year you first went to WDW

[jloucks]

See my signature for dates.

It was right before Epcot Center opened, it was quite the tease seeing there, but not being able to visit. I was...mm... 14ish I think. Great memories even with there just being MK at the time.

 

[jloucks]

WDW...... 1983...... 47 times after that over about 36 years
DLR.......... 2005...... Just once
DLParis... 2015...... Also just once

My kids were either lucky or I was a terrible person, but my obsession with Disney was strictly selfish. I was unsure about going until that first day of the first time and everything I saw hooked me. I suspect my kids enjoyed it because they were always excited to go, but they could have been on the verge of an aneurism from hatred and I probably wouldn't have noticed. I have been with my younger family, with my older family, including grandkids, with just my wife and many times solo. I guess I was lucky in a way because when the cost to go finally passed my source of money without using credit, was when my back started to act up and really prevented me from being able to comfortably afford financially or physically to go there. Factoring in that and my feeling that Florida just doesn't seem all that safe, like it once did, I just have to live vicariously via YouTube.

That is a way less heartwarming version of your origin story than I remember.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Hi there! My name's Sean! I'm 33 years old, and I've got autism. I live near St. Louis with my mom, and even though I've never been to Florida, what year you did first go to WDW?

Hi! Hope you'll make it to WDW one day!

My first time was when you were -12! Carter was president...

 

[meteorwave]

I managed to visit the parks for the first time in 1989. I was 8 years old, and this was the perfect time to visit. I was tall enough to ride Space & Big Thunder, but small enough to still enjoy the offerings for the kids. We only went to EPCOT and MK, despite Disney's MGM Studios being open for its first year of operation. At the time, my mom was feeling like there wasn't enough for young kids to do at that park.

But I got to experience ALL of EPCOTs classic omnimover attractions. The pavilions' (especially the interactive exhibits) seem somewhat lifeless today, compared to 1989 EPCOT. Even The Living Seas had that amazing airlock, which the divers used to get up into the fish tank. The highlight to me (as a kid), was definitely Journey into Imagination, Horizions, Malestrom, and Body Wars at the Wonders of Life Pavilion. The latter had just opened that year and it was the only "long" line we waited in. I remember being freaked out about "being inside a body" but i conquered my fears that year, and stopped being so grossed out.

Looking back at my experience at Magic Kingdom, there are so many extinct attractions we got to experience. But these are my top extinct attractions: Delta Dream Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I lost count of how many times we rode Delta Dream Flight, there was never a line so we would just go around and around.

Also, we would go back and forth between Mr Toad's and Snow White's rides. These queues were also short, and the ride experience was exciting and scary (something missing from the newest attractions). We especially loved Mr. Toad, so I was disappointed to see it was replaced. We stayed in an off-site hotel which still exists today, and I happen to live right down the road from today.

The most noticeable difference between childhood and adulthood is THE CROWDS. We had conquered Magic Kingdom in one day, allowing for re-rides of what we prefered on our last day there. I do not believe this is possible any longer. I hope Disney goes back to smaller, "filler attractions," Like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. These rides are crucial for a positive guest experience. The current environment of all "E-ticket" rides has put a damper on the Disney Parks experience because the crowds are literally all doing the same thing, waiting in line for the big rides.

 

[Laura]

My grandparents started taking my dad to WDW in the early 70s when he was a teenager. My dad married my mom in 1977 and they spent their honeymoon at the Contemporary Resort. I was born in Oct 1981 and my first Disney trip (and my first ever vacation) was in May 1982, a few months before Epcot opened. We took several WDW trips throughout my childhood and teenage years. Mind you, my entire family was born and raised in upstate NY and all of our Florida trips were by car. It was quite a haul. Especially for my dad in the 70s squeezed into the back of a car with his 3 siblings. Both my senior trip and my honeymoon with my first husband were to WDW and those were my first 2 trips from NY to FL by plane instead of car.

I moved to NC in 2002 which made WDW a much shorter drive. I had a couple kids that I started taking when they were babies and then got my first annual pass in 2005 because we were going so often. I have had an AP to either WDW and/or DL ever since. I lived in SoCal from 2009-2014 and visited DL constantly during that period. My current husband and I first met at Disneyland and moved to South Florida where we had 3 more babies who have been visiting WDW regularly since they were born. Fast forward to 2022 and we now live 10 miles from WDW and can hear the nightly fireworks from our living room. I never thought I would live this close to Disney World, but having typed all of that out, it seems my life path has always pointed this way.

 

[Goofyernmost]

That is a way less heartwarming version of your origin story than I remember.

I don't know about that, but I can say that I never said that I paid close attention, at the time, of any specific reaction that the kids had. I did mention a generally very enjoyable family trip and since my girls were being a lot less than whiny about it, I assumed that they enjoyed the first visit or at least they never said, no, please don't take us back to the horrible place. I do remember that on the drive back home I realized that they had at ages 6 and 9 memorized all the words to CoP's "Now is the time, now is the best time" after only one visit to the attraction. We sang that together, much to my wife's chagrin, quite often during the 1500 miles back home. I really did have warm fuzzies about the entire trip in general, but mostly it was for how I felt about it personally and my assumption that they felt the same thing. They weren't exactly toddlers at the time of our visit.

What particular heart shredding story do you remember. I might need it for another time should I need to be more dramatic. We went because I was given four, 3 day Passports from a travel agency that I did advertising business with. I didn't become hooked until I got there, although we did spend a lot of time planning and they were included in the discussions, so I guess there was some excitement there, but if I hadn't wanted to see it myself we would have had a staycation instead. I don't remember them ever asking to go, though they did get excited when I told them we were going. But that was just a mere 41 years ago so I might have had a few of the details leak out through the wrinkles.

 

[jloucks]

I don't know about that, but I can say that I never said that I paid close attention, at the time, of any specific reaction that the kids had. I did mention a generally very enjoyable family trip and since my girls were being a lot less than whiny about it, I assumed that they enjoyed the first visit or at least they never said, no, please don't take us back to the horrible place. I do remember that on the drive back home I realized that they had at ages 6 and 9 memorized all the words to CoP's "Now is the time, now is the best time" after only one visit to the attraction. We sang that together, much to my wife's chagrin, quite often during the 1500 miles back home. I really did have warm fuzzies about the entire trip in general, but mostly it was for how I felt about it personally and my assumption that they felt the same thing. They weren't exactly toddlers at the time of our visit.

What particular heart shredding story do you remember. I might need it for another time should I need to be more dramatic. We went because I was given four, 3 day Passports from a travel agency that I did advertising business with. I didn't become hooked until I got there, although we did spend a lot of time planning and they were included in the discussions, so I guess there was some excitement there, but if I hadn't wanted to see it myself we would have had a staycation instead. I don't remember them ever asking to go, though they did get excited when I told them we were going. But that was just a mere 41 years ago so I might have had a few of the details leak out through the wrinkles.

I remember several. The best I could not even find (you have been prolific over the years lol). But, here are two that demonstrate your deeper side....

Disney Memories and this Memories

These are not the thoughts of a shallow oblivious man, but rather of a deep-thinking empathetic soul. Seems to me like you were in fact paying very close attention to the loved ones surrounding you. Nay, even feeling those around you.

...or maybe you were just drunk posting? j/k

 

[Goofyernmost]

I remember several. The best I could not even find (you have been prolific over the years lol). But, here are two that demonstrate your deeper side....

Disney Memories and this Memories

These are not the thoughts of a shallow oblivious man, but rather of a deep-thinking empathetic soul. Seems to me like you were in fact paying very close attention to the loved ones surrounding you. Nay, even feeling those around you.

...or maybe you were just drunk posting? j/k

I never said I was wasn't aware of my loved ones, what I meant was that in spite of that, my motivation for going to WDW was not based on pressure from them or even how they reacted at the time. I am not sure how much I noticed it but somewhere deep in my addled twisted brain I'm sure it registered. I was 35 years old on that first visit and I can assure you that what I was feeling at the time was not connected directly to what or how they reacted to anything. I was sucking it all in my brain box and enjoying it because I enjoyed it. How positively they reacted was just frosting on the cake. At that time I was in my prime. A serious business man who had recently invested in a Residential Care Home and things were going well on pretty much every front. In spite of the fact that I had already experienced a lot in life, mainly spending time in a war and this was such a contrast to that experience that I was indeed thinking mostly about me, but, of course was happy that they were enjoying it as well.

It's hard to easily explain the post that you quoted. It was from a much more weathered and cynical 67 year old that was thinking about things that generally were a lot more negative in nature, albeit with a happy ending. That part was just me. There were no other family around and whatever emotions I had were not influenced by people around me. It was how I remember that dark part of my life while still maintaining a certain degree of optimism that things would work out for me. As it turned out, I lost a wife that apparently didn't want to be a wife, a business, my daughters moved out happily married, but at that time that was happening I was sitting alone in a house that had so much activity and laughter in the past feeling a void the size of the Grand Canyon. The more recent "memories" you sighted was more current and can now appreciate that I still have my daughters plus grandchildren, relative good health for a 76 year old, a comfortable home and hope for the future no matter how long that might be, it is what it is and I am good with that now. That would explain the less deep, more positive posts that seems as if it contradicts but I see it as just a different phase of my life.

 

[Ellen Ripley]

Hi Sean!
It was 1975, i was stroller aged

 

[jloucks]

There were no other family around and whatever emotions I had were not influenced by people around me. It was how I remember that dark part of my life while still maintaining a certain degree of optimism that things would work out for me. As it turned out, I lost a wife that apparently didn't want to be a wife, a business, my daughters moved out happily married, but at that time that was happening I was sitting alone in a house that had so much activity and laughter in the past feeling a void the size of the Grand Canyon. The more recent "memories" you sighted was more recent and can now appreciate that still have my daughters, relative good health for a 76 year old, a comfortable home and hope for the future no matter how long that might be, it is what it is and I am good with that now. That would explain the less deep, more positive posts that seems as if it contradicts but I see it as just a different phase of my life.

See, you're doing it again, lol, deep insightful musings that are a pleasure to take in.

I hope you're still here 10 years from now. Hopefully me too, ha.

Here's to your health