First trip was in 1983. I was 35. Was with my wife and two daughter (age 9 & 7). We didn't have much money at the time and I was in publishing then and got four tickets as a thank you for running a promotion with a travel agency. We saved money for months and budgeted, with the kids, what we could spend per day. They saved up their allowance. And we made the road trip from Vermont the last week of February. I had to work all day setting things up so everything would get done while I was gone so I got home after dark but we headed out for Albany as soon as I got home. I had a headache that would have killed a lessor man. All the way to Albany my head was throbbing and lights were shining in my eyes. It was awful. When we got to the hotel in Albany, I was so wired that I couldn't sleep much, a couple of hours maybe. The further south we went the better and more excited I felt. We stayed in Econo-lodges the entire trip. We had to guess where we would get and make reservations ahead of time from a pay phone or the last hotel we stayed in. We stayed 3 miles to the west of the main entrance to WDW. Up until about 5 years ago the building was still there, but had been abandoned for quite a while. We only had a three day ticket, so we spent the first day at MK. On the second day we went to EPCOT. At the time it had only been open for about 3 months. It didn't have the organization of MK and long, long lines existed. We spent two hours to get in to Imagination and all we got to see was the 3D movie I don't remember the name of.
Anyway, we spent all the time waiting for a 12 minute movie and that was all that was operating at the time for Imagination. We looked at each other and decided that EPCOT at that stage just wasn't worth it. So we drove to the Kennedy Space Center and had a great time. The next, last day, was back to MK. That's all there was at the time.
The next morning we drove up the westside of the state to Silver Springs, toured there and then headed back up north on I-95. When we got to DC we stopped and set up a bus tour of DC for the next morning. They showed up with a van and said you're the only ones that reserved for the day so where would you like to go. We didn't know the things available so we just told him a couple of places like the Vietnam Veteran Memorial and the air and space museum and the driver just took us to the regular places like the Capital building and the white house. The driver was very friendly and asked my youngest what grade she was in and what they were studying in school. She was in 1st grade and since it was Presidents week they have just studied Abe Lincoln. A light went on in his head and took us to the Ford Theater and the residence across to the road where Lincoln actually died. Quite and eye opener for the youngin'.
Then we drove the rest of the way to Vermont singing "Now is the time, Now is the best time, Now is the best time of our lives" which we all had memorized from the Carrousel of Progress. Memories for all of us and I talk with my middle aged daughters about it even now. That was why we or I ended up going to WDW 47 times and Disneyland once and Disneyland Paris once.
Love this report! We did alot of the things you have done. Our first visit was l977, and our son was 7 and daughter was 5 y/o. I was28. I think that was a perfect age for the kids to visit. We didn't have much money either but had saved up for the trip, and then, my husband was laid off from a good paying job, to Nothing at the time. We were worried, but since we had already saved up and were set to leave in a week, we decided to do it. I am so glad that we did.
Like you, we stayed off site but I can't remember the name of the resort. It was nice and clean and had a great pool, which was all the kids wanted, LOL. We drove to disney and parked in the neat named rows in the lot. First impressions were of being in awe at everything. The place was so clean, with uniformed CM;s very much in view picking up trash or cleaning the bathrooms. Everything was pristine including the attractions which were painted and actually worked!!! we had no breakdowns while we were there.
All of it was amazing! But the kids wanted to go back to the hotel at noon so they could swim all afternoon! That's kids for you. They just want to swim at that age. I'm not saying they didn't love disney, because they did and had a ball while in the parks.
Like you, we visited Silver Springs but not with the kids on that trip. As a side note: we went to Florida in l969 before there was a Disney! We visited Silver Springs when it was pristine and they had glass bottom boats that you could actually see huge fish and alot of them. We visited later and there were very few smaller fish, which was disappointing.
We also visited the Vietnam Memorial and I couldn't help it, but cried at the huge number of young men and women who lost their lives there, including my young brother in law.
Sorry, I got sidetracked from disney........
We visited again when the kids were 9 and 11, and have visited alot since then. More recently, my husband and I have been visiting yearly by ourselves, which is a whole other way to visit disney, but fits our lives at this time.
