What Was Your Child's First Reaction To Dw His/her First Time?

[tiggtail]

While I was day dreaming about what it will be like taking all four of our grandchildren to Disney World in December for their first time, I realized how important it will be to watch their faces and hear their comments. I want to hear about your experiences with first timers in your families. I will post back in January after ours have had their first moment of awe.

 

[katyjeka]

We have 3 DD's, and they each reacted differently. Our oldest was an only child when we first took her, and she walked by the castle, said nothing! However, as soon as she saw Dumbo, she cried!! She claimed that she had never been happier in her whole life, she was a year and a half. Our second just stood in front of the castle, mouth open, and couldn't figure out what to do. She actually sat down and refused to move. Made for a great picture. Our third is now almost three. She's been to Disney before, but was to little to react to much. She's the ham of the family and the biggest Princess fan we have, so we can't wait to see her reaction. Have a great time. Janice

 

[Nancyg56]

While I was day dreaming about what it will be like taking all four of our grandchildren to Disney World in December for their first time, I realized how important it will be to watch their faces and hear their comments. I want to hear about your experiences with first timers in your families. I will post back in January after ours have had their first moment of awe.

Oh how exciting! I am a Nana and I cannot describe how magical it is to experience Disney though a grandchilds eyes. We took our beloved Princess in January, and I think she was mesmerized the entire time. It was not the rides, the castle, the ambiance.....it was the characters! She was totally enraptured by them.
Her Mom and Dad wanted us to join them along with her Aunt. First stop Chef Mickeys. She was hooked. The next day the shows in MGM. Then lunch with her princesses. She could not stand still, and was laughing the whole time. We spent most of the time stopping to greet all of her "Disney friends" and they all seemed to be as captivated by her as she was of them.

For us, we let her drive the trip. We did not maximize the tickets, as she really was not interested in the attractions, she wanted to just wander aroung, see parades and meet her friends.

I can only say that taking a grandchild is so different from taking your own children. I enjoyed the trip with my kids, but this time was different. My DH and I were part of her world for a while, and this was the first time that DH has truely relaxed in years. Be prepared to catch the fever, because not going back with them is not an option. For two people who are not driven to travel or vacation, we are hooked. I am taking her, along with her Aunt, for a "girls only trip in August, "She will like to go to Mickey's BBQ." and we have already reserved the Poly in January. "She will like the Monorail." I have scoped out the beach club for the following year "She is going to love the pool."

Enjoy this very magical time with your precious grandchildren. It is a blessing to have them as they really do give you a second chance to enjoy seeing everything through innocent eyes.

 

[budbeerlady]

It will be priceless.

DD had watched the video, seen the website, etc. But when we got to the the magic kingdome, walked through the gates and Chip and Dale were right there. There was no one in line by them, she went running up to them, kissed thier noses and wouldnt stop hugging them. It was worth the $$$$$ right then and there! She didnt ohh and ahh over the castle but she did keep talking about that big epcot ball. And that silly Chip and Dale!

 

[KristiKelly]

We have 3 kids our oldest DS was 2-1/2 his 1st trip. He loved all the characters. I remember DH grinding his teeth while lugging a heavy stroller on the bus, it popped open and he was trying to squeeze it all back together (hee hee still makes me giggle a little) I was 7 mo pregnant w/ DD so not much help there. As we were leaving the MK, DS was lying up on my shoulder looking back at the gate he looked up with his big blue eyes and said "Mommy, this is the best place to go." sniff sniff. Brings tears whenever I think about that of course my me laugh thinking of the mumbling something about a stroller.

We took DD when she was 2-1/2. She said before we ever went that she was only going to talk to Pooh and she wasn't going to talk to Cptn. Hook because he was mean. The 1st night there, we ate at 1900 Park Fare with all the Pooh characters. For some reason Goofy was standing out front and he's pretty tall and DD was afraid of him. Anyway, as we were eating, the characters started coming around, Tigger was first and kinda bouncy that scared her. As Pooh came up, DH told Pooh that she was scared, Pooh was very slow, lifted her chin and gave her a kiss on the forehead, (again sniff sniff) I have that pic in my scrapbook. It was so sweet. She LOVED all of the characters after that except Cptn Hook.

DD (baby #3) was only 3 months last year when we took her so she was great. I'm so curious to see how she's going to be in Sept when we go, she'll be 15 mo. I keep Playhouse DIsney on during the day to familiarize her with faces and she watches a Pooh video some.

Just have your camcorder and camera ready.

 

[cjnix29]

My 3 year old son was absolutely mesmerized. We took him to CRT for lunch. Usually he is not a shy or quiet child. Cinderella came up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek and started playing with his toys. He was totally speechless. Snow White did the same. The pictures I have of my child's face are the best of the whole trip. He kept telling me he was going to marry Snow White. He must have asked a hundred times if he could live at Disney Worlld. We had been to Disney a few times before, but taking our son was the best trip of all. So much so that we are going back in a few months. He was so well behaved we almost didn't recognize him for the week!

Have a great time, treasure every moment...

 

[tiggtail]

Disers....you make me cry! all these posts are so great....such great pictures of little ones and their innocence. Can't wait to have some memories of that first moment with mine.

 

[pamouselover]

Well my DS first time to WDW was when he was 14 months old.
We had the most magical time seeing him meet mickey for the first time.
Me beening the disney freak I am, had done his nursery in Disney babies.
Everything from the crib sheets to the window treatments were mickey!
We waitied a 1/2 hour in line at starland to see mickey in his dressing room.
My son gave everyone in the room a magical moment. It was our (his ) turn and he went up and hugged mickey and was touching his nose and laughing and would not get down off of his lap. He gave mickey high fives, and was in all that this MICKEY was REAL. We could not get him to leave, he wasnt crying or anything, just kept going back and huggin him. I kept saying sorry to everyone else in line. Everyone was so nice saying oh he is so cute, it is ok. Let him have more time.
I wish I could post the video of him for you to see!
It was truly amazing magical moment!

 

[kldmom2000]

Well.....

We took our girls for their first time in Dec. 2004. They were ages 4.5yrs.and 26 months.

Picture Day 1... standing outside the turnstiles of the MK..... I'm tearing up with sheer and utter excitement that I'm finally sharing my happiest place with my 2 sweet girls.....(I'd been numerous times before and was a former Disney Store Mgr 10+ yrs ago) Here I am bawling my eyes out and I look down at my 4.5 yr old to see the excitment on her face.......

She was crying too.... but it was because she wanted to go back to the hotel. She was afraid of the characters... TERRIFED to enter the park... crying hysterically as the time approached for the park to open.... she DID NOT want to go in-we had to drag her through the turnstiles and kept showing her the characters would not come up to her unless she walked up to them.... she wasn't convinced-spent the entire trip dodging the characters and wouldn't ride any rides that were "indoors" (about 90% of Disney rides! ) By the end of the trip though, she was willing to see the "face" characters like the princesses-but NO costumed characters....

My 26 month old DD loved it....That first day we entered the MK she ran up to every character she could and gave them a huge hug.... she wanted to ride whatever she could get on (very restricted due to her being about 33" when we went! )

[/IMG]

We're going back this Sept and I'm hoping it's the Dream trip I'd envisioned for my 1st DD the first time around! She has gotten over most of her character fear (she actually sat on the Easter Bunny's lap this year!!!) and she is anxious to ride every ride that she can get on......

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

DS was 6 and his godsister was 10 when we first went. We arrived midday, checked in at the beach club and headed over to MGM.

We were starving and headed into Backlot for something to eat -- 45 minutes later we finally got our burgers. We sat down and the kids had a conversation that went like this:

DS -- "So, is this what you expected"
DgD -- "No, not really, where's the castle?"
DS -- "Yeah, I thought we were staying in a castle."
etc . . .

They were speaking quietly and I don't think they realized we could hear, but the gist of the conversation was that this was not what they had expected. I am not sure why both kids thought we'd be sleeping in the castle, (they'd both seen the planning video) but it was clear that their idea of WDW was the M.K. and they were disappointed in MGM, although they were too polite to say this directly to us.

That night we went to Fantasmic (a highlight of the trip) and next day we went to EMH a.m. at the M.K.. They quickly changed their tune and had a wonderful time!

 

[merrywether]

KLDmom, that is just about the most precious photo on your posting that I have ever seen! We're taking DS to meet Mickey for his first time at the end of this month - it will be two days after his second birthday, and I'm so excited!!! Both sets of his grandparents will join us as will a couple of aunts, uncles and cousins. Can't wait! What a great thread, all! (sniff!)

 

[la79al]

Before we left our condo for our first day at the parks, our DD threw up because she was so excited. We got to MK, she did not want to leave Cinderellabration. She then cried the entire way through her first ride (Dumbo). Luckily it got better from there but it was really neat to see the smallest things that they both got so excited over. What they still mention now (a year later) is helping me to plan next years trip.

 

[flynnibus]

Pictures tell it all...

This was the kid's first time to WDW.. Normally they are in bed by 8-8:30 each night.. they were up till 12 almost every night and ready for more every day!

My youngest got a bambi doll she didn't stop playing with or talking to for 4 days!

 

[hockeymedic2000]

i will let you know at the end of july. we are taking my dd-21/2 and dns 6&7. they are all excited right now. can't wait to see them when we get there.

 

[tiggtail]

Thank you, flynnibus, for sharing...precious pictures! You're right. Pictures say it all. All posts have been great.

 

[tinkwannabe2]

My daughter was just a few weeks shy of her 2nd birthday for her first trip. We went to MK first and we were just walking up to the gates when she sees this Mickey sculpture at the top of the gate. She points and starts screaming "DADDY, DADDY THERE MICKEY MOUSE, THERE MICKEY MOUSE!!!" It was one of those moments that made every single person entering the park at that time stop, turn and smile - and made every penny of the trip worth it for us before we even entered the park.

 

[Reese]

It was Dh and my first time along with our kids in Feb.. It was amazing. We had requested the toy story building as that was our youngest DS's(18months) favorite movie. It had been a long day, our flight didn't arrive until 8:00pm. By the time we checked in it was after 9:30. DS was crying and overtired. When we rounded the corner and he saw giant buzz lightyear he stopped crying looked up and was just in awe.

The next day we had lunch with the princess. My 5 year old DD loves Ariel. Well she got to meet her in the lobby and have her picture taken. She was speechless (normally she's never quiet ). She has her picture framed and on her shelf now.

The older ones just couldn't belive how vast this place was. They loved every minute of it. My DD 6 said it was like living in a movie. DD 8 loved to point out everything we would miss, she was just absorbing everything down to the smallest detail.

Our 13 DS had the most amazing time goofing around with the characters, since he was wearing an alien on his head (stitch hat), Buzz Lightyear really had fun with that . Dh and him went on the rocking roller coaster while we got seats for beauty and the beast. I think one of the neatest things was watching big brother helping his little brother with parades and trying to get him to warm up to the characters.

The real magic came when we got home. Listening to them tell their stories to relatives and friends we could hear how much it meant to them. They each had their own take on the same vacation. DD(5) it was all about the princess, DD(6) it was about the neat resturants and characters, DD(8) it was all about the wonders all around and DS(13) it was all about the thrill rides with Dad and Stitch.

 

[Andrea34]

My DD was 3 years old the first time we went to WDW. She was obsessed with Snow White. We spent our first morning at the Magic Kingdom searching for Snow White. We finally spotted her greeting people and taking pictures. To see my DD walk up and hug Snow White for the first time was priceless!!! It never got old, even on her 10th, 11th or 12th time seeing Snow White that week!!!