a GREAT IDEA, Dad!!". It makes us smile to remember it still!

 

[paintnolish]

These are all so sweet!
I loved when dd (5) met the princesses. "They're are real! They're really real! They're not just in costumes!"

 

[resol37]

Most of my memories are from when I was an intern (my memory's always been a little off so even though my first trip was when I was 13, I barely remember my first 3 trips) and I spent a lot of time touring alone, so I don't have a lot of memories associated with family members.

My smile moments:

The movie montage at the end of GMR

The Twilight Zone video in the library of ToT (this one actually does remind me of my family's 2000 trip - my brother and I rode ToT 15 times in one day and had that video memorized)

The entirity of Mickey's PhilharMagic

The part in Wishes where Aladdin wishes for Genie's freedom - this has always been a smile/cry point for me since the first time I saw Wishes because, in all of the movie sound clips they use, it's the only wish that a character makes for somebody else.

Hopefully, I'll make some great memories with my family next May.

 

[DiszyDeanette]

One night MGM had EMH and my son and I stayed up until 1am riding the ToT and RnRC over and over. The last trip or two on the RnRC I got to a point where I knew where every turn and corkscrew was, and riding it (after the initial shooting out of the tunnel and leaving your spleen in the lap of the person behind you) turned into somewhat of a lucid dream. I remember feeling like we were floating, my son and I just grinning at each other with the music playing from what seemed like far away. Time would suspended itself for just that one moment in time, and I'll never forget it.

Watching my husband and daughter makes me smile too. They are so much alike, and don't seem to realize it. They like the same rides and shows, have the same reactions, etc. If they were the same age, they would be twins, LOL! It's fun seeing DH be such a softie. During the normal work week the man is a serious hard-a$$ that eats nails for breakfast, and has no time for nonsense. We had to struggle a little to get there this year, but it will be so worth it to see him act like a kid again!

 

[Fitswimmer]

I have had unhappy moments, but I've never had unhappy times.

That is an excellent point! When you read those gripe and pet peeve posts, they are all about incidents. I'm sure that there are some people that would let one or two moments ruin an entire vacation-but I'm not one of them. If I was, I wouldn't keep going back!
We've been to WDW many times since that first trip when I was 12. Everything about the World has happy memories for me. When we come in and see the sign I remember the surprise trip my parents took me on at Christmas-we stayed at the Poly and had the BEST week! When we go across the lake on the ferry I remember taking a friend who was turning 40 and had NEVER been to the World before and watching her face when she saw the castle for the very first time. When I see the train I remember my nephew and how he LOVED trains when he was little and we rode it around the park about 9 times that trip. Every time I ride BTMRR I remember my niece saying after we got off "That's the kind of ride I like!!"-she was 5 and it was her first coaster. When I go to EPOCT I remember eating at Living Seas and we had some molten chocolate thing for dessert and it was like When Harry Met Sally-everyone around us wanted what we were having.
Oh...heavy sigh....can't wait to go back....even the wait has memories of my niece asking "how many sleeps till we go to see Mickey?"

 

[phantom728]

I think one of my fondest memories from our trip in 2002, was seeing my DD riding Dumbo with my Dad. I have a picture of me when I was about her age riding Dumbo with my Grandfather and now it has a mate.
It was so special sharing WDW with her and this trip we are going with the in-laws and will have new memories to share.

 

[luvpoohbear]

Almost everything about Disney makes me smile!!

Some specifics are:

*When we get on the Florida turnpike and start seeing Disney billboards.

*When I see the the road signs, Disney World exit #

*Just being in Orlando, knowing that I am so close to WDW!!

*Checking in the resort, the magic has begun!

*Everytime I see the castle.

*Everytime I see Spaceship Earth

*Everytime I see DTD

*When I watch Wishes I have a "happy cry"!

*To hear my son say yesterday, Mom I can't wait for Sept. 16th! and I say, why? and he looked at me and said, We're going to Disney World!!

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Not smiling at Disney is hard to do for me!

One of my biggest smiles was this past trip to WDW last December. It was a trip for just my mother & I.

My parents moved to Florida in '72. My mom was a housewife/homemaker; my dad was a builder and make the big bucks. Disney was something we did every few months.

Well, when I was very young, my dad confessed to my mother that he was no longer attracted to her; he was attracted to males (I found out this tidbit years and years later). They divorced, and my mother suddenly found herself as a single parent. My dad became a DJ and made hardly any money for child support. My mother went back to school and struggled so very hard to give us a good life. She still always managed to take me to Disney a couple times a year. We might not have had money for trinkets, expensive meals or nice hotels, but she always took me, even if it meant we camped or stayed off-site somewhere cheap.

Fast forward 30 years. Both Mom & I are still diehard Disney addicts. Only now we're both successful business owners. Her and I took a special trip together last December. We'd never seen the holiday decorations put up at the World. We both cried on Main Street when we saw how beautiful it was. We also ate our first meal ever in the Castle, something she couldn't afford while I was growing up; something I couldn't afford as a young adult.

Now that I'm a grown woman, I have so much respect for her and how much pain, uncertainty and fear she must have gone through when she found out about my dad and what the future held for us. She is such a trooper and so very strong. She's told me that the first time she ever went to Disney, she was hooked, that it was so magical for her. Then she looked down at me in my little stroller and saw the smile on my face and the same magic in my eyes. Even now that she's approaching 60 (but still very much a kid at heart!), she says Disney is truly therapeutic

 

[paintnolish]

Not smiling at Disney is hard to do for me!

One of my biggest smiles was this past trip to WDW last December. It was a trip for just my mother & I.

My parents moved to Florida in '72. My mom was a housewife/homemaker; my dad was a builder and make the big bucks. Disney was something we did every few months.

Well, when I was very young, my dad confessed to my mother that he was no longer attracted to her; he was attracted to males (I found out this tidbit years and years later). They divorced, and my mother suddenly found herself as a single parent. My dad became a DJ and made hardly any money for child support. My mother went back to school and struggled so very hard to give us a good life. She still always managed to take me to Disney a couple times a year. We might not have had money for trinkets, expensive meals or nice hotels, but she always took me, even if it meant we camped or stayed off-site somewhere cheap.

Fast forward 30 years. Both Mom & I are still diehard Disney addicts. Only now we're both successful business owners. Her and I took a special trip together last December. We'd never seen the holiday decorations put up at the World. We both cried on Main Street when we saw how beautiful it was. We also ate our first meal ever in the Castle, something she couldn't afford while I was growing up; something I couldn't afford as a young adult.

Now that I'm a grown woman, I have so much respect for her and how much pain, uncertainty and fear she must have gone through when she found out about my dad and what the future held for us. She is such a trooper and so very strong. She's told me that the first time she ever went to Disney, she was hooked, that it was so magical for her. Then she looked down at me in my little stroller and saw the smile on my face and the same magic in my eyes. Even now that she's approaching 60 (but still very much a kid at heart!), she says Disney is truly therapeutic

What a nice story! Good for you and your mom!

 

[carolfoy]

I was walking quickly through Fantasyland heading for tomorrowland to meet up with the rest of my party when Donald Duck emerged from a side door, he was heading for the same area so we walked the whole way together, I was chatting away to him and the CM that was with him walked several paces behind, she could obviously see I was having the time of my life having a huge character all to myself foe at least 7 or 8 minutes. It was great, made me feel like I was in the parade

 

[madelinesmum]

I smile at the moment when you're driving into the parks and just up and over head you see the big archway that says Magic Kingdom. I get giddy like a three year old.
I think Wishes, Illuminations, and Fantasmic make me smile the entire time.

 

[lisadisney2003]

That is easy. In preparation for our last trip (dd 2.5) we had talked up all the things we would see & do. When she caught that first glimpse of the castle and said "It's the castle, it really is." Wow. That reaction can't help but put a smile on your face. That one moment make the cost, and the travel hassles, and the lines, and so on worth it!!

 

[JBARN105]

My "smile" moments:
Entering our resort
The first walk down Main Street of each trip
Having my DS (5) tell me "I'm a lucky boy" while at WDW
Happy cry during wishes
When my son runs to a character

 

[reginaastralis]

These are just wonderful stories.

During our last trip, about two months ago, there were tons of characters out. Before having my daughter, I never really took the time to take pics with the characters ... since having her I've made it my "mission" to take a pic of her with every character.

So, we're on Main Street, and I look over and there's Wendy. I grab my sisters hand *she's eight* and we ran to get in line. There was no one near us. My daughter was 16 months and wearing a green shirt, and Wendy held her and said to her "Do you know you're wearing Peter's favorite color?" It almost seems silly to still remember how sweet I thought it was, but it was absolutely adorable!

We then took the time to stand in line to meet the Princesses in Toon Town. Again, having never taken the time to take pictures, I didn't even realize this was there! There were a few girls in front of us, taking their time with Cinderella, and Snow White didn't have a line. She came over and talked to my sister, and asked about her sister. Well, Jordyn was quick to point out that Julie's her neice, and Snow White thanked her for being such a great Aunt.

Then, there was when we saw Mickey. Same trip. Julie, my daughter, is OBSESSED with Mickey. She refers to him as MEME!!!! Well, the kid in front of us, his pen didn't work. We were the only other people in the room, so the handler asked if we could have a pen ... and I asked Jordyn to give it to him. When it was our turn, Mickey said "thank you" in sign language. He gave Jordyn a huge hug, while the photographers were just snapping away. So, I stepped up with Julie, who leaned over and gave Mickey a kiss on the nose. Mickey "blushed" and said thank you again. It was ADORABLE!!!! We got about 10 pics during that time in the room with Mickey ... and it brings a smile back to my face now just thinking about it. I absolutely love photo pass ... haha.

A smile moment is when I think back to singing in the Processional. We live about 1 1/2 hours away from Disney, and as a teen, I would think "Man, I don't want to go again" But, getting on stage, and singing those songs. Makes me smile thinking back. I can't wait to go and watch it this year.

It's so funny, looking back ... when I was so "against" spending the time to see the characters, and all of my favorite memories deal with getting our picture taken.

Amanda

 

[heart4dis]

Great moments and stories. Disney has impacted all of us. Hopefully we take the positive attitudes home with us and share them....

My smiles
* The Castle. Always the first view of the castle. (Does it count as a smile if you are crying?)
* A picture I have of my DS playing with the dancing waters at Epcot. He has such joy on his face!
* Cinderella's Royal Table for Breakfast. Wow.
* Seeing the Main Street parade after the Steelers won the Super Bowl w/Bettis et al!!
* WISHES
* Having a DS who is usually tentative about thrill rides dare to ride TOT and end up riding it 5 times!! Now he says his dream is to ride it ALL DAY LONG
* Having kids who indulge their 40-plus-old-mom with her Cinderella fettish.

 

[heart4dis]

I forgot that I was going to say....

* Wearing a birthday button all day and getting so many "Happy Birthdays" called out to me (even someone in the parade!!!)
* Another family saw me with my birthday button and wanted a picture with me and their 4-year old dd who was also having a birthday!! It was so sweet. I have the picture, too. They were from Chicago and I from Texas (well, originally PA). Isn't it great how friendly we feel at WDW? BTW, we share a bday w/ Ronald Reagan and Babe Ruth!