Couting my first trip I will take in 14 years, I have, or will have, visited Walt Disney World 12 times. My next trip is in October 2007, so until I take that trip, I have only been to Orlando's Disney park 11 times. But who is counting? Here's a breakdown ...
1977 -- summer of 1977, tail end of first grade, start of second grade, parents and sister and I drove down; stayed off site somewhere; caught up in a hurricane, driving down somewhere between Atlanta and Orlando -- was it Daytona?)
1979 -- Dad's annual business convention, a week, stayed at Contemporary in the now demolished North Wing; late January - early February (one day the holiday decorations were up in the Magic Kingdom, then next day all gone).
1980 -- liked 1979 so much, dad scheduled annual convention again. Just like in 1979, stayed at Contemporary, but brought down by cousin. And just like the previous year, the meetings were held on the second and third floor meeting rooms and ballroom. Kids of the Kingdom special performance in the Contemporary ballroom was so cool! Got their autographs to prove it!
1981 -- first of THREE trips my dad won via a radio station. The AM radio station had a key word of the day and I believe the word of the day was Dumbo. We went for the 10th anniversary of WDW. Stayed at the Howard Johnson's in Lake Buena Vista area in the WDW Village Marketplace area (now Downtown Disney) and saw some construction in a far off distance for something called EPCOT Center. Slightest idea what it was.
1982 -- SECOND of three trips my dad won via a radio station. The same AM radio station had another contest, another word of the day, but it was all general "EPCOT" terms. I was lucky enough to be home in the afternoon when the phone call came. The magic word was "Energy." We stayed at the Howard Johnson hotel again. I guess that hotel is called the Holiday Inn.
1983 -- my bigger family, which included a new sister, and my grandparents (dad's side) all went to WDW and we stayed at the Contemporary. I believe it was spring time in 1983 and it was part of dad's annual business convention. I believe my cousin went with us too. The coolest part is that one day we were at the Magic Kingdom and we got split up on one of the curves around the castle before the afternoon parade. I, my sister, and my grandparents were on one side, while my dad and mom and grandmom were on the other side. At one point, my dad took a picture with the camera. It was of Geppetto's workshop with Pinocchio. Well, after we got the pix developed after the trip, dad had to take a second look. My granddad, somehow was in the the picture, along with me and my sister, off to frandpop's side. He, in his sunglasses and his right hand over his eyebrows, like in a salute, but shielding from the glare, was FRAMED PERFECTLY inside the glass fishbowl. Luck and pixie dust I tell ya. Hoop-do-doo Revue and River Country and a convention-guests only boat ride through the lagoon! Woot!
1985 -- incorporated a summer trip to Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Washington DC at the end of June and start of July. Drove down, it was cool. Spent a few days in Tampa / St. Pete visiting my dad's business friends, drove to Orlando for a few days at WDW, then drove up the coast to DC for July 4 celebrations. Stayed at the Hilton at the WDW Village Marketplace. Celebrated my birthday poolside at the Hilton and celebrated my mom's birthday at a really cool restaurant in Georgetown district in DC.
1986 -- took a late summer / early fall business trip with my dad and the family. I believe we stayed at the Hilton again and we celebrated my sister's birthday at the WDW Village Marketplace Restaurant (now the Rainforest Cafe?). Happy 15th WDW! I think we got some cool small prizes during the 15th anniversary celebration.
1988 -- late winter on a small business trip with dad with the family, senior year in high school. We stayed at the Polynesian Resort. It was like 3 or 4 days max, in the middle of the school week, and I remember sleeping all of 2 hours, or was it three ??, on the night of our return. The aircraft was severely delayed out of Orlando, or was it Atlanta? I had to be in class by 7am, so was cutting it close. The cool part, though, was getting an autograph of WCW / WWE wrestler "Big John Stud," who was in Orlando and conencting to Atlanta. He was in Orlando for a class car show or something. I noticed him because, at the time, I was big into pro wrestling and I wanted to show up my friend who was also big into pro wrestling :lookaroun .
1990 -- THIRD of three trips won by the radio. It was all dad again and this time we stayed at The Disney Inn during the late summer of 1990, in August. I will never forget it as it was just days after Saddam Hussien invaded Kuwait and the gas prices rose significantly. The big deal with this trip was experiencing MGM Studios and Pleasure Island for the first time, but it was the summer of the my 20th year, so I was not able to drink. Oh, and we extended our stay and moved over to the Swan for the latter half of our stay.
1993 -- Finally got back to WDW, in August 1993. Went with my good friend Steve, and we flew in and out of Chicago. It was just the two of us and, with a little help of my dad, who somehow had connections, we ended up with a few free comp passes to the parks, pleasure island, and ate some free breakfasts and lunches at some of the resorts. The food passes were from previous trips. Had an awesome time since Steve never went to Disneyworld. We stayed at the new Port Orleans Resort, which is now called Port Orleans Riverside. We did everything that we could do, multiple nights at Pleasure Island, a day at Typhoon Lagoon. Get this -- Princess Diana and her two boys, Prince Harry and William, were on holiday the very same time me and Steve were at the parks. Princess Diana and the boys, though, left three days earlier than we did, but it was cool eating lunch at the Grand Floridian Resort and hearing that the executive suite was back open again for guests after the royals left for England. On the connecting flight back from Chicago, I almost missed my connection back to Cleveland because I was downtown with some friends I knew from Chicago. We had like 3 hours before the connecting flight to Cleveland, but it was bumped up. As I was racing through the terminal I heard my name being paged over the O'Hare speaker system to meet my party at gate such and such. The thing was, I was at the other end of the terminal! I was the last one on the aircraft and we immediately took off. :lookaroun
2007 -- To be determined. I have half my trip paid for and this time I am going solo. A lot of things have changed, closed, opened, or have been plussed over the years. So, after 14 years I am going to experience Walt Disney World pretty much for the first time.
Oh, btw, my mom and dad and the rest of my family have been to WDW more than I have, close to 20. Hey, I had university and military in my way at the time. But now, I'll be staying at The Disney Inn again, er, um, Shades of Green, because I have earned it. I am excited just thinking about it, but late October is months away.
In June 1999, while active duty in the military, escaped for five days and met my dad in Los Angeles. Basically we both flew the same distance to meet each other. Just a father-son trip right around Father's Day. We did Universal Studios, with my military discount, and saw the sites. He left two days early back for Cleveland, and I went to Anaheim for a day at Disneyland. It was nice being back in the world of Disney.
In a way, Disney is a part of me since my dad introduced me to Disney's theme parks. I grew up with Disney and after my October 2007 trip I am sure more will be planned in the years to come. I will vacation elsewhere around the states and the globe, but I will always go back to Disney. I look forward to visiting all of the Disney parks around the globe in my lifetime. I know I will.
