In my previous post on my “First Disney Encounter” I talked about my love for “Disney Sing-A-Long” VHS tapes. This is where my love of Disney began and from there it only grew into something so much bigger. I longed for my parents to take me to Walt Disney World, but it never seemed to be on their radar. Finally, my chance came in 1997 when my aunt took my mom, my little brother and I to Disney World for my 13th birthday.
I vividly remember the weeks and days leading up to our trip. We all were beyond excited, and while this wasn’t the first visit for my aunt, she got so much joy in seeing our excitement. As the night before our trip arrived, I remember not being able to even sleep. The excitement and anticipation was almost too much for me to handle. I would wake up every hour on the hour for fear of oversleeping. When the alarm clock finally went off, I sprung out of bed and ran to wake up the rest of the house. Once we were all ready to head to the airport I found out that my mom rented a town car to pick us up and drive us to the airport. Talk about riding in STYLE! At that point I knew that we were going to have a great trip.
When our plane landed at Orlando International Airport I was couldn’t deplane fast enough. All I could think was, “I’m finally in Florida and soon I’ll be at Walt Disney World.” Not only was this my first time at WDW, but it was the first time I saw palm trees in person. LOVE! It’s definitely the little things in life, especially since I still vividly remember this like it was yesterday. Back in 1997, pre Disney’s Magical Express days, we had to rent a car to get to the “World.” The ride seemed to take FOREVER, yet once we approached the entrance all the anxiety went away and pure excitement and utter joy set in. My aunt, who was driving prepped us by saying, “We’re almost there, look straight ahead.” There we could see the “Walt Disney World” sign with Mickey and Minnie on either side welcoming us to “the happiest place on earth.” We followed the signs to the Caribbean Beach Resort, which would become our home away from home for the next 7 days.
We couldn’t have picked a better year to celebrate my birthday because WDW was celebrating Magic Kingdom’s 25 years of bringing magic to millions of people. Our first park on this trip was Magic Kingdom, naturally. I was in complete awe as I walked down Main Street USA for the very first time and saw Cinderella Castle at the end. It was here that my love for Disney parades blossomed. The parade was called “Remember the Magic.” And boy did I ever. Memories from that trip still stick out like no other. I absolutely love that parade song and always will. It was a parade filled with classic characters, an upbeat tune, and pure Disney greatness. I still find myself humming that song every once in a while or catching a clip of the parade on YouTube if I’m feeling very nostalgic.
Our 7-day trip was jam packed with a character breakfast for my birthday at Crystal Palace where Winnie the Pooh & Friends stopped by for photos. It was here that we were introduced to Mickey Mouse waffles. If you’ve never had them, they are a must at least once during your vacations to Disney. Many restaurants offer them, not just Crystal Palace. We enjoyed numerous rides on Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Tower of Terror, just to name a few. Back then there were only three parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, & MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) and there was never a dull moment. Besides seeing as much of these parks as we could, we visited the wonderful shops and restaurants in Downtown Disney, with Fulton’s Crab House and Planet Hollywood being our favorites. Our resort, Caribbean Beach, brought us great relaxing moments poolside, shopping, and late night arcade wars in the game room. This was my first trip to Walt Disney World and of course I completely fell in LOVE with all the magic and couldn’t wait to visit again. I was completely caught up and enamored by the parks, the parades, characters, customer service, & magic that is, Disney. Leaving is always difficult, but there was great comfort in knowing we would be coming back, a small, yet very BIG promise made by my aunt at the end of our trip.
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