Memory 054 – Favorite Walt Disney World Memories

Come and join us for another installment of the WDW-Memories podcast, where I try to make it possible for you relive your Walt Disney World Memories when you can’t actually be there.

** Binaural Audio **
Time: **32:14**

Well as you know, Walt Disney World and specifically the Magic Kingdom turned 40 this past week. Sadly I wasn’t able to swing a trip down there to attend the festivities, though from what I’m reading and seeing from the day, I’m not sure I missed much. Still, it’s a time to celebrate and remember these 40 special years, and what better way than through you the listeners. So I threw the question out on Twitter and Facebook and got some great responses. I’m not going to read all of them, but if you’d like to see what others had to say, stop by our Facebook page (you can find the link on the WDW-Memories.net website).

Let’s start with a story from Calum. He posted on Facebook:

Two years ago when we went, we decided to go see the parade one more time on our last night and we were up front watching where it all starts. Well, they picked my youngest to help carry the pole at the end of the parade (he was 9 at the time). Half [way] to the castle he let my oldest (just turned 16 while we were there) take and carry it which was awesome.

This year we took advantage of our early Magic Hours and headed straight for Space Mountain. Well, we rode it, then fast passed it,then rode it again and again…next thing you know in a lil less than 1.5hr we had rode it 7x times straight! [It] was a TON of fun as we would pose for the cameras with our “7s” held up with all 6 of us from our group.

Then there was this story from Lynn also on Facebook:

The earliest memory I have of WDW is when they were celebrating 15 yrs. I believe I was 8 yrs old. I still remember the theme song for the parade “15 years, we’re having a party” and remember the floats. I also remember that they were giving things away as you entered the park. I wanted to win one of those hat visors that had lights on it. I never got it but my mom won a free ticket to the MK which we used a couple years later. My first visit to WDW was in 1983 but my first real memory of it was during the 15th anniversary. Now I can’t count how many times we have been and all the memories I have, my husband and I were even married at the [Wedding Pavilion] in 2007 and I have 3 children and 2 of them have celebrated their birthdays at WDW and my youngest, 19 months, just celebrated his first trip to WDW and first hair cut at WDW about 3 weeks ago.

Next, Kastin shared a great story, again on Facebook:

January 2009 my boyfriend and I spent the day at Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot for my 24th birthday. It was an amazing day that ended in Epcot with a dinner at Le Cellier steakhouse and fireworks it was an amazing birthday. Then in August of that year we went to Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom for his 25th birthday. We had an amazing day. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect surprisingly for a august day in Florida is wasn’t that hot. Every time we got off a ride he would check his pockets I thought it was strange but didn’t think anything of it. Later that day we ended with fireworks in front of the castle and after they were over my boyfriend got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. Of course I said YES! It was the most amazing day I’ve ever had at the Magic Kingdom! Before we left we made sure to get a Disney themed picture frame with the year so we could always remember that day 🙂 And last month we purchased annual passes! We plan on celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary in march at the all 4 Disney parks.

And finally my favorite came from Jennifer. She posted this on Facebook too:

This year we visited in February with our whole family (myself, husband, daughter, mother, father & mother in law). We were in Magic Kingdom the last night during extra magic hours when everyone decided they were ready to leave early. My daughter (9) and I wanted to stay. We rode several rides and played like we were the only one in the park. We had no idea what time it was when we decided to come back through Cinderella Castle towards Main Street. When we got to the bridge we saw a group of people standing looking up at the castle. We turned around right as the clock up on the castle “struck” midnight. We decided to chime the hour and everyone standing there joined in. The moment was kind of surreal making us feel like we had been the princess and our [coach] was getting ready to turn into the pumpkin. With that we decided to call it a night which was a perfect last night to our vacation.

So, like all of you, I too have had so many memories in the parks, it really is hard to just pick one. And to be honest, I think really my favorite memory changed every time, because I think that things have honestly gotten better every time. I remember going there in 86 (I think this was my first time by the way) with my family. We are avid amusement park goers and this was definitely more special than anything we’d seen before with sights and smells that you just don’t find anywhere. On a subsequent trip, I remember wandering around Tomorrowland in search of Alien Encounter which was new and I’d read about, but we couldn’t find it. The park closed and we were on our way out of tomorrowland, and a Cast Member said, “last show, come on in”. I didn’t know what it was, but shoot, it was the last show, so we can’t pass up a bonus ride on something right?! Once we got inside I realized we’d found it, making this such an amazing end to an already awesome day. Another trip I got chosen to be a part of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, and was asked to to the diabolical laugh (boy do I wish I had my recorder at that time). Then standing just feet away from the action is still just awesome to me.

But the greatest memory for me has to be meeting the Mice with Susie here in Walt Disney World. Now, she has already met both of them in Disneyland, so it wasn’t her first time, but it was the first time here in Walt Disney World. When we were let into the room, Susie almost sprinted ahead of everyone, as if Mickey and Minnie were just waiting for her to arrive. When it was finally our turn, she was almost speachless, but you could see her excitement. She tried talking to them, and giving them hugs and kisses. When the rest of the family went up, both Mickey and Minnie took a moment to point to Traci’s baby belly, and another memory was created for us.

So today, I’m going to let you all join in this memory with us. We’ll jump in this memory as we walk through Mickey’s house, into his back yard, and into the judges tent. Susie is in Grandpa’s arms and enjoying the cartoons while we wait. It’s been a fun morning, but we’re all getting a little hungry now, and our breakfast reservation is still a little ways ahead of us. Finally we’re lead back to our room where Mickey and Minnie are waiting. We’re the last family to enter, but this works out in the end as we don’t get shoved out by the next group entering. Instead, we get a fair amount of time to really enjoy interacting with the pair, taking photos with the immediate family, and then with everyone else too. Now, during the pictures I actually take the microphones out and let them hang down my back, so the sound isn’t always in true binaural, but it still sounds really good, so I’d still suggest headphones.