Oh, I have another one. I remember being so enthralled watching the animation in HS that I went home planning to learn how to draw. I wanted to be an animator. Well, wanting and having talent are two different things, lol, but I did draw a few nice Mickeys before finally giving up and moving on.
I’ve always loved animation. I did a report in grade 7 on Walt for the section on “inventors”. He really was an innovator and inventor that pushed animation to what it could be.
I recall when I was about the age you make your first communion (second grade maybe, mid to late 80s) the whole family went for a vacation… grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.
We stayed at the cabins at fort wilderness and I remember having to take multiple buses to get to the parks: “the brown bus to the blue bus to the monorail”.
Also, not a great memory but I remember being right around where spaceship earth is and I saw a kid throwing up in a bubbler. I’ll never forget that disgustingness!
Summer 1972. I was 5. We were on the quintessential family road trip complete with station wagon.
We drove from Illinois to Florida and spent time in Fort Lauderdale with my dad’s stepfather, went deep sea fishing, saw a rodeo, stayed in cool old school motels and swam with other kids on similar road trips.
My grandmother’s friends had been down for the opening of WDW and they had leftover ticket books and gave them to my parents so they could take us. I remember riding Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, 20K Leagues Under the Sea…and we were down to one ticket and my sister and I both wanted to ride the Tea Cups.
And a kind stranger gave us a ticket so we could both ride.
And I teared up even writing this and that is where my love of Disney comes from and my first experience with a Random Act of Kindness.
My brother and I were picked to ride the bee in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids part of the backlot tour at then MGM. That was not our first trip, but is a great WDW memory.
Then I don’t like you, because I was not picked, and I hold ridiculous grudges for nonsensical reasons 
I was just thinking tonight about King Stefan’s Banquet Hall (where Cinderella’s Royal Table is now). Anyone else remember eating there? I remember eating there in 1985 or the first time.
We were at the Magic Kingdom in the mid 70s. While we were on the Jungle Cruise, my Dad took out his camera and quickly snapped a photo. After the ride, he told us that he thought John Lennon and Yoko Ono were on the boat so he took the picture. I was pretty young so it didn’t really mean anything to me until years later when I looked at the slide may Dad took. He wasn’t able to get a face shot, just a rear/side shot, so who knows.
I had another memory. This was when I was in ninth grade. I went to Magic Kingdom with a friend’s family (he was an only child, so he invited me along to be his riding partner) over spring break. It was very crowded, I remember. But what I remember most was being on Tom Sawyer’s Island with a bunch of idiot teens also on spring break. We were crossing the barrel bridge with it seemed like 50 other people. Halfway across, most of the group spontaneously decided they wanted to see if they could make the barrel bridge flip over. So they all started leaning over (except me and my friend) and bridge started tilting almost a full 90 degrees. I don’t recall if anyone fell in or not, but I know I would have if I hadn’t been holding on for dear life trying to lean the opposite direction.
Now, in hindsight, even if we had fallen in, it wouldn’t have been terrible. The water is only a couple feet deep, and there is a concrete bottom, etc. But I didn’t know that, and was convinced we would end up in a swampy, mucky mess!
When my sister was about 1, we were at EPCOT and Donald took the stroller with my sister from my mom and just walked her through the communicore just having a blast. Groups would converge on him but he stayed focus on giving my sister and our family our magical moment.
The “Magic” Kingdom Story - Ch. 20 - The Bridge (based on real events)
Is this some subtle hint that I should post chapter 20?
I’ll admit, the whole pandemic sucked my will to write much. But I feel like in another week or two, that will change.
I don’t have any early memories, since I’d never been to a Disney park until I was 37 (in 2017) 
But I’m loving reading these and imagining what our kids will remember from our trips.
You can still share one of your first Disney World memories if you want 
“it’s the univeerrrrrse…of energy. the univeeeerrrsse of energy…”
Yes! And how about “listen and you’ll hear the heartbeat of the Universe teeming with force…” in that pre-show with the rotating block screen!
The details of my first visit to WDW may shock those of you who have come to know me on these forums as they reveal a part of myself that I have cleverly hidden from you.
In the summer of 1996 I undertook what I not-at-all-pompously refer to as my Grand Tour of the USA. I travelled in a minibus with a dozen other people. We drove from New York City to New York City in a giant circle all around the continental USA.
One of our stop-offs was Orlando, in order to visit WDW. Like every other person in the world, this had been a lifelong dream of mine. At this point I had been waiting 27 years.
We reached the TTC and our leader went to the window to sort out our tickets. There was some kind of delay and I could wait no longer. I had a full-blown meltdown. A proper tantrum.
I behaved so shockingly, it scarred the rest of the day. I felt terribly guilty.
I only remember two details of MK itself. First, I remember riding Space Mountain and thinking it was awesome. Second, I remember Tinkerbell flying at the end of whatever the fireworks show was then called. It blew my mind.
I only had to wait another 21 years for my next trip. The standout moment of that trip was Tinkerbell again — this time at the end of HEA. Despite vague memories of my earlier trip I said to the friend I was visiting with “No? Surely that’s not? Is it? It can’t be. OH MY GOD THAT’S A REAL PERSON!”
Love this thread.
I remember visiting as a child in the late 90s. It was December and fairly cold for Florida. Despite the cold, my brother and I went swimming at the resort pool. There was quite a bit of steam off the water from what I remember. The lifeguards were wearing winter coats, hats, mittens, etc. Several other guests stopped to ask my mother where we were from. When she said Canada they understood.
My first trip to Magic Kingdom was when I was only 2 in 1977. My parents had very little, but dad was a pilot for a small local air group and flew us down there himself in a little Piper. I don’t recall much except a vague recollection of watching the Country Bears. Next visit was at age 14 while on a church choir tour. We rode a bus from IL to FL stopping and performing in different churches and staying in church members homes. We got to spend one day at WDW and went to Epcot. I wasn’t really into the technology gist of Epcot and wished we were going to MK. Honestly I don’t recall much except that a boy who was 17 and who I did not like kept trying to sit by me and I spent the day trying to avoid him! I had my first monorail ride that day. Unbelievably the only thing I recall eating on my first trip to Epcot was a kids PBJ meal! I’ve come a long way! In 1992 I was a freshman at USC and a group of us took the Los Angeles buses all the way from LA to Anaheim to go to DL for a day.
My next WDW trip was at age 23 with my husbands family the summer after we got married. His dad had a convention at the Dolphin so we stayed there. I road-tripped down with his parents, brother and little sister who was 8 over two days while DH stayed at work and flew down to join us. The car AC broke on the way down. It was one of those trips we’ll always remember! But that little sister is now a huge Disney fan, went on a family trip with us once and went with me and my girls last fall. My family of origin were not Disney people and I take every opportunity to turn their teasing of me now into blaming the deprivation of my youth!
I forgot to add my first Disney Magic moment! At DL, after our bus marathon to get there, we stopped in a QS on Main Street for breakfast. We were a group of 4, 16 to 18 year olds. My BF, trying to be romantic, took the carnation from the little vase on the table and gave it to me. There were few people in the place, but a grumpy old man guest got all upset about it and came over and took the flower and all the vases/flowers near our table away. We sat there embarrassed and tried to quickly finish eating. A cast member however came out soon after that, gave a flower to each girl in our group and wished us a magical day. And that’s exactly what we proceeded to have!
