What was your first time at Disney like?

**Claire** · 06-08-2008, 10:37 AM

My first visit was in 1988 with a boyfriend. I'd turned 21 that year and an insurance policy paid out. Rather than be sensible and reinvest I booked flights and car for 3 weeks. We flew out on the 8th April. My uppermost memory of the trip was how I walked around pointing like a fool saying things like "wow, look at the dustbins" and "wow, look at the grass"!

**Grammiepo** · 06-08-2008, 12:00 PM

Oh what memories, 3 familys drove to Disney from Maine, camping along the way, we stayed at FW, it was in 1976, my children were the older ones , DD geing 15 and DS 12, there were 14 of us in all, the youngest child being 4. I stood looking at Mickey made up in flowers out side the train station and could not believe I was there. Everyone said it was the trip of a life time, but we have all been back several times sence, but never as a group. Best trip Ever.

**Skywatcher** · 06-08-2008, 01:56 PM

Was at DLP not long after it opened - spent 1 1/2 hours walking down mainstreet pointing at everything and photographing everything - walked through the castle and ended up on Dumbo.

**lisaw** · 06-08-2008, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by Claire

My first visit was in 1988 with a boyfriend. I'd turned 21 that year and an insurance policy paid out. Rather than be sensible and reinvest I booked flights and car for 3 weeks. We flew out on the 8th April. My uppermost memory of the trip was how I walked around pointing like a fool saying things like "wow, look at the dustbins" and "wow, look at the grass"!

I was fascinated with the grass as well Claire

**Taja** · 06-08-2008, 03:58 PM

My first visit to Disney was Disneyland--about two weeks after it opened in 1955! It was a birthday treat--although I didn't know it in advance!

My parents told me we were going to visit some family friends for the day. It was about a one-hour drive to Disneyland from where we lived--freeways weren't finished yet, but there were good roads--and typical young child, I was a bit antsy toward the end of the ride. We drove under the Disneyland sigh, paid for parking (I think it was a quarter--I remember it being 50 cents for the longest time beginning a few years later), but I didn't really understand what it was about. I'm sure there were ads on television, but my viewing time was severely limited, so I hadn't seen or heard anything about this place.

Needless to say, the huge parking lot didn't impress me one bit! The trams scared me. The seats ran lengh-wise in those days, with the passengers facing out toward the road. I think I had nightmares about falling off the seat for a few weeks after that visit!

My mother entertained me while my father purchased the tickets. Then we were going inside the gates. And there were Mickey, and Minnie and Goofy and Pluto... :sigh; These were the "family friends" we were visiting!

We rode the double-decker bus (a novelty to me) to the end of Main Street and Sleeping Beauty's castle was beautiful! And after we walked through it, there was an entire land with colourful banners and rides and...Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter!

Well, you get the idea! I was entranced! And it stuck!

When I visited WDW in 1981, it was a bit of a let-down. We (Leu, two other friends and I) had wanted to visit WDW ever since Walt Disney announced the plans on The Wonderful World of Colour. I finally had the opportunity to tack it to the back-end of a business trip to DC, so I planned four days at WDW over Labour Day weekend. MK was the only park and, to be honest, it really didn't rate next to Disneyland. It felt flat and two-dimensional. Some aspects of WDW (MK only, remember), were superior to Disneyland, but for the most part not nearly as good.

Then I was able to take the monorail to EPCOT and I stood on that viewing platform for a good two hours while people came and went, just watching all the dusty construction activity in complete awe! Leave it to me--get excited about a construction site! Actually, the possibilities were what excited me!

Fast forward 22 years to 2003 and the trip with Leu. I discovered I now prefer WDW over Disneyland! Just the sheer immensity (is that a word? if not, it should be!) of the place! It's a destination rather than a day trip now. :thumbs_up: