[hanwill]

OK, we all love Disney for different reasons. I am curious what made you love it. For me it was the first time I went to WDW. I was 4. My dad took my picture as I was on the monorail and I saw the giant topiaries down below for the first time. I remember having that picture taken. I think that was all it took. Once my daughter went for the first time, we fell in love with it all over again! She had that look of shock when she saw the princesses in the castle. I am not sure who loves it more!!!! wHAT ABOUT YOU???

[JEANY031]

i was in disney i was 3. and our family is on the top secret clubhouse.

[Allyson]

Our first family trip last October -- my DH had not been since he was a child and it was DS's first trip where he was old enough to enjoy things. Everyone always remembers the first time their child sees Mickey -- and for me it was no different. That feeling, the expression on his face and, honestly even more so my DH's face! DH is usually quite a "Grumpy" so for him to so completely enjoy something like he did our WDW trip -- I knew we'd be back!

SO...we planned a longer trip just the 3 of us for May 2005. It was HEAVEN! We're hooked on Disney because it makes all of us SOO happy to be there!! Can't wait for 8 more family days in October!

[stitch_kingdom]

Sorcerer Mickey on top of Fantasmic fountain!

Fantasmic theme song

Wishes theme song!

Mickey Mouse

"It all started with a mouse"

[Peppertink]

Our visits every summer and Christmas as a child. Sooo many happy memories with Mom, Dad and Sister....Now making more memories with them plus DH and my dear in-laws and our God child.....

[MissDisney]

This is a great thread! I hope it gets really long!

My parents never took us to WDW, but I knew for years that I loved it before I even got there. My first trip was without kids, and when my DH and I walked through the tunnel at MK and looked up Main Street at the castle, I could hear the banjo music and feel the air conditioning from a shop, and it smelled like cookies, and there were silvery balloons and a bright red train... well, you know the scene!
Anyway, I just burst into tears because it was PERFECT! It was beautiful and sweet-smelling and fun. I cried. In fact, typing this makes me want to cry again.

[Twins1023]

WHen I was a kid my dad and mom would go to Florida every year for a car race and we always went to Disney after. He would stand on main street and say I"M BACK MICKEY! I always loved it but I think I fall in love with it after my father passed away in 1981 he was only 32 and I was 15. My Mom and him were junior high sweet hearts. Always, that year my mom decided that we would go away for Christmas and I picked Disneyland, for one we had never been there and two my dad said someday! Christmas Day 1981 as a stood looking at the CAstle on Main street Disneyland I said MICKEY I"M HERE BUT MY DAD HE COULDN"T MAKE IT! I think my mom and myself sit down and cried on a bench for about a hour. I knew at that time I would love every minute I would get to spend at any Disney park. It's the memories of the past and future with my kids, the stories, the pictures and the love!

[llama]

I fell in love with Disneyland (there was no DisneyWorld) when I was about 6 and watched "Wonderful World of Color". Every once in a while they'd have a show about Disneyland (usually showing the Jungle Cruise) and it totally mesmerized me. Even at 6 I knew there was no way I'd ever get there. California could be on another planet. Only one kid I knew ever got there - and when I told my mom, she said, 'oh, that's because she's an only child'. How I wanted to be an only child! My poor sister probably got a lot of glares from me that summer.

When I had my kids I promised myself I'd get them to a Disney park, no matter what. When my dh and I could afford it, we took our first trip to DL. It was even more magical than I ever imagined and we were hooked. There have been many trips since then (no. 26 coming up!) and we still get the same feeling. Our family is close, but being together at WDW is so special to all of us. My kids are 21 AND 22 now, and it's unthinkable to them that we don't all go to WDW together.

[Peppertink]

Originally Posted by llama

I fell in love with Disneyland (there was no DisneyWorld) when I was about 6 and watched "Wonderful World of Color". Every once in a while they'd have a show about Disneyland (usually showing the Jungle Cruise) and it totally mesmerized me. Even at 6 I knew there was no way I'd ever get there. California could be on another planet. Only one kid I knew ever got there - and when I told my mom, she said, 'oh, that's because she's an only child'. How I wanted to be an only child! My poor sister probably got a lot of glares from me that summer.

When I had my kids I promised myself I'd get them to a Disney park, no matter what. When my dh and I could afford it, we took our first trip to DL. It was even more magical than I ever imagined and we were hooked. There have been many trips since then (no. 26 coming up!) and we still get the same feeling. Our family is close, but being together at WDW is so special to all of us. My kids are 21 AND 22 now, and it's unthinkable to them that we don't all go to WDW together.

Wow and you don't even have only ONE child
It really is all about family isn't it?

[Dana]

What makes it special for me is the time I get to spend with my DD alone with no one else to interfere with our fun. I can't put my finger on exactly why it's so perfect for us, but it is and I am not going to argue with it..lol

[jodilt]

MICKEY! I remember my first trip to DL when I was almost 3 years old. I had my picture taken with Mickey (the pic in my avatar). After this picture was taken I just had to see if Mickey's nose would squeek, so I have another picture of Mickey bending over while I try to squeek his nose! I spent my early years living in Southern CA and visiting DL quite often, but my real love of Disney began with my first trip to WDW in 1996. I have been once a year since, until this year when I may not make it there. No one ever even asks me where I am going on vacation anymore...they just ask "Land or World"!

[GrumpyDad]

For me it was all the years growing up first watching the Mickey Mouse Club with my Mom and then the Wonderfull World Of Disney, which later became the Dinsey's Wonderful World of Color, with both Mom and Dad. Then I got older the late 60s and early 70s hit and I kinda of lost touch with Mickey for a while, until my youngest was born. She had a hard go of it the first three years of her life and I spent MANY nights rocking her with a Disney classic on video. The one that was sure to put her out was Fantasia.

Then when we actually started to go it was the absolute perfection of the vacations, friendly people, super clean parks and resorts, well you know the rest.

Now that my youngest is in high school we are finding it very hard to schedule time to go, we missed last year completely, but at least she still has the love of the Mouse.

My oldest is making noises about settling down and starting her family, I cannot wait to start taking my grandchildren to WDW. That will truly be full circle for me.

[Dopey]

My mother's affection for Mickey Mouse is what got me interested in Disney at first.
Living in Germany sometime, as a child, in the late 1920's she was given her first Mickey Mouse and never forgot about it. When my Grandmother cleaned out some boxes there he was and they gave him to me. I lost Mickey, but my mother always talked about that mouse. She loved America, loved what Walt Disney did and dreamed and would have loved to live here but she never did have that opportunity.

The minute DH and I moved to the US, it had to be California for me because of DL. I had no clue that there was a DW in Florida.
And the first time I stood in front of that Train Station with the beautiful flowers planted in the form of a Mickey Mouse, I was in love with the whole idea.


My mother's nickname for me was Mickey....it's a female kind of a name in German.

[Dopey]

Originally Posted by Twins1023

WHen I was a kid my dad and mom would go to Florida every year for a car race and we always went to Disney after. He would stand on main street and say I"M BACK MICKEY! I always loved it but I think I fall in love with it after my father passed away in 1981 he was only 32 and I was 15. My Mom and him were junior high sweet hearts. Always, that year my mom decided that we would go away for Christmas and I picked Disneyland, for one we had never been there and two my dad said someday! Christmas Day 1981 as a stood looking at the CAstle on Main street Disneyland I said MICKEY I"M HERE BUT MY DAD HE COULDN"T MAKE IT! I think my mom and myself sit down and cried on a bench for about a hour. I knew at that time I would love every minute I would get to spend at any Disney park. It's the memories of the past and future with my kids, the stories, the pictures and the love!

What a sweet story. Made me tear up. Thanks for sharing that.

[Ready2Go]

WALT and "The Wonderful World of Disney" on Sundays at 6:00pm Man I miss that show.