Your first trip to Disney, what you remember ?

[Julie's Haircut]

Spring break 1980. My first impression was that parking cost 50 cents. Most other places at the time charged at least $1 to park.

We got there before opening and ran right to Space Mountain after rope drop. I was somewhat disappointed. After all I heard, I expected something much better. It was just OK compared to some of the coasters at other parks.

I remember the booklet of A to E tickets and buying additional E tickets later in the day. There were some unused A and B tickets remaining.

Ate late lunch and a later dinner at counter service places and the food was dismal both times.

We stayed from opening at 8am until close at midnight. Rode the monorail TO the park and took the boat back to the parking lot.

Stayed at a mom and pop motel on Route 192 about 3 to 4 miles away. The road was only two lanes and undivided and there was still plenty of open land around.

 

[Feralpeg]

I was 24 when I went to Disneyland. I remember Goofy walking up to me as I walked through the entrance. There were no character handlers. The characters just walked around the park interacting with people. It was so nice. No standing in lines to meet and greet.

 

[Brotelli]

I was probably around 10 at the time of my first visit. I remember we stayed at the Polynesian and we went to the Luau. It is strange for as much as I know about Disney I really don’t remember much from my trips as a kid other than where we stayed. The only other thing I remember is that we ate at Garden Grill and I loved the fact that the restaurant rotated.

 

[auntfrannie]

1979 and I was still in high school. I remember that the Magic Kingdom wasn't crowded and we have pictures with lots of empty spaces; definitely not the crowds you see today! My brother and his wife were into camping so that was my first (and last) camping experience. Roughing it is NOT for me!

 

[PollyannaMom]

May 1991, I was 5. I remember Snow White’s Scary Adventures absolutely terrifying me, and eating at San Angel Inn after riding Gran Fiesta Tour. My sweet nana was the one who took me, and I remember we walked through Cinderella’s castle and found out there was a restaurant inside. She wanted to take me but it was too much $$$. We also went on a monorail ride and we were in awe of how the other half lived at the Contemporary. We stayed at the cheapest possible hotel offsite which was fine, but even at age 5 I felt guilty that everything was so expensive for my nana.

She passed away a few years ago and on the 5 year anniversary of her death we went to WDW and stayed at the Contemporary. On that trip we ate at CRT for the first time. I felt like I had “made it” and like my nana would have been so happy that I can give my kids the things she wanted to give me. We had a tightly planned agenda on that trip and there was only one afternoon open for swimming, but it was drizzling. We went to the pool anyway and the sun came out. The most beautiful DOUBLE rainbow appeared in the sky. I felt like it was a sign from my nana that she was watching over us.

I'm actually tearing up - I love your story!!

 

[RamblingMad]

I remember EPCOT under construction. But I'm not even sure if that was my first trip. It's my oldest memory of the park.

 

[jeff_h]

My first trip to WDW was in 1974 when I was 8 years old, we drove from Upstate NY to FL with Mom/Dad, 3 kids, and Grandma/Grandpa in a Chevy Impala - 3 across the front bench seat and 4 in the back seat. There were only 3 seat belts in the back seat but nobody was using those anyway, and I spent most of the trip laying up behind the back seat in the back window -- imagine seeing that these days along the interstate, people would be calling 911 on you.

We parked for Magic Kingdom and got on the tram and they said to "always remember the row where you parked" so I did, and we parked in Goofy 47 (naming schemes for parking have probably been revised several times since then).

Space Mountain was under construction, we liked the Sky Ride, and my older sister and I loved Mr Toad's Wild Ride and the Haunted Mansion.

I remember we had a book of paper tickets that we quickly used up on all of the good rides and were sad that Mom/Dad or Grandma/Grandpa refused to buy another ticket book to let us go on more of those "good" rides.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Your first trip to Disney, what you remember ?


1957 - each of us kids had $1.00 to spend. We would discuss - "I'm going to buy XXXX", "So am I", "You buy XXX, and I'll buy YYY, and we'll share".

At the end of the day, we all bought Mickey ears


And here's mine (50 years later)

 

[firefly_ris]

1990 (I believe it was spring break), DHS had just opened. It was myself, my parents, and my grandmom. We drove from Baltimore MD. My earliest things I remember are The Land pavilion at Epcot (Living with the Land specifically), and Studio Backlot Tour at the brand new Disney-MGM Studios. I remember sitting near Spaceship Earth with my grandmom wearing her stylin' head kerchief because it was breezy that day. I also remember Peter Pan's Flight and Snow White's Scary Adventures, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (which I was afraid of). I don't remember much about the castle or Main Street or parades or anything. I remember eating at Tony's and they had these big cardboard cutouts of Lady and Tramp.

We stayed at the Peabody Hotel, and I remember they had ducks in the fountain in the lobby and did this daily duck parade. I also remember being in the room and watching an advertisement for the all new Universal Studios, which we went to. I remember being completely terrified on King Kong, and I also remember waiting a realllyyy long time in line for ET, we were 2 people back from getting on, and the ride broke down and we were evacuated. I've never been back to Universal since then so I never rode ET!

 

[rkstocke5609]

It was the “Year of a Million Dreams”. We are exiting off of Pooh at Magic Kingdom when we are approached by a cast member who hands us lanyards with DREAM FASTPASSES. Since we are only doing one day at MK toting our 3 year old on basically a test run we are literally thrilled as the Dreampass made it possible for us to take in far more than we had hoped.

It’s entirely possible that this one bit of luck put us on a path that has resulted in DVC & 15 trips to various Disney resorts.

 

[C&Jx2]

Sitting on my dad’s shoulders as we walked through Fantasyland. I just remember being in awe of all of the people.

Also the soaps and toiletries at The Contemporary. I don’t know why...But I remember them!

 

[stevelle]

It was 2005 and I was 36. my family could never have afforded it when I was a child but I swore I would take my kids. They were 12, 11, 7, and 4. we thought it would be a one and done trip. We stayed off site and thought we’d save money by eating meals at the rental house...instead we never wanted to leave the parks. We’ve been two more times since then, stayed onsite and got the dining plan! This summer DH and I are finally going just the two of us for a 30th anniversary trip and I can’t wait. I feel like the most vivid memory from that first trip was immediately acknowledging that I was a fool to think one trip would do it.

 

[DL55]

Don't remember a specific first visit, although my mom says she and my dad went the first year Disneyland opened and left me at my grandparents. (Darn, I could have said I have been going since they opened, lol)

I do remember standing around with my sisters trying to decide where to use the D tickets. (E tickets were quickly used.) We always had A tickets left over. We lived two hours away and would look for the Matterhorn, knowing we were almost there!

 

[mrsheppo]

It was 1966 and my first trip to DL. My older brother had a musical competition in Santa Monica and my grandfather, a family friend and myself went along. We had one day free before the competition and my grandfather suggested we go to Disneyland for the day. I remember the E ticket books and so many of the rides that are no longer there like the submarines, the Skyway and House of Tomorrow. That was my start for my love of Disney Parks. I finally got to visit WDW for the first time in 2003.

I actually found my one souvenir from my first trip the other day. It was a chalk portrait drawn by an artist on Main Street

 

[amcnj]

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.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I'm actually tearing up - I love your story!!

Aw thank you! It was really special, I’ll have to go on my laptop later and I’ll post photos of the double rainbow over Bay Lake. It was beautiful!

 

[maxaroni]

August 1972. Driving to Florida for vacation for 2 weeks. On the way home, we were going to stop and see cousins. When my dad called him to set it up, dad was asked if we were going to Disney. No, dad didn’t want to as it had recently opened, and didn’t want the crowds. My cousin said he’d get tickets for us and we should go. Arrived at guest services to find my cousin had set up a VIP tour for us. Dad was thinking we’d be in a group of people, no It was just us. We were just in awe of all of it. I remember my mom remarking how the topiaries were so cute and all the attention to detail. My cousin also got tickets for us to go a 2nd day, although, no VIP and had to wait on lines, lol. I also remember It’s a small world, carousel of progress and hall of presidents being some of my favorites as we had seen them at the New York worlds fair. Remember the Eastern airlines pavilion and thought it was so cool.

 

[low-key]

This thread is happy and sad

 

[Colleen27]

River Country, and the slide that ended way above the water so you free-fell for what seemed like forever (in a kid's mind) before hitting the water. Goofy in a swim ring on the porch of a shop or restaurant or something that looked like a log cabin. There are a few other things I remember but that and Discovery Island are my clearest, most vivid memories of my one and only childhood trip to WDW, probably because they haven't been muddled up with layers of subsequent memories of going to the same places years later - both were long closed by the time I first went back as an adult.

 

[chaboyd]

Being terrified on the Snow White ride. It was 1973 and I was 3. I vaguely remember the horses at Fort Wilderness also.