When were you completely AWED by something at Disney?

HEA

FoF parade

Soarin and FOP rides

When POFQ found my Dd’s beloved stuffed dog that we left at the hotel after checkout and which apparently went to the laundry site.
 
I first went when I was 13 in 1983, my brother was 10. We had never taken a vacation that wasn't camping, never had the money to fly or stay in hotels. This was a huge deal. We stayed with my grandparents, who lived 2 1/2 hrs from Disney, so my dad was driving 5 hrs a day just to take us there and back. Let's just say that back them my dad was not a magical kind of guy, very strict and grouchy and this didn't change at Disney. But it was still magical for my brother and me. I remember him crying on the monorail the last night, begging not to leave.

Fast forward 33 years and we took my 8 and 6 yr old, my brother and his GF and my parents to WDW. The typical kid magic happened and made me cry. Wishes made me cry. Soarin' made me cry. But seeing my dad, now a very mellow man, act like a kid going on every ride, now that was magic. His big belly laughs, taking character photos, not freaking out if we actually deigned to spend hard earned money on food in the park, lol. All that was pure, unexpected magic.

We went several times since then. The last time my mom went, she was entering that later stages of an end stage disease. She rode a scooter but she exhausted easily and had a lot of pain. At one point she laid down on a bench because of the pain. I looked around thinking we'd get booted but instead a CM came over with a huge Nemo pillow and put it gently under my mom's head. My mom was so grateful, she cried tears of thanks, the CM kneeled and held her hand. Which made me cry. We still have that pillow. Now she is pretty much bed bound. She talks about pretending to be on Soarin' when the pain is bad. I am grateful to WDW for giving her that memory to help her during the bad times.
 
Years ago, after returning home from an all girl trip, we received a package in the mail from The World. One of the teenagers in our group left her (inexpensive) sunglasses in our room (All Star Resort). Instead of dropping them in a Lost and Found Box, the castmember/mousekeeping mailed them back to us. The magic continued even after we checked out.
 
The castle. Always the castle. On our first trip two years ago it just stopped me in my tracks every time we walked by it, from every angle. And on top of that, seeing the Kiss Goodnight on an evening with EMH when the park was open until midnight. My husband and I snuck away after the kiddo went to bed (don't worry...Grammy was there in the room with him) and we had a couple romantic hours in MK alone, ending with the castle kiss. It was magical.

Also, the steampunk Maleficent dragon in the Festival of Fantasy parade. May she rest in peace. She was a magnificent beast.

And one last one from our most recent trip. I made a pilgrimage over to AOA to see the massive Ursula statue. She's my favorite Disney villain and it was amazing to see that enormous statue in person. Totally worth the trip over there.
 


Pretty much my entire first trip in 1997! Never seen anything like it in the UK! ;)

More recently (2013) was the first time I went with my partner (now my husband) and we went to The Yachtsman for the first time. We had a fantastic meal and then we walked outside and saw the twinkling lights of The Boardwalk in the distance over the water. It was a perfect evening and just so serene and magical.
 
My sister is adopted from China, but has no real recollection of the country because she left when she was just 9 months old. When we walked into the China pavilion in Epcot, she was so enamored with the beauty of her native culture, she just couldn't stop staring. She spent hours in the little shops they had, and spent most of her $ on authentic Chinese trinkets. To see her happy, made me happy. As you could imagine, a plane ticket to china alone is the portion of Disney trip, so at least to take her to Epcot and see her experience some of her culture was an honor on my behalf. She got to meet Chinese natives and talk about where she was born and converse about differences between America and China. We also had a delightful server at Nine Dragons who was being so kind to us. I took photos of her and my sister together. That to me is what Disney is all about; in some way, shape or form, making a connection. I don't care if that connection is made through common interests, a cast member going out of their way to make you smile, a child seeing their favorite character in the parks for the first time...just a connection so beautiful that is must be magic.
 


Eating in the Castle on my honeymoon. The special touches they did for us were amazing.
 
1 more - last summer. We were at Disneyland for a week (5-day park hopper tickets). It was such a wonderful vacation. Quick side note - we didn't do everything despite the 5 days! Anybody who tells you that DL is a 2-day resort is nuts.

Anyway, one of our last rides of the day one evening was Autopia. We went on Autopia and then walked back to Hojo's (our hotel). Got back to the room, we start getting ready for bed and DH discovered that he lost his wallet. He had it when he got on Autopia, so we figured that it dropped out of the pocket of his shorts. Thankfully, I am the keeper of our tickets, so I handed him his ticket and off he went back to DL to report the lost wallet in at Lost & Found. On the way to Lost & Found, the paper ticket FELL OUT OF THE POCKET OF HIS SHORTS! OMG, so frustrating. This is why we always take pics of our tickets at DL. Anyway, the ticket thing got sorted out by DH at the ticket booth. He reported the lost wallet at Lost & Found, had to give a description of what it looked like, what was in it, etc.

The next morning, he got a phone call from Lost & Found. The wallet had been turned in. AND ALL THE CONTENTS WERE STILL INSIDE IT! Including the $100 in cash. Credit cards, ID, all of it was there. We were walking on air the rest of the day and the rest of the trip. It kind of summed up what a dear friend of mine always said to me before she passed away...she lived about an hour away from Disneyland and would go there about once a week by herself after work just to hang out and go on a couple of rides and then go home. She used to tell me, "I love it here so much because at Disneyland, people are nicer to each other. They're kinder to each other. It's like we are all better versions of ourselves here." I have no idea who turned in my DH's wallet, but it basically encompassed all of the reasons why Walt Disney built that theme park.
 
World of Color at California Adventure really wowed me. I think it's one of the best Disney shows out there. I can't pin down which moments really hit me but I definitely had tears in my eyes.
 
An entire day at Disneyland in November 1999 with DH, DS6 and DD8. The Christmas decorations were up, the weather was perfect, the crowds were non-existent (as in walk on to Space Mountain 5 times in a row in the middle of the day!) and to top it off my DS found $3 in the parking lot on the way back to our car. Still tops our list as the most perfect vacation day ever!
 
My sister is adopted from China, but has no real recollection of the country because she left when she was just 9 months old. When we walked into the China pavilion in Epcot, she was so enamored with the beauty of her native culture, she just couldn't stop staring. She spent hours in the little shops they had, and spent most of her $ on authentic Chinese trinkets. To see her happy, made me happy. As you could imagine, a plane ticket to china alone is the portion of Disney trip, so at least to take her to Epcot and see her experience some of her culture was an honor on my behalf. She got to meet Chinese natives and talk about where she was born and converse about differences between America and China. We also had a delightful server at Nine Dragons who was being so kind to us. I took photos of her and my sister together. That to me is what Disney is all about; in some way, shape or form, making a connection. I don't care if that connection is made through common interests, a cast member going out of their way to make you smile, a child seeing their favorite character in the parks for the first time...just a connection so beautiful that is must be magic.
What a wonderful story! I teared up a little just reading it. My 15-year-old niece was adopted from China, so this really makes me want to take her to Epcot to experience it herself.
 
What a wonderful story! I teared up a little just reading it. My 15-year-old niece was adopted from China, so this really makes me want to take her to Epcot to experience it herself.

I would definitely recommend it, it was truly a special moment. She can't wait to go back :)
 
This is a little silly (and, SPOILER ALERT FOR For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration!!!)

So, we took my best friend's 6-year-old niece to "For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration", and I, as a 37-year-old who thought the movie was charming but is in no way what you would call obsessed with it, was pleasantly amused by the performances of the two leads and the fun of seeing all the kids singing along, la-di-da...

...and then Elsa comes out and makes it snow inside the theatre.

Oh my gosh, I became a 6-year-old myself - jaw hanging open in wonder - it was absolutely magical, a total showstopper, feeling that snow coming down in August, feeling the chill of the cold theatre and the music and everything all together. What a spectacular surprise that was. I was blown away, I must admit.

This was exactly my DS's (who was 16) reaction. He would never admit it, but he loved this show.
 
There have been so many, but one that really stand out is during my first trip to Disneyland last year. The Disneyland Forever fireworks were no longer being shown, so I was expecting something mediocre, after hearing how the regular ones paled in comparison. What I didn't expect, though, was Julie Andrews to start talking. I think I forgot to breathe there for a minute. Then they played Walt's welcome speech and I just couldn't help the tears spilling down my cheeks. One of the most magical moments of my life. I absolutely loved the whole show. I had to watch them the next night as well while my friend went on some more rides. I believe they were called, Remember...Dreams Come True.
 
The Season of Lights WOC show at DCA was a major moment for me. Particularly the Goofy scene. YouTube it. It was unbelievable.

I also instantly fell in love with Guardians of the Galaxy at DCA. People were so upset that Tower of Terror was going away but I absolutely love GotG. It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a ride.

Recently at WDW, I was pretty amazed at HEA fireworks. I can’t wait for my kids to see it!!
 
Aw man It makes me so happy to have found a community of people who love Disney as much as I do. All these stories are the best!

For me, the biggest "wow" moment was seeing Stormalong Bay for the first time (8 years old). I grew up with a pool in the backyard so most hotel pools didn't impress me... that one sure did!

We went to the MNSSHP the day that the parks reopened after Hurricane Irma. The crowds were level 1 if not 0... we got there at 4pm and my DD rode the Barnstormer 7 times in a row, there was no one else in line so the CM just kept sending us through again. We also rode Winne the Pooh twice without getting off because there was no one in line. The wait time for Peter Pan was 5 mins and I remember seeing someone take a pic of themselves next to the wait time sign because it was so unusual (meanwhile 7DMT was still 45 mins somehow lol) I kept telling my husband "this just doesn't happen in Disney World!" but it was his first trip so he doesn't understand how rare it was. For someone who's been there on days that the park closed due to capacity, it was incredible.

My very first trip to Disney, age 5... I have very few memories from that trip but the most vivid one is eating at San Angel Inn and recognizing that we had gone through it while riding on the Gran Fiesta Tour. I know the food and service don't get great reviews but I think it's up there with Sci-Fi for best theming.
 
The first thing I remember being completely in awe of was Pirates of the Caribbean. I never rode it as a kid, but my family went back for the first time in several years when I was in high school. When we went down the drop for Pirates and we made the turn, my jaw dropped seeing the port fight with Barbossa. I felt like I entered a whole new world, plopped right in the middle of that action
:sail:I'll never forget that moment, and it's why a couple years later, it's still one of my favorites at the resort, even if ours is much shorter than Anaheim's!
 
My moment was in 2015 during the MNSSHP, I was looking at the villain pins. I really wanted the Malificent one & asked the store associates about the mystery box pins. They said, "oh you need him to help you out, he has a way of knowing what pins are in the box". The gentleman came over, asked what I was looking for & I told him what one I was hoping to get. He then felt a few different boxes and said "this box is heavier than the others, so this will have it". He told me he would open for me and when he did, he came back to me with 2 villain pins, one Malificent and one Chernabog. I was over the moon and thanked him. I have a feeling he gave me a little "Disney Magic" to make sure I got the pin I wanted.
 

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