What made you start going to Disneyland?

[LizzyS]

I have to be honest with you, it was the Captain EO tribute! I was thinking about this recently and I said to myself, "what was it that made you want to go there in the first place, again?". I thought and thought and, sure enough, my love for Michael Jackson is what did it. When I found out about Captain EO at Disneyland I started looking into the whole park, researching everything about it and I have to say that I was in love before I ever got there, lol.

What got you there the first time? Went as a kid? had an interest in a certain attraction? Someone dragged you there?

I'd love to hear, especially from those like myself who started going as an adult!

 

[dotfurio]

I can't say it was one thing in particular that made me a Disney fan. I went there a few times as a young child, mostly before I could really remember much. I have the photographic evidence to remind me

I went again in high school with my marching band a couple times. That was exciting to be behind the scenes and marching down main street.

When my husband and I were dating, we went together because he had never been! We had so much fun we started going every 2-3 years. He's now enjoys pin trading and is especially excited about all things Star Wars.

When our firstborn was almost 3 and we were banging our heads against the wall trying to potty train a stubborn toddler, we promised her a trip to DL if she managed the potty for 2 weeks. She promptly complied. DL with children is so magical - they are in awe of everything. I think that's what sealed the deal. Since then we've been to DL at least once a year, been on DCL, and now are passholders. I can't wait for our next cruise, and we want to visit Aulani in the next few years. And even though I only planned to be a passholder for a year, I'm having so much fun I can't imagine being without it! We're getting to know the parks in ways we didn't make time for on our annual trips, like trying different dining options or shows and exploring more little shops.

 

[LizzyS]

I went to WDW as a child before I could remember anything and also have photographic evidence that Goofy and I were good friends, lol.

We don't have kids, but I could only imagine it would be fun to take them to DLR and watch them have a blast!

 

[Indiana Scott]

My family went a couple of times in the late 60's (66 & 68 I believe) when I was a kid and then in 2000, with my own family, I got this nostalgic notion of going again.
After that we were hooked.

 

[LizzyS]

It is certainly addictive!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

As a kid we went to WDW a lot. So I always kind of wanted to go to Disneyland and made tentative plans that I changed in favor of going to WDW (I thought there was no way Disneyland would be better than WDW!). So in 2007 hubby and I decided to take a quick trip to DL, I think we got a good flight deal. And I was HOOKED! Don't get me wrong, I still think of WDW as my home park but now I love them both. If I had to choose only one to go to forever, I don't think I could.

 

[TechGuy]

I have been going to DL since I was about 3. I went several times over the years as a kid and then we moved to Chicago and then near San Francisco. As a teen ager we would return every couple years as a family. I remember one trip was my first year driving and it was a big deal. When I got married, my wife and started going alone, with family... then we had a family and starting taking our kids. DD is 12 and she has been 4 times, IIRC. Our DD (24, adopted @13) refuses to go with us anymore as we are rope-drop to close type guests. One trip we had 4 generations in park.

We are going to DLR for our 25th Anniversary this year while she is at Girl Scout camp. I guess you could say we are addicted

 

[kaoden39]

My love affair with Disneyland started when I was 7 years old and in Anaheim to be the flower girl in my Uncle Bill's wedding. When my soon to be Aunt Julie heard that our parents had never taken us to Disneyland she had to take us. That was all she wrote! She became my favorite Aunt and Disneyland was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen!

 

[Meriweather]

We went as a family when I was 3. We lived in N CA and had family in S CA, so it was a natural thing to try out (1957).
We went back several times while I was growing up.
I went in high school with my BF.
And then when I was married and we could afford it, we started going more often.

WDW was harder to get to. I didn't go until I was in my 30s. My kids had a National tournament in the area so we went.....2 years in a row. Then we just started going back more often.

 

[GoBears 1980]

I grew up in OC so started going when I was a toddler. When I was in middle school, moms would take turns dropping us off at the DLH and we'd ride the Monorail into the park and hang till a parent got us in the afternoon. I got a job there when I was 17 worked there for the next 11 years trough undergrad and grad school and until I left education. Got my first annual pass the day after my last day. Since my new job was close I used to take my Wall Street Journal, my refillable coffee mug and go chill in the park to read my WSJ. With Premium Parking back then I was parking about where La Brea Bakery is now to walk into the park....

 

[fantasmicfantastic]

I had been to DL as a child and DW as a teen, but Disney was just a fun vacation to me at the time. However, while my wife and I were dating we decided to go to DL off a whim after receiving our tax returns in 2005, and we haven't looked back since. Disney has become such an important part of our lives since that trip a little over ten years ago. We love all things Disney (movies, music, theme parks, etc.) and now we are annual passholders to DL and are DVC owners at VGC.

My guess is we must have been sprinkled with some Pixie Dust during that first trip together

 

[darcie2000]

Growing up in Australia, all we knew about Disneyland was what we had seen on tv and read in books. The castle, Dumbo and the Tea Cups was what symbolized Disneyland for me. It was this amazing magical place in a far away land that I would never have thought I would ever see.

When my DD was about 4 years old, she saw a commercial for Disneyland on a DVD she was watching. She asked me if I would take her and I said "one day", thinking that the likelihood would be low.

Well life has a funny way of turning out. My dear old dad ended up falling in love with a Canadian woman and moving to the other side of the world.

We went to visit him for the first time in 2008, and my dad said there was no way we could fly all the way to Canada and be so close to Disneyland and not go.

As we walked through the esplanade and approached the gates, I had the biggest smile on my face. I smiled so darn hard it hurt lol. The expression on my DD's face when she realised we were at DISNEYLAND was incredible. She was 8 years old and her dreams had come true.

I fell in love with Disneyland that very day. This was the one place I could forget about the outside world. I could be a child again, full of innocence and joyful wonder.

We've been back another two times since then. Once in 2010. We had been visiting my dad on Vancouver Island when my daughter impaled her leg on a camping trip. It left her stationary for the majority of our trip and she missed out on a lot of fun things. My dad surprised us with a trip to Disneyland at the end of our visit to cheer her up.

We then went back in 2013, this time taking my sister, her husband and 3 kids. My dad and stepmum flew down and met us before we would join them back on the island. It was incredible. For the first time my DD would have other kids with her! Experiencing it with my sister was amazing.

We have another trip planned this year. We are doing a girls only trip consisting of my myself, teen DD, my sister, teen niece and my mum. I've never really been on a holiday with my mum before so I'm very very excited, but also very nervous because she's not INTO Disney like we are lol.

 

[Indiana Scott]

Wonderful story Darcie, thanks for sharing.

 

[McNs]

Growing up in Australia, all we knew about Disneyland was what we had seen on tv and read in books. The castle, Dumbo and the Tea Cups was what symbolized Disneyland for me. It was this amazing magical place in a far away land that I would never have thought I would ever see.

Same for me here in New Zealand. The odd kid at school would go and come back with amazing stories of Matterhorn and Space Mountain, but it really was nothing more than a dream. As an adult our family holidays were to Australia and the theme parks on the Gold Coast, including when our kids were young. At the beginning of 2013, when we were talking about what we would do for a vacation that year, I joked about visiting Disneyland (subconsciously I don't think I was joking). At that time the AU Dollar was high vs NZ and the US low, so apart from the expensive flights, everything else was going to cost about the same (or less for shopping). So off we went, LOVED it, went back last year and are going back this year...

One other thing we love about our Disney vacations is that you are in of one of the most amazing, vast, exciting metropolitan areas of the world (did I say vast?). There is so much more to do in the area, in fact all of California, that for us makes it the perfect destination.

 

[petals]

I've always gone to WDW but when I watched Saving Mr. Banks I wanted to visit California so Disneyland it was

 

[disneycat321]

I went to Disneyland as a baby and a couple times again when I was 13 or 14 and had moved to Orange County - loved it as a young teen, but wasn't really hooked. In college, before DH and I were dating (but when we were definitely and very obviously interested in each other), we went to DL for a day because a friend got us in for free. I think that's when I was hooked. It became "our" place. My (then future) in-laws bought us passes for Christmas when we were dating, and we went ALL the time through dating, our engagement, and our first 4 years of marriage. We also used to go a lot with friends in college and after, before everyone (including us) moved away! We also went to WDW for our honeymoon and our 3rd anniversary, and hope to go again in the next year or two. We absolutely LOVE WDW, but Disneyland will always be home. Disneyland is just a very special place for us as a couple - it's definitely our happy place. We've celebrated a few anniversaries at Blue Bayou and Steakhouse 55, as well. Now that we live in northern CA, we still make it down there whenever we can - Dec 2014, July 2015, and probably November or December again, depending which holiday we go down there for. My in-laws understand that a trip to visit them also means we will be visiting Disneyland at some point during our stay, even if it's only for a day. Whenever we have kids, they are definitely going to be Disney kids!

 

[KCmike]

In 1990 we went to WDW for the first time. We were instantly hooked and thought it was the end all be all to vacations. We did this as the kids grew up for almost a decade of going to Florida. I was starting to get bored with it and wanted to go out west and see Disneyland. My family reluctantly agreed back in 2007 for a long weekend in October when there were fires going on and ashes were falling around the hotel. We flew in on Southwest Airlines and went through a pitch black area in the sky and my family looked at me like we were headed to our doom.

We all loved it and thought it was amazing. We saw Remember Dreams Come True Fireworks, Parade of Dreams, and Nightmare Before Christmas HM. We started exclusively going to DL. I consider it my home park even though WDW was our first. We love California and Disneyland. What a wonderful gift Walt Disney gave to us!

 

[Malela9]

My mom and took me when I was 6 months old in 1969. She said even though I was a baby, I loved it. Man, was my family sorry! I have multiple WDW trips and have been a DL annual passholder since 1992!