When and/or why did you fall in love w/ Disney?

[ransam]

I was thinking over lunch when and why i love disney. I know why, but couldn't figure out when....
I think it was the second or third time my parents took me. I had always liked it. but that one time I was having so much fun and i remember leaving the Magic Kingdom and every one had been so nice, and our family had had such a good time...i turned and looked at the castle, and there was a purple sky in the back ground, it was right before dusk...and i took a picture, it was the most beautiful picture i had ever taken. i remember thinking that there was just something magical about that place. As we drove home all i thought about was how even though our family fought a lot, we never really fought at disney too much. how everyone was so nice, and why can't people be that way all the time. it was that trip i fell in love w/ Disney. All through hs, i had that picture in my locker, it went to college w/ me. and it hangs in my cubicle here at work...
so i was just thinking. I'd love to hear your stories. When did YOU become a Disney Fanatatic, and why!

[merlinmagic4]

I fell in love during our Make a Wish trip in 2003. I never went as a child and had only one other brief trip in 1998. It was an amazing trip and I was forever grateful to Disney for making that time so perfect and magical for us :thumbsup:

I began researching how we could get back. I looked into DVC and it was way too expensive for us. I looked at area timeshares for over a year and finally settled on one in 2005. We have gone every year since (except 2006)!

Someday we'll stay onsite but right now we have such a great deal going, we have to stay with it.

[SBETigg]

My very first trip in 1981. I was twelve. It was love at first sight before I even stepped into the park (only one back then, MK). It was such a clean and happy place, so removed from the real world. I never wanted to leave. I still hate to leave.

[figgie]

DH and I became fans the first weekend WDW opened! We went to a college geared to handicapped people and one Friday night in the dorm, a group of us students were sitting around studying and just passing time. Someone was reading an article on WDW's opening and how they were equiped to handle handicaped guests. A friend of ours, a psyc. major, told how he had never been able to go to ammusement parks because of the problems with being a paraplegic. ( My sister has disabilities also and we never went to theme parks when I was young.) We all decided to go and check it out.

A group of 7 (2 handicapped) of us drove to the nearest airport that night and got tickets. We arrived early in the mornig on Saturday and rented a van that would accomodate the wheel chairs and took off for the park. Everyone had a blast in a mostly seamless, fun filled day. The CM's were great getting our group on the monorail and rides. We spent the night and went back for half of Sunday and then flew back so we could all get to class on Monday.

We were hooked from then on and really appreciate all the little things Disney does for people with special needs. Things have come a long way. Thank you Disney!

[badkitty]

I inherited it! It has been passed down through the generations. :mickey:

My Nana loved Disneyland and we "girls" (Nana, Mom, my sister and I) went often. Nana was not able to experience WDW but Mom did. We had a few family trips (as adults) and we let Dad tag along. Now it is just my sister and me (sometimes Dad will join us) carrying on the traditions set by Nana and Mom. What was the favorite ride we all agreed upon? POTC :thumbsup:

[diz_girl]

It was probably during the trip when I was ten and we stayed in the Poly. I loved the pool and had a great time at the MK. I also loved (and still love) taking the little boats out onto Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. Of course, then there was River Country and the original Discovery Island. The CR was nice during the trip when I was six, but I think our stay at the Poly was the best.

[TysMomTink]

I can't remember not being a Disney fanatic. I guess it's in my genes too. We went every year (down from NJ) when I was a child... and I can't deny that proximity to WDW is one reason I moved to FL as an adult (albeit still a long drive). I look around my house and most of the pictures I have are of various Disney vacations -- as a child and now with my own son. Sure we went to other places too but my DISNEY vacations are what are framed around me. I don't think that was intentional, just subconscious maybe??

[princessimagineer]

aww i love threads like these!

i have been going since i was 1, so disney was just always a place on our vacation itinerary. i have this extremely early memory of looking out the monorail window at sunset and seeing the contemporary in the distance but i was soo young i really didnt know what it was. it was only when i got older that i figured it out.

i guess when i finally realized I loved disney, and i mean i was raised on disney, but when i could finally branch off into my own true absolute love for it, and say i would go back for myself, not because that was where my parents loved, was Halloween night, 2004. we werent going to MNSSHP that night, but we were hanging out around the Contemporary, just like walking by the pool that night, and suddenly Peter Pan bounced out of nowhere, "Hi friends!" and my dad being a confused soul asked, "hey dont you have to fly out of the castle in a little while?" and he was like "no, thats tinkerbell, but do you know what you need to fly?" and we were all yelling out things like "happy thoughts" and "pixie dust" and peter pan told us, "happiness and world peace. WELL FRIENDS, it was nice meeting you, but i have to meet up with some friends at the dock, have a magical day!"

we stood in silence, watching him bounce away, until i finally said, "you know, it is halloween night... that could be, anybody...."

i will always hold that memory of either meeting the real peter pan, or just a crazed fan having too much fun halloween night. it was then that i decided i didnt care which answer i was, but only in Disney would i have a memory like this, I LOVE THIS PLACE.

[disneymom15]

For me it all started Dec 1995. It was myself, husband, daughter 5 years old, my mother. It's the "no cares in the world feeling" I get when i'm there. I remember having tears in my eyes at MCO, I didn't want to go home. Just thinking about WDW gets me chocked up.

[brownie]

We had a great time on our honeymoon in 1994, but it was our 2000 trip with my family that really sealed the deal for me. I think it was all the planning I did for that trip.

[Missy_Mouses_Dad]

DW,DD, and I went when DD was about 3 years old. We were at the Meet/Greet at Mickey's Toon Town Fair. DD was infatuated with Snow White. As we were leaving the picture/autograph session, DD started crying because she didn't get to say good bye to Snow white. When she heard this, Snow White stepped away from the family she was taking pictures with, walked over to DD, gave her a kiss on the cheek and bid her good bye. We couldn't wash the lipstick off for quite a few days. When I saw how SW took the time to come by DD, and how much DD loved WDW, the family was hooked. That was 10 trips ago, with #11 in 12 days.:mickey:

[mouseketeer mom]

I really fell in love with WDW years back when my brother was very sick and dying of cancer. We had a trip planned before we knew just how sick he was. The planning and anticipation were a wonderful escape from the pain and dispair happening in my family. We took the trip shortly after his death, and my appreciation for WDW only got deeper. It was just what I needed. A true escape from the real world. My happy place. It has remained that way for me ever since.

[joanna71985]

Hmm, that's a hard one. I always enjoyed going to WDW as a kid. But I probably became a Disney Fanatic after my first CP in 2005.

[Kathy Jetson]

we went in 89 for a 4 day trip. I liked it I always remembered it but I just didn't get the magic. We took ds for the 1st time in 2007 when he was 4. I guess just seeing everything through his eyes and knowing he realy believed everything there just brought me back to being a kid again. Lets just say I started planning our next trip when we were leaving. When we left our 2008 trip we had to chase ds then 5 through allstar movies lobby with him crying he wouldn't come home. I've been planning oct 2009 trip every day since we left.:mickey:

[beksy]

I fell in love with Disney on our second trip when I was nine and my sister was three (our first trip I was three!). I remember thinking how great it was that Mom and Dad could go on all the rides with me and wanting to ride IASW over and over! We stayed off-property and the monorail and tram rides were so much fun. I became a Disney fanatic on our last trip when it was just my sister and me. I'm not sure if it was staying on-site for the first time, meeting Eeyore for the first time,:eeyore: trying new restaurants, or truly appreciating it as an adult while being able to act like a kid. :dance: We went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast and my sister had the mickey waffle she had always wanted but never managed to get. When I looked at her and saw her eating her waffle and watching for Mickey :mjump: with the biggest smile on her face I just realized how special it is and how the small memories mean so much. On our last night we left, almost walking backwards to see the castle as long as possible and were scheming for another trip on the bus to the airport the next day. Now a little over a year later and at 120 days to go until we are back (and taking a fellow-fanatic Mom!) the love of WDW has grown stronger (and so has the need to find excuses for more trips!). Our new favorite past-time is to make up sentences using as many abbreviations as possible about WDW! What would I do without Intercot to keep me sane between trips? :geek:

[maxrebo77]

Picture this. You have just turned 17 and graduated high school early. Your best friend and her family invite you to a Disney trip. We will go in their motohome and I have to pay 100 dollars (which includes a ticket book and HDD)and get someone to take care of my horsie. I get the $ from my parents and my older sister will take care of Chugs. It is 28 below zero (I swear) here in Il. before we leave. My sister gets my paycheck and the $ is paid back, however the pipes freeze from no use and they have to carry water for over a week in 5 gallon drums. In the mean time, I am busy doing the happy dance thinking it would be sunny and 80 the minute we hit FL. My friend has a new guy and whines the whole way about how she misses him. We get to FW and it is still freezing. They are moving all portable trees in pots to a safe location. Most of the people visiting are servicemen(cute) and no crowds. It never got to even 60 until the day we left. How ever I fell in love with Disney the first step I took out of that motorhome and into Fort Wilderness and have never stopped.

[wdwfansince75]

For me (us), it was our first visit to DL in '71. DW and I had been married almost 7 years, and my military duties had kept me away from her and our 3 kids for about half that time. The Navy had sent me to grad school in Monterey, CA, and I had just turned in my thesis (on Measuring of Sheer Strength of Deep Ocean Sediments). We need and took a long weekend for Presidents Day..drove to Anaheim with DS #1, then 5, DD #1, then 3, and DD#2, almost 1....It was a virtual sauna.....I could feel my mind and body changing as the Magic removed the burdens of my life.....We had a wonderful day....All of us! And our love affair with Disney became an obsession on our first visit to WDW four years later.... Each visit, the Magic renews us.....On each trip, I think back to that first trip, and the wonderful renewal I experienced.
Our house, and those of our children, are replete with pictures of the clan at WDW.....And we are in the early planning stages of yet another full family trip to the World....see ya all in 2010!

[parrothed26]

My father gave me Disney World. Growing up we never played together, went fishing or hunting, we worked. When my father wasnt at work for the local power company he worked at home, and time spent with dad was spent working. All except for one week a year when he took us to Disney :) I even have home movies of my mother pregnant with me at WDW in 1975 lol. It was the one place, the one time we got to see dad be a kid :mickey: I feel as though that place set us free. My grandfather had taken my dad and thier family on one vacation in his entire life, Disneyland. My dad never forgot it. Despite all his work he always made sure we got there. He passed away in 2008 but he gave us Disney World. The most amazingly wonderful place on earth that I now get to share with my son, every year. Though we also play alot here and go fishing and hunting :) Thank you for my life dad. You made it magical.

[JIMINY13]

Our first trip when my 3 girls were 7, 4 & 2 1/2 years old. I never had a vacation when I was little so being a Jiminy Cricket fan & collector since I was little, we decided to WDW. The best vacations I ever had was spending time with my family at WDW! Seeing my daughters faces lightup when meeting the characters, except at the Poly breakfast were my youngest was scared of Minnie...swimming in the Seven Seas Lagoon during the afternoon break and just being there with family. They are memories that I will never forget. I also got to go with my 2 Grandsons for their 1st visits and I truly cherish those memories. I still go 1 time a year and would go more if I could!:tink: This year I got to spend time with my Daughter and my Son-In-Law and it was great!

[TiggerD]

The first time we went to Disney World was in 1985, just myself and the hubby, I fell in love as soon as I stepped inside the Magic Kingdom and have never forgotten how much like a child I felt and the goose bumps I got seeing Mickey up close and also feeling sad that we took the trip without our children, guilt crept in, and we made a vow to come back with the kids. Well 15 trips later, we are still getting goose bumps from seeing it all over and over again each time we visit and it is more special now because we come with out kids and grandchildren and to see the magic through their eyes, brings tears to mine. Next trip, September 10th-19th with son and his wife and our 6 & 2 year old grandsons. More magical memories in the making.:mickey:

[Phantod]

Uh, oh. Gonna give away my age here. I grew up down the street from Disneyland, in Buena Park, about a mile from Knotts. My Mom and Dad got divorced and we moved up North to Sacramento in 1958. Growing up in that time period, we were inundated with Disney. Mickey Mouse Club, Wonderful World of Disney, etc. Every summer my sis and I would fly down to So. Cal and spend with my Dad and new wife. Probably around 1959 or 1960 we made our first trip to DL. I think my fondest memories (don't laugh) were on Tom Sawyer's Island. I loved the caves and rocks to climb thru, the Fort (and the old escape tunnel that is now sealed), and pontoon and suspension bridges and the like. It became an annual event. We never went down for a summer since then when we didn't get to go. So that was phase 1 of falling for Disney.

Phase 2 was when I got married and took my wife for her first ever trip to DL, in 1971. She fell in love. There is something special about taking someone for the very first time, especially when you know the park backwards and sideways.

Phase 3 was taking our kids for the first time. Our daughter told us that she was going to live there....and she got to do that when she was going to college. She worked a number of years at primarily Jungle Cruise (where she got to meet Jack Nicholson on her boat and others).

Both of our kids still love Disney and go just about every year at least once. Our daughter made it to DL Paris a number of years ago.

I got to drive by Tokyo Disney but didn't get to go. :( That was just wrong. But I was working at the time, not on vacation.

But although in my 50's, my wife and I still love going...we've been to DL 3 times in the last 9 months and will be at WDW at the end of September.

The best part? I still turn 11 when I hit the parks.....gotta run to everything.....get those strollers out of the way. :mickey:

[kemps@wdw]

DH and I both went in the 70s when we were kids and loved it right! We didn't know each other as kids, but when we took a late honeymoon in 80, we both realized, again, that this was someplace special for us. And it has been just that! For us as well as for our DD. And I don't think it's so much what's all there, and there is ALOT goin on, it's more how we feel when we're there. It's like coming to see an old friend, with alot of action in their backyard!:cloud9:

[TheVBs]

What great stories! I got all misty just reading them.

We went twice when I was little. The first time I was just a couple years old and I think it was the first year WDW opened. The second time I think I was about 5 or 6. My mom swears this is what hooked me, but since I don't remember either trip really well I'm not sure. I went again as an adult, in my 20's with my mom and sister. We had fun, but we didn't have a blast. Neither of them really wanted to go back. Then I went with my husband in 1999 BC (before children) and we had a fantastic time! I think for me it was when I went with someone who was truly enthusiastic about it.

[It'sWDW4me]

I had visited DW in 1986 for a day and a half. I was in the high school marching band and we were in a competition in Clearwater. I liked it but, meh, ok.

2002 - DS is 5, my cousin is attending Embry Riddle, and my aunt and uncle become Disneyholics. "We have to go down - all of us" they say. Ok, we get together a group of 10 - my mom, 2 DB's - 12 & 5, my uncle, aunt, 2 cousins - 14 & 3, me, DS5, & my cousin popped in for the weekend from ER . Mom and I had no clue what to do. We thought my aunt & uncle would plan a bunch of stuff since they had been down numerous times and pretty much be our guides. We had fun but missed out on a lot and spent way too much time staring at each other wondering what are we doing next? Swore that if I ever made it down again, I'd really do my pre-trip homework!

2003 - I started working for a Disneyholic. He and his wife were in their 50's and were DVC members and went to DW 3-4 times a year. The stories he'd tell! For the next few years, I cruised the web, subscribed to newsletters, read a few guide books - getting "in the know". Falling in love.

Money was tight but I planned a "do-over" trip for August 2006. That was all she wrote. I'm hooked! :) The detail in the rides; the smiling CM's; the fireworks make me cry - every time! The first time I asked for a PhotoPass card, the CM was joking around and said if I wanted a card, I'd have to dance for it. Not a problem! I started dancing right there in the middle of Main St and had no cares in the world. Where else can that possibly happen?

[Granny Jill A]

I fell in love with Disney in general when I watched the opening of Disneyland on TV. I thought I would NEVER get to go, but my daughter convinced me that it would be the best trip ever. We went to WDW when I was 45 years old. My heart skipped a beat when I entered the Magic Kingdom for the first time.

I did get to Disneyland a year later, and it was a dream come true. You never get too old to enjoy the Magic of Disney.

[jakeybake]

For me it was my honeymoon in 1991 (God that sounds so long ago now!!) with my DRHW.

It was my first ever trip to the World and I loved it from the second I set foot on property and have done everything I can to go back as often as possible since.

As I have said in previous posts, we stayed our first week at the CB and our second at the GF. Ever since that day the GF has been my home away from home. I can't describe to you the feeling I get when I walk in there, though I'm sure you can all relate.

Jay

[ransam]

thanks everyone for the stories...i love it....

[AdventurerKim]

My family took us when I was six, and we kept going back, on average, every year since! It's an escape from everyday life to a magical place with so many happy memories! :mickey:

[Erin C.]

:mickey::cloud9::thumbsup:1998....the first trip w/ DD who was 4 1/2 at the time....we were on the monorail and it slowed down and she looked out the window and there was the castle in between the trees....she took at deep breath and said "it's just how I imagined"!!!!!! We are going back in November for our tenth visit!!

[Hair_Razor]

I fell into like when I was a kid, but as an adult it was the first time I took my DS. I remember the moment it happened we were coming out of Soarin' at Epcot and a Cast Member saw my son's bday badge and took him over to the in house phone and gave him the "Goofy" birthday message. The memory still makes me misty. :cloud9: Now it's love for life!

[nicster]

I got to drive by Tokyo Disney but didn't get to go. :( That was just wrong. But I was working at the time, not on vacation.



Sorry dear...:bang:

[steamboat willy]

Early 70's right after Walt Disney World opened, Vacationing with Dad, Mom, Brother & Sis. Camping in Fort Wilderness Campground, the best we had ever stayed. (We camped alot)
Getting on that really cool boat at the Fort Wilderness dock, sailing over the Water Bridge with the A Frame Contemporary Resort off to the side and the palm trees of the Polynesian on the distant shore and walking down Main Street USA with Steamtrain whistle calling out and piano music filling the air, smell of hot popped popcorn and looking up and seeing Cinderella's Castle for the first time.
Somewhere right about then I was hooked!
And walking out a week or so later on that last night in the Magic Kingdom,
"I think I got something in my eye" causing a tear to fall.
I know it was then, and every time after.
And NOW 37 years later....same thing happens. BUT I KNOW I WILL BE BACK! :balloon:

[akaDisneyDreamer]

It was in 2008, my youngest daughter just graduated high school, and I had a hard realization that both of my girls were "grown up" and we never did anything great! No wonderful family vacation memories had been made while they were growing up. Vacations usually were trips to visit relatives, since we didn't live close to anyone. I wanted (needed!)to take them both somewhere wonderful. So, it was a spontaneous decision, and I am generally not a spontaneous person! I did just a little research and headed to my local travel agent with an idea of going to WDW. I only booked a month out and lucked into a standard room at AKL! When we got there were unknowingly upgraded to a pool view room! We had such a wonderful time ... just not enough time. Who knew you'd actually want to spend more than 5 nights? It truely is the happiest place on earth! We loved it so much we went back the next year ... and the next ... and unfortunately we can't make it this year but do have reservations for May 2012. Not a day goes by without yearning of being there. :mickey:

[disney obsessed]

Thanksgiving 1997. This was the first time I took my three girls (then aged 7, 4 and 1). We have been addicted since.

[Dulcee]

Great stories!

I've been going since I was six months old in 1987. Fortunately my Mom was disney obsessed and we went just about every summer until my late teens. Those trips were the one place everyone in our family stopped, took a deep breath and really enjoyed one another. It was the vacation, and we took many others, where the outside world didn't butt its ugly head in.

You just can't beat the magic...

[azcavalier]

I read through half of this thread before realizing that it was two years old, and was just resurrected.

My Mom decided to take the entire family to WDW back about ten years ago. My oldest was 4. None of us had ever gone, and so we didn't really know what we were in for. So, she booked us at All Star Music, and planned for two days in the parks. Upon check in, while looking through the brochures, we quickly realized that two days was nothing. We didn't have any ADRs, either.

We did the Magic Kingdom one morning, Animal Kingdom in the afternoon, and we went to Epcot for dinner. We managed to get in to Biergarten, and we hated it. The next day we did Magic Kingdom in the morning again, MGM in the afternoon, and we managed to get dinner at Teppan Edo (or whatever it was called back then) that night. We loved that. Despite the short amount of time, and no ADRs, we had a lot of fun.

Then, about a year later, my wife happened to see a Travel channel special (or maybe History Channel?) on the Magic Kingdom and how Walt bought the property, etc. She decided we would go back, and do it right. So, we booked a ten day vacation. We went, had a blast, and have been back at least once a year ever since. Twice we've gone without the kids for our anniversary. We now have an entire shelf in our home library just for WDW books. People make appointments with us to discuss their WDW trips and how they should approach it. We're definitely fanatics.

[dizneydeb22]

I think I was destined to be a Disney fanatic as I share a birthday with Mickey....November 18th! But I truly fell in love with Disney on a family vacation in 2002. My mom took both my family and my sisters family for a week. It was the first family vacation that we had EVER had! The memories that my son and my nephews have of with Mom are priceless. Now we go every year and every year we see the Country Bears in honor of Mom! She loved that show!!!
:mickey: