Those of us who started in the 80s as adults like Pete!

[sharadoc]

My husband and I first went in 86. We never saw Disney as a kids place. We love the atmospbere and the feeling of being there. We loved Disney for the "not Great Adventure thrill rides," we could enjoy Peter Pan and Big Thunder equally, original Epcot was our fave. We never did and still don't say Disney World is for kids. I think there's more for adults and everyone than just for kids. And the resorts are all fantastic.

So Pete, we're with you. It's a mature love that has grown.

 

[TresGriffin]

Well, I was only alive for a year and a half of the 80s, but I too essentially started my love for Disney Parks as an adult. The first trip that I can vividly remember was when I was 20 and a junior in college.

The only time I had been prior to this was when I was 5 and it was only for a day and I also barely remember it on the whole. Just little flashes like riding the monorail, the teacups and getting traumatized on Catastrophe Canyon...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

so I did start visiting in the 80s - but as a kid, so can't relate to that aspect of it

BUT even as a kid I loved EPCOT and I loved how WDW was for the entire family and that we could do nearly all the attractions together as a family. I loved how being there I saw my parents much more relaxed and smiling more

To this day I love Tomorrowland and Future World (or at least the visions of them - what they *should* be) for what the represent of Walt's vision... that it was through technology that a better tomorrow was there for everyone

 

[disneyseniors]

Count me in as another Disney fanatic who never set foot in a park until I was an adult with little kids of my own.
I remember as a child waiting for The Mickey Mouse Club to come on TV in black and white. I would get my mouse ears and sit and watch Annette and dream of being on the show. Then we would watch Wonderful Worth of Disney on Sunday evenings as a family. I would watch in awe and wish I could be there some day.
My parents never could afford a vacation to Disney while we were kids. But they did go there when WDW first opened. They only had a few rides, ie: Country Bears, HM, I think the POC not sure. They spent one day there and were amazed and got us excited about going one day.
We were not able to go until our kids were 5 and 7 y/o and we saved up for a week off site in l978. It was a fantastic time to be at WDW. Fast forward to many trips with the kids, grown kids, grandkids, and today. We are 69 and 72 and we LOVE WDW. We go yearly (twice last year to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary), and will continue to go to our happy place until we aren't able to go anymore.
I don't know if being older when introduced to Disney makes things more special or not. I just know that it is our special place, especially now at this age

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Wow I was born in 86 god bless your enthusiasm and love for the Magic still

 

[caylene44]

My mom went for the first time as an adult when we were kids. She loves Disney and barely even rides (extreme motion sickness). She just loves the atmosphere/ambiance/entertainment and the fact that we love going. Definitely not just for kids, we're going as a group of 11 adults for a combined 21st/30th birthday celebration.

 

[OKW Lover]

My husband and I first went in 86. We never saw Disney as a kids place. We love the atmospbere and the feeling of being there. We loved Disney for the "not Great Adventure thrill rides," we could enjoy Peter Pan and Big Thunder equally, original Epcot was our fave. We never did and still don't say Disney World is for kids. I think there's more for adults and everyone than just for kids. And the resorts are all fantastic.

So Pete, we're with you. It's a mature love that has grown.

I first went to Disney in the late 70's. Yes, just the MK at that point. Visited once a year or so. Then Epcot opened and my visits started to become more frequent. Decided it was time to get an AP and that just made my visits even more frequent. By the mid-90's it had become a ~4 times a year thing and DVC made sense. Yes, that drove even more/longer visits. Now I'm retired and 5 years ago we moved to FL (from MA) just because of how much we love Disney.

 

[hertamaniac]

We first came to WDW in the late 70's as part of our annual, and work related, spring training trips. I recall there was no EPCOT and the MK monorail was an attraction in and of itself. I still recall a young me nudging my father and mother to take me on Space Mountain of which they did and never went on it again.

We've lived in central Florida for about 15 years and have visited WDW many times as an AP. The challenge for us is to not allow the "magic" to become mundane. So I am not sure I still enjoy WDW as I did in my youth, but is still a wonderful place to visit, on occasion.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

My first trip was in 1989 with my late husband, I was 26 and so excited while he was a more mature 22 who turned out to be an even bigger kid than I was. We planned to return, but, he passed before we had the opportunity. I was 41 when I next went back and I regret not doing it sooner.
It is wasted on kids today because they have so much more than we did as kids. Going to see a Disney film was a rare and huge treat, they were rarely on one of the THREE TV channels and home vcrs hadn't been invented.
Now they can access Disney at any time. I was watching Mickey shorts on Disney Life earlier and can watch a huge range of Disney on there anytime I want.
Disney is still magical to us 'oldies', I don't think it is for modern parents and their kids. I think it's more of an Instagram, twitter, facebook thing for them, which is why, to a degree, the behaviour is not what it used to be. Too busy trying to get it all on social media to actually enjoy it in real time

 

[FoodieFriend]

I grew up watching Mickey Mouse Club & Wonderful World of Disney (I still remember Child of Glass, anyone else?) & was lucky enough to be able to visit Disneyland as a kid. I still remember those ticket books! I've always loved Disney movies but my passion for Disneyworld didn't begin until I was an adult & visited for the first time in 2005. WOW! It was so much *more* magical than DL to me! I guess it felt more grown up in a way. I started to make a plan to get back to WDW every 5 years (it's really expensive & far from Hawaii) so we went in 2010 & once they opened Aulani, I had to buy DVC & now we visit WDW every other year with something Disney related filling in the in-between years like ABD or DCL. Disney has definitely become a larger part of my adult life than my childhood. Disney is for everyone & we all celebrate it well together!

 

[SL6827]

Count me in as another Disney fanatic who never set foot in a park until I was an adult with little kids of my own.
I remember as a child waiting for The Mickey Mouse Club to come on TV in black and white. I would get my mouse ears and sit and watch Annette and dream of being on the show. Then we would watch Wonderful Worth of Disney on Sunday evenings as a family. I would watch in awe and wish I could be there some day.
My parents never could afford a vacation to Disney while we were kids. But they did go there when WDW first opened. They only had a few rides, ie: Country Bears, HM, I think the POC not sure. They spent one day there and were amazed and got us excited about going one day.
We were not able to go until our kids were 5 and 7 y/o and we saved up for a week off site in l978. It was a fantastic time to be at WDW. Fast forward to many trips with the kids, grown kids, grandkids, and today. We are 69 and 72 and we LOVE WDW. We go yearly (twice last year to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary), and will continue to go to our happy place until we aren't able to go anymore.
I don't know if being older when introduced to Disney makes things more special or not. I just know that it is our special place, especially now at this age

That is an overwhelming post. I hope to be so lucky. Hit 23 years of marriage the other day. Long way from 50.

 

[Quicklabs]

I never went with my parents. Such an extravagant vacation would have been unheard of! My first time was in 1976, when I was on college Spring Break. Later, when my now husband and I were engaged in 1980, we went after I finished USAF Officer Training School. It was his first time in the resorts. We stayed off site at the John Newcomb Tennis Ranch (lol). We went again in 1985, shortly after EPCOT opened. Being at Disney reminds me of when we were so young, so in love, and pretty darned broke. I reflect on how far we have come. Though we are both in our 60s now, and married for 39 years, we become those "kids" with their whole lives in front of them and limitless possibilities as soon as we pass under the train station gates.

 

[Ravens girl]

My first trip to WDW was in 2005, I was 42 and DH was 37. It was a birthday trip gifted to us by my mother. We needed some fun time. In 2004 we lost our beautiful daughter at 21 to a heart problem and my father passed a month later.
We enjoyed the trip so much we’ve returned every year since. I’ve even done 2 solo trips with my third rapidly approaching.
We’ve stayed both on and off property. We’ve a handful of things in the area. It helps that we drive down from Maryland so we have our car to get around.
This October we’ll be married 30 years. We’re going to Victoria and Albert for dinner to celebrate. Disney is definitely my happy place.

 

[spudnik99]

I grew up SoCal, I first visited DL in 1966 and would go at least once a year for St. Pat´s (Catholic parochial schoolers, friends and family could purchase special ticket books with a couple of more E-tickets than normal at a better price). Stopped going when I went off to college in the Bay Area, then I moved out of the US after grad school. First went to WDW in 1999 for a convention (stayed at CSR) at age 37 and was blown away! I did a backstage tour as part of the convention activities and was further blown away. I spent an afternoon and part of the evening resort hopping, fell in love with the theming at WL. Even convinced my wife to honeymoon at WDW, staying at the WL. She was skeptical of trading Venice for WDW, but she became a believer, now we trek to WDW every couple of years and have a blast.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

My first trip to WDW was in 2005, I was 42 and DH was 37. It was a birthday trip gifted to us by my mother. We needed some fun time. In 2004 we lost our beautiful daughter at 21 to a heart problem and my father passed a month later.
We enjoyed the trip so much we’ve returned every year since. I’ve even done 2 solo trips with my third rapidly approaching.
We’ve stayed both on and off property. We’ve a handful of things in the area. It helps that we drive down from Maryland so we have our car to get around.
This October we’ll be married 30 years. We’re going to Victoria and Albert for dinner to celebrate. Disney is definitely my happy place.

@Ravens girl - Just wanted to give you a hug right now. And to say have a wonderful dinner @ V&A's in October, and a happy, healthy, joy filled anniversary.

 

[blewits]

Loving these stories

I took my fiancée down there around 1997. He was German and had only been to Disney Paris. I hadn’t been to WDW since I was 12. I told him Disney Paris was nothing compared to The World so, off we went.

Fast forward 5 years and we were back, married, one in a stroller and one on the way. Been going every few years since. Once we even took a ton of family members from Germany. There were 18 of us in all! It was CRAZY but they all still talk about that trip. Even my father in law who was in his late 60’s then.

We are going again in December 2019. Taking the kids, now 20 and 17, and one of our nieces (also 17) who has never been before. She is already a Disney fan. Hopefully in the next week or two, we will be surprising her on FaceTime with the news. She has no idea.

I’m so excited to share it with her.

 

[yaya74]

I was born in the 70's and raised in Asia so my childhood was not filled with the Mickey Mouse Club. However, my mom did show me various Disney movies and took my brother and I to DL when I was 10 years old. I still remember the excitement that I had when setting my very first step in the park even though I didn't know a word in English. Now as a parent, I take my kids to WDW and we enjoy Disney as a family. Hopefully my kids will grow up loving Disney like I do and share the Disney love to their children. Disney is for those who love Disney (or someone like my DH who loves someone who loves Disney) regardless of age and skin color.