Favorite memories

[StarWarsGirl]

There's been a lot of negativity on these boards lately, so let's have a positive thread here about memorable times that we've had at the most magical place on Earth. Share a great experience (or two. Or three. Or however many you want) about WDW. That memory that makes you say, "Now this is why I came here." A great experience with a CM. A funny story about your kids. Whatever! Just share your favorite happy memories of WDW.

For me, there have been a lot, but my favorites are the ones where the people I'm with are happy and enjoying the parks with me. I brought my long-time friend a few years ago on a high school graduation trip. We flew in that morning, and went to DHS that afternoon. Our very first ride of the trip was Star Tours, and my friend got picked as the rebel spy. It was so hilarious, and since she had never been on it before, she was so surprised. That was a great trip, but it started out so perfectly.


Your turn.

 

[Figgy1]

OMG there are so many! Our 2011 trip when my ds got a personal M&G with Flynn and got to pull the sword out of the stone (that was also the year over at KSC when he got picked to be in a ST show there and he got to do the scene with tribbles). One time we walked into Character Spot and it was empty so my boys got to gets pics with the fab 5 all together. One trip my younger ds big Sci Fi fan got picked to be in the parade during SWW. We did Behind the Seeds and my boys got to hold a hidden Mickey pumpkin. Being the first family going though the gate at rope drop. My boys meeting Mickey for the first time. Jedi training for the first time. Eating at CP and having my ds do the conga line. Thank you for starting this thread

 

[MinnieM123]

That memory that makes you say, "Now this is why I came here."

My happiest and most memorable experience at WDW took place back in 1985. It was that jaw-dropping moment, when my mother and I saw Main Street USA, and the Cinderella Castle in the distance, for the very first time. We had seen these images on TV multiple times, but to see them "in person" was magical for us.

 

[SeanWM48]

Our first trip I was very skeptical. I was 25 years old and never went as a kid. I did the trip as a gift to my longtime girlfriend because she's a Disney hardcore fan. We took a 6am flight so we were up around 3:30am and I felt like an absolute zombie by the time we landed. I'm like, 'what the ___ have I gotten myself into'

But seriously the first memory that comes to mind was grabbing a big iced coffee at the starbucks in the airport and walking over to the magic express. Some of the drivers were walking around the terminal area and had the mickey gloves on and waved us over. Getting on the bus with my coffee and watching that video while the bus drove us over was seriously the best. I felt welcomed and found the whole thing very charming. It was the first disney material i'd watched since i was a kid. By the time we got the resort I was so prepared to be on vacation it was ridiculous.

Anyway, we've been several times now and have lots of memories, none more memorable than getting engaged at Fort Wilderness (the story is in the trip report, link in my signature). But reading the OP the first memory that came to mind is actually from that first trip, grabbing coffee and getting completely sold by the Magic Express.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

When I went in 2012, I stayed on Disney property for the first time ever. I loved it.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

Great idea for a thread...we need more positivity around here.

I have been going to Disney since I was a little kid, but my fondest memories have been recent. In 2009, I proposed to my girlfiend right in front of Cinderella Castle. It was first thing in the morning, so there weren't a lot of people around and was very peaceful.

Since then, we've been taking our daughter since she was 3 months old. It's been a real treat watching her grow and her interactions with the characters change as she gets older. A few months ago we went to BOG for an early breakfast and decided to try and pull the sword from the stone. Magically...it happened and my wife and daughter were so surprised.

 

[Herdman]

My favorite memory occurred on our trip when our daughter was about 10 years old. The movie "Up" had been out for a while, and she loved the dog Dug. One of Dug's lines from the movie was "I just met you and already love you!". We bought her a t-shirt at the World of Disney store that said this on the front. She wore it the day we were to go to a character meet to see Dug. As soon as Dug saw her shirt he got excited and hugged her, and "licked" her face with his tongue. The smile on her face was one of pure and absolute happiness. I have the picture on my desk at work, and I get a smile on my face each time I look at it.

 

[carriehpotter]

This is a lovely thread. Thank you

I have so many wonderful memories from WDW. But probably the one that will stick with me forever is when I was ten in 1999. My favorite character was (and still is!) Hades from Hercules. Well, even though the film had only come out a few years before, it was impossible to find any merchandise with Hades on it (now they actually feature him on some T-shirts and stuff, but not back then). I desperately searched through Downtown Disney and especially World of Disney. My little ten-year-old self must have asked every CM in that store if they had Hades (politely, of course!).

Finally, FINALLY, one CM who'd overheard me asking another came up to me and said, "I think we do!" She brought me over to a small table off to one side with figurines on it and, sure enough, there was one Hades figurine left! I got so excited and thanked her profusely. But then I noticed...his blue hair was chipped. I'm a perfectionist, so at that point I was close to tears. She assured me that they'd find a new figurine and the one shipped to our room (remember when the bags showed up in your room and you didn't have to go to the gift shop?) wouldn't be damaged. We paid and left, after many more thanks.

The next day, after a long day in the parks, we came back to our room to see our bags had arrived! Well, I wanted to check Hades, so we quickly found him and he was perfect. But in another bag, all by itself, my dad found a frame box. We knew we hadn't purchased a frame, so it had to be a mistake. We opened it to be sure and...inside this beautiful frame that you could buy for like $30 was a certificate. This moment was certifiably magical: Caroline, Searching for Hades. All of the CMs from the store had signed it, they'd decorated it with Hades, Pain and Panic stickers, and Hades himself had signed at the bottom!

For that little girl, who'd only desperately wanted to find something to treasure with her favorite character on it, that moment cemented the Disney magic. That all those people had come together to celebrate me, to make me feel so special...that's why I will always love Disney, no matter what.

 

[epcotisbest]

Good thread.
My first memory of WDW is from 1983. We were a newly-married young, broke couple going on only our second trip anywhere far from home together. I never went as a kid and we decided it was something we wanted to do together. She had been before.
We stopped at the Disney Village and spent several hours just walking around checking it out, enjoying the shops and trying a restaurant that is not there anymore.
Here is a photo from that first trip. We stayed off property at an inexpensive place over on 192, the place then was very remote, drove to MK the next day, came back to the car and had peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches in the parking lot because we could not afford to eat two meals onsite, and just had a terrific day.
Then it got even better as we went to EPCOT Center the next day and we were just blown away. Been going back once, twice, sometimes three times per year since, and my wife is still just as beautiful as in this 1983 photo I took with an actual cheap film camera that we had to take home and have the photos developed later when we could pay for them. Good memories.

 

[yaksplat]

One of my favorite was in 1983. I was 6 and we were staying at the Disney Village Resort. It seemed like every night that we were there, it would rain. My dad and I would run through the rain over to the arcade and play until we ran out of quarters. I've been back a dozen times since, but that's still one of my favorite memories.

 

[epcotisbest]

OMG there are so many! Our 2011 trip when my ds got a personal M&G with Flynn and got to pull the sword out of the stone (that was also the year over at KSC when he got picked to be in a ST show there and he got to do the scene with tribbles). One time we walked into Character Spot and it was empty so my boys got to gets pics with the fab 5 all together. One trip my younger ds big Sci Fi fan got picked to be in the parade during SWW. We did Behind the Seeds and my boys got to hold a hidden Mickey pumpkin. Being the first family going though the gate at rope drop. My boys meeting Mickey for the first time. Jedi training for the first time. Eating at CP and having my ds do the conga line. Thank you for starting this thread

Good memories.

 

[Figgy1]

Good memories.

THNX

 

[belledream]

Memories are what WDW is all about! When we used to go as a family, I would take my brother on Goofy's Barnstormer late at night. (He's 7 years younger than me). It was the beginning of feeling that important responsibility of taking care of him and I loved it! And since it was at night, nobody was riding, and the CMs let us stay on and on again.

Another is the first time I took my then-boyfriend-now husband to Disney for the first time after taking the first one year hiatus in my entire life. When we boarded Peter Pan, he literally hung his head over the side of the ship and freaked out in awe as we 'took off'. It was wonderfully adorable and little did I know (though I wished it completely) we would return to Disney ever year after that because it became 'our place', not just mine.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

This is a lovely thread. Thank you

I have so many wonderful memories from WDW. But probably the one that will stick with me forever is when I was ten in 2000. My favorite character was (and still is!) Hades from Hercules. Well, even though the film had only come out a few years before, it was impossible to find any merchandise with Hades on it (now they actually feature him on some T-shirts and stuff, but not back then). I desperately searched through Downtown Disney and especially World of Disney. My little ten-year-old self must have asked every CM in that store if they had Hades (politely, of course!).

Finally, FINALLY, one CM who'd overheard me asking another came up to me and said, "I think we do!" She brought me over to a small table off to one side with figurines on it and, sure enough, there was one Hades figurine left! I got so excited and thanked her profusely. But then I noticed...his blue hair was chipped. I'm a perfectionist, so at that point I was close to tears. She assured me that they'd find a new figurine and the one shipped to our room (remember when the bags showed up in your room and you didn't have to go to the gift shop?) wouldn't be damaged. We paid and left, after many more thanks.

The next day, after a long day in the parks, we came back to our room to see our bags had arrived! Well, I wanted to check Hades, so we quickly found him and he was perfect. But in another bag, all by itself, my dad found a frame box. We knew we hadn't purchased a frame, so it had to be a mistake. We opened it to be sure and...inside this beautiful frame that you could buy for like $30 was a certificate. This moment was certifiably magical: Caroline, Searching for Hades. All of the CMs from the store had signed it, they'd decorated it with Hades, Pain and Panic stickers, and Hades himself had signed at the bottom!

For that little girl, who'd only desperately wanted to find something to treasure with her favorite character on it, that moment cemented the Disney magic. That all those people had come together to celebrate me, to make me feel so special...that's why I will always love Disney, no matter what.

That is such a great memory. The CMs truly do make your stay more magical.

I had a similar experience. When I was in middle school, I had recently developed food allergies. We didn't really know how to handle the allergies at the time. We were eating at what is now Tratoria al Forno, formerly Kouzina's, at the Boardwalk. I didn't realize that what I had ordered contained nuts. Thankfully, we saw it as soon as it came out. The manager came over and we explained the situation. They were nice about it and brought me another order. That order turned out to be undercooked, so we sent it back. By then, I was pretty upset. The food allergy thing was new to me, and my group had finished way before then. They brought me a fresh order and sent me with some allergy-friendly snacks for later in the day. Later that night, we got back to the room, and waiting there for us was a huge gift basket with fruit and allergy-friendly snacks, along with my name on a note signed by the CMs from the restaurant and a piece of pink construction paper cut out into a heart with several pins attached. This went so above and beyond. The CMs figured out what room we were in, what my name was, and made sure that the basket was free from everything that I was allergic to. They realized that I had a completely negative experience, and they turned it into a positive one. I love Disney so much.

 

[epcotisbest]

Memories are what WDW is all about! When we used to go as a family, I would take my brother on Goofy's Barnstormer late at night. (He's 7 years younger than me). It was the beginning of feeling that important responsibility of taking care of him and I loved it! And since it was at night, nobody was riding, and the CMs let us stay on and on again.

Another is the first time I took my then-boyfriend-now husband to Disney for the first time after taking the first one year hiatus in my entire life. When we boarded Peter Pan, he literally hung his head over the side of the ship and freaked out in awe as we 'took off'. It was wonderfully adorable and little did I know (though I wished it completely) we would return to Disney ever year after that because it became 'our place', not just mine.

Yes, our place is so much better than my place.

 

[carriehpotter]

That is such a great memory. The CMs truly do make your stay more magical.

I had a similar experience. When I was in middle school, I had recently developed food allergies. We didn't really know how to handle the allergies at the time. We were eating at what is now Tratoria al Forno, formerly Kouzina's, at the Boardwalk. I didn't realize that what I had ordered contained nuts. Thankfully, we saw it as soon as it came out. The manager came over and we explained the situation. They were nice about it and brought me another order. That order turned out to be undercooked, so we sent it back. By then, I was pretty upset. The food allergy thing was new to me, and my group had finished way before then. They brought me a fresh order and sent me with some allergy-friendly snacks for later in the day. Later that night, we got back to the room, and waiting there for us was a huge gift basket with fruit and allergy-friendly snacks, along with my name on a note signed by the CMs from the restaurant and a piece of pink construction paper cut out into a heart with several pins attached. This went so above and beyond. The CMs figured out what room we were in, what my name was, and made sure that the basket was free from everything that I was allergic to. They realized that I had a completely negative experience, and they turned it into a positive one. I love Disney so much.

That is so amazing! I bet those snacks tasted better than any others I've always said, it's the CMs, the people in the trenches carrying out Walt's vision, that make Disney what it is!

 

[Mrs. Piglet]

My favorite memory has to be when I was 5 years old and entered the Magic Kingdom for the very first time and looked down Main Street and saw Cinderella's Castle. My Mom tells me she will never forget my facial expression at the very moment.

 

[epcotisbest]

Here is another very good memory. Our first deluxe stay was at the Boardwalk Villas. I was nervous and excited at the same time, and I guess I was kinda gushing with excitement when checking in. It was an anniversary trip and the CM that checked us in gave us the anniversary pins.
We were supposed to have a standard view but when we got to the room, we had top floor Boardwalk view looking out over the courtyard with water views and SSE at Epcot right there in direct view.
I went down to the front desk to report the mistake and go ahead and get changed to the standard view overlooking the parking lot that I was expecting and the same CM assured me there was no mistake, the view room was an upgrade courtesy of Mickey.
The next day, our actual anniversary day, when we returned to the room that night, there was a plate of huge, chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us with a card signed by Mickey wishing us a happy anniversary and a note that he hopes we are enjoying the view.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Here is another very good memory. Our first deluxe stay was at the Boardwalk Villas. I was nervous and excited at the same time, and I guess I was kinda gushing with excitement when checking in. It was an anniversary trip and the CM that checked us in gave us the anniversary pins.
We were supposed to have a standard view but when we got to the room, we had top floor Boardwalk view looking out over the courtyard with water views and SSE at Epcot right there in direct view.
I went down to the front desk to report the mistake and go ahead and get changed to the standard view overlooking the parking lot that I was expecting and the same CM assured me there was no mistake, the view room was an upgrade courtesy of Mickey.
The next day, our actual anniversary day, when we returned to the room that night, there was a plate of huge, chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us with a card signed by Mickey wishing us a happy anniversary and a note that he hopes we are enjoying the view.

That is such a great experience. We love the staff at Boardwalk; they really go above and beyond over there.

 

[Princess_AmyK]

One of my favorite trips that I have ever taken to Disney World was after my Mom and Stepdad divorced. I was 16 and my Mom and me had just moved out of our large house into a tiny apartment. It had been so stressful and hard on us, that when she got the settlement from my Stepdad, she told me that she had just paid for us to spend a week in Disney together because we needed it! I was of course a teenager, and while I have always been in love with Disney, at this point in my life I was too prideful to let it show. I told her I was looking forward to it but that was about it. When we finally went, we relaxed and did everything at a slow pace. This was the trip in which I finally saw all of the little things that make me so happy to be in Disney World. I still have a really great caricature from it! My favorite day was the day we spent in Animal Kingdom. I got to get close to an owl at Rafiki's Planet Watch which made me so happy cause I LOVE owls. I remember texting my friend that it was lame that I was with my mom, and I think she saw it because I remember her making a disappointed face. In all actuality though, that was my favorite trip I have EVER taken out of all 12 times that I have been. Teenagers just really stink.