Early Magical Moments....What made you a Disney fanatic?

[DWD Imagineer]

We all have our ways of loving WDW. We complain about the upkeep, attraction changes, and other various scars. We also go on trips and take great pictures of the wonders we never knew about. WDW Is in a world of its own with a love hate relationship....but deep down its really love! so...

What early moments, from childhood to experiencing WDW for the first few times made you such a Fanatic...even if your first time was as an adult....It could just be one single thing that the pixie dust touched you...or it could be a few experiences that made you such a WDW Fan...

I have a few that hooked me in, I have a scar on my mouth where the fish hook and reel pulled on it and made me an eternal fanatic...here is one of them..


The Haunted Mansion...

I remembered as a kid going to WDW and it was around 1978-1982...I really dont have an accurate memory of the time we went...But we went and just got off of Its a Small World and I was pretty much skipping and holding my dads hand or my moms hand and ready to go on the next great attraction...since we covered fantasyland we headed away from it and found ourself in Liberty Square. Prior to this visit we went to Disneyland and had a horrible experience...or at least my parents did and I got to hear it ....and Im not sure the HM was open yet when we were at DL but we never went on it there.

Anyhow....I was pretty young and remember my parents wondering if we should get some food at the place on the left (Liberty tavern...not sure if thats what it was called at that time)....and I remembered hearing the howl and wondering what the heck that was. My dad decided we were going on the Haunted Mansion instead....

Apparently I was afraid of ghosts at that age and was not really up to it. The line was pretty long and I followed them with hesitation.....as we got closer and the gravestones appeared I apparently became VERY afraid and started crying....pulld my dads arm and said we should not go in there....its haunted. It got bad enought that my face was wet with tears and I was tugging my parents hands to get as far away from this place as possible!

(with the attractions we did before this it was all immersive and real to me and I was really truely scared to go on this....and we did all the fantasyland attractions before this and Snow White was included...and that didnt phase me at all)

We got to the doors and I remember the cast member was pretty forboding and had creepy eyes...making me more afraid that I was going to encounter real ghosts and I was about done with this....My dad pulled me aside and said that this is all magic...reminded me of the other rides we were on and the fact that he showed us all the fun things in the main street windows and how none of it is real...its all a movie and we are the stars...

...I didnt buy it..

We got inside and my tears and fear turned into animal instinct of survivial. You cant be crying and escape the big bad wolf if you arent alert and aware right? At least thats what I thought at the time.

So the doors open and we see master gracy changing to the corpse...I thought that was cool..but since it was dark I knew there was far worse to come...

The stretching room, My tears were totaly gone at this time and I didnt understand the hanging ghost host when the lightning stuck.....my dad, however, laughed really hard at that...

The Doors opened and led us to the loading area and I was instantly back to fear that ghosts were real.....

I was terrified and trapped and inside I felt I had to be strong....

After seeing the endless hallway, and the dancing ghosts my mind was completely changed...I was hooked and there was NO looking back...

In the hallway of doors I was already hooked and tried to look around the back of my doombuggy to see what the hand that was shadowing over the 13 hour clock was attached too only to see a cutout of hands and a spotlight...

Leota I was shocked...I really thought it was real or some actor was sitting under the table..

........the Graveyard scene...I danced in my seat when the busts sang, after the attraction we bought the 45 of this song...yes the 45, the old record

........thats when I was REALLY hooked at Disney and wanting to know behind the magic...not believe the magic...

Long long story short....We got out of the ride and I demanded "Lets do that again!" and we did ....2 more times

After that Halloween became my favorite holiday. My dad no longer had to ask if I wanted to go to haunted houses...and to this day getting startled at haunted attractions are a MUST! I prefer to be in the lead of the group because I like to get startled at these attactions...because someone moaning in a mask does nothing for me other than me saying "nice try"

Haunted Mansion is still my favorite attraction at disney....and probably will be. Like the new ending for the most part...but not as much the queue...




....whats also funny is in that same trip I sat next to the Tikis in the Enchanted TIki room and was completely mesmerized by them......after returing home to Nebraska I used construction paper, cardboard, rubber bands, paperclips, and kite string to make talking tikis in my bedroom and remade my own verson of the tiki room out of my bedroom for my younger sister....and this was another 45 record we bought

and even made water rides with audio a few years later...out of sprinklers and hose splitters and drug her in a wagon.....Had I known a career out of making these things as a pre-teenager I would have gone into this industry with the thought of being an imagineer in mind



This was one of my first fanatical moments at WDW....whats yours?

[aimster]

I've pretty much been a Disney fan since birth. I still have my first plush Mickey Mouse I got for my first Christmas in 1974. I grew up in a very Disney-loving family. My mom is a big Pluto fan and one of my uncles was a BIG fan of Snow White (he even saw the movie when it was released in 1937). I have cousins who are big Disney fans... so it runs in the family.

[Aladdin6592]

The first movie I ever saw in theaters was Aladdin. It was my favorite movie and still has an extremely special place in my heart. Almost 20 years later, I still make it a goal to get a photo taken with Aladdin when I visit the resort. That character singlehandedly turned me into a Disney fanatic. That movie alone opened the floodgates for me.

[DWD Imagineer]

The first movie I ever saw in theaters was Aladdin. It was my favorite movie and still has an extremely special place in my heart. Almost 20 years later, I still make it a goal to get a photo taken with Aladdin when I visit the resort. That character singlehandedly turned me into a Disney fanatic. That movie alone opened the floodgates for me.

That movie added to my love of Disney BIG TIME. The year that movie came out I was working at a local amusement park and was working a ride called the Flying Bobs. We could bring our CD player and plug it into the PA system on the ride and I used to play that CD everyone time someone request I play Rap songs lol...Another worker was walking by and stopped and came over to my booth and said as she was walking she felt like she was at Disney lol

[aimster]

I don't remember the first Disney movie I ever saw, but my first visit to WDW was 1977 when I was 3.

[Aladdin6592]

That movie added to my love of Disney BIG TIME. The year that movie came out I was working at a local amusement park and was working a ride called the Flying Bobs. We could bring our CD player and plug it into the PA system on the ride and I used to play that CD everyone time someone request I play Rap songs lol...Another worker was walking by and stopped and came over to my booth and said as she was walking she felt like she was at Disney lol

hahaha that is awesome! I went to Canobie Lake Park which is the local amusement park in New England and it just felt so...empty compared to Disney. Sure it was fun, but places like that truly restore my faith in WDW and make me want to go back even more. I'm as excited as ever to go back in 9 months and even more excited because my girlfriend is going with me and it's her first time. I honestly plan on going on every single ride and introducing her to the magic. I can't wait!

[DWD Imagineer]

There were other things that really drew me into loving Disney. My dad was always quick to point out small details like the names of the windows on mainstreet. Some things I didnt even notice when I was there but saw the pictures he took. Music seemed to really draw me in...

I know that IASM is muted at WDW as far as the exterior goes. But there is something about the big bass sounds that reverb in the enclosed building from the instrumental version of the song. This has always stuck with me and to this day I would rather stand in the queue than ride it...odd i know.

Journey into Imagination.....Going to Epcot center the first year it opened and many years beyond that another small tidbit made me really appreciate small touches. Before you got to the revolving scene where dreamfinder invents figment its again the music that is playing. The sublte one little spark song, and seeing the blimp on a screen/wall was a great audio visual prelude of what was to come. Granted it wasnt until the 2nd time I rode this to really appreciate it. It was almost like that was the curtain of the things I knew were to come!

Epcot Center, again, was spaceship earth. When the vehicle turns the moment the announcer (that would be walter c. at the time) said Earth and you saw the stars and the sky. The music from tomorrows child. Granted I liked the background music to TC but maybe not so much the song itself. But it hit a huge cord with me!

POTC....This one agian was all about the queue...and how inside you felt like you were outside. Many other places around Disney also gave me this same strange feeling (Mexico Pavillion, Peter Pan, parts of HM etc). I just felt immersed and as a young kid I really felt I was in the world of pirates.

Looking back at this moment I have noticed the the queue has played a huge part of my love of Disney. Even though several Epcot Center attractions played huge parts in my long lived love of disney their queues I remember as being tortue. Almost all of them are back and forth queues with very little to look at and felt way longer than many of the MK queues. I just hope next gen doenst ruin those queues or make them cheaper looking.

Despite the issues on some attractions at WDW it will always be my home park and my first love!

[mickeyfan5534]

My first trip to Disney World was when I was in my mom's womb so that's probably why I love Disney so much.

[danyoung]

Even though my first trip to DL was at the age of 6, I was well aware of Disney and of course Disneyland from the TV show. I finally got to see the place for myself in 1963, and was hooked ever since. And in 1966 my family moved to Downey, about 15 minutes from DL, and for 5 years my life was all about planning for my next DL visit!

[sbk1234]

Although I've been going to Disneyland in California since I was a toddler, my first trip to WDW was in 1988, at the age of 21.

From the first moment that we drove into the resort and saw the first signs, I knew this was something special. A big memory for me was standing in front of the Magic Kingdom, and looking away from the park. Instead of the parking lot which was in that spot in Disneyland, there was a beautiful lagoon. I couldn't see any part of "Reality Land" interfering with the fantasy of Disney. It was like a light shining down on me from Heaven.

That was my first moment. And from there, it just got stronger over the years.

[celticdar]

I was in DL when I was a toddler and I'm told that I enjoyed myself - to be honest, I don't remember much of it - But WDW if Florida, that was another story. My first trip was in 1972 - a few months after they opened. From the first monorail ride, that was it for me - I was hooked. To this day, there's something magical about coming into the station at Magic Kingdom. But then of course, walking through the train station and seeing what was on the other side was the best. In those days, the only thing open early was Main Street USA -the rest of the park opened an hour later. So we would go early and have breakfast in either the Crystal Palace (you could just walk in and have a meal then - no character dining, no reservations) or Sara Lee Bake Shop (it's the only time my mother let us have chocolate cake for breakfast). The rest of the time, we would hang out with the characters. The place was not so mobbed then and the characters didn't need handlers. Somewhere, we have film of Goofy dancing around with my little brother near the train station with his huge feet. There was nothing else like it in the world for me - the rides, the neat gift shops with land-specific merchandise in them, and the character meetings. I loved the movies and still do, but the parks were the best. When Epcot opened, it was amazing, and I loved Disney Village as well. I love all of the parks but Magic Kingdom is still my favorite. I'm glad they've made upgrades to the parks but I still miss If You Had Wings, the 360 degree film in Tomorrowland, the Skyway, and Mickey Mouse Review. I never pass up an opportunity to visit the World.

[DWD Imagineer]

Oh yea the Monorail is a huge part of what to love! And who didnt try to say "Por favor mantenerse al lado de las puertas." ? Well me and my sister did. We always stayed on the Monorail every ear (between CR and GFR) so of course we heard the speal quite a bit!

I love love love that they made it into a T-shirt. Wore it in the parks and many cast members commented on it. During that trip the only place I found it was at Epcot right at the entrance...and I looked...so It must have been a rare find at the time. I ran out of money on my last trip and couldnt buy the new one....