What was your first trip like to a Disney Park?

[connie1042]

We talked about maybe knowing to much now. But when you went on your first trip to a Disney Park, what do you remember most.
My husband was in the Navy. We were very young 19 & 20. He was stationed in San Diego. We had no car, and very little money. One day he came home and said he bought tickets to Disneyland. We would be taking the bus from the base, and have the whole day. I came from a pretty meager background. I never thought I would be able to go to Disneyland. I was so excited. We got up early and walked to the base, about a mile away. Got on that bus and we were on our way to Disney!!!!!! I remember walking into the park and the first thing I saw was Mickey Mouse standing there. I just started to cry! How perfect that was. This was in 72, so we had the ticket book. We went on every ride we could. I remember the sky tram as one of my favorites. We even walked up the Swiss Family Tree House. We had to leave before night time, but that was okay. I had been to Disney! We boarded the bus back to base along with the biggest Mickey Mouse stuffed toy they sold! My husband said he knew he was in trouble when he saw my face the first time I saw MM and the castle. We have been married 42 years, and it still never gets old. What about your first trip?

 

[Stephaniesue]

Our first trip was in 2011 (and only to date). It was myself, DH, DD and DS. DH and I had never been on vacation together, and after spending the last 10 years of our lives together we thought it was time.

We surprised the kids, bad idea we didn't get the reaction we wanted lol. We had a great time. We finished our trip with a few days at the beach and it was wonderful. Just 2 days after our return our DS (6 at the time), feel at school and broke his leg very badly. He ended up in surgery, and in a wheel chair for 8 weeks or so. He has arthritis on top of this so it was not good at all. He made an amazing recovery, it was a trip he wont' forget that's for sure!

We are going back this October. We are taking my MIL with us, who has never been to Florida at all! I am so excited for her .

I told my DS (now 9) if he breaks something this time it had better be an arm. He's to heavy to carry everywhere! hehe

 

[DVCJones]

It was 1978. I was 8 and it was magical. My parents took us every year after that. Now, I take my kids every year. WDW has come a long way since 1978 when it was only the MK.

 

[rteetz]

I wish I could remember I was eight months old my first time all I know about my first trip is from pictures of me with Mickey and Minnie and me by the pool at the resort.

 

[minniesBFF]

I was 4, so I don't have very many memories. The one that sticks out the most is when we were at Chef Mickey's (when it was in DTD) and I was scared of the characters and started crying. When Donald came to our table, he signed my autograph book and then stuck the pen into the muffin on my plate. There's a picture of me, teary-eyed, with that muffin and the biggest grin on my face. Something so small like that encounter can really spark a lifelong love of Disney. I think back on that memory a lot and smile

We go back every few years or so as a family, but I'm hoping to go there more often now that I'm grown and can choose my own adventures

 

[ToddyLu]

My first trip was in 2002 for our 8th wedding anniversary. DH had always promised to take me and this was our chance. We saved all year and booked the version of the DDP and tickets that year. I was 34. When I saw the castle for the first time I grabgbed DH's arm and screamed "it is the castle, the REAL castle!". All he needed to see was that reaction. I remember the first pic with Mickey and our first dinner at the Cali Grill.

Fast forward to today and we are DVC owners with APs and two trips coming up this year. It just never gets old. We take turns taking parents and sharing DVC with them. They have a blast, too. Can't wait for May! My MIL has never been with us to F&G and she is looking forward to it. It will be my parents turn next year and they have never been in May. There is always a new experience waiting at WDW. That is why I love it so.

 

[alicemouse]

I was 8-years-old and in 3rd grade on my first trip and my parents took me out of school to go on vacation. In February. For 10 days. This was not something that happened in my world. We made some other stops too--Charleston, SC, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Kennedy Space Center, and Cyprus Gardens. It wasn't a time in my life where I distinguished Disney from non-Disney yet. I just knew that it was the best vacation ever (except for this really boring aircraft carrier tour that my dad made us do in Charleston).

I'm an only child and both of my parents were fledgling business owners in addition to working side jobs for extra income. I grew up mostly with my grandparents who lived across the street or helping my parents with some sort of work. Our visit to Disney was amazing because I got to spend time with my parents where they were talking to me and listening to me without asking me to do stuff. The memories that stand out the most are riding the teacups with dad and yelling for him to spin faster! Having spun a teacup myself as an adult, he must have been exhausted, but he just kept spinning away. I remember riding Horizons and my dad actually asking ME what adventure I wanted to pick. My dad is very opinionated and usually gets his own way, so that was huge to me. I remember the Universe of Energy (you know, back when it was hip and cool) and Living with the Land. MGM (as it was called then) was only a year old and I remember hating it. The backlot tour in the catastrophe canyon section and the car getting hijacked in the Great Movie Ride scared the crap out of me. The only thing I wanted to see as Beauty and the Beast, but it wasn't actually open yet. I kept asking my mom if we could go there, but she kept saying no and it wasn't until much later that I understood that the sign that I was seeing was an advertisement for a show that was coming soon! HAHA!! Being claustrophobic, I remember being very relieved that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was down for maintenance.

 

[knkmom]

It was 1981 and my family had just moved to California. I was 19 and for Christmas Mom and Dad took the family to Disneyland. It was amazing, I still remember the awe and magic of the park! It was decked out for Christmas, just beautiful. We were there from open to close and I don't remember ever sitting down, we made the most of that one day and the memories will be with me forever!!

 

[LCoulter]

It was 1994, for our honeymoon. DH had been a number of times as a kid but this would be my first time on a plane and first time to WDW. We went the first week in November but before we went, I bought the Unofficial Guide to Disney and read it cover to cover and ripped out the touring plans to use on the trip.

Our first park was Epcot on the afternoon we arrived and I was blown away by how beautiful the park was and how much fun we had. We found that we didn’t need the touring plans because we pretty much walked onto everything. We stumbled on a presentation on a new technology while we were there….Aladdin’s Magic Carpet ride with a head-mounted display. DH being into computers and gadgets had to watch this. They randomly selected a few people as we were entering the presentation to try out the head display but to DH’s disappointment, he was not selected. After the presentation, DH was talking to one of the speakers and I ended up asking if there was any way that DH could be “randomly selected”. The CM told us to come back at 4:00, the last presentation for the day and he would see what he could do. DH was selected for the 4:00 presentation!

The next day was MK rope drop and I remember thinking how beautiful everything was and was so excited to see Main Street and the castle. One of the first rides that we headed for was Space Mountain. As we are winding through the queue chatting, there is no line so we just get in and sat down in the vehicle….DH looks at me surprised because I don’t do roller coasters and says to me, “You realize what ride you are on, right?” Nope, in my excitement, I lost track of what the ride was and got in and it was too late to get out because we were moving. It was not a good ride and I hurt my ankles trying to pry my legs and ankles against the sides of the car to keep from flying out. I was limping for the rest of the day and refused to ride Splash or Thunder. I still loved all the other attractions though and we went once or twice a year ever since.

It took years before I would try Splash or Thunder but once I did, I could have kicked myself for not tying them sooner….love them both. I have since tried Space Mountain a few times and I still hate how jerky it is but managed to relax enough so that I didn’t hurt my ankles again.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I was 4 years old, at Disneyland. I remember hiding down on the floor of the boat during POTC because I thought they were really shooting. I also remember eating beef jerky for the first time on Tom Sawyer Island. That's all I can remember from my first trip.

 

[TNDisneyNut]

I got to go twice in 1974. The first time, there was hurricane weather so it poured the whole day. However, I was 8 and who cares? The place was almost deserted and we walked onto every ride! It was just amazing. I had never seen anything like the animatronics.

The second trip, my grandparents came to visit from England so we took them. We stayed overnight at the Contemporary and watching the Electric water parade from the room was awesome! The weather was gorgeous. There used to be a magic/joke shop on Main Street, and my mom bought a fake arm cast for my brother and told my grandparents he broke his arm (strange sense of humor). My dad bought a fake ice cube with a fly in it and proceeded torment every waitress we had for months. I think as a youngster, the Tiki Room fascinated me the most. It was dark and cool with the rain coming down and all those birds. Id never seen anything like it!

 

[brer_rabbit]

My first trip was in 1987 when I was 4. My dad had a video camera so we have quite a bit of home movie which helps me remember what it was like!

We stayed at Treehouse Villas - in those days it was very remote and Downtown Disney was just a small boardwalk type area with a kids playarea. I remember someone telling me there were alligators in the water and putting my hand in (and now all I think is "stay out of the damn lakes!" )

I was never into princesses as in those days you couldn't really get Disney films on video tape in the UK - the only "princess" film I'd seen was Snow White (and apparently I fell asleep!!). My favourite film was Dumbo - we queued for 2 hours to go on it! To this day it's a ride my mum and I always go on just for old times sake (as long as the queue is less than 20 mins!). I was too scared to go on Thunder Mountain and too short for Space Mountain.

We did a character breakfast in the Poly - Minnie, Goofy, Chip n Dale and Pluto. Mickey was apparently playing golf with the Big Bad Wolf which was why he wasn't there We also had dinner in the castle with Prince John - I hadn't seen the Robin Hood film so was a bit scared of him, particularly as he kept threatening to chop our heads off

 

[SaraMc]

My first trip was in utero in 1975. No memories of it. . My second trip was in 1986. I remember bits and pieces, it was Halloween and I was so scared to go on Haunted Mansion.
We stayed off property across the street from the Disney Village. I remember the trains they had there.
It was the 15th anniversary and they were giving out prizes as you went through the gates. We were only there for two or three days. It was fantastic. I remember thinking that the ramps to the monorail at the ticket and trans centre were huge! But I might have just been small.
I didn't go back again till 1997 and then made a vow to try to get back at least once a year. It as not always happened but it's home.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

It was October 1992, when I was in my twenties. I chiefly remember before the trip wanting only to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea because I'd had Disney books when I was a kid that had photos of this ride and I'd always associated it with WDW in my mind.

I *did* finally get to ride it, er, best left unsaid what I thought.

I hate to say it, but I was on this trip with four other people, including my sister's mother-in-law who was a domineering, whining, pain in the butt. I spent the entire week devising several imaginative ways to kill her.

 

[disneysteve]

Our first trip was Memorial Day weekend 1978. It was the first time I had ever flown. We stayed at the Golf Resort (now Shades of Green), one of 3 Disney hotels at the time. I remember the breakfast buffet and the waitress who served us every morning.

There was only the Magic Kingdom back then. EPCOT wouldn't open for 4 more years. We did not have a car so we used Disney transportation to get around, which was great back then. The buses had colored flags for the different routes. Green flag went from Golf Resort. Gold flag from Contemporary and Poly. Black flag ran at night for Hoop De Doo and Luau.

In the park, the afternoon parade was celebrating Mickey's 50th birthday. I still remember the song.

I know we did the luau. I don't think we did Hoop De Doo but I'm not positive.

I remember how clean everything was. I remember how hot it was. My father joked that as we stood for the 3pm parade, his shoes were melting into the asphalt. DTD was called Lake Buena Vista Village.

I could go on and on as I was a big Disney World fanatic even then and had studied everything I could get my hands on before that trip long before the internet was around.

 

[Phoenixblue]

Our first trip as a family (DH grew up in FL, so he had been before, but I never had) was in 2008, when DD was 5 and DS wasn't even 2 yet. I was a very magical trip. Even with waiting out the rides DH and DD went on as DS was too small, I got to look over the details and was amazed. DD was bug eyed about the characters and got into pin trading. DS was a bit standoffish with the characters, until he met Tigger, then he was mesmerized. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge for a week. We loved that trip so much we looked into DVC. We didn't buy at that time, but a few months later after getting some finances figured out, we bought into Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani. Later we also bought into Bay Lake Tower. We take trips every 2 years or so, for two weeks - we went in 2010, 2012 and have a trip this fall we are planning out now. DH has family in FL, so they come visit us at Disney.
We are known as the Disney people at work and often get asked for advice for others heading down to the World. We always point people to the boards and the podcast for more information.

 

[misstheworld]

First trip was December 2006...our honeymoon. Neither DH nor I had ever been so it was amazing to have that experience together. We had a phenomenal time... ate a ton of good food (I'm pretty sure DH had a steak every day we were there) on the Dining Plan and never once felt out of place being adults with no kids at a place that's sold to kiddos.

Fast forward seven years and we took our third trip this past January with our then-9m DS. Another awesome trip!! Although we took it wayyyyy slower (nothing commando here) than we have before, it was so cool to be able to just relax and enjoy a week away from life and lavish nothing but undivided attention on our son.

Can't wait to go back again!

 

[sweetpeama]

My first time in a Disney Park was on December 23, 1987 I was 14 years old. I had traveled with my parents, younger sister (12) and younger brother (11) to spend Christmas with my aunt uncle and cousins in the Los Angeles area. We drove straight through from our home in MT to another cousin's college apartment that we used as our base of operations for the first part of the trip. I remember my mom packed oranges for the drive forgetting that since we were leaving as soon as my dad got home from work (he got off at 4:30) and got a shower we would be heading on the road (we even got to have pick up pizza in the station wagon so there were no dishes to deal with) and traveling the first part at night. We woke up going from Utah into the corner of Arizona. Mom remembered soon into Nevada about the oranges. If we said I am hungry "have an orange" I am thirsty "have an orange" If we even made a sound "have an orange".
Finally the day had arrived of our reward for putting up with being drug to Queen Mary and Spruce Goose, Universal Studios (it was just a one ride through the sets and watching a couple of scenes acted out by people in the group), drive to San Diego to go to Sea World where a sea gull decided to use my brother as a bathroom and some relatives place for dinner followed by traffic being stopped on the highway to check for illegals and drugs, having to eat my dad's aunts black pepper peas, (we did get one day at the beach which was fun). I remember having my first pineapple spear (I had always thought pineapple came in rings for ham, tidbits for pizza, and crushed for pistachio pudding salad until that time) and my first Churro. We got to go on all the rides, watch both the afternoon and evening parade and even see the fireworks.
My favorite ride was small world as it was a song I had learned in Scouts even learning it in some other languages and singing it in a round. This is one of my favorite rides still and incidentally when we did our first trip to MK in WDW in January 2010 was my than 5 year old daughter's favorite ride.
After that trip we refused to eat oranges for months even telling mom no oranges when it came time to do our order for the 4-H fruit sale though I think she ended up having to get half a box since it worked out that way to end up with full boxes for us 3 kids.

 

[disneysteve]

I just got out my scrapbook from our first trip. An Adult ticket book (this was back in the A, B, C, D, E ticket days) was $18.75 + $.75 tax. That got you 3 days admission to the Magic Kingdom and 18 attractions. The Junior (ages 12-17) price was $16.50 total. Back then, there were children, juniors, and adults.

There were 4 free attractions that didn't require a ticket. They were the Walt Disney Story on Main Street, Circle Vision 360, If You Had Wings, and Carousel of Progress all in Tomorrowland. The A ticket attractions could also be enjoyed for $0.10 if you were out of A tickets. That included the Main Street Cinema, Main Street transportation (horse drawn car, Jitney, Omnibus, and Fire Engine). The carousel was an A ticket but I don't think you could ride for a dime, only a ticket.

 

[Ensusieasm]

My first trip was in 1993. There was an amazing show called "Splashtacular" at the fountain in Epcot. I had never seen anything like it before. I think that show was short lived but it really amazed me and my ten year old daughter! Does anyone remember that show?