Your first trip to Disney, what you remember ?

[low-key]

I was 18, about to enter the Navy in one month. My Buddy (Richard, girls would swoon just at his look, he later died of brain cancer, a great guy) we spent the week at Daytona Beach , and decided to spend a day at WDW, it was fun,we had a good time, but at night they had the "electric parade" I just loved it, and loved that music, still here it in my head, they the most beautiful women I have ever seen my life comming down on a float, "Sleeping Beauty" I just kept staring at her, she was so beautiful , then she looked right at me and smiled and waved, Ohhh my I been hooked since

 

[chickapin parterre]

living in Joshua Tree , California, we boarded several school buses every year in the 60s for Scout Day, the municipal Joshua tree park took advantage of the ticket prices and had ability to rent buses. my second trip on those school buses I was 9 years old, anticipation of watching Walt every Sunday night, heading back to Disneyland, so in that dark morning hour we passed thru 1960s Ontario, stockyards as far as the nose could smell, that smell triggered my only memory from the previous disneyland, the smell of drying steer manure, Disneyland was close at hand in the morning darkness......to this day, I can walk thru lowes, gather the aroma of dry manure in bags and my memory is ecstatic with my first memory of visiting disneyland. I have no memory of the visit as 8 year old, but when I was nine, I was stingy with my alphabet ticket book, making it last till the clocked ticked to catch the bus, as I was touring Disneyland by myself as a 9 year old. My last act that year was to buy the expansive wall map, to hold on to all those memories.....good thing....we were too poor to return again as an accident to my father made us impoverished. 22 years later I returned with my 5 year old son and my memory of his first visit was Goofy's Bounce House, all to himself in the dark night of toontown, Disneyland has closed for the night for a convention so I had positioned the two of us to be in the far corner of Disneyland. It took an hour before a child from the convention showed up at Goofy's Bounce house and shared in the joy of having a bounce house.......all to yourselves .

 

[fly girl]

I was only 5 years old, so I don't remember much. Magic Kingdom was it back then, nothing else. I remember taking the boat in from the parking lot. Sadly, my recollection of the park is zilch. The big thing I remember was getting a Mickey balloon before we left. And back at the parking lot, the balloon slipped from my grip. I cried, and cried, and cried, and cried. My Mickey balloon was gone.

 

[RedAngie]

It was my 14th birthday. We had dinner in whatever the restaurant in the castle was called back then. Minnie Mouse brought me a birthday cupcake. (I'm sure my father had to pay extra for that.)

 

[quandrea]

The cold. We were there in early December. I was nine, I think. Florida was having a terrible cold snap. My mother had to buy my sister and I all new Disney themed clothes to keep us warm.

Oddly, I also remember the water in the shower making my hair very stiff.

And lastly, we had breakfast each morning in the buffet restaurant of the Contemporary. The characters from Peter Pan were there, along with Pluto, Chip and Dale. The restaurant had the most amazing corned beef hash and ambrosia. Sitting here almost thirty years later, I can still taste it.

It was an amazing trip that ignited my lifelong love of WDW. Staying at the Contemporary was such a splurge, I remember that my parents added a night. I think we stayed four nights.

 

[aristocatz]

1979. I remember the Polynesian Resort (where we stayed): the beach, our hotel room, the lobby, my brother's plaid slacks lol.
I also remember meeting Pluto, who was walking around the park. I took my picture with him and he squeezed my hand too tight.

ETA: My mom has a video of us on the Liberty Belle & you can see the Thunder Mountain Railroad construction (I remember my dad telling me they were building a mountain & I was so in awe), but I'm not sure the date of the video to know if that was my first trip or a later trip. I would need to google the year BTMRR was built to know for sure.

I also have a memory of the Spaceship Earth construction (before Epcot opened), but I think that was probably a later trip.
My other early memory was after Epcot opened, I remember walking around the World Showcase with my parents and there were signs of future countries opening. I remember one in particular was Israel, because my parents were very excited.....too bad it never ended up opening...

 

[low-key]

It was my 14th birthday. We had dinner in whatever the restaurant in the castle was called back then. Minnie Mouse brought me a birthday cupcake. (I'm sure my father had to pay extra for that.)

ahhhh, the little things a dad will do for there little girls

 

[tvguy]

I remember my dad parking and going into the Disneyland Hotel to see if they had any rooms available. They didn't. My dad's sister lived in Hawthorne, and we were going to visit her the next day. So after visiting Disneyland, we drove 25 miles to Watts and got a motel room there. It was 1965. Two months later my dad shows me the morning paper the day after the Watts riots. The hotel we stayed in burned down in the riots.
I was 8, and most of what I remember other than that is in photos taken in the park.

 

[bushdianee]

I was older than most for my first trip in. I was 40! Growing up in a large family Disneyland or WDW was a pipe dream. I really had no desire to go as an adult. I was visiting relatives in another state that summer and some extended family members were going that fall. My aunt did her best to talk me into joining them. When I went home I mentioned it to one of my sisters who said why not try it once. So we went and both of us were hooked! The feeling of being in the Disney magical bubble was real for us. We also experienced the tail end of a hurricane that trip. We stayed at All Star Sports. The first thing we went on was The Swiss Family Tree House. It was also the grand opening of the Buzz Lightyear ride and Buzz Aldrin was there. Animal Kingdom was a brand new park at the time. Hollywood Studios was still MGM. I have never been a roller coaster person but was determined to ride some that trip. We did all 3 mountains. My sister had been in a minor car accident a few days before the trip and didn't realize at the time that she had a cracked rib. She loves coasters but Thunder Mountain about did her in that trip. I never heard so many cuss words. On Splash Mountain I sat with my aunt who had talked me into the trip (she was only 3 years older than me). She had been to WDW a few times by then and knew what to expect but the whole ride she kept saying "I don't want to get wet!" I remember how much my feet hurt each night as we hadn't prepared for all of the walking we doing. We really had no idea what was ahead of us when we decided to go. Neither of us really knew people who had been to WDW before. Both my sister and I have returned several times, some trips together, some with other family members or friends. I have been there over 10 times now that I am 61.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I remember that Space Mountain was scary! And I loved Tom Sawyer's Island

 

[chickapin parterre]

I remember my dad parking and going into the Disneyland Hotel to see if they had any rooms available. They didn't. My dad's sister lived in Hawthorne, and we were going to visit her the next day. So after visiting Disneyland, we drove 25 miles to Watts and got a motel room there. It was 1965. Two months later my dad shows me the morning paper the day after the Watts riots. The hotel we stayed in burned down in the riots.
I was 8, and most of what I remember other than that is in photos taken in the park.

This is great...isn't amazing what children remember...I was 9 that year and saw it on tv with the german shepards.....meet a woman who was scared by what she saw on that summer with those fire hoses and dogs. All my 5 year old remember of his Disneyland trip......the swimming pool.

 

[L&Lfan]

It was my 14th birthday. We had dinner in whatever the restaurant in the castle was called back then. Minnie Mouse brought me a birthday cupcake. (I'm sure my father had to pay extra for that.)

King Stefan’s Banquet Hall. Every true Disney fan wondered why Princess Aurora’s father had his banquet hall in Cinderella’s castle???? And you know I STILL haven’t heard a logical explanation!

 

[wenrob]

The first Disneyland trip I remember snippets from I was around five. I remember the parking lot and hiding against my grandma on Pirates (my now all time favorite ride). I was traumatized by Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Even my parents were taken aback by it. Never rode it again and have never taken my kids on it. Those big swirly Mickey lollipops and the candy store. I don’t remember having it taken but we have a photo of me, my sister, step sister and some random kid with Mickey.

My DH’s first time is when we took older DD right before she turned six. I pretty much forced him to go because he just didn’t get it. The first ride I took him on was It’s a Small World. The look of misery on his face was priceless. Then I took him on Pirates followed by the Haunted Mansion. He was astonished and hooked. He gets it now and is the first to suggest a Mickey Bar for breakfast.

 

[AustinTink]

Choir trip when I was 14. We got to sing in the park. Wish I could remember exactly where. I just remember that we were singing and no one was listening.

 

[Squirlz]

We first went to WDW in April '72. The coolest thing in the world was the Speedway! That's me.



Next to that were the speedboats in the lagoon. 7HP personal speedboats you could rent. We discovered that if you leaned forward you could get up on plane and really fly!

 

[disneychrista]

I have no memories of my first trip. I was 2.5 years old.

Growing up, we lived less than 30 minutes from Disneyland. We went for annual trips, usually for my birthday and a few random trips thrown in. I have vauge memories of different trips. But my first actually memory was from the trip for my 12th birthday, right before we moved 10 hours north. We were standing in line for Snow White in "New Fantasyland" that had just recently opened and it was sprinkling. An older gentleman in line in front of us turned around and said don't let it ruin our trip it was only "liquid sunshine."

 

[Sephrina]

It was October when I was in 1st grade. I remember my parents coming to get me out of school and I didn't want to go (I was young, what can I say. It would never happen now). My teacher gave me a dollar so I could by a pickle in Disneyland.

 

[RedAngie]

King Stefan’s Banquet Hall. Every true Disney fan wondered why Princess Aurora’s father had his banquet hall in Cinderella’s castle???? And you know I STILL haven’t heard a logical explanation!

I couldn't remember the name, but I do remember there being something incongruous about the whole thing. And Minnie Mouse there too? Maybe my father tried to get Cinderella to bring me a cupcake but she was out for a smoke break and an extra Minnie just happened to be around.

 

[Skippy918]

We went 4th of July weekend to wdw in 1987. I was 10. I remember it being hot, crowded and lots of long lines everywhere. We did magic kingdom one day and Epcot the next.

 

[OkanaganAmanda]

I am on the west coast (but in Canada) so grew up mostly with Disneyland. The first trip I remember I was probably about 3 or 4, and we were staying in a campground in Anaheim as we would drive our truck and trailer down for a month to get away from the cold northern B.C. winters. I remember walking through the endless Anaheim strawberry fields to get to the park entrance - this was probably about 1984 or so. I also remember the old submarine ride and the underwater mermaids and sea serpent, that always terrified me!