Your Disney story... in your words...

[torsie24]

Right ....sorry this is so long! I got more than a little carried away!

------

My Disney story begins properly when I was 5 (I had Minnie Mouse today from birth) in 1990, with the release of The Little Mermaid.

I went to see it with my Mum and my Nan, and it was the first time I’d ever been to the cinema. I was in awe of it and instantly in love. I had the doll, music, the awesome book that made the noises when you pressed certain buttons on the side:

I played with that book so much that even now looking at the picture I can make every noise for each button!

Then when the video came out I watched it every day. I can remember being convinced I had the same singing voice as Ariel and making everyone I came into contact with hear my rendition of ‘Part of Your World (I’m no singer - So now feel very sorry for those people!)

Then Beauty and the Beast followed and became another obsession! Just Mum and I went to see this one, and I adored it, I can remember that day so clearly as we got the bus back from Sidcup to home, and when we got home Dad was there and said he had a present for me. He had a friend who he worked with in the city who could get pirate videos of films. And he had Beauty and the Beast! Well Dad didn’t tell me what the present was, but he put the video in, and the film started and I was so happy that I burst into tears!

I yet again got the awesome book (which I still have!)

Then in 1992 my parents took me to WDW.

We stayed at the Marriot on i-Drive and visited all the parks. Big Thunder Mountain was the first roller coaster I’d ever been on, and I sat with my Mum and Dad sat in front of us. When it started I was quite nervous, and I was just silent in shock! I remember my Mum saying to me “you can scream!” and me saying “it won’t come out!” but then I started screaming and screamed the whole way round and I just remember my Mum and Dad laughing at me and Dad pretending to be deaf from having me behind him!


I also really vividly remember getting in the boats for Splash Mountain, as my Mum said to me as we left the loading station “don’t worry Victoria, it’s just one drop” (more for her own benefit than mine) and then the CM saying “no Ma’am, there’s 5” as we disappeared off into the ride!

I remember my Mum getting dragged up to dance in EPCOT Italy, and also Kitchen Kabaret and Body Wars. And getting really scared on Maelstrom thinking we were going to go backwards over the edge! Oh and I LOVED Figment!

Dad drove us to a huge Toys’R’Us there and my parents bought me my most prized toy of my whole childhood. It still works perfectly and is pride of place in our living room. The magic mirror from Beauty and the Beast. You press a button on the handle and the characters in turn appear on the mirror and say a quote! It’s amazing!

So then the years went by, and I still enjoyed each film that was released.

In 1996 my Mum took me to DLRP for the first time. We stayed in a gorgeous room/suite in the HNY and had an amazing view across the village and to the park. I loved watching the smoked come out of SM each time a rocket too off.

We had a great trip and really loved the restaurant in the village that’s now Cafe Mickey. I’m sure it was called the California Grill, but I doubt myself due to CG in the DLH. Anyway it was great fun and the staff danced on the tables.

2 years later we returned and took my Dad, this time we stayed at SL and had an amazing view into the park.

Dad humoured me and we did an EMH one morning and rode SM and IJ over and over, he can’t of enjoyed it much but I did! Lol. I can’t remember what we did for meals and stuff, but I remember loving the parade (Hey There, Hi There, Ho There!) and having a great time.

Then I became a teenager and the rides at Disney just weren’t up to enough, so I wasn’t too interested. I also got big into horror movies, so my Disney movie love disappeared somewhat.

During the summer between my 2nd and 3rd years of Uni I studied at UCLA for a couple of months. I had a wonderful time there and made great friends, and on the 4th July that summer (2005) they organised a coach and tickets for anyone who wanted to go to DLR for the day.

I jumped at the chance (as I did any other opportunity that came my way that summer) and we had a great (but very, very, very) crowded day. None of us bothered planning, didn’t even know fastpasses existed, and from 9am to midnight we only rode Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, the teacups, BTM, Splash, Indiana Jones, Small World and POTC. All the lines were at least an hour, but we had an amazing day and got to see the parade and the fireworks. Julie Andrews did the narration “Remember, Dreams Come True” and it made me cry. When we got back to campus that night we all went mad downloading Disney music from the UC network, and that’s where my love was re-ignited.

After our final year of Uni , Jack and I moved back to our hometowns, and planned for ages and finally booked a holiday to Vegas and LA as we always said we would once we were 21. I kept umming and ahhing over whether to have a couple of days in Anaheim. But as we weren’t renting a car we weren’t sure how to get there so didn’t.

We decided that as we missed out on DLR we’d visit DLRP at some point. In the summer of 2008 we went, mainly because I was in love with Enchanted and the Enchanted fireworks were on – otherwise we wouldn’t have picked such a busy and expensive time of year. (I won’t go on about that trip – TR link is in my signature)

Needless to say we had a magical time, and within a couple of weeks of being home I’d rebooked for January 2009.

That trip was amazing, we stayed in the DLH, which I’d been dreaming of doing since my Mum took me in 1996, and of course all my dreams came true when Jack asked me to marry him at the Castle.

There was only one type of wedding I was going to consider!

Then in October 2009 we went to WDW to plan our Fairytale wedding, and we thought maybe it’d compare to DLRP, but how wrong we were, it completely blew it out the water for us, we had the best holiday we’ve ever had, AKL was incredible and the people and magic was intoxicating. (TR in signature)

The wedding was booked for March 2011 and the countdown began – you can read all about that in my TR! We had the most magical wedding that we could have asked for, way beyond our wildest dreams, and that day has cemented Disney into ours and our families lives forever.

It’s going to be another 2 years before we return in 2014, hopefully as a 3 piece but until then I’ll be happily singing Disney songs, stalking you all on the DIS and obsessively planning the next trip!

 

[Sarah28]

Wow all these stories are fab! Thanks so much for sharing them everyone! Had a bit of a quiet afternoon at work so thought I'd write up my own story - hope you come along for the ride...

I can't really remember how exactly my disney obsession (as I call it!) started. I think it was probably as my mum and dad bought us the videos when they came out when we were younger. My dad was always a big fan of cartoons and we would watch them all the time. I would recite them word for word so that they got annoyed when we watched them! At the end of The Little Mermaid video was a promo for the new 'Euro Disney' theme park opening soon and I remember watching it over and over again really hoping to be able to go one day.

One of my earliest memories (which I am constantly taunted by my mum about) is that they took me and my sister to see Rescuers when it came out at the cinema and during the bit where Penny sings her sad song, I started to cry (really loudly as my mum is always so keen to tell me!) and apparently I kept saying ' I don't like it mummy, I want to go home. It's sad' They are never going to let me forget that!

I was a very lucky child and I always had a huge array of Disney Barbie Dolls. Another early memory is that after The Little Mermaid was released, I tried to create a mermaid tail for one of my Barbies out of paper and sellotape! I went out shopping with my parents one day and we saw an actual Disney Little Mermaid doll with detachable tail - I was so excited that they bought it for me, I was over the moon! This then was followed by an Eric Doll, Bride Ariel, Belle and the Beast (where his Beast head comes off and it's the Prince underneath) and I also had Aladdin, Jasmine and Cinderella (like I said I was a very lucky little girl!). I think everything revolved around Disney in my childhood one way or another - my mum would bake us Disney birthday cakes, we had books, videos, lunchboxes, toys etc and my love still grows for it today. I am also lucky that my best friend since I was about 4 Chelle is also a huge Disney fan and our love for it is encouraged by eachother to this day! While the boys go to hockey practise on a friday, we scour the internet for new Disney things to get our fix. We're pin collectors too so always looking for new things, and spend many saturdays going to the Disneystore. In fact, she just text me to tell me the new Rex toy is in store and that I should get it haha.

My first Disney themepark experience didn't actually happen until I was about 12 and we went on our first trip to WDW in 1999 after probably many years of pestering my parents to take us. I remember watching the planning video and looking through the travel brochures being very excited! We stayed at Port Orleans for 2 weeks and had the most amazing time, also seeing quite a bit of Florida as well as Disney. To this day, my mum calls it the best holiday she has ever had, and I'm hoping to take her back soon to relive some memories. It was very special to me as we went as a family and with some family friends - my parents are now separated so it reminds me of happier times. My mum and I loved Star Tours - we split up as a group and told the others we were going to go on it, but as the queue was pretty short, we did it twice as we loved it so much, but then told them we had to queue for ages hehe!

Fast forward quite a few years to 2005 (I'm now 18 at this point), a friend of mine who had been to DLP a few times suggested we should take a quick break there. I immediately jumped at the chance to go with someone who had first hand experience (without adult supervision!). We drove over on the Eurotunnel and stayed at Santa Fe. It was during October (as I love Halloween) and they had the Pumpkin Men and Pink Witches thing going on and we had a fab time! I couldn't believe we hadn't been here sooner!

I had been going out with my now fiancee Andy for 3 years in May 2006 and we decided to take a quick break away. He had been to WDW, DLR and DLP with his family when he was younger so he was no stranger to it, but he learned to love my crazy Disney ways! I suggested DLP as I had had such a great time with my friend the year earlier. It was a great trip, this time by Eurostar and staying at Santa Fe again - our love for DLP grew from there with a few years during the years between 2006 and 2009. To this day I have been 8 times (came back from a trip on Sunday just gone!) DLP has always been great, but I had longed to return to WDW so we began saving some money each month and hoped that one day we would be able to go.

During 2010, our best friends found a great deal to WDW during October half term 2011 (they all work at schools/colleges) - it wasn't the 2 weeks I would love to have gone for but a week was better than nothing! They had been for their honeymoon and loved it, and said how much fun it would be for all 4 of us to go. So we booked it! My dream was finally coming true! My mum was very jealous but excited for me. I began doing lots of research to try and get the most out of our trip there as we were only going for a week, and came across Disboards! I learnt all about ADRs, photopass, and all sorts of things I hadn't even contemplated. I'm a compulsive planner (list making is a favourite pastime of mine) so I absolutely thrived on it. I created all sorts of tables, lists for the trips - I was in heaven! It was however the longest 16 months of my life as I couldn't wait for it to get here.

We had a fabulous time in Florida in 2011 (now aged 25), and one of the most important things happened while we were there - After nearly 9 wonderful years together, Andy proposed to me in the Haunted Mansion on the 24 October 2011 and I said yes! It was the dream proposal I could have ever hoped for in the happiest place on earth and as cliche as it sounds, dreams really can come true!

We're contemplating a Disney wedding which is being put on hold for the time being as we're currently in the process of buying our first house together. I've bought a few bits for our new house already which include some Mickey salt and pepper shakers and a Mickey Kitchen Roll holder so Disney will play a big theme in my decorations for the new house! The Disboards now also plays a huge part in our planning for future trips and nothing quite beats setting up a new ticker in my signature and talking to the rest of you lovely bunch on here. Here's to the next Disney chapter!...

 

[Rachandgarry]

Aw Rachel you always move me!

Elsie has also technically been to WDW lol! When I was 4 1/2 months pregnant!

WDW, Disney, DLP is so special to me I have non Disney friends that I know roll their eyes that I like it so much.

Disney to me holds all the amazing memories I have as a child!

Travelling their with grand parents that are no longer with us!

I remember being on the boat to MK in WDW and just watching my Grampy look out over the side of the boat with the sun on his face peacfully enjoying himself! He loved boats and he loved the sun! He died the year after and every time I get on that boat I am always sit there quietly and think about him!

We got engaged in Cinderella's castle and just seeing the castle at the beginning and end of all the Disney films I think wow I got engaged there! Dave just knows me too well and knew it is so me lol!

We also went on or honey moon there and would of got married there except Dave's dad is to ill to fly there so we were married here but I will get my Vowel Renewal there one day!

x

Oh wow, the memory of your grandparents at WDW must be so special.... and as for getting engaged at the Castle well done Dave! Hope you get your vow renewal there, how lovely would that be!?

What lovely stories.

I'm afraid mine isn't anywhere near as interesting. DH and I both grew up watching Disney Time on Bank Holidays and when we got engaged he promised to take me to WDW. It was to be 16 years and 3 children before we finally made it but OMG it was so worth the wait. I thought I was going to burst with excitement when we took the ferry across to MK for the first time and saw Cinderella's Castle getting closer and closer. Then Chip and Dale were on the other ferry coming towards us waving!

It was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime holiday but we have got very bitten by the Disney bug and have since visited WDW twice more, been on a Disney cruise and been to DLP several times with another trip this summer. Next year we are going on another Disney cruise to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary and then finishing off with a few days at Disneyland.

So much for that once-off trip!

That is my kind of once-off trip Its so neat how so many of our first Disney memories involve Bay Lake and the ferry to the Magic Kingdom isn't it. It is just such a magical place.

How fab to have tried WDW, Disney Cruise, DLRP and soon DL! Hope you have a fantastic time for your silver wedding anniversary next year!

 

[Rachandgarry]

Right ....sorry this is so long! I got more than a little carried away!

------

My Disney story begins properly when I was 5 (I had Minnie Mouse today from birth) in 1990, with the release of The Little Mermaid.

I went to see it with my Mum and my Nan, and it was the first time I’d ever been to the cinema. I was in awe of it and instantly in love. I had the doll, music, the awesome book that made the noises when you pressed certain buttons on the side:

I played with that book so much that even now looking at the picture I can make every noise for each button!

Then when the video came out I watched it every day. I can remember being convinced I had the same singing voice as Ariel and making everyone I came into contact with hear my rendition of ‘Part of Your World (I’m no singer - So now feel very sorry for those people!)

Then Beauty and the Beast followed and became another obsession! Just Mum and I went to see this one, and I adored it, I can remember that day so clearly as we got the bus back from Sidcup to home, and when we got home Dad was there and said he had a present for me. He had a friend who he worked with in the city who could get pirate videos of films. And he had Beauty and the Beast! Well Dad didn’t tell me what the present was, but he put the video in, and the film started and I was so happy that I burst into tears!

I yet again got the awesome book (which I still have!)

Then in 1992 my parents took me to WDW.

We stayed at the Marriot on i-Drive and visited all the parks. Big Thunder Mountain was the first roller coaster I’d ever been on, and I sat with my Mum and Dad sat in front of us. When it started I was quite nervous, and I was just silent in shock! I remember my Mum saying to me “you can scream!” and me saying “it won’t come out!” but then I started screaming and screamed the whole way round and I just remember my Mum and Dad laughing at me and Dad pretending to be deaf from having me behind him!


I also really vividly remember getting in the boats for Splash Mountain, as my Mum said to me as we left the loading station “don’t worry Victoria, it’s just one drop” (more for her own benefit than mine) and then the CM saying “no Ma’am, there’s 5” as we disappeared off into the ride!

I remember my Mum getting dragged up to dance in EPCOT Italy, and also Kitchen Kabaret and Body Wars. And getting really scared on Maelstrom thinking we were going to go backwards over the edge! Oh and I LOVED Figment!

Dad drove us to a huge Toys’R’Us there and my parents bought me my most prized toy of my whole childhood. It still works perfectly and is pride of place in our living room. The magic mirror from Beauty and the Beast. You press a button on the handle and the characters in turn appear on the mirror and say a quote! It’s amazing!

So then the years went by, and I still enjoyed each film that was released.

In 1996 my Mum took me to DLRP for the first time. We stayed in a gorgeous room/suite in the HNY and had an amazing view across the village and to the park. I loved watching the smoked come out of SM each time a rocket too off.

We had a great trip and really loved the restaurant in the village that’s now Cafe Mickey. I’m sure it was called the California Grill, but I doubt myself due to CG in the DLH. Anyway it was great fun and the staff danced on the tables.

2 years later we returned and took my Dad, this time we stayed at SL and had an amazing view into the park.

Dad humoured me and we did an EMH one morning and rode SM and IJ over and over, he can’t of enjoyed it much but I did! Lol. I can’t remember what we did for meals and stuff, but I remember loving the parade (Hey There, Hi There, Ho There!) and having a great time.

Then I became a teenager and the rides at Disney just weren’t up to enough, so I wasn’t too interested. I also got big into horror movies, so my Disney movie love disappeared somewhat.

During the summer between my 2nd and 3rd years of Uni I studied at UCLA for a couple of months. I had a wonderful time there and made great friends, and on the 4th July that summer (2005) they organised a coach and tickets for anyone who wanted to go to DLR for the day.

I jumped at the chance (as I did any other opportunity that came my way that summer) and we had a great (but very, very, very) crowded day. None of us bothered planning, didn’t even know fastpasses existed, and from 9am to midnight we only rode Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, the teacups, BTM, Splash, Indiana Jones, Small World and POTC. All the lines were at least an hour, but we had an amazing day and got to see the parade and the fireworks. Julie Andrews did the narration “Remember, Dreams Come True” and it made me cry. When we got back to campus that night we all went mad downloading Disney music from the UC network, and that’s where my love was re-ignited.

After our final year of Uni , Jack and I moved back to our hometowns, and planned for ages and finally booked a holiday to Vegas and LA as we always said we would once we were 21. I kept umming and ahhing over whether to have a couple of days in Anaheim. But as we weren’t renting a car we weren’t sure how to get there so didn’t.

We decided that as we missed out on DLR we’d visit DLRP at some point. In the summer of 2008 we went, mainly because I was in love with Enchanted and the Enchanted fireworks were on – otherwise we wouldn’t have picked such a busy and expensive time of year. (I won’t go on about that trip – TR link is in my signature)

Needless to say we had a magical time, and within a couple of weeks of being home I’d rebooked for January 2009.

That trip was amazing, we stayed in the DLH, which I’d been dreaming of doing since my Mum took me in 1996, and of course all my dreams came true when Jack asked me to marry him at the Castle.

There was only one type of wedding I was going to consider!

Then in October 2009 we went to WDW to plan our Fairytale wedding, and we thought maybe it’d compare to DLRP, but how wrong we were, it completely blew it out the water for us, we had the best holiday we’ve ever had, AKL was incredible and the people and magic was intoxicating. (TR in signature)

The wedding was booked for March 2011 and the countdown began – you can read all about that in my TR! We had the most magical wedding that we could have asked for, way beyond our wildest dreams, and that day has cemented Disney into ours and our families lives forever.

It’s going to be another 2 years before we return in 2014, hopefully as a 3 piece but until then I’ll be happily singing Disney songs, stalking you all on the DIS and obsessively planning the next trip!

I loved your story - and even had tears in my eyes towards the end - how soppy am I?! Thanks for sharing it all, I love how you can remember the sounds the book buttons made. And at the Splash Mountain "its only got 1 drop", "No mam its got 5 drops" bit made me laugh so much!

The mirror from Beauty and the Beast sounds wonderful, its so cool that you still have it!

I like your choice of wording for your Oct 2009 wedding-prep trip; 'intoxicating' - that is exactly how I feel. It is hardly even describable is it. I'll have a read of your TRs when I get some more internet time...

 

[Rachandgarry]

Wow all these stories are fab! Thanks so much for sharing them everyone! Had a bit of a quiet afternoon at work so thought I'd write up my own story - hope you come along for the ride...

I can't really remember how exactly my disney obsession (as I call it!) started. I think it was probably as my mum and dad bought us the videos when they came out when we were younger. My dad was always a big fan of cartoons and we would watch them all the time. I would recite them word for word so that they got annoyed when we watched them! At the end of The Little Mermaid video was a promo for the new 'Euro Disney' theme park opening soon and I remember watching it over and over again really hoping to be able to go one day.

One of my earliest memories (which I am constantly taunted by my mum about) is that they took me and my sister to see Rescuers when it came out at the cinema and during the bit where Penny sings her sad song, I started to cry (really loudly as my mum is always so keen to tell me!) and apparently I kept saying ' I don't like it mummy, I want to go home. It's sad' They are never going to let me forget that!

I was a very lucky child and I always had a huge array of Disney Barbie Dolls. Another early memory is that after The Little Mermaid was released, I tried to create a mermaid tail for one of my Barbies out of paper and sellotape! I went out shopping with my parents one day and we saw an actual Disney Little Mermaid doll with detachable tail - I was so excited that they bought it for me, I was over the moon! This then was followed by an Eric Doll, Bride Ariel, Belle and the Beast (where his Beast head comes off and it's the Prince underneath) and I also had Aladdin, Jasmine and Cinderella (like I said I was a very lucky little girl!). I think everything revolved around Disney in my childhood one way or another - my mum would bake us Disney birthday cakes, we had books, videos, lunchboxes, toys etc and my love still grows for it today. I am also lucky that my best friend since I was about 4 Chelle is also a huge Disney fan and our love for it is encouraged by eachother to this day! While the boys go to hockey practise on a friday, we scour the internet for new Disney things to get our fix. We're pin collectors too so always looking for new things, and spend many saturdays going to the Disneystore. In fact, she just text me to tell me the new Rex toy is in store and that I should get it haha.

My first Disney themepark experience didn't actually happen until I was about 12 and we went on our first trip to WDW in 1999 after probably many years of pestering my parents to take us. I remember watching the planning video and looking through the travel brochures being very excited! We stayed at Port Orleans for 2 weeks and had the most amazing time, also seeing quite a bit of Florida as well as Disney. To this day, my mum calls it the best holiday she has ever had, and I'm hoping to take her back soon to relive some memories. It was very special to me as we went as a family and with some family friends - my parents are now separated so it reminds me of happier times. My mum and I loved Star Tours - we split up as a group and told the others we were going to go on it, but as the queue was pretty short, we did it twice as we loved it so much, but then told them we had to queue for ages hehe!

Fast forward quite a few years to 2005 (I'm now 18 at this point), a friend of mine who had been to DLP a few times suggested we should take a quick break there. I immediately jumped at the chance to go with someone who had first hand experience (without adult supervision!). We drove over on the Eurotunnel and stayed at Santa Fe. It was during October (as I love Halloween) and they had the Pumpkin Men and Pink Witches thing going on and we had a fab time! I couldn't believe we hadn't been here sooner!

I had been going out with my now fiancee Andy for 3 years in May 2006 and we decided to take a quick break away. He had been to WDW, DLR and DLP with his family when he was younger so he was no stranger to it, but he learned to love my crazy Disney ways! I suggested DLP as I had had such a great time with my friend the year earlier. It was a great trip, this time by Eurostar and staying at Santa Fe again - our love for DLP grew from there with a few years during the years between 2006 and 2009. To this day I have been 8 times (came back from a trip on Sunday just gone!) DLP has always been great, but I had longed to return to WDW so we began saving some money each month and hoped that one day we would be able to go.

During 2010, our best friends found a great deal to WDW during October half term 2011 (they all work at schools/colleges) - it wasn't the 2 weeks I would love to have gone for but a week was better than nothing! They had been for their honeymoon and loved it, and said how much fun it would be for all 4 of us to go. So we booked it! My dream was finally coming true! My mum was very jealous but excited for me. I began doing lots of research to try and get the most out of our trip there as we were only going for a week, and came across Disboards! I learnt all about ADRs, photopass, and all sorts of things I hadn't even contemplated. I'm a compulsive planner (list making is a favourite pastime of mine) so I absolutely thrived on it. I created all sorts of tables, lists for the trips - I was in heaven! It was however the longest 16 months of my life as I couldn't wait for it to get here.

We had a fabulous time in Florida in 2011 (now aged 25), and one of the most important things happened while we were there - After nearly 9 wonderful years together, Andy proposed to me in the Haunted Mansion on the 24 October 2011 and I said yes! It was the dream proposal I could have ever hoped for in the happiest place on earth and as cliche as it sounds, dreams really can come true!

We're contemplating a Disney wedding which is being put on hold for the time being as we're currently in the process of buying our first house together. I've bought a few bits for our new house already which include some Mickey salt and pepper shakers and a Mickey Kitchen Roll holder so Disney will play a big theme in my decorations for the new house! The Disboards now also plays a huge part in our planning for future trips and nothing quite beats setting up a new ticker in my signature and talking to the rest of you lovely bunch on here. Here's to the next Disney chapter!...

Hi Sarah, thanks so much for sharing your story (your work's loss is the DIS' gain!) and congratulations on your WDW engagement!! You are obviously a much braver soul than I am, I *hate* halloween with a passion, and if DH had proposed to me on Haunted Mansion he'd have become the 'vanishing groom' . I love the ride, but I'm still petrified of it and couldn't cope mixing a happy memory with a fearful memory! Wondering if there is a 'wuss' emoticon..... lol

I'm a list maker too - and thrive on the planning part of the trip. MS Excel is my best friend between booking a trip and going on it! I haven't even booked our holiday for next year, yet already have an excel timetable of what we will be doing every single day .

Hope you enjoy your first house together and all the Disney decor!

 

[Chilly]

I wasn't a massive Disney fan as I child I liked it but not in the way I do now. I do remember though that Beauty and the Beast was the first film I went to see at the cinema without my Mum. I went with my friend Simone, and cried at the end and remember trying to hide it from her as I didn't want to seem uncool. I did keep asking my Mum & Step Dad if they would take me to WDW but they kept saying no because it didn't interest them, I did nearly have them convinced when I was about 14 as some friends of there's went and said it was great but in the end they didn't take me. Fast Forward to 2005 when DH (then DBF) and I went to the West Coast of America, something we'd both always wanted to do. This included a trip to Disneyland. Even with no planning and buying the tickets on the gate we (well I) were hooked. The minute we got home I said we had to go to WDW next year (Mike had been as a kid when he was 13) and we did in September 2006 (celebrating 6 years together while we were there). It was in the run up to that holiday that I found the DIS and i've never looked back. The following year we had planned on going to DLRP for my Birthday & NY but with some Disney maths I convinced Mike that 2 weeks in WDW would be cheaper. So pretty much a year to the day later we were back in Disney! While we were there we saw Sunset Point at the Poly and decided that would be the perfect place to get married and that Christmas 2009 would be the time to do it. Which was brilliant but we weren't engaged! 2008 therefore became a year for saving money so no big holidays planned just a quick trip to DLRP in July(Mike again had been as a kid the year it opened) which gave him the perfect oppertunity to propose on the balcony of the castle. The wedding planning really kicked in then and the wedding and honeymoon happened as planned in December 2009/January 2010 including a Disney Cruise. Again I convinced DH with Disney maths that obviously we had to go straight back again because we now had APs, so September 2010 saw us in WDW again and we joined by 2 other Disney brides I met on the DISboards. 2011 saw a return to the West Coast and a visit to Disneyland, it did not seen as good as the first time but we still had a great time. 2012 loomed and we had no holiday booked, it was also the year I promised DH that he could pick where we went. He's clearly a keeper because he gave me three options all containing Disney so come May we are off on our 2nd Disney Cruise, this time to Alaska. Next year I get to pick where we go again and for me it either has to be WDW or a MED Disney Cruise. As well as giving me wonderful holidays Disney has also given me wonderful friends through these boards.

 

[Rachandgarry]

I wasn't a massive Disney fan as I child I liked it but not in the way I do now. I do remember though that Beauty and the Beast was the first film I went to see at the cinema without my Mum. I went with my friend Simone, and cried at the end and remember trying to hide it from her as I didn't want to seem uncool. I did keep asking my Mum & Step Dad if they would take me to WDW but they kept saying no because it didn't interest them, I did nearly have them convinced when I was about 14 as some friends of there's went and said it was great but in the end they didn't take me. Fast Forward to 2005 when DH (then DBF) and I went to the West Coast of America, something we'd both always wanted to do. This included a trip to Disneyland. Even with no planning and buying the tickets on the gate we (well I) were hooked. The minute we got home I said we had to go to WDW next year (Mike had been as a kid when he was 13) and we did in September 2006 (celebrating 6 years together while we were there). It was in the run up to that holiday that I found the DIS and i've never looked back. The following year we had planned on going to DLRP for my Birthday & NY but with some Disney maths I convinced Mike that 2 weeks in WDW would be cheaper. So pretty much a year to the day later we were back in Disney! While we were there we saw Sunset Point at the Poly and decided that would be the perfect place to get married and that Christmas 2009 would be the time to do it. Which was brilliant but we weren't engaged! 2008 therefore became a year for saving money so no big holidays planned just a quick trip to DLRP in July(Mike again had been as a kid the year it opened) which gave him the perfect oppertunity to propose on the balcony of the castle. The wedding planning really kicked in then and the wedding and honeymoon happened as planned in December 2009/January 2010 including a Disney Cruise. Again I convinced DH with Disney maths that obviously we had to go straight back again because we now had APs, so September 2010 saw us in WDW again and we joined by 2 other Disney brides I met on the DISboards. 2011 saw a return to the West Coast and a visit to Disneyland, it did not seen as good as the first time but we still had a great time. 2012 loomed and we had no holiday booked, it was also the year I promised DH that he could pick where we went. He's clearly a keeper because he gave me three options all containing Disney so come May we are off on our 2nd Disney Cruise, this time to Alaska. Next year I get to pick where we go again and for me it either has to be WDW or a MED Disney Cruise. As well as giving me wonderful holidays Disney has also given me wonderful friends through these boards.

Wow, Chilly - what a story! Thanks for sharing! I love the 'looking cool in front of your friend in the cinema' bit - I've done that too, as you grow up you realise how daft it is being bothered what they think don't you, lol!

You've done so many wonderful Disney holidays how fantastic!! Disney cruise to Alaska sounds incredible

 

[pampat]

What an amazing thread, I've read every story with absolute glee. Here's mine:

My first time to Fla was in 1981 when I was already in my 20s. Parents had gone the year before and raved about it and booked for 81 and I had to go! It was the days of Freddie Laker and SkyTrain. Nobody stayed in Orlando then for longer than a couple of days. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale and had a 2 night organised trip to Orlando. We had a day in MK which was mind blowing, a day wandering up and down I-Drive and going to SeaWorld and an evening at Church Street Station - Rosie O'Grady's was magnificent to our tender English ways! I can remember the heat, the food, the locals, but didn't appreciate it through a childs eyes. I went again in 1989 when I'd just got married, but with my sister and my husband flew out to join us when we hd moved to St. Pete's Beach for a few days at the end of the holiday. In fact, not to be too indiscreet, our daughter was conceived there! TMI I know!

When we had Joy money was incredibly tight and Allan caught me crying one day, watching A Place in the Sun which was slightly different in those days, and it was all about Orlando. I was feeding Joy and crying that we would never be able to afford to go back (a bit of the 'poor me's, anti natal depression stuff I think). Well, within a year (1991) we had a real change of fortune and were able to buy DVC at OKW. We were in the fortunate position of being able to go back to Orlando and then Vero Beach a couple of times a year for quite a few years. We were very blessed with our DVC and traveled to some amazing places with it. Joy grew up with all the characters and it was only when I could see everything through her eyes that I appreciated just how magical it really is.

Last year, in preparation of retirement, we sold the last of our DVC and Joy cried and cried. She was then 22 but it had been her second home all her life. We will be there in August this year for Allan's 65th birthday and I hope we continue to travel there for many years to come.

Pam

 

[Chilly]

Loved your story.