My husband and I are planning a trip to Walt Disney World over Christmas and New Year this year. This will be our first trip back since October 1983 when my husband made his first visit to this magical place and my first trip to Epcot Center (now just Epcot).
Many things had changed between my first visit to the park and the one in 1983. In fact, the first time I visited as a child, Walt Disney World was not much more than a visitor's centre (above) and, well, swampland. I still remember how excited my brother and I were when our dad said we were going to Walt Disney World. We had always dreamed of visiting Disneyland but since it was all the way across the country (we were living in Toronto at the time), there just was never time to make the trip. But here was our chance to experience the magic that we had so eagerly watched at every opportunity on tv.
Imagine our surprise when Dad drove us into a parking lot where a short and unimpressive building stood; right in the middle of Florida swampland, piles of dirt and construction equipment! Now I must admit my brother, who was about five at the time, was very excited to see the earth movers, caterpillars and back hoes up close, but an eight-year-old girl is not so easily impressed. Our dad on the other hand, was totally enthralled as he spoke with construction workers about the plans for Walt's dream. It turns out he had worked with some of these fellows on other jobs and this was the reason we went there for a visit.
Our mom knew we were visiting the building site but somehow the message had not gotten through to two youngsters with stars in their eyes who had dreamed of this visit for weeks. Fortunately, there was a film and a construction model that I seem to remember lit up somehow. Then, off to the gift shop where I was allowed to choose a jigsaw puzzle of Disneyland to take home. I can't tell you how many times I looked at the picture on the cover of that box, just thinking of how wonderful it would be when The Magic Kingdom was finally complete.
Over the years, we visited Walt's park many times. During each visit, we would carefully plan what attraction would deserve our treasured "E" tickets and how we would use up the "A"s and "B"s that always seemed to be left in your book at the end of the day. And no trip was complete without an evening trip down the river on the Jungle Cruise (one of our mom's favorites).
Planning our trip has brought up many wonderful memories of family vacations at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, including our first visit to Disneyland where we arrived after a long day of driving and were simply driving up to the gate to see what time they were open the next day. As it turned out, there was an after-hours event that was sponsored by a local corporation and you could go on as many rides and attractions as you wanted, and had time to fit in, until the park closed. We take it for granted now but the freedom of not having to "budget" my tickets was like a dream come true. We just couldn't believe our luck. We had so looked forward to this visit and we were not disappointed. I guess it's like Walt said, "When you wish upon a star..."
I can hardly wait for Christmas :)
miss kimmy
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