Your first WOWs !!!

[DisneyFive]

I thought it might be fun to list the WOWs from your first childhood or adult WDW trips! You know, one of those feel good threads…

I was 37 for my first trip to Disney in 2010, and my Wow’s were:

• How bright and lively looking POP Century was! Good vibes baby! (I think my kids still prefer the feel of POP to POR)
• The lagoon catching on fire during Fantasmic! My DD8 at the time, “Is that real fire?”
• That first boost of acceleration on RnRC!! …put a stupid grin on my face.
• The MK opening show!!!! (this one blew me away and I admit it got me teary eyed. I didn’t know about the show and it totally caught me off guard. I felt so blessed to be there with my family that morning)
• When you first get lifted off the ground on Soarin! in those big chairs/gliders! (and the orange and pine smells too) Soarin is still the one ride that signifies WDW to me.
• The sounds of Epcot!! Love the background music in Future World
• Going backwards on Expedition Everest!!! Didn’t see that one coming!
• How BIG WDW is! Couldn’t believe the drive from onsite resort to the park each morning
• How awesome the pool felt at night after being in the parks all day. ahh...
• …and finally, how much Disney totally and completely blew us away. The awesome memories will last and always remain!!!!

Dan

 

[Meech Loves Mickey]

Meeting Mickey for the first time. I cried like a baby. I was 30 years old.

 

[jsbowl16]

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.

 

[summerskye]

First time I saw the castle. Next big WOW was seeing the birthday cake castle, but not in a good way...

 

[JimmyV]

First trip was in 1972 and my first "wow" was seeing the monorail go right through our hotel (The Contemporary). Truth be told...it still makes me say "wow".

 

[dobtia]

Our first trip we did 3 days in parks on a 7 day trip at the 4th of July (we were at MK on the 4th) with NO NO NO NO NO planning. Needles to say we almost blew our love for Disney in one try.

However when my son saw Stanley and his great big book of everything. After that we rolled up character after character at Rafiki's in AK and it was on. The smiles he had let us know we could do better.

2 years later, many hours on the DIS and others, books bought we had an amazing trip.....

 

[BrianL]

When I was a kid (around 8):
The ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. I had never seen holograms like that!
The "hyper space" (energizing) tunnel on Space Mountain.

A little older (13ish):
My mother crying when she saw the castle (my Dad took us the first time)
Checking into Port Orleans with the big fans on the celing. Wow!

As an adult:
MK Welcome Show...I also didn't know about it and it is one of my favorite things EVER!
THe view from the top of Summit Plumet at Blizzard Beach.
The music for Fantasmic!
Dinner at BoG

Honestly, I don't think there is ever a trip where I am not Wowed by something new or that I had never noticed.

 

[disney meema]

My first Wow moment in disney world was seeing Epcot in 1988. Being from Southern California I grew up with Disneyland so Epcot was a real wow wow for all of my family : ) Also the size of the entire disney world had me in awe ... Amazing!

 

[kaybird]

I agree with the pp that something WOWs me every trip.

My dad first took me to DL in 1957 (I was 2) Still remember the Storybook boats going into the Whale's mouth...WOW!

My DH took me to WDW on our honeymoon in 1975. River Country and the Chipmonks Character breakfast at what is now Hoop dee Doo. WOW!

My first ride on EVEREST! WOW!!!

2 weeks ago trip, The new Fantasy Parade, WOW!!!

24 hour party WOW!!!

 

[BrianL]

2 weeks ago trip, The new Fantasy Parade, WOW!!!

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

 

[eyehartdisney]

I've been going to Disney on my birthday for several years now, and something special always happens that day. (Or maybe it just seems like that since it's disney and my birthday )

The first one I remember we had Ohana scheduled the day after we arrived as early in the morning as I could manage, and Stitch ended up 'kidnapping' me for the parade, and making me, and a girl friend lead it with him. I laughed so hard. A 30 year old woman in a parade at ohana. Too funny.

Last time I came in on my birthday, I had gone through what was perhaps the scariest plane ride of my life. It landed two hours late, and had gone through a blizzard. Just driving to the airport, a three hour trip in of itself, we almost went off the road three times. Terrifying. Worse, after I got to the airport, I got sick from what I would assume was the stress. I had scheduled fastpasses that night, at Hollywood Studios, and arrived in the park ten minutes after my last fastpass expired. I went up to the CM of ToT, and asked if I could ride even though I was a bit late. She said I looked like I was having a bad day, and I said 'You have no idea.' And then she said "Well, I can't let you ride on your fastpass, but wait right here..." Five minutes later, she came back with a stack of paper fastpasses and a big grin on her face. It made my day. I ended up pulling people from the wait lines to ride with me since there was no way I could use all of them in one day, and the rest of my party wasn't arriving until the next day. I met a woman taking her daughter, and her daughter's friend on ToT on my 3rd ride, and I took them around and got them in all the headliners once, no wait.

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

My first ever visit was in 1981 (I was 5). Back then there were no M&Gs. The characters just walked around the park while the kids chased them down, autograph book and pen in hand. Seeing these characters IRL were my major WOW! Even when we got home, I looked at my autograph book probably another million times.

And ditto on the HM ride. To this day that is still one of my all time faves!

My most recent WOW was seeing my kids at Disney for their first trip (2011). Just the looks on their faces when walked through the gates was priceless. Brought back a lot of memories

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

The first time I saw Fantasmic. It was back in 2005 and I was working at Hollywood Studios in the college program at the time. For some reason, I hadn't seen it on any of our family vacations, but I heard so many of my fellow cast members recommending it to the guests. I also found out that it had been voted the number one thing to see on a Walt Disney World vacation by some magazine that year. I ended up recommending it to multiple guests before I ever actually saw it myself. Anyway, one day, I finally wasn't closing and was at the park with some friends and we all decided to watch the show. I was absolutely blown away. I LOVED it. You want to talk about refilling your pixie dust? That did it for me every time. Now, there has yet to be a vacation I have taken where I haven't watched the show.

 

[Dreamport]

My first trip was as the 3-yr-old daughter of the owner of a brand new video camcorder, so all my first 'WOW's were caught on film.
-- Meeting Mickey for the very first time (and he was SO MUCH BIGGER than me! )
-- Flying over London on Peter Pan's Flight
-- The glass figurines on Main Street. They were so pretty!!

Other Times I actually remember:
-- Main Street Electrical Parade
-- The forest full of white figurines in the original Journey into Imagination ride
-- Fantasmic! especially toward the end with Maleficent and the boat and Mickey.
-- When I realized they were showing Half Dome during Soarin'. I had actually been there when I was nine!
-- The look of the AoA Cars suites with my family. We were all blown away at the details and the fact Doc Hudson was right outside my window!

Disney still manages to give me a wow factor every time.

 

[jemlover]

One of my big moments was watching our 7 y/o son (now 30) on his first trip to WDW. DH and I had not been able to go as children and it was such a joy to see WDW through our child's eyes. I can't wait to do this again with our grandsons. Another big WOW moment was our first trip when we stayed on site. When we walked in the doors of the Wilderness Lodge DH and I were just blown away. We had been scheduled on a 3 day cruise but had to leave the ship before sailing due to an illness so when we were finally able to get to WL we felt like our trip might just be saved. It was a wonderful feeling. After a number of years of staying at value or moderate resorts we are finally able to stay at WL again in November. It can't get here fast enough.

 

[DWillowBay]

BEVERLY!!! WOW!

 

[Vylette Rose]

The wow moment that I most often remember was from our honeymoon. It was 1995, we had flown in on an extremely bumpy flight, with rather rude flight attendants. When we went to get our rental car, they wouldn't rent to us because we were both under 25 (how travel agent missed this is beyond me). They were able to point us to a company that would rent to us, but it ended up being out of pocket with money we didn't real have, because this should have already been covered. We had put the car in my wife's name so she was driving. So here we are nauseous from the flight, feeling pretty miserable due to our monetary situation, but we were on our way to WDW. She dropped me off, with the luggage, in front of Wilderness Lodge and went to park the car. I walked into the Lodge and had my WOW moment. I could not believe the grandeur, the sheer size and beauty of the lodge!! To this day I still feel amazement when I walk in there.

 

[Pepsiduck]

My first WOW is when I saw Celebrate the Magic for the first time. I had no idea that was going to happen. Me and my family went to the park to see The Electric parade and we were just hanging by the castle waiting for Wishes to come on and out of no were CTM started.

 

[Liberator]

my first visit was in 2008 with my parents, I was 20 back then.

we started out with EPCOT and drove up the parking lot with our rental car.

We all were like: WHAT KIND OF LARGE PARKING LOT IS THIS?!?!??!!!!
It was early in the morning, the lot was totally empty. In this moment we realized that WDW must be larger than we thought, it was really a WOW-moment.

another WOW-moment for me was after the drop on Splash Mountain. My mother is a very funny person, but I never knew she can laugh that loud and awkward. It was almost embarassing how she was laughing, a mix of fun, pain, joy, fear etc.

 

[plutotek]

Mine center around the original.

As a kid, 2 come to mind:

Shrinking on the Mighty Microscope
Flying over London on Peter Pan

As an adult:

The 'end-zone' dance our then-5 yr old son did on Main Street when he realized we were in Disneyland

Same trip, watching my Korean-born son's eyes get as round as saucers when we our Doom Buggie stopped in front of the breathing door.