What/who got you hooked to WDW?

[Tigger79]

When I was in high school our band went was able to march in the Spectro Magic parade during spring break(1994). My family went down to watch me too. After returning home we talked about what we missed and didnt get to do and we've been going back to WDW every two yrs since then. I would like to thank my high school band director for getting me "hooked."

 

[blue_eyes5212]

When I got married (at age 24) I had never been to Florida or Disney. My husband to be had gone the summer before met and when we were dating he said that he wanted to go there on his honeymoon. I had no preference on where we went so I said "OK" and I am so glad I did!! He didn't know what kind of a monster he was creating!!

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Well, we had been dreaming of going to Disney for a while. We fell upon a great special in 2002 for Canadians (hotels at par, US price=Can.price) with the currency exchange it was a great deal. So, thinking this was a once in a lifetime trip( big mistake.... ) we planned on a great vacation. 2 weeks before we were to leave, we started talking to Dsis and Dbil about this great special and all that could be seen and done at WDW. They joined us and we have been hooked ever since.

I will be going for my 6th vacation in 4 years this fall and Dsis will be on to her 7th. She's even leaving to Disneyland in 2 weeks.

What can I say? I love Disney, pure and simple!

 

[tmt martins]

Not really sure I just really enjoy being at Disney be it WDW or DL .

Now if you ever get me on the couch at the shrinks it might come back as my last happy memory before my parents split when we got back on my 9th B-day.

Either way I'll take it and have passed it on to my DD as a positive place to go.

 

[WAHMto5]

For us, just seeing the looks on our kids faces is all it takes! It i such a magical happy place, childs dream!

 

[cranbiz]

I went as a kid and a couple of times when my kids were younger. The "bug" really did not hit until I went with DB and DSIL in early Dec 2003. DB is a ceritfied Disney fanatic. His enthusiasim rubbed off and when I came home, I booked a early Dec trip (Silver package at AKL) for all of my kiddo's and DW (my oldest was 23 and living with her BF at the time).

When it came time to arrange housing for DS while in school, I bought a house equidistant to both school and Disney!

Now DW and I have AP's and just got back from taking our nieces to the world.

 

[pezpam]

My daughter. When she was 5, I decided to take her to WDW for the obligatory Disney trip, just to get it out of the way. Well, darn it all, we had an absolute ball and have been back several times since then......

 

[SnwflkCts]

I absolutely remember watching Wonderful World of Disney when I was a child and they showed the Teacups, IASW and HM. I couldn't wait to go then .... but got older (didn't really GROW UP!) ... and thought WDW was just for kids. DUMMY ME!!

Then, this summer, I was at my mom's while she was getting ready to have knee surgery and I watched Regis and Kelly at WDW in front of the castle and the gold ears ... and the MAGIC hit me. I brought up the idea to DH and when he agreed (rather quickly ... no whining necessary!) ... the plans began. I found the DIS boards and now my obsession continues. We truly had a wonderful and magical trip .... and I rode HM 4 times! LOVED IT!

 

[bushdianee]

In 98 some relatives were going from another state. My DSister and I had never been there and really had no interest in going (imagined cost etc.). The relatives talked us into meeting them there and needless to say we were hooked. My sister and I (both single and childless) now go every other year. I have also taken a 12 year old DN on one between year and the Disney Cruise twice, one was a Land/Sea vacation with my sister and one was just the cruise with my DM. I now have a 4 month old DN and can't wait until she is old enough to take!

 

[HappyGramma]

My dd got me hooked. She wanted us to have a girls trip before she got married, so the 2 of us went in Oct 1999 and I totally fell in love with it. DH and I had been twice before and I wasn't really thrilled with it at all. Of course we went during peak season both times and having to deal with the crowds was a royal pain. When I went with dd she did most of the planning and it was just wonderful. I have been back 4 time since and have 2 trips in the planning stages, one in Oct 06 and one in Dec 08. I have become a real big fan of WDW. Long Live The Mouse!

 

[mickeysaver]

I went a few times as a child, before I was in second grade just after the MK opened. I remember precious little other than I had blisters on the backs of my heels, I like the Teacups, and I didn't get to meet Mickey Mouse, even though that is the one thing that I really wanted to do.

Flash forward a few years and Florida became a place that I wanted to avoid like the plague because my mother moved there after the divorce. She and my grandmother tried to lure me down to FL claiming that they would take me to WDW and/or that I could get a job there for the summer, if I would just come for a visit. Obviously, I had life drama going on to avoid this kind of an offer. Florida was a dirty word in our house when I was 14.

When I was 18, my Dad and then step-mom, June, took me to FL for my Spring Break for my senior year. We visited SeaWorld, shopped, and I was allowed to pick MK or Epcot. I chose Epcot, because kiddie rides were beneath me. I liked Epcot, but SeaWorld was cooler, because they had just had their first live birth of a killer whale! I liked the WS best out of the whole Epcot experience mostly because I was able to buy a really special gift for my favorite teacher while we were there. Ms. Snyder was so floored by the gift that she actually cried. Ms. Snyder was a tough old bird, but she was such a great world history teacher.....and I hated history, but she made it fun.

Flash forward to the second week in August 1999. Gabby and I were still in the early stage of being in love with each other and I was planning to give her a ring and unknown to me, she was also planning to give me a ring.....at MK. Due to unforseen circumstances, we never made it to WDW, but we did swap rings and made the a commitment to one another to one day get married, now if the legal system will just catch up to us.....but I digress.

Flash forward to March, 2001. This is where the pixie dust addiction started. Gabby's mom had a heart attack a couple of months prior and we wanted to go down to FL to check back in on her. We spent several days with her family and then we scooted over to Orlando. We stayed offsite in a hotel for $29/nite. We saw a pre-season Braves game at Cracker Jack Field. We saw La Nouba. And finally, I fell in love with MGM. I can honestly say that it was magical beyond what I had ever experienced at WDW prior to that time. It was then and there that I knew that we would have to come back for a week and soon. We made it back in September, 2002 for 6 nites. I was truly hooked then. That vacation was the most amazing vacation to date. Even though we have gone to WDW in December in 2003 and 2005 and did MVMCP 4 times during those trips, it still will not outshine the experience that we had in September of 2002.

I have high hopes that the vacation that we have planned for next year will be magical too. Afterall, I will be turning 40 at the most happiest place on Earth. Maggie

 

[Polyfor30th]

My then bf, now husband gave me the introduction. After years of promising from my family, but never actualizing the promise --I was finally able to go over spring break during college in 1997. DBF/DH went a lot as a child and wanted me (us) to share the Disney experience. We planned and paid for the whole trip ourselves.

After I got over the initial "where's the roller coasters" thing (I had no idea what Disney was about) I was completely enraptured. So much so, we honeymooned there in 1999 and have made it back every year since. I thank him everytime we go.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

My father He loved Disney as much as I do. Now I'm passing along the love to my DD's.

 

[Kathkazoo]

We also got hooked because of DS high school marching band trip in 04. There is nothing like watching your child marching down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.

It got us hooked and we went back last June, planning on going June 07, and DD will march with the band spring break 08.

 

[DISUNC]

Since I can remember I always wanted to go to DL (there was no WDW wayyyyyyy back then). I use to love watching DL specials on Disneys Wide World of Color (in B&W). In fact, as a kid I would only have DisneyLand coloring books to color in...otherwise I wouldn't color!

I always entered EVERY contest to win a trip to either Land or World, since 1964. Must have entered 100's! Still trying to win one!

So I quess Walt himself got me hooked! I finally made it to WDW in '75, and DL in 86!

 

[TnTsParty]

I had gone to Disney numerous times as a child. Then a few times with school and on Grad Night (back in 1990) and then in 1995 to MK with my best friend (off site of course - what did I know then - we got the rooms at a great Holiday Inn employee discount - too bad they were SO far away from MK!!) Then I met my DH and never thought about WDW again till my DSis wanted me and DMom to go to WDW for my DNiece's bday in 2004. I thought she was crazy for insisting on us staying at WL but then we got there and I couldn't get enough. So I planned a trip for me, DSis and DNiece for Oct of 04 it was great. Then we went again for a quick trip in Dec of 04. This whole time my DH was saying how WDW was for kids and you have to have kids to go to WDW, well I had a season pass and I wanted to use it more but my DSis couldn't make it on any more trips so I "tricked" my DH into going to WDW last May. I asked him if he would go to the Flower and Garden Festival and he said yes and then asked where it was - so I told him Epcot thinking that would be the end of that. Well then a few days later he asked if I booked the trip so I knew it was ok to go ahead with the planning. And let me tell you he has changed his attitude as far as having to have kids to go to WDW (and we can't wait to go back!!)

 

[helenm29]

Actually it was the Navy that got me hooked! I was just getting ready to graduate from boot camp in Orlando...we were allowed one special outing as a group. We chose WDW! I had never even been to DisneyLAND or anywhere else for that matter. I will never forget Space Mountain and the reaction I had to it! We were all in Dress Blue uniforms which meant Skirts, Jackets and Blouses along with hats so picture 80 girls climbing on to Space Mountain! I had my hat in my hand but we went down a really long dip and POOF! there goes my hat! we had to see if they could find my hat for me when we were through because I couldn't go back without it! the Cast Members SAVED me that day I can tell you! In 1980 my husband and I had our Honeymoon there and we've been back 7 times since then! We are going back in October with the kids to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary.

 

[littleladykaty]

I have always had a very deep devotion to Winnie the Pooh and pals...I also had a beloved "Marching Mickey Mouse" (who's head kept falling off sadly) when I was a child. I've forever loved Disney. I'd been to Disneyland when I was 12, but I had always wanted to go WDW. My first trip to WDW was last summer...I was there for rope drop, so excited I was WEEPING...unfortunately I went with a JERK of a person who only let me stay for 5 hours (I paid for both one day totally expensive tickets) and he pouted and wouldn't go on anything with me and he kept saying how stupid and "American" it was (he's from Ireland) and ruined my trip and I was devasted. Sooooo...now that I'm engaged to my best friend and absolute hero, he was dertermined that I have the most magical honeymoon at WDW!!! I'm so excited I can hardly wait!!!

 

[Belle Amy]

I have my fiancee to thank for creating this monster...

I had gone twice previously to MK and had less than stellar visits...by no fault of the mouse of course, just the company...

But when I started going with my fiancee, he showed me so many things that I had never seen before, like Illuminations and Wishes...he made it ok to see things as though I was looking through a childs eyes...and it made it absolutely special..

Which is why Disney is even more important to me than just what it contains, but because of what it means to my future husband and I...a chance to experience every new and magical experience with someone I love...

And of course, I have to thank the Disboards for perpetuating the obsession...I know there are so many other people out there who think about Disney as frequently as I do...I'm not alone!!

 

[Quinn222]

Oh boy. This is going to be a long story.

Of course as a kid you think about going to Disney World but it never seemed like any kind of real thing. It wasn’t my parents kind of place and it never really occurred to me to even ask to go there. Then, when I was 16 I was unfortunate enough to become ill with major panic disorder/agorophobia. It was a very long, very drawn out process. My senior year in high school (which was when I was 17) we had moved to Ft. Lauderdale from Boston and the school had Grad Night. I couldn’t go. I didn’t have any friends to go with anyway since I was both new and ill. WDW was just another one of a long list of things I couldn’t do and thought I’d never be able to do.

After that year we moved back up north. I went to college for a year but had to leave. The next ten years or so I was able to work part time (I had disability) but eventually I had something of a relapse and ended up moving in with my parents. Who lived in FL again by that time. There was a period where I was too frightened to even go to the mailbox. I know it sounds ridiculous but if you’ve been there you know it’s deadly serious.

By now I was nearing 30. And it was like a miracle (or a really excellent physician.) After a pretty rough year or so all of a sudden I was getting better and getting better fast! And I wanted to do all those things I had missed out on! I traveled to Canada several times with friends etc. and I went back to college. I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and I got a pretty good job. I started that job last summer. Right around that time my Mother, Sister and I fell into a conversation about Christmas and I said that I had always wanted to see the holiday decorations at Epcot. The rest of the parks didn’t interest me. After all, rides didn’t interest me. (I bet you’re laughing at me right about now aren’t you? You know how this ends.)
Of course my mother and sister said they’d like to go too. Well I had talked about it other years with friends or whatever but for various reasons it never came about. So I said, “OK, we’re going. I’m making reservations and I’m paying for them. That way I know we’ll go.”

Got on the phone (right that minute) and a very nice man made me reservations at CSR (his choice, I had no clue) at FL rates. It was only for one night. But that day and half at Epcot was magical! I can’t tell you how it felt to be in that place that I never ever thought I could go to. I had bought a seasonal pass because I had vowed I was going to go more than once and if you live in FL then it pays for itself in just a couple of days. That was it. I was there six weeks later for the EE preview with a friend (scared myself silly but I did it!) and then again to MGM. And in four days We’ll be there for a 4 day stay (MK, my first time! Epcot and AK.) and on Friday my confirmation papers came in the mail for our second holiday trip.
So, WDW certainly didn’t cure me. But boy did it feel like the end of a very long, rough road when I saw that Ball at Epcot for the first time (even if it does have a hand on it.) I almost cried.