Your first trip to Disney, what you remember ?

[bjscheel]

I was 28 and my girls were 6 and 3. We stayed offsite and there was one bus in the morning and one at night. The first morning I felt sick to my stomach but there was only one bus so we got on. I had to sit on the ground to make it through the rope drop wait but the first thing we did was eat in Cinderella's castle and I think the French toast cured me.

 

[bcla]

I'm still waiting for someone to mention a first Disney experience on the Carolwood Pacific Railroad.

 

[RedAngie]

While I have memories of the park itself, one thing that stood out to me wasn’t in the Magic Kingdom, it was all the surrounding orange groves. WDW had only been open a couple of years, and we drove down, stopping first in St Augustine, and then continuing on to WDW. We stayed in a newly opened Days Inn outside of the park. The hotel sat amid fields extending out as far as the eye could see. They contained orange trees, with each tree fully loaded with bright orange spheres. The oranges were ripe and the fruit was dropping to the ground, being left to rot.

All of that area was slated for development, so the land had been sold, and the oranges were to go unharvested. They didn’t look pretty, probably because no one had sprayed them or performed whatever other farming techniques make them look so perfect in the stores. They had lots of brownish areas and other blemishes on their skins. When we realized they were just going to waste, we asked our father if we could pick some. He only permitted us to take a few, and so we soon reached our limit and walked back to the hotel to check out.

Later, after arriving at our next stop, Daytona Beach, we tried the oranges, and they were the best oranges we had ever had. So sweet and so juicy. That sticky juice running down our arms and faces as we remarked how wonderful they were. That was when our father told us the reason he hadn’t let us take too many. Their appearance had made him afraid they wouldn’t be any good, and of course now was wishing he had allowed us to pick a few more.

To this day I wish I knew exactly where that hotel had been located. Over the years I would have liked to revisit the area where those seemingly endless orange groves had once stood, and see what had now taken their place. I have always just assumed whatever had arisen there wouldn’t be as wonderful as those memories of picking and eating the oranges.

Many (most) Florida oranges are grown for juice, so they don't need to look pretty.

https://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/eat-drink/facts-about-florida-citrus-oranges.html
From the article:
Florida is second only to Brazil in global orange juice production and the state remains the world's leading producer of grapefruit. Florida produces more than 70 percent of the United States' supply of citrus, with major oversees export markets including Canada, Japan, France and the U.K.

In most seasons, more than 90 percent of America's orange juice is made from Florida-grown oranges. Nearly 87 percent of Florida citrus is processed into canned, chilled or frozen concentrated juices.

 

[violina]

I don't remember anything from my first trip to Disney World as I was very young. The second trip to Disney World was when I was a teenager and Epcot was my favourite park. I loved going through all the pavilions and exploring. The Tapestry of Nations was the most memorable parade for me -- so much so that I had a framed picture of the Sage of Time for years (I even got the Vinylmation set that was released for that parade).

 

[jmenjes]

My first visit to the World was when I was about 6 or 7 years old. The only thing I can recall from that was not wanting to go on the Haunted Mansion, because I thought it was going to be a very scary experience.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

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.

1987 was my first trip to WDW, we stayed 4 nights at Caribbean Beach Resort it was brand new , we paid 69.00 a night. My husband and my then 2 small children saved for 2 years to be able to go. I can remember taking the boat over to Magic Kingdom getting off confused to where to go, then we stood in the middle of main street and could not believe our eyes the castle was something like we never seen before we were in awe, we never in our life had as much fun as we did that vacation. It bonded us as a family, and it was the first place we were able to all do something fun together. That was the first of many trips for us. I could cry thinking about it , to be honest.

I never got to go to Walt Disney World as a child my first trip was in 1996. My two sons were two and four years old. It was just amazing to me to see Disney through the eyes of children. The things that they liked and wanted to spend time doing were not what I would have planned but I decided to forgo planning and trying to make the trip “special” and just relax and let it be special all on its own. It was very magical.

These were closest to mine. Never got to a Disney park as a child. (Some in the family went to Disneyland, but before I was born.)

We weren't too interested and couldn't believe that adults actually honeymooned there, as did our BIL/SIL. Fast forward several years and my mother showed me a newspaper ad that had a WDW special for kids, and she said we should go. So when our kids were 3 we planned a trip. Tuned out our trip was in 2001, ten days after 9/11, and we developed mixed feelings about going. On the one hand we had watched videos and read books and gotten excited about all of it, but on the other, we weren't too wild about getting on a plane at that time. Our kids had never flown before. We considered driving but we didn't have a lot of time off from work, it was sort of a quickie trip. I actually called the resort and they said they had lots of people driving down from MA, and that things were fully operational, etc. We decided we didn't want to disappoint the kids and got on the plane. Not a great flyer anyway, I nearly panicked when the flight attendant was closing the door! But it turned out ok even though a woman behind us was vomiting out of fear practically the whole way down. (It's hard to convey here how people were feeling then about flying; airports had closed for a while, flights had been grounded, and information about what had happened was still trickling out, etc.) After landing we were in awe at that airport, taking that little "mini monorail" to get our bags, and stepping out in to that great FL smell and humidity with palm trees and whatnot. Loved it! We picked up our car rental and made our way to WDW. We have our reactions on video and we laugh about it now, we were such newbies and everything was so surprising and exciting!

Once we got to All Star Music we got a great room right above the Calypso pool, in the set of first buildings after the main one. Loved the location. Kids wanted to go in the pool so that was the first thing we did. I think we leisurely made our way into the parks and did other things like spent time with characters on our way in and such. Good thing was that the parks were relatively empty, which was great! It seemed like we had them practically to ourselves and we got on plenty of rides. Right now I don't remember our favorites EXCEPT The Great Movie Ride which I immediately fell in love with from the queue with the big screen right before you get on the ride. (Ugh, so sad it's gone now! But we did get to ride it one last time shortly before it closed.) I also remember Fantasmic and Spectromagic. Now I want to watch that video again to see what we went on that first trip. Kids were still young and small so I think we were limited, but we did do the Baby Swap a few times.

But here is my favorite memory, and what got us hooked on WDW. We didn't even have strollers with us then, I remember each of us had a kid and climbing the stairs up to the third floor of our room at ASMu, along with all the other crap we were carrying, and putting them to bed, where they remained fast asleep. We'd picked up a four pack of wine coolers and we decided to sit outside the room (on the walkway, lol) and enjoy them out there. There was a light rain. The pizza dude on his little cart was buzzing around. But what really amazed us was watching the hundreds of people coming back from the parks, most of them laughing and having fun with their families and friends. We realized they knew something we hadn't known. The next morning I called the airline and added another day to our trip so we could take more of it in. And then we booked another trip for the following year. I don't think we even got to AK until then, and we discovered World Showcase and the Boardwalk area and all of that, which was so much fun. Loved each trip ever since, and kids still love it, too! We're all still equally enthralled so it's nice to be able to share that as a family.

 

[John VN]

My family drove from NJ to Miami a number of times and for one trip I have a very faint memory of leaving I-95 and eventually (seemed like forever) driving on a long, unimpressive road up to a building, parking then going inside where there were displays and renderings of what WDW would be like upon completion. Thinking it was around 1967/68, but then this recollection might be a Figment of My Imagination.

 

[amcnj]

Many (most) Florida oranges are grown for juice, so they don't need to look pretty.

Yes, I had thought later on that they were probably juice oranges, but back then just assumed all oranges looked shiny and pretty like the ones typically purchased in grocery stores.

I know I have also read how threatened the Florida orange crop is from is it some disease? I remember some relatives who lived in FL had to allow the county to remove their orange trees to try and help save the industry. I haven’t heard anything recently as to how that battle has been going.

 

[eds04]

It was mid 70s... I remember several moments, and while I try to forget one it was filmed on a 8mm movie reel. Meeting Dopey with my Grandfather near the castle, the cannon balls being fired at me splashing around our boat on POTC and driving on the Speedway...

The aforementioned moment was during the parade - this was back when the characters simply walked... My grandparents had been asking me all day whether I wanted to meet Mickey, of course I did but we hadn't the chance. Well they explained he would be walking in the parade and told me that's when I would meet him. Well when Mickey came down the parade route, I stood up from the curb where we were sitting and walked up to him and tugged on his coat tail - at this time people swooped in (cast members, security, who knows?) to escort me to the side...

Unbeknownst to me my father, unaware of the prank, was simply filming the parade and captured the moment. Now a Disney fan for life...

 

[Kitty 34]

My first trip was with my DH and sons. We were in our mid 40s. I still remember how great the orange juice tasted every morning at our hotel breakfast. We stayed at Buena Vista Palace on the 12th floor. The view was awesome. We could see in the distant each of the parks' fireworks. It was a great trip as far as a virgin trip to WDW goes. Three years later I found this great site and became a pro very quickly on how to navigate the parks and utilize our time. WDW became a lot more fun!

Here's to me celebrating 20 years on the DIS!

 

[BigFoote]

It was 1993 and I was 33. The ex in-laws took all their kids, spouses and grandkids. We stayed at All Star Sports. I was astounded by the attention to detail especially the giant X's and O's in the courtyard area and the "football field" look (my son was in Pop Warner football at the time). The whole time we were there I was more in to that detail than any ride. I also had never seen customer service to that degree. I was hooked.

 

[Christine]

My first trip was in 1975...I was about 11 or 12 years old.

My memories were:

1. The heat - It was March, I was from Maryland, and it was 95 degrees.
2. The Contemporary - This is where we stayed. In 1975 it was AWE inspiring and futuristic. One of the pools they had, at that time, floated out on Bay Lake.
3. Orange Juice and orange groves. We took the Autotrain down and when I woke up the morning of our arrival, we were traveling through orange groves.
4. We spent 4 days exploring every corner of the Magic Kingdom.
5. Hoop Dee Doo so much fun.

 

[NYCgrrl]

1989 or maybe 90, a day trip to Disney Paris with my youngest son. Lost a hair adornment on the" Pirates of Caribbean" ride that originally belonged to my Nana; it was found and returned to me to my eternal gratitude. Decades, later he still remembers it well.

 

[etoiles]

Early 80s, I was 5 years old. I only remember a few things. I remember going to the Wave restaurant and it was like walking through a rainbow with colored lights. Also I remember getting off space mountain and my dad running to the nearest trash can to be sick. My mom was my usual one roller coaster partner but she was pregnant with my brother.

 

[RedAngie]

More memories of my first trip

We stayed at The Contemporary and the first evening upon arrival we rode the monorail around in the loop twice just for the experience. On one circuit we got off at the Polynesian to check it out. No Grand Floridian at the time. Then I wanted to sit in the lobby and watch the monorails arrive and depart.

Space Mountain had recently opened a few months prior so we went there immediately upon arrival. The wait was only about 10 minutes. Later in the evening we rode again and the wait was well over an hour. My mother skipped riding the second time and just sat and people-watched.

My parents and I weren't impressed with Country Bear Jamboree. After about 5 minutes, my father said he's leaving and my mother and I agreed it was too corny to stay. We were at the end of a row near the back so it was easy to walk out. I think it was an E ticket attraction at the time!!

We bought extra E tickets and had some A and B remaining.

 

[bcla]

Many (most) Florida oranges are grown for juice, so they don't need to look pretty.

You mean they look like California oranges?

 

[disneyseniors]

We could never afford it when I was growing up. I remember watching the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night and wishing I could go to Disneyland. WDW was not even around at the time.
Then when our kids were 5 and 7, my husband and I took them to WDW. This was in l974. My parents went to WDW when it first opened with only Haunted Mansion and POC, I think. They were so awed by it that they talked us into going. I remember the parks were immaculate; there was always someone sweeping up and cleaning the bathrooms. Everyone waited in line for an attraction, and it didn't seem very long at all. There were almost no strollers and no ECV's when we were there. There might have been very few umbrella strollers for babies. The pace was much slower, and you could take the time to enjoy the sights without running to each fp attraction. I don't remember making any dining reservations at all; we just ate where wanted to without one I guess.
So, I remember it was gorgeous, very clean, and fun. Those cherished memories made with our young children will last a lifetime.
We still love WDW, probably from the nostalgia more than what it has become now, and we go every year.
Oh, we stayed offsite and drove to the MK, which didn't seem like an inconvenience at the time. Now we stay in the bubble.

 

[OKW8297]

I was 14 and was with my High school band for the Tencenial celebration. I had always wanted to go and I remember riding that monorail and seeing the castle......being in awe of POTC, and seeing the MSEP from the steps of city hall. I fell in love, and the rest as they say is history

 

[disneyseniors]

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[Lizgistix]

The old Polynesian lobby. I miss the old Polynesian lobby...