The One that Started it All:

My first entry couldn’t be about anything else than the trip that started it all…

Reve up your DeLorean or hop in your TARDIS; transport yourselves to the year 1992. George H. W. Bush was President and the U.S took home 5 Gold medals in the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Disney was feeling like Scrooge McDuck swimming in their gold coined pool after their huge success of Aladdin. Meanwhile, Magic Kingdom was in the tail end of their 20^th Anniversary celebration and were about to open their version of the hit Disneyland thrill ride- Splash Mountain

(queue SPLASH MOUNTAIN RAP! Follow me to Youtube )

       My family is infamous of making every family trip an extra special event, even in the weeks before we even left our house. Before we left for the parks, my sister and I got a call from none other than the big cheese himself saying that we were going to visit him on June 22^nd and that he couldn’t wait to finally meet us. For the days leading up to our departure, my Mother would spontaneously ask us this one question…

                              “When are we going?”

We’d excitedly reply…

      “JUNE 22^ND!”                                                                                                                                            

      June 22^nd finally arrived and the family packed up in the minivan and took the long road from central Alabama to Kissimmee, FL.

     My Dad always loved retelling the story of our arrival to the Magic Kingdom park. With his boxy camcorder resting on his shoulder, he captured every moment at the cost of seeing the happiest place on Earth in full color. I was in the front seat of a rented stroller, my older sister walked right next to my Mother who didn’t waste any time. She pushed me all the way down Main Street with a skip in her step. Her voice went up an octave as she closed in on the marvel of Cinderella’s castle leaning down to ask me…” Do you see the castle?”

    As pure as that question was at the time…How could I miss it?

    An image I had only seen in story books laid before me in complete reality; engulfing every single one of my young senses. I didn’t know it at the time, but that image would become one of my many ‘happy thoughts’ as an adult.

  

    Now, granted, I was 4 years old at the time, and unfortunately, I can’t recall much that wasn’t included on my Dad’s recordings but there were three things that I somehow managed to hang on to all these years later.

• 1    Mickey’s StarLand & Mickey's Magical TV World (or Mickey's Starland Show)

    For those of you who aren’t familiar, this area would soon evolve into Mickey’s Toon Town Faire which then would be demolished in preparation of the new Fantasyland area we all know and love today. But back in 1992, Mickey’s StarLand was a late 80s and early 90s child’s paradise. You see, 90s children were lucky enough to be in a time where the best television entertainment was available to our eager young minds. A little something called “The Disney Afternoon”. Such epics like ‘Ducktales’, ‘Talespin’, ‘Darkwing Duck’, ‘Goof troop’, and so much more made up over 2 hours of pure Disney hilarity that has never been replicated since.

    I was OBSESSED! And one of my favorite shows that I would watch from my Dad’s recordings was ‘Mickey’s Starland Show.’ It was a cheesy stage show where our host C.J and her ‘Disney’s Unilateral Digital Electromagnetic Computer’ sidekick -(or D.U.D.E for short)- guided us on a musical tour of some of Disney’s most popular afternoon shows. I watched it over and over till I memorized every line. Within just a few short years, the show was closed and ultimately the entire land went through a complete makeover. All that is left are the memories of a 4 year old fan!

Experience Mickey's Starland Show

• 2.       Fireworks = not good

    Walt Disney World was nearing the end of its 20^th Anniversary celebration and there were many different shows and spectacles at each park that were dedicated to that event. Of all the special events, one in particular cause my little self to have a nervous breakdown and that event was none other than Disney’s incomparable display of… Fireworks.

     Lemme’ explain first by saying I had some terrible ears growing up. Constant ear infections led to the infamous implementation of tubes. So when I say that loud noises and I don’t get along…I mean it! And those darn fireworks were the worst.

    Sorry for the downer memory but let this be a lesson that not all memories at the Disney Parks are guaranteed to be on the positive side. Regardless, it’s a memory that I can laugh about now; especially since my ears are much healthier now. Nowadays, you’d have to drag me out of the park to miss a firework show, but back then…my parents pressed one ear against their chest and while covering my other ear with their spare hand, they’d make sprint to the nearest exit just in time to miss any long KABOOMs. So to my parents…Thank you!

• 3.       My Magical Moment

    Nothing’s more sacred than a child’s FIRST magical moment at Disney. It happens at least once in our lifetime but for me, it was the very first one that remains my absolute favorite.

Let’s return back to the Magic Kingdom-

     I was out of my stroller at the time and the family had just spotted a hot bed of Disney characters standing out in the open for meet and greets at Mickey’s Starland. Characters from the Disney classic ‘Robin Hood’ stood around signing autographs and taking pictures with kids while the parents stood by with the camera and camcorder and instruction on whose turn it was.

It wasn’t long after my picture with Prince John that I spotted something in the corner of my eye; more like someone…

   My feet darted down the black asphalt, my parents immediately followed swiftly behind, and within seconds I stood before a character that felt as if he stood 50 feet above me. He knelt down to my level, opened his arms, and the four-year-old me crawled onto the lap of one of my favorite characters…

Goofy.

     It was the kind of hug we all need. Goofy’s strong arms picked me up, let my little legs dangle as he twirled me around in a circle and then carefully placed me back down to the ground. My sister of course joined in the fun as Goofy snatched her 101 Dalmations ball cap and placed it on his nose and played ‘Keep Away’. My parents later told me that this was one of their most memorable moments and it wasn’t because of how it happened; it was our faces. They told me that the look on me and my sisters face were pure joy and it’s all because Goofy gave total and complete attention to their little girls.  Hearing that made me proud to be a Cast member because it truly is the time that we take to make a person’s trip extra special that makes the most out of their vacation experience.

A lot has changed since then. Attractions have come and gone but the value and the authenticity is still as prevalent as ever.

Do you remember your first trip to the park? Have you experienced a magical moment?  Or have you yet to experience a true Disney Vacation?

Please leave a comment below and let’s start a conversation…