While looking at a video of flying ducks I remembered my children’s (now 14 & 16) favorite memory at DLR. It was my boys first trip and they were 6 and 8. Shortly after arriving in the parks we stopped and got ice cream. We found a bench near IASW to eat our treat. While the boys sat and enjoyed their first taste of a Mickey Bar, a duck must have gotten startled because it flew out of the bushes and struck me in the head. This resulted in uncontrollable laughter from my boys and they still talk about it as teenagers. It’s kind of like when you buy your kids a really cool toy and they just want to play with the box.
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That’s pretty funny to be fair.
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My kids’ favourite memory is spending time in a pool after busy park day. It is funny that we go great length of planning the trip, creating touring plans, waking up early for ADRs and FPP, and all they care about is relaxing and swimming 
My now teenage son speaks fondly about his first Space Mountain ride when he was 9.
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I agree! I get a pretty good chuckle out of it AND I get get a chuckle out of the fact that it is their favorite memory!
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My kids and I spent close to an hour watching a turtle at epcot. And no, it was not Crush, just a regular turtle swimming around.
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One of my dad’s friends had a tradition of taking each grandchild on a private “Grandpa and Me” trip to Disney World when they turned 4 (this was pre-FP days - plus or otherwise). They stayed off property at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. On one of the grand’s trip, they were getting in too late for a park visit, so they hung out at the resort pool/water play area. The next morning they headed to Magic Kingdom and were there about an hour when the grandchild looked at him and said “Can we go back to Disney World now?” He thought the resort was Disney World.
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I think geckos are fascinating to kids at Disney World. Spend thousands of dollars, and they want to chase the geckos around!
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A few responses here are why I generally try to remind first timers that kids might have as much fun playing in the pool with their undivided attention, as they would checking out something in a park.
I vividly remember my favorites as a kid:
Number one with a bullet: Space Mountain. I about lost my mind going through the first light up tunnel.
Number two: The Speedway - holy balls. I can drive this MYSELF???
Three: Splash - 'nuff said.
For my boy:
- Speedway
- Splash
- Tower of Terror: He was too scared to even go NEAR it on our first trip. On our second trip, he talked himself into trying it for the first time. We did it 14 times on that trip, over the course of 3 days at Holyweird (thank you, hoppers, and EP resorts!)
- FOP
- The jumping Fountains at Epcot (first trip)
- Hoop De Doo, I’ve never heard my son laugh as hard as he did when one of the servers SLAMMED a loaf of cornbread down on the metal serving dish on our table. He approached the table, and politely asked if we would like more cornbread, then he SLAMMED it down, which made a loud "“CLANNNGGG.” My son almost fell out of his chair.
- SW Dessert party
Bonus:
Things I WISH my kids would like as much as I do:
- Fantasmic
- Donald Duck at character meals. There’s a reason why Donald is #1.
Bonus 2:
Things my kids wish I like as much as them:
- Buzz Lightyear (YAAAWWWWWWWNNNNN!)
- Astro Orbiter - I actually like it, but it scares the living daylights out of me. I’ll go on the biggest, baddest roller coaster on the planet. ANYTIME. But AO, just scares me. those creaking bolts, so high. Love the views, love being scared, but damn…
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Young kids always like nature and the pools.
What our grandkids remember most is the pool, walking around Port Orleans Riverside and looking at the frogs, geckos, birds, and their favorite ride was Kilimanjaro safari. (more animals)
So don’t be disappointed if after spending thousands of dollars they only remember the simple things. Your memories count too.
Just glad one didn’t hit me in the head!
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This is silly, but my sons favorite memory is when we got stuck on POTC and had to be evacuated off. A cast member was in the water pushing our boat back to a platform, he thought that was hilarious. This was a the mnsshp party. It was near midnight and we were leaving and I said let’s hop on this ride, no line. He also talks a lot about the time we evacuated TTA. Apparently out trip were be great if we had to be evacuated off every ride😆
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Not silly at all! TBH, I think it is exciting as well. I wouldn’t want to be evacuated off of a tall roller coaster or the skyliner, but the rest would be cool. Not to mention you might get a couple of FPs for your trouble.
It was funny, and I got lots of pics. I agree with you about the roller coasters!!!
We didn’t get a fastpass for either times. The one on Pirates I understand it was like 12:15 and the park was closed. But the TTA we should have, but then again, I didn’t ask. We stuck on there for a good hour.
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My DGD age 3.5 yrs old got the biggest kick when coming back to the resort when the recording on the bus said “Welcome home.” I don’t think that she realized it was a recoding. She would listen for it and say, “He said it again!” with the biggest smile on her face.
DGD, 13 months old, laughed like crazy at the birds walking around the seating at Sleepy Hollow.
For my children, a favorite memory would probably be playing on the beach and watching the Electrical Water Pageant when we stayed at the Polynesian in '86.
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Thank you for asking this.
I would’ve guessed my kids best memory would’ve involved food, but I’ve been proven wrong. DS just came into the room while I was reading this, so I asked him…
His favourite memory is the first time all four of us went on Teamboat Springs at BB. He said he remembers us all spinning and laughing. He would’ve been 3 and he’s 8 now.
I love that that was his answer. Thank you @Ms.BarbsWildRide 
I might ask DD later (although sometimes it’s best to quit while you’re ahead 
).
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I’ve got pictures of my son doing this last trip. Good memory for me too! I truly do just enjoying watching my kids have fun. I don’t remember what he decided to skip, probably a second ride on Living With The Land because we were right outside The Land pavilion. That’s why you build in breaks or just be willing to skip a ride. Would be tough on a one and done trip, but it was our third time so no big deal.
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My daughter, who is now nine (was five at the time) still talks about meeting Alice at Epcot. She loved the England pavillion and will talk about it all day long. She had never watched Alice in Wonderland and even after this wonderful meet, she never showed interest in the movie or story. But for whatever reason she just LOVED Alice!
My son was six at the time, now eleven, talks about two things. First is Club Cool at Epcot.He remembers all of the sodas he tasted. I have some pictures of him getting a sample and he just has this huge smile on his face. My kids weren’t allowed to have very much soda, so this was crazy novel to them. Even now, he will order Fanta when he sees it, and remark that no one ever has the “good” flavors LOL! He also talks about when we went to ride Big Thunder Mountain while the rest of the family staked out a spot for the electrical parade and fireworks. We made it on BTM but couldn’t make it out of Frontierland before the parade started. So we just sat in a very uncrowded space and watched the parade, just me and him. He was so happy to have one on one time during this really magical event. It made me realize that I need to make sure to set aside time for each kid to do something special with them for this next trip
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This is so sweet!
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This thread is making me all fuzzy feeling, thinking about taking my kids for the first time. So i’m going to bump it and hope for some more answers.
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This is a great one - the sticky sugar-coated floor, trying all of the different flavors, and then going back for more of the flavors that you weren’t so sure about. I am sad that this place is now gone, but also have those fond memories of it. 
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