Disney Deep Dive, Part 1

Now that our Disney trip is less than two weeks away, I decided it might be fun to dig into the archives and post some notable photos from my four (!) past trips to Disney.  It's funny, because I don't feel like I have some storied history with Disney, but four trips is a lot.  I mean, I know people who go annually and it's not uncommon in that Facebook group I follow for people to go every few months or more.  But I know for some people it's a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime thing so four-going-on-five is pretty good.  It remains to be seen if we'll go back again--there are a couple of factors that could impact that--but at the very least I think Craig and I will need some sort of anniversary trip as a couple to commemorate the one we went on when I was pregnant with Jacob--maybe when he's 25?  Hmmm...we'll see.  I think part of what makes my experiences seem less substantial is that all four of my trips were in very different phases of life, and half of them were before Disney World was in its current form.  That means that there are limited memories and limited experiences with some of the parks, so it doesn't feel like four full current-version trips.  And I think that the parks are so massive that we've never really covered everything anyway, so I still feel like a rookie in many ways.  But let's take a look at what has stuck with me...

My first trip was early in 1982.  I was about 3-1/2.  I have vague memories of that entire trip but vividly remember a few things, including time in Fort Myers with my aunt, uncle, and slightly bully-ish younger cousin, snippets of Disney, and a few things from Busch Gardens, including a peacock, my brother being a helper during the bird show, and the smell of beer from the brewery tour.  Oh, and I also rode an elephant--which I probably forgot until I saw the photo again but always had deep in my head what it looked and smelled like up there.  But just the other day I did a reverse Google image search to figure out what one place was--I have zero memories of going to the Ringling Bros. museum and mansion in Sarasota.  Go figure.  I know some of my Disney memories were preserved by our photos but I swear I remember a bunch.  Here was my first flight I was able to enjoy--my actual first was apparently as an infant to New Jersey.  Look how cute and eager I was!

I recall loving the teacups, and I'm pretty sure that was the beginning of my love of spinning rides that moved on to the Scrambler and peaked with the Tilt-a-Whirl when I rode it about a dozen times at my friend's birthday party (maybe around 7 or 8?) at the basement amusement part of the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls.  Apparently they didn't have issues with kids crossing the border without parents back then?  Anyway, it's too bad I can't ride them anymore!  Maybe if we're at Disney late and the line is short I can give it a shot with Dramamine in my system (and a stern warning not to spin too much) so it doesn't ruin my entire day?  

Dumbo is a Disney classic, and I'm pretty sure this deep memory was why I was so insistent on riding it with Jacob 31 years later.

And yes, my dad has a mustache!

I have no idea why this one was taken originally, though perhaps we wondered who would EVER buy a souvenir that large and unpackable.  Anyway, remember this photo--you will soon sense a theme.

Note that I am wearing a Mickey sweatshirt under my jacket.  It was the same as my brother's but light blue instead of gray.  We got it because it was cold there and apparently we didn't have enough layers!  I guess maybe it was harder to check distant locales' weather back then?  But to be fair we were on the beach a day or two before this!  Anyway, I loved that sweatshirt as long as it fit me!

I'm a little sad the ride below no longer exists because it looks so freaking cool from above, and I do remember riding it--although if I'm honest I'm not sure if I remember it from this trip or the next, but I swear I have a memory--maybe good, maybe bad--from my first ride.  An octopus, maybe?  I just watched a 1991 video of the ride on YouTube and there seemed to be one right at the end of the deep dive, so maybe that was it.  Anyway, it was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and you rode on a submarine.  It was replaced in the mid-90s with a Pooh attraction and then replaced again by the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was being built last time we were there and I am hell-bent on riding it this time, even though it's not going to be easy (either a long line or we'll have to pay).

One of my favorite attractions as a kid (for some unknown reason) was the Carousel of Progress.  I have no idea why it resonated so much.  I think I liked the song and how the scenes moved when I was little, and I think I liked the "future" scene concept when I was older--maybe I watched the Jetsons too much?  EPCOT really enhanced that whole "future" thing on my second trip and I'm sure this just played into it.  But I included this because look at what the future was supposed to look like.  Nice monochrome monitor, lady.  Interestingly, I looked on YouTube for this one as well, and the 1981 version was different from even this one--the computer and track suit were apparently new when we saw it!  Fortunately they have continued to update this one over the years.  

Given that we'll be there for the 50th Birthday celebration that we're going for this year, this picture cracked me up and made me feel VERY old.  Disney World was only 10 years old when we went!  My parents still bemoan the fact that they went to Florida for their honeymoon in December 1970 and Disney World opened up less than a year later.  Ironically, EPCOT opened up a little more than six months after this trip!  It's hard to imagine a time when it was just Magic Kingdom, and my parents didn't recall if they knew what was being built not far away.  

 

It's hard to believe that my trips span 4/5ths of that history (although technically this next one falls past the actual 50th--they're just celebrating extra long).  Believe it or not, my parents went to Disney World without kids at least once when I was a kid, and definitely again when I was older.  Imagine my annoyance when they went and left us kids behind!  Pretty sure my kids wouldn't speak to me for months if we did that!

Here's proof I met Minnie Mouse as a kid.  Apparently my mascot fear didn't start until later...or maybe Minnie was just that special?

I remember really liking the Astro Orbiter.  It looks a lot different now and I don't know that I've ridden it since.  I sort of want to this time, despite the spinning.  We'll see!

Our next trip was in late 1987.  I was nine, just a little younger than Carter is now.  My brother was 13 and appears to have been in that sort of awkward stage of puberty Jacob's in now--vague mustache and awkwardly tall and skinny.  I recall that we went during parent-teacher conferences so as to not miss as much school.  This trip was notable in that my dad didn't go.  He stayed home in protest because apparently he didn't think we needed to go at that point.  I don't know why--it was actually a perfect time for me in particular and I think my brother would have been a little old had we waited much longer--but my grandma apparently saved the day and came with us.  As a result, we stayed in a townhouse somewhere in Orlando, which gave us two bedrooms and a bit more space.  I remember thinking the townhouse was really cool, and I also recall my grandma's Florida-resident sister and her husband coming to visit us while we were there.  Anyway, as you can see, this was a peak period for loud shorts--aka Jams.
 

Not sure it gets more 80s than this!

I loved EPCOT.  It spoke to every ounce of my geeky soul.  I'm always confused when people skip it because there's something there for everyone, especially these days.  Back then you had the World Showcase and a whole slew of futuristic pavilions that made the future sound so amazing and innovative.  Little did we know, eh?  I adored Journey into Imagination and the Horizons pavilion, which had a ride that reminded me of my beloved "Choose your own adventure" books - I think we rode it more than once just to make a different choice and see what would happen.  One of my vivid memories was getting stuck in the rain at EPCOT.  I remember us panicking a little bit when it started pouring, getting our ponchos, and somehow getting between pavilions intact despite my poor grandma being a little slower than the rest of us. 
  

Speaking of my grandma, how insanely cute is this picture?

Hard for me to believe she was barely a month short of 63 here, and now my mom is far older than this!  Of course, she seemed so old at the time!  She lived almost 24 years more after this.

So, remember the sombrero picture?  Apparently they were still selling them 5-1/2 years later and we thought it would be funny to do another pic!

This meal was on the same night as the downpour and I remember being starving by the time we found food.  This was in China, and I recall being very excited for Chinese food.  I have no idea what my brother and grandma were eating because I know John didn't like Chinese food.  But it all felt oddly fancy to me at the time.  It was due to this meal that I wanted to go back to China and eat when Craig and I went 20 years later.

Imagine my confusion when I found this photo and couldn't figure out what the "200" was for.  Yay for internet research that explained that Disney did a whole thing for the 200th birthday of the Constitution!  But what a nice photo (though pardon my hair--I was still growing it out and apparently the sides weren't yet long enough to stay in the ponytail that I needed in the heat...yikes).

I was grateful to this photo because it was the only proof of my mom wearing a yellow shirt one day, which I needed in a photo below.

We went on the riverboat, which I recall taking forever.  I think I was very antsy to get on with more rides by this point!  We will not be doing that on this trip!

My first ever real roller coaster was Big Thunder Mountain on this trip.  After years of walking across the Viper platform at Darien Lake and waiting for my family to ride, this less wild ride provided the perfect opportunity to get me started.  I was still super hesitant, though, and it was made even worse by the fact that there was a BBC crew there filming the ride!  It took me an extra bit to decide to ride, and I'm so glad I did--it was the start of a beautiful future of coaster riding!  I believe this was a view from part of the ride and I was fascinated by the perpetually burning cabin!

This was a view of the ride, and if you zoom in, you can see my mom in the yellow shirt above waving!  I assume I was next to her or somewhere else there, but maybe this was before I got up the courage?

As much as my dad didn't want us on that trip, I'm so grateful we did it.  Maybe we would have done something as a family a few years later, but those memories really hit me at a perfect time--it makes me thankful that Carter gets to go at the same age.  I just loved the futuristic, computer-based games and activities at EPCOT.  Magic Kingdom was fun, but EPCOT truly captured my imagination.  I liked the World Showcase, too, though I probably only remember the movie at Canada from that section of the park.  Sometime after that trip, my Uncle Mark gave me a cassette tape of music from the parks, and I listened to that thing all the time!  So many of the EPCOT songs were cheesy 80s ballads, but it was definitely a vibe and I loved it!  I tracked them down on YouTube and it brought back a lot of memories.

I think one of the biggest downsides when I finally went back to Disney was that so much time had passed and so many things had changed.  Entire sections of Magic Kingdom were different, many of the EPCOT pavilions had either shut down or changed significantly.  Not unexpected, of course, but for a nostalgic person, it was a bummer that I could relive so few of those memories the next time.  In a perfect world I would have gone back, but I guess life got in the way.  We didn't take a lot of fancy trips as I got older (read: none) and then I guess once I was an adult we either had bigger fish to fry or didn't feel like we had the money.  But eventually, all the stars aligned and it was time to go back...