What's your most magical memory from the World?

[poppinsgal]

On the last day of our trip, we had the last seating of the night at Cinderella's Royal Table. We watched Wishes from behind the castle and then went up for our dinner. Our meal and service were great, but hard to enjoy as all any of us could think of was the fact that we weren't coming back in the morning. Too sad! That park had officially closed during our meal, so when we left the restaurant, Main Street was still beautifully lit, but completely abandoned except for the occaisional friendly cast member. We could stroll our way out of the park and take in all the window dressings of the sweet shops without any competition from other tourists. It was a gorgeous way to say goodbye to our favorite vacation destination.

 

[micheleq]

The second night of our trip, all of us (DH, me, DD4, DD2, DMom, DDad, DBrother) were watching Wishes show in front the castle. It was December, so the castle was dripping with beautiful lights and colors, and while my father and husband had my girls, my brother (who is 32!) and I flanked my mom as she started to cry. She was so happy that she hugged us both because the last time she was WDW we were kids, and now she got to share the experience with her granddaughters and her kids.

The best part, a photopass photgrapher got it all on film! While it was so magical to bring my girls to WDW for the first time, we had such a wonderful moment with mom that night!

 

[ajk912]

Not sure why this is...

But mine is the peacefulness of walking alongside the river at POR early in the morning to go get coffee, hearing the flipflop of my flipflops while watching the geckos and little lizards and rabbits race around. There is NO one around, it's not overly humid yet, still cool..ahhhh...

Because of this, I don't mind being a little farther away at POR. Coming back in the evenings can be brutal, but in the mornings, my peaceful 5 minute walk is great.

 

[mschwartz]

Does any one have pictures of the dinner for two on the balcony of the grand floridian.
I am going to disney and have already made my reservation for the dinner for two on the balcony with the butler service.

But they will not show me photos of the views from the balcony.
They say you can see the castle, the illuminations show and the wishes show as well from the balcony.
Even though i am sure it is a great view i want to be certain.

She is kind of shy so I am planning on proposing on the balcony durring the fireworks. So i really want that night to be perfect in every way that i can make it.

Any other suggestions would be greatly apprecited.

You can email me at Martys567@gmail.com

 

[adoptionmomma4]

My favorite memory is from our first family trip.

My husband and I had our 3 children placed with us for adoption in February. I immediately planned a trip for that September. I never imagined being a mother would be so hard. However, being a first time mom to 3 children age 2,3 and 5 was exhausting and I found myself crying a lot and thinking I could not do it. The kids were not bonding with us the way we had planned and things were just plain HARD. We went ahead and went on our trip. The first day we went to the MK. When we walked in my DD who was 5 at looked at the castle and burst into tears. She grabbed my DH and hugged him and said, "this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen." Both my DH and I were in tears.

I know it sounds cliché but we bonded as a family on that trip and our kids started calling us mommy and daddy while we were there. It is a trip I will never forget. We have had our kids now for 6 years and have been back to Disney 6 times. It is "our" place. It helped us become the family of my dreams

 

[chrisw127]

My favorite memory is from our first family trip.

My husband and I had our 3 children placed with us for adoption in February. I immediately planned a trip for that September. I never imagined being a mother would be so hard. However, being a first time mom to 3 children age 2,3 and 5 was exhausting and I found myself crying a lot and thinking I could not do it. The kids were not bonding with us the way we had planned and things were just plain HARD. We went ahead and went on our trip. The first day we went to the MK. When we walked in my DD who was 5 at looked at the castle and burst into tears. She grabbed my DH and hugged him and said, "this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen." Both my DH and I were in tears.

I know it sounds cliché but we bonded as a family on that trip and our kids started calling us mommy and daddy while we were there. It is a trip I will never forget. We have had our kids now for 6 years and have been back to Disney 6 times. It is "our" place. It helped us become the family of my dreams

What a beautiful story.

 

[GoofItUp]

adoptionmomma4 - That's a beautiful story!

One of my favorite magical moments (there are many to choose from!) is seeing my oldest son when he still couldn't quite walk by himself grasp the character's fingers and toddle along with them. We have lots of photopass pics of those moments and I love looking through them still!

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

Not sure why this is...

But mine is the peacefulness of walking alongside the river at POR early in the morning to go get coffee, hearing the flipflop of my flipflops while watching the geckos and little lizards and rabbits race around. There is NO one around, it's not overly humid yet, still cool..ahhhh...

Because of this, I don't mind being a little farther away at POR. Coming back in the evenings can be brutal, but in the mornings, my peaceful 5 minute walk is great.

This is one of my absolute favorite things to do. We stay at POR and my DH can't understand why I want to walk all that way for Disney's wonderful 'coffee.' I love the peaceful feeling I get doing this (including the sound of my flip-flops) and it is a great start to the day.

 

[disney_family_1247]

We go every year, so I have lots, but this is one of my best: When my oldest daughter was 2 1/2, I had her little brother. We went to DW when he was six weeks old (I thought he'd be at least two months old, but he was late). We went at the end of January, and DD had just received "Lilo and Stitch" for Christmas that year and watched it over and over, including in the car on the way to DW. It was the first time we'd gone to DW with a child old enough to be excited about where we were going. We kept talking it up, and she asked questions for weeks before the trip. It was night when we pulled up to All-Star Music, and she was asleep. We woke her up and walked into the lobby...and they were playing "Lilo and Stitch" music over the speakers! She thought it was because they knew she was coming

 

[woodkins]

When my dd was 5 she had been very sick and we had to fly home during a wdw trip. We promised her to go back when she was well & that May was the Celebration trip. I was taking her photo near a topiary in HS and up behind her comes Mary Poppins, Belle (in blue), Pocahontas, and Snow White. Two of the Princesses grabbed her by the hand and skipped her off to where they were taking their photo/autograph session. The look on her face was priceless and the time that they took with her was Magical. It is something we all will never ever forget.

 

[ericsgm]

By definition(s):
Falling in love... DD and DSIL and friends boarded the Backlot Tour in DHS. I stayed behind with 8 moth old DGS. He was my only grandchild at that time, but on that day I really and truly fell deeper in in love than I'd ever dreamed possible. We walked and looked at everything and then settled in at a table in the an almost deserted area of the Commissary (I think.). Over a bottle of milk, he told me (in gurgles and coos) just how much he was enjoying his WDW experience and I knew.. this is MY boy!!

Rapture...A couple years later, during a dream-come-true 4-generation family vacation, I saw my beautiful princess (DGD) watch her first fireworks. She'd been so looking forward to them and proceeded to sleep soundly through every evening's show! On our last night, tucked into a nook at the Tomorrowland Terrace, she finally saw 'Wishes!' and I truly understood the word 'rapture.' Nothing in a 3 yr old's experience had prepared her for the magic and beauty exploding in front of her eyes. I don't remember the fireworks, but I will see her face forever.

 

[aeip1980]

We honeymooned in Disney in 2005 so pretty much the whole week and everything about the World is magical to me!

 

[hmdavid]

On our March 08 trip we attended a Pirate & Princess Party. We weren't sure how late our the 5 yr old twins and 3 yr old would do butt hey managed to make it to the end of the party and weren't ready to leave. Toon Town was our last stop for the evening and as we were walking passed the castle on our way out, we were the only ones on the bridge and my girls were dancing to the party music. It was amazing! Favorite Disney memory out of all of our trips!

 

[carrie1626]

In 2000 (after a very long hiatus )(1970's) I was with my DM, DD, DS, DH, and kids 10 and 7. It was my first encounter with a charcter at Animal Kingdom. We were there at opening and I was telling the kids to get their autograph books ready because Characters were out to greet everyone and I turned around and suddenly felt a "tap" on my shoulder and looked around and no one's there and another "tap" on the other shoulder and who should be the "assaultee" but CHIP (or was it DALE). It doesn't matter, that one little incident is for-ever set in my mind as a favorite memory!!

 

[ajh88]

Oh my, I don't know if I can choose one...perhaps a couple.

Our 2003 trip - DD's first trip to the World. She was only a little over 2, but she was excited and for some reason, Max was one of her favorite characters. The first day we went to MK at rope drop and got in line to get Max's autograph right at the front of the park. We were 2nd from the front when Max had to take a break. A few minutes later they announced Max wouldn't be coming back, but a different character would take his place. We were bummed until we saw the "replacement" was MICKEY himself. DD could hardly contain herself, Mickey became her #1 favorite (at least for that entire trip) and we still just kind of shake our heads to think at the luck she must have had to meet Mickey as her first character EVER.

2008 trip - an unexpected trip since I'm in school and our last trip for at least 3 years - We were somehow wandering around the MK close to closing time. We ended up at the MK just about every day on this trip. We were in Toon Town and decided to see if any characters were still out and about. We went into the Judge's Tent and were the only people there. When we got into the room, it was Mickey, Minnie, and the photographer - we got a good 5 minutes of one on one time with the two top mice. We passed on our stroke of luck by telling another family outside to get in there and get some quality time with Mickey!

 

[PolyndianPrincessJes]

The kids' first trip was last May. I pulled out all the stops, but my absolute favorite memory was completely unplanned. I was sitting on the floor with the kids, and DS was bopping along to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song. All of a sudden, he just turned around and flashed me the biggest grin...that "I can't believe Mickey is really there" look that dreams are made of. Even better, I happened to be recording and caught it all on film (well, SD card).

 

[emcreative]

We went during "A Million Wishes" the summer of 2007. We were on our "Familymoon" and of course took our three daughters, then aged 10, 7, and 6. Unfortunately we only had two days.

The first day was at the MK and the 6 year old was ENTHRALLED with her special meeting with Cinderella at CRT. We had no idea it would mean that much to her. I don't think we got her to look straight at the camera because she had SO MUCH TO TELL Miss Cindy!

The second day we went to Animal Kingdom, where the 10 year old got to open the Pocahontas show by beating on the drum!

AK closed early that day, and it had been two busy, hot, and hectic days (and of course the kids were also coming down off the wedding excitement, etc). As we were on our way out of AK, the 7 yo suddenly and completely broke down into tears.

She was so despondent we had to pull her aside to a bench to try to figure out what in the world could be wrong. As we did so, a CM who was sweeping up also came over and asked "What's wrong? No one cries at Disney!"

She looked at us and you could see a broken heart all over her face. "Em got her wish, and Hannah got her wish, but I didn't get my wish!"

This was the first we'd even heard she had a wish. Liz can be a bit quiet about things like this. I was kicking myself for not prodding her more, but we had no idea her sisters would both get their "desires" and our Liz would end up feeling left out.

The CM asked her what it was, but she was too shy to tell him directly. She whispered in my ear "I want to meet Belle," and my heart just broke- we did not have park hoppers, and it was way too close to the end of the day.

But, I had to tell the CM so I did. That young man got on his radio and called everyone and anyone he could think of to try to find Belle. But it just wasn't going to work.

He looked at Liz and broke the news to her. Then he says, "But you know, NO ONE cries at Disney!" He reached onto his lanyard and pulled off a special "Wish Pin" for her. We were not pin traders and did not know anything about it, but it was as if he had given her a shower in actual pixie dust! Then, he let HER pick out whatever pin she wanted from his lanyard as her special choice. More pixie dust! Liz was beaming from ear to ear!

It may not have been her original wish, but it sure looked like a dream come true to me. I will never forget that young man- he could have simply turned away and kept sweeping and thought "Not my concern" but instead, he went above and beyond to make sure "NO ONE CRIES AT DISNEY!"

 

[ferrytale]

I have lots of favorite memories of WDW, but the most magical one is from our last trip in 2007. We were doing a grand gathering of sorts and flew down on Saturday with the in-laws, who like to get there early and do as much as possible as quickly as possible - not necessarily bad, but DH and I are more laid back and like to take our time and enjoy. So we got to MK around noon or 1 on Saturday, did some rides, rushed to our ADR, then rushed back to the park. By the time we got back, I was very sad b/c I wasn't feeling that "Disney Magic" that I have always felt the moment we get on property, and I was afraid our whole trip was going to be a disaster. It was DS first trip and I wanted it to be perfect for us all.
DH and I were pushing DS(then 2), in the stroller around the back of the castle, and we came to the Cinderella fountain. DH handed me some coins and told me to go make a wish, so I did. WELL...I tossed in the coins and we continued to walk around to the front of the castle and Main Street was all lit up and so pretty - I guess we were towards the back of the park when everything came on, so I hadn't seen it yet - but it was so beautiful to me and I finally got that "magic" feeling that I almost started crying.
I know it probably sounds silly, but when you need that little bit of pixie dust to brighten your day, and it actually happens, it just makes it that much more special!

 

[tam626]

Seeing the look of awe/joy on my 3 yr. old son's face the first time he laid eyes on Mickey. That was priceless!

 

[mominfamilyof7]

It was nighttime in EPCOT and my then eight year old son with autism was 'skipping' on the lighted sidewalk. To see my child who does not show any emotion skipping - brought joy to my heart.