Your first WOWs !!!

[jade1]

Truth be told-I would say about 1/2 of it was the weather. First trip was end of January 1997 (yes Birthday Cake Castle but loved it). From Minnesota it just seemed extra nice out, manicured, beautiful everywhere.

First stop was MK-and we were hooked.

Took some boyfriends along many years later, stayed at WL. When we arrived they were quite impressed-and it got better from there.

 

[NormaG]

My WOW moment would have to be "Wishes". I had never seen fireworks set to a story/music like that! I still cry every time I see it...even watching a youtube video of it makes me cry! Now, "Dream Along With Mickey" effects me the same way!

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

Even though my family grew up really close to Disney World my dad would take advantage of the hotel deals when Grand Floridian would go on special for Florida residents for like $99a night (back in the 90's in the off-season). I was probably only 6 (brothers 4 and 2) and whenever we would wait for my dad to check-in, my mom would take us in to the middle of the lobby (which I thought and still think is so grand and beautiful) and my brothers and I would just dance to the background music or the band. My WOW moments now are going back as an adult and sitting in the lobby and re-living those fun memories

Also, on my birthday when I was 10 the Jungle Cruise boat driver let me 'drive' the boat! That was WOW!

 

[Priory]

I am a DLR vet and I had 2 massive 'wow's' the first time I visited WDW. First was getting to Magic Kingdom. We arrived by bus and I was so caught up in getting to the gate that I wasn't exactly looking around. As we were about to enter I turned around and saw a massive body of water where California Adventure "should" be. It was like the park had fallen into the sea (which pre-makeover I had always kind of wished for).

The second was Adventureland. Our first day we walked around Main Street and then turned into Adventure land. While bigger, it felt roughly the same. Once I got past jungle cruise and saw the flying carpets and the huge tiki building and pirates, I felt like I was in one of those dreams where you are someplace familiar but everything is "off". Totally bizarre feeling. I had many more wows during the trip but those were the biggest.

 

[dislaney]

Seeing the castle for the first time of the trip takes me back to seeing it for the first time when I was 11. Great feeling!

Wishes!

Seeing the Osborne lights for the first time. Had heard about them and seen pictures, but seeing them in person, major WOW!

 

[TXDisneyFan1]

My first trip was in 1977 and I was fifteen. We went with lots of people to celebrate my sister's and another friend's high school graduation. I think we had a total of six campers at Fort Wilderness and each family did their own thing.

The trip was saved for over a year like all our family vacations were. There was a budget and we had routines on all our camping trips (two weeks every summer). For this one, we would eat all our meals at the campsite, not at the parks. That was too expensive. We arrived at Fort Wilderness around lunchtime, got all checked in, set up the trailer, ate lunch and then went over to the only park, Magic Kingdom. My sister and I were told that it was just to take a look around and we wold be returning to the campsite for dinner and our nightly fire. We left for Magic Kingdom around 2:00 PM.

We returned to the campsite about 2:00 AM. My WOW moment was seeing my father, who worked so hard as a truck driver to save for our vacations, just stare at everything at Magic Kingdom. he laughed, he joked, he smiled, he chatted with Cast Members. He bought our ticket books (this was back then) and said one was enough. And he was laughing later when he bought us another one. Dinnertime came and he guided us to the Columbia Harbor House. My sister and I were amazed because we never ate out for dinner on our trips. My dad laughed through that meal too. We watched the parade and the fireworks and then boated back to the campground. My dad was even laughing and *gasp* singing when we walked to our site.

And later that trip, my dad with his hands on his hips standing in the middle of the road saying "this place is neat". That was the highest compliment m my dad ever gave anything.

That first trip made all of us Disney fans. That's the WOW for me.

Thank you for sharing this memory...made me cry happy tears!

 

[Leader of the Pack]

As an adult, age 32, My Dream Came True !!!

 

[Disney Frenhines]

My first trip in 1989. Myself and my late DH were driving to MK and I was convinced it wouldn't live up to the excitement since I first told we were doing the trip in July (he was in the Royal Navy and his ship was at Jacksonville, so I flew over to spend our first Christmas as newlyweds with him) I couldn't have been more wrong, the first time I saw Cinderella Castle was a major WOW moment. Another one with Cinderella Castle was seeing all the lights cascade on during the Wishes fireworks in December, I videoed it and it still makes me go WOW when I play it. Then there were the Epcot fireworks in 1989, I'd never seen anything like them and that blew my mind too.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I gotta steal this and add to my list too. Last month seeing Festival of Fantasy...what a parade!

OMG, the Dragon, I replayed the video yesterday as I was making a hard copy, WOW another WOW was Flynn Rider on the float, wasn't that great too.

 

[mwebb10]

Our first "family" trip to WDW was June 2013. My dw, ds (age 7), & dd (age 3) spent 5 wonderful days there while staying a CBR. A few "WOW" instances on our spectacular trip were:
1) Seeing my daughter finally meet her favorite character (being a "macho-man" I try not to cry... but, a quick tear or two was shed during this time)
2) Enjoying watching my son "interact" with his favorite character (completely spontaneous and unplanned meet... just ran into him at MK)
3) My 3 yr old daughter saying, "It's even more magical than I dreamed!" when watching Wishes (at that point... I was ready to just give Disney every bit of money I had!)

Honorable Mention: The entire family thoroughly enjoyed the Pirates & Pals cruise that left from the CR on our last night at WDW.

 

[Blakelynn]

I was 22 my first time at WDW (honeymoon trip!) and I was in awe of everything.

- Seeing Cinderella's castle for the first time
- PoTC ride
- the tea cups
- The electrical parade and fireworks. I didn't know they were a thing.
- Spaceship Earth
- Maelstrom
- shopping in Japan
- the tree of life
- the 3d shows

 

[DisneyFive]

My first trip was in 1977 and I was fifteen. We went with lots of people to celebrate my sister's and another friend's high school graduation. I think we had a total of six campers at Fort Wilderness and each family did their own thing.

The trip was saved for over a year like all our family vacations were. There was a budget and we had routines on all our camping trips (two weeks every summer). For this one, we would eat all our meals at the campsite, not at the parks. That was too expensive. We arrived at Fort Wilderness around lunchtime, got all checked in, set up the trailer, ate lunch and then went over to the only park, Magic Kingdom. My sister and I were told that it was just to take a look around and we wold be returning to the campsite for dinner and our nightly fire. We left for Magic Kingdom around 2:00 PM.

We returned to the campsite about 2:00 AM. My WOW moment was seeing my father, who worked so hard as a truck driver to save for our vacations, just stare at everything at Magic Kingdom. he laughed, he joked, he smiled, he chatted with Cast Members. He bought our ticket books (this was back then) and said one was enough. And he was laughing later when he bought us another one. Dinnertime came and he guided us to the Columbia Harbor House. My sister and I were amazed because we never ate out for dinner on our trips. My dad laughed through that meal too. We watched the parade and the fireworks and then boated back to the campground. My dad was even laughing and *gasp* singing when we walked to our site.

And later that trip, my dad with his hands on his hips standing in the middle of the road saying "this place is neat". That was the highest compliment m my dad ever gave anything.

That first trip made all of us Disney fans. That's the WOW for me.

Wow! Thanks for sharing! Love it. Gave me goosebumps.

I just remembered another from our first ever visit in 2010.

Major pixie dust on our very first HS morning. As my oldest daughter and I were getting ready to go on RnRC (she was the only kid tall enough), my wife calls me and said that my middle daughter (6 at the time) was just picked get the red rose at the end of the Beauty and the Beast show! I had no idea what she was talking about, but she was telling me to hurry and get over there! So we quickly rode RnRC (we were almost ready to load when she called), and we booked it over to Beauty and the Beast, just in time.

Sure enough, there they were, WAY down in front with a row reserved all to themselves. My son and my inlaws were also there. They made us all feel like Disney Royalty . It was a memory we'll always cherish, seeing her being led up to the stage towards the end of the show, with Belle and the Prince handing her the rose. WOW!!!

Dan

 

[daannzzz]

1996 I was 40. We live in California so had been to Disneyland many, many times. I had over researched the trip to WDW reading every guide, property map, brochure and looking at photos from on my old slow computer via the old slow dialup AOL on the old, slow ,fledgling websites. I wish I had not seen what it was like to walking into the Wilderness Lodge or Grand Floridian or all the pavilions at Epcot. I still had two WOW moments though.
The first one was the first day we arrived and were staying at the Days In Lake Buena Vista resort but I wanted to drive through WDW property first. It was twilight and we came from MCO on the Central Florida Greeneway and the buildings faded away, we were driving through some forested area for a bit and I saw the first purple sign and I knew we were on the property. For those who have not been to Disneyland you can not imagine the difference when arriving at the to properties. We pulled off and the first thing we saw was the DVC Tower on the corner Of Buena Vista Dr. and Bonnet Creek parkway. It is still special to me. The second wow was that I was not interested in the Yacht and Beach Club so had no plans to visit. Toward the end of the trip we had some time so I decided to drive over. We walked up to the Beach Club form the parking lot and it was so pretty but walking out the back side to the lake and seeing the, still under construction, Boardwalk, The Swan and Dolphin and lake was very impressive. We walked along Stormalong Bay to the Yacht Club and I just loved it all. Stayed at the Yacht Club the next year.

 

[feezle]

-Osborne Lights blew me away. I'm not really a Christmas light person and I was expecting it to be boring. It was incredible.

-The first time I saw Fantasmic! I was amazed by the water projections.

- The first time I went in '95 I believe, I remember being wowed by the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Still one of my favorites.

- 2011 was the second trip my daughters had been on (1&2 at the time). We got to the end of Main Street just as Mickey and the gang came out for a show. Watching my 2 year old just stare...

 

[nkereina]

My parents took me for the first time when I was 10 - it was their first trip as well. We stayed at Poly so that was our first stop. I remember all of us walking in from the parking lot and being blown away at the first glimpse of the lobby - the foliage with the waterfall. Sad they are doing away with it now!

As an adult, I had the same feeling seeing the WL for the first time.

I always get a little awestruck when riding on DME and seeing the Walt Disney World sign on the road.

 

[Missymouse18]

I get the wow feeling every time we go from the "outside" world onto Disney property. It never gets old. Everything is where it is supposed to be and all of the grass and landscaping looks perfect. It really gets you ready for you upcoming week of vacation and gives you that wow we are finally back here again.

EXACTLY!!!!
There are so many wows. But ultimately, mine was meeting Mickey. I cried shamelessly and I was a 36 year old adult.

Thanks for posting this thread, OP! I have been home from my annual WDW vacation for a week and I have had severe Disney blues This thread really brightened my day!

 

[DisneyFive]

Thanks for posting this thread, OP! I have been home from my annual WDW vacation for a week and I have had severe Disney blues This thread really brightened my day!

Glad it helps!

I know the feeling. The only thing about threads like this is it make me want to bust out my wallet and book another stay!!!!, but instead we already have a (non-Disney) family cruise booked this year after four annual years of WDW. Absence makes the heart grow fonder right? It's brutal though, I want to go back and all these great Wow's are making it so... hard... to... say... no!....

Dan