What's your earliest WDW memory?

[bytheblood]

WOW - It seems so recent. We pulled up to our resort, was assigned our rooms and immediately went to the parks. As soon as we got to MK, Mickey was out front signing autographs. That was all the way back in.......Dec 2002.

 

[ChristyJ]

I went for my 11th birthday with just my mom. We were in Florida (mom was doing a presentation and brought me along for the trip). Only the Magic Kingdom was open and it was the 10th anniversary!! I still have my tickets and flyers!!
Thanks Mom!!
Last year, I convinced my husband that, at the ripe old age of 36, he NEEDED to go to WDW (his first trip). We surprised our 2 DDs (ages 5 & 8) the morning of our trip!! I hope they always have wonderful memories of their first trip as well!!

 

[Uncleromulus]

September 1975--we were staying at a ramada Inn offsite and decided on a "first night" dinner at Papeete Bay Verandah. We arrived so late we hadn't even been to the MK (the only park that existed then!!) yet. Drove to the Poly--first memory is walking into that lobby and seeing such a wonderful resort. And then dinner, hula dancer, view of the castle and the boat parade. All wonderful "first day" memories that we'll always remember.

 

[Bronte]

My parents took me for the first time the second year that Disney World was open. Most of what I remember was of my sister and I ... on the tea cups and in the tiki room. It was great. I have some old photos of main street and the parade at MK ... my husband who is a big disney freak now loves looking at them and seeing all the similarities and differences. I would love to find the old 8 mm reels that I am sure my dad has some where as well ...

 

[drcmk]

We went to WDW in November of 1971, shortly after it opened. I was three years old and my brother was six months old. I remember riding Dumbo with my father. My mother says she spent the entire trip feeding and changing my brother.

 

[kellypops]

I was 3 or 4, and we went to Disney not too long after its opening. Stayed at the Contemporary and I was amazed that a train could go right through the lobby of the hotel! That alone could've been my Disney vacation, and I would've been elated. But what sticks out the most (and is captured on Super 8 film) is Goofy danced with me at Magic Kingdom. He twirled me around and made me feel like a princess. I'll never forget that moment, and now, at age 37, I still look for Goofy when I go to DW!

 

[AllyGirl_79]

My first trip to WDW was in March of 1990 - I was 10 and my little brother was 3. My grandparents had purchased plane tickets and 5 nights at the Poly as a family Christmas gift, but no one told me about it.

I remember my mom taking me shopping for new clothes, ostensibly for spring which was fast approaching, and then putting them in a suitcase the day before we left. My excitement was palpable, and my parents gave me the Birnbaum guidebook to keep me busy until we got there. (I was a compulsive list maker even at the age of 10).

I don't remember the plane ride, checking in at the hotel, or anything else before arriving at the MK and seeing the posters for the rides that hang under the train station. We ran up the stairs to take the train around the park. Sitting with us in one of the front sections, where the two benches face each other, the family on the other bench said that it was their last night at WDW. I sat there in my new clothes, clutching my guidebook, and listening to my Dad talk about getting ice cream on Main Street, and I vividly remember feeling so sad for the family that was leaving because I was sure that life really couldn't get much better than the day I was having.

I still get teary when I see Main Street Station for the first time each trip.

 

[etwinchester]

Mine is when I was around 8 and my mother dragged me into the "Hall of Presidents". I was so bored... Then to top it off, I left my new brown pocketbook there and of course, I had some money in it.

I also remember my dad & I wanting to ride Space Mountain. The line was over an hour long and my mom wouldn't let us wait.

Needless to say, in 2003, which was a trip with the whole family (10 of us, some aunts & uncles, cousins, etc.), including my DH & DD first trip, we rode space moutain and it was only a 5 minute wait.

Geez, I only had to wait 20 years to ride the darn thing!!!

 

[goofyforlife]

I was 4 and my sister was a baby.......We stayed at the campground and were swimming at the Poly. (pool hopping was allowed back then) My mom took my sister back to the camper for a nap and my dad and I were still at the pool. All of a sudden Disney security (guys in suits back then) came to get us at the pool and took us to the Medical center because my mom had fallen and broken her leg......

Also on that trip, one of the three little pigs didn't notice where he was going and bumped into me and knocked my popcorn out of my hands.....The handlers got us a new one....

 

[TDS373X]

My first trip spring 1980(I was 15) we stayed off site at a Knights Inn in Kissimmee after we'd driven from Indiana it was gray and rainy when we got there. After we'd checked in and eaten dinner my dad loaded us back into the blue Volare station wagon and said we'd drive up just to see the castle and find out where we needed to go the next morning. I remember the excitment as we turned from 192 onto the property we drove and saw where the monorail was going to connect to EPCOT which was not yet open. Dad told us that it was connecting to the airport We got up to the toll booths and had to turn around without seeing the castle Dad had thought it was like DL or so he said and you could just drive right up to it. I still get that same excited feeling and I'm planning trip 21!!! I also remember my rollercoaster hating parents riding Space Mt. the looks on both of their faces after it was over OMG what were they thinkin After WDW we drove over to Clearwater beach where my grandparents were and ended up wearing our parkas on the beach it was soooo cold!

 

[KrisTX]

My first trip was in January 1972. The picture in my avatar is from that trip. I don't really remember the visit since I was a little over 2. But I always loved this picture. My sister is crying because I would not share the stroller. We went to Disney often. I easily remember my 4th grade trip and my mother digging her nails into my arm on space mountain.

 

[Denmark]

My first trip to WDW was in 1991, i was 21.

It was the 2nd vacation on my own, and i have traveled solo ever since. I traveled with a danish travel agency from Denmark to Miami FL. I bought a 3 day trip from Miami to WDW.

One thing i do remember from that trip, was that we had driven directly from Miami to WDW and i had received a cardboard with a name of the motel we were going to stay in.

We were told to be at the bus parking area outside MK at around 9:30 or 11:30 PM. I wanted to see the fireworks, and lost track of time when i left MK.

When i arrived at the bus parking area, the bus was not there, so i waited for atleast 45 minutes, but the bus didnt come back!!!!.

I thought, what am i going to do, here im standing looking like a stupid dane with my school english, and didnt know where the other guests from the trip was staying. So i looked around, and found a taxi area and took a minivan taxi to the motel. The ride cost me 42.50$ and i payed the taxi driver 50$ because i was SO HAPPY that i found the other guests with whom i drove with from Miami to WDW. If i hadnt found them, i would have been in big trouble.

In the end, everything turned out well, i enjoyed my trip very much to WDW.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

I went in 1993 when I was 9. I remember eight things about that trip:

1. meeting Minnie and Eeyore in Epcot. Minnie didn't intimidate me, but Eeyore kinda make me skittish.

2. the mardi gras style afternoon parade in MK with the big floats of the characters (including Roger Rabbit, if I remember correctly)

3. the first ride I went on-- Delta Dream Flight. The black and white spinning lights freaked me out so badly that I pretty much refused to get on much of anything else ride wise.

4. being bored out of my mind at Epcot (I hated shopping as a child, and this was pre-Soarin, pre-Test Track, and I think even pre-Innovations days; haha, now you can't stop me from shopping if ya tried! ).

5. Getting separated from my parents in the mass crowd before Spectro-- we were by the castle-- when a mob of college age kids pushed their way to the curb and I got basically pushed along with them. My parents ran/shuffled to me and got right behind me, but it still scared me half to death. I wasn't used to that many people at that age.

6. Being scared to death of the giant ant in HISTK playset... I have a picture of me standing beside it looking like I'm about to bolt!

7. Waiting in line for Dumbo for about 2 hours. One and ONLY time I did that ride.

And the worst (and most detailed) memory from that trip...

8. We were late to Beauty & the Beast, so we couldn't see it due to no seats avaliable. It was really hot outside, and I was getting winded. So we went and sat on a bench near the Hollywood Blvd. area to figure out where to eat lunch via the map. A CM came up to us and in a not so nice way essentially told us to get lost because they were ushering that older woman (the one with the scratchy voice, don't remember her name) from Designing Women (one that came on the show towards the end of it, not one of the main 4 or their replacements) to the Chinese Theater area to have her put her footprints and handprints in cement, and they couldn't risk having us or anyone else around because we might "attack her." Yep, that really happened. My mom got nice and mad at that, and said something to the effect of "All these benches and you can't even sit on them, and all this hoopla for someone most people don't even know?" My dad explained we were just trying to find a place to eat and I was out of breath, and the woman was still rude and told us to "Move along." Haha, that still sticks with me all these years later. It wasn't so much that we couldn't sit on a bench but that there were no signs up and the woman was rude as heck (looked about college age, if I remember correctly). Thankfully I can only really think of maybe 2 or 3 other rude CMs in the 7 trips I've taken down there. There are lemons in every company, as they say.

 

[thptrek]

Spring of 72 I was 11 and my sister was 9. Our grandparents took us to Florida and we went to WDW. We flew on Eastern Airlines WhisperJet! I had to wear a suit and tie and my sister wore a dress and white gloves since flying then was a big deal. Magic Kingdom was magical and I remember the ticket books and getting a set of ears. My grandparents took us back a couple of years later and we had family trips over the years. My grandparents have since passed and I have a tear in my eye just remembering my times with them at WDW while writing this post.

 

[SGB13]

I believe I was about 5, so maybe 1972. The only thing I remember is rain. It rained on us 3 times in one day. Once when we were on the top of the paddle boat. One time we were huddled under the umbrella at the orange stand. And the one that still haugnts my Dad, we were stuck on It's A Small World. No one would get off due to the rain. I was haveing the best time getting to stay on the ride longer, but Dad says the song still drives him nuts!