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Duane
02-11-2003, 11:53 AM
My first visit to Disneyland was in June 1968. I was only 5 years old but I still remember so many things just like it was yesterday. The most memorable thing was the fact that the dark rides took place inside air conditioned buildings, a nice bonus during the hot summer days! I also clearly remember the smell of fresh paint everywhere. I believed that the pirates were really fighting and feared they would see us creeping along in our boats. Since that time, my mother has passed away but we have super 8 movies to remind us of our visit so long ago. The most magical thing of all is the fact that so many structures still stand in Disneyland like they did in 1968: train station, monorail, matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland, Storybook Land, etc. What really brings back the wonderful memories is the fact that these structures still look just as new now as they did in 1968!

MouseWife
02-11-2003, 01:18 PM
I don't remember so much, I was about 4 I guess {judging from pictures}.

Mostly, I remember holding my daddy's hand and clinging tightly to his arm as this was all a very big experience for me.

Disneyland wasn't Disneyland with out my Dad for the longest time. My sister and I didn't take off from him and we took turns riding with him {Matterhorn and rides where only two could go}.
It didn't feel right being there without him.

YellowMan
02-11-2003, 05:17 PM
My first Disneyland memory is asking my mother why, when standing in Tomorrowland, we couldn't see the Star Tours Starspeeders taking off from the Star Tours building. I must have been 5 or 6 years old. I also have memories of riding the Peoplemover on warm afternoons, looking around the wonderful park.

My first visit to the parks was when I was just a baby, and from the home videos of me I spent most of the time asleep in the stroller. Not that I'd have any memories from being a baby anyway.

JLKirscher
02-11-2003, 06:28 PM
My first memory was in 1976, I was 3 .
I remember watching the bi-centiennel parade with my cousin (who was also 3). There was giant stacked sandwich float. And we danced in the street.

I also remember that I danced with Eeoyre on Main Street.

The funny thing is I remembered all of these things from that trip, and my mom found pictures when she was recently cleaning out a closet at my grandmother's house after she passed away.

The moral to this story is take your kids when they are 3 and they will love DL for ever more. Or at least it worked for me ;)

chrised43
02-11-2003, 07:45 PM
My first memory is riding on the Flying Saucers with my sister. Neither one of us were big enough to ride by ourself. I can still remember the big arm at the end of the ride sweeping our saucer to the side to unload. We only got the chance to ride it once, the next time we went to Disneyland they were gone. I can also remember the guys who would fly the gas powered model aircraft in Tomorrowland.

bigjim
02-12-2003, 06:37 AM
My first memories were watching the Wonderful World Of Color on TV in the early 60's. I grew up in Texas and always wanted to go to DL. I remember my 2nd grade teacher in Texas talk about her trip to DL. Our family never got to go. I watched all the Mickey Mouse Club repeats and was a dedicated Disney child by my own choosing. I watched all the shows about the park and always wished I could go. During my mid 30's I moved to Las Vegas and one day I decided since I was so close I would go to Disneyland! That opened the gates. I am now 48 years old and still live in Vegas but am at DL nearly every month. I am a passholder and my wife gets us into Club 33 occasionaly. My wife and I renewed our wedding vows at the Grand Californian one week after it openned. I also now collect Disney Signature Art Pieces. Our bedroom in our new home is basically a Disney Art Gallery. Everything I always wanted to do as a child and more I have now grown up and do. It's awesome. I enjoy watching the old TV shows with Walt even more now. Perhaps I will go to his burial site and take him a rose as a thanks for so giving us so much happiness.

jamsandwich
02-12-2003, 09:23 AM
I was maybe four or five on my first trip to Disneyland in 1979 or 80 (and it would be a dozen years before I returned). These are some of my memories:

Eating at some sort of character eatery and eating what may have been my first fish dinner (I think it was trout of some sort), on the promise that "Mickey cooked it." Met Mickey, too.

Pirates of the Carribean seeming super-real. Ducking with my brother to be sure that the cannon balls and gunshots didn't hit us. It was an exceptional ride.

The Haunted Mansion: Just the whole experience, which was great. Also, my brother riding on his own and punching the back of his "doom buggy" in an effort to get the ghost in the mirror.

The submarine ride, which was great as well... I don't think it was open in any of the three trips I've taken since.

I also attribute this memory to Disney, but it could have been elsewhere -- playing a video game featuring planes that shot at each other... I remember being told I was doing really well despite the fact that I could hardly see the screen, let alone reach the controls.

-J

kranders
02-12-2003, 09:44 AM
My first Disneyland memory is of being on the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train and being afraid when we entered the caverns. I hid my face in my mom's arms!

cemeinke
02-12-2003, 05:54 PM
Originally posted by kranders
My first Disneyland memory is of being on the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train and being afraid when we entered the caverns.

Wow, my first memory of Disneyland is also Rainbow Caverns Mine Train - only for me it kind of just lulled me to sleep. I rememeber all these cool colors in the cave and then waking up in bed at home. :rolleyes:

Lost Boy
02-12-2003, 08:06 PM
My first memory is walking thru the gates and under the tunnels on opening day to the public, July 18, 1955, my birthday. And "Uncle Walt" gave me the best birthday present ever. I was 13 that day so I remember it very well. I rode every ride there was. had lunch with my dad at the Chicken Plantation overlooking the Rivers of America and went to the Moon with my mother and little sister. Also went on Space Station X-1. Rode a mule through Frontierland and took a river ride thru Adventureland. And, of course, went to Neverland with Peter Pan many time that day. I love Disneyland!!!:D :D :D

disguy
02-13-2003, 07:55 AM
My first Disneyland memory was when I was about four or five. We were watching a parade I don't remember what the parade was, but I do know I was scared to death of the big bad wolf and a hot air balloon. I remember seeing this huge balloon with Mickey standing on a little stage (the basket of the balloon) and I was screaming because the big bad wolf was coming towards me.

That was my first memory of Disneyland but I had been there many times before that even while my mom was pregnant with me :)

disneyhead
02-13-2003, 08:11 AM
Seeing a picture of the Matterhorn and the Dioramas in a book about 1968-9(?). I finally made it there in 2001. And wouldn't you know it, the Matterhorn was down for rehab. I did go to WDW many times between '71-'94.

mad4mky
02-13-2003, 08:11 AM
My first memory...is the Indian Village...and doing the Indian dance in a big circle with the Indians. We have great pictures of that. My husband's mother has old family films of him and his sister doing it!
I was about 4 years old.

My next memory is of the HUGE blister I got on the heel of my foot from my new tennis shoes. I had to go to the First Aid Station at DL...
What a treat! I remember crying...and the nurses being so nice and fixing up my heel with bandaids...

And, I remember sitting on the balcony of our motel watching the fireworks. I am surprised we actually saw them...but we did. I remember being mad that we wern't in the park.
I also remember having a green Peter Pan hat...with a long bring yellow feather in it...

And...one more thing. I remember begging and begging for a Mickey Mouse Balloon. The double ones...you know, the ones with the Mickey head balloon inside a big clear balloon.
To this day, my kids tease me that they are going to buy me one...because I did a foolish thing to tell them about how much I wanted that darned balloon.:rolleyes:

MammaSilva
02-13-2003, 08:32 AM
Mad4Mky......what was it about those balloons that made them so desirable, I know I had the peter pan hat and I remember the Indian Village and the mule rides going by the bubbling pots of "paint" but my folks never got it how much I wanted one of those darn balloons.....so when I took my surrogate niece and her little boy the first thing I did was buy him one of those balloons when he asked, and of course Brandy got hers as well, we fought that darn thing all day long but finally got it back to the hotel that evening and he had as much fun with the darn balloon as he did on some of the rides ......

mad4mky
02-13-2003, 08:47 AM
Originally posted by mammasilva
Mad4Mky......what was it about those balloons that made them so desirable, I know I had the peter pan hat and I remember the Indian Village and the mule rides going by the bubbling pots of "paint" but my folks never got it how much I wanted one of those darn balloons.....so when I took my surrogate niece and her little boy the first thing I did was buy him one of those balloons when he asked, and of course Brandy got hers as well, we fought that darn thing all day long but finally got it back to the hotel that evening and he had as much fun with the darn balloon as he did on some of the rides ......

This is too funny!!!:D
I love it. Just love it!!

Wait until I tell my kids.:D There is something about those darn balloons that make you want to have one. Course, the ones today look different than the ones back in 1963 or so...
But, boy, I just begged and begged and begged for that darned thing.
What's funny is that it probably cost .25 cents...vs...how many big bucks today?
My parents have pictures of us (my siter, my aunt and myself) with those Peter Pan Hats...
We look so silly, yet so happy.
:D

MouseWife
02-13-2003, 09:48 AM
Ya know, I wanted one so badly myself. Now I can't remember if I ever got one. I remember one day being thisclose but I can't remember my folks shelling out money for a balloon.

We got the Peter Pan hats, one trip when I was about 15. A group of about 4 of us. We went marching down the street behind the parade{as if we were part of it}. What a bunch of goofs. :rolleyes: :)

mystycalchyk
02-13-2003, 10:35 AM
*sigh*

my first ever trip to disneyland was december 6, 1997

ive been a disney fanatic for pretty much ever, but i never lived close enough till then. i moved to arizona from tennessee in october of 97, so disney was very much a priority for me.

so my first memory (in the park) would have to be crossing under that wonderful arch and that magical feeling (i still get everytime)
theres just something about that place that makes me giddy with elation.

*googly sigh* its also the day my hubby proposed to me. we went to mickeys house in toon town and mickey himself presented me with my engagement ring (what a guy)


(my first trip to disneyworld however was in 1972 - i was two)

mckat
02-13-2003, 12:54 PM
wow, I don't normally answer DL threads, now I'm on the east coast and don't get out there anymore- but I was raised in Southern Calif and born in 1959- so DL was new and exciting! When I saw this threads title- I thought that I was too young when I first went to remember anything and then floating into my mind came those balloons. The ones with Mickeys Head Inside (magic for a young child) !!! So cool. All these years later- its still the balloons I remember. And what a kick to see decades of you guys having your first day there and so many also remember those particular balloons.

3894
02-13-2003, 01:47 PM
Wow - great, great stuff on this thread! Thanks all for sharing your memories. I had a terrific time reading them.

Not a first DL memory but an oldie - right after Pirates opened, my parents bought me a really frou-frou Gibson Girl-type hat in NOS. It was white with pink netting piled a mile high and cloth or plastic roses running wild. I wore that hat on the occasion of many DL visits until it fell apart.

Duane
02-16-2003, 12:18 PM
It sure is comforting to read everyone's response and realize that I'm not the only adult fascinated with Disney! Long live the Mouse and may we all remain children at heart.

tod
02-16-2003, 01:15 PM
First Disneyland memory was strutting down Main Street U.S.A. in my Davy Crockett sweatshirt like I owned the world. This was 1955 and I was three years old.

--T

mad4mky
02-16-2003, 01:21 PM
Originally posted by mckat
wow, I don't normally answer DL threads, now I'm on the east coast and don't get out there anymore- but I was raised in Southern Calif and born in 1959- so DL was new and exciting! When I saw this threads title- I thought that I was too young when I first went to remember anything and then floating into my mind came those balloons. The ones with Mickeys Head Inside (magic for a young child) !!! So cool. All these years later- its still the balloons I remember. And what a kick to see decades of you guys having your first day there and so many also remember those particular balloons.

Wow...another Mickey balloon lover!;) And, you were born the same year as I!

Those balloons really make a big wallop of an impression on a kid, don't they? I am so glad that I am not alone. I am going to go tell my kids...and say ..."see...I'm not alone!!" :rolleyes:

They'll still think I'm a dork though...:D

Pirate Girl
02-16-2003, 02:28 PM
My first Disneyland memory was when I was 2 and my dad took me to Tom Sawyer Island and I liked swinging the suspention bridge. I only wish my kids could swing the suspention bridge. :crying: I also remember my mom and my uncle taking my brothers and I to Goofy's kitchen to see all the characters (which I highly recommend to first timers, its the best way to see all the characters without the crowds).

bigjim
02-16-2003, 04:37 PM
GOOFY'S KITCHEN!!!!!!! It's the most fun dining at Disneyland. Since my kids have out-grown it we leave them at the park and my wife and I go to it. I don't think I will ever outgrow it.:)

DisDreams
02-16-2003, 09:23 PM
My early memories seemed to be centered around Tomorrowland.
The scariest attraction at the time (late 50's), was the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea exhibit. I remember being both fascinated and repelled by the giant squid seen thru the big glass bubble-window near the end of the "Nautilus". I was young and not ashamed to cover my eyes with my hands or peek thru my fingers at the "underwater monster".
A great ride in the "young" TL was the Flying Saucers ride. I only remember a few rides on it, but it was very enjoyable because each rider got to maneuver their saucer anywhere they wanted to go by leaning their body in the direction they wanted to go.
The "Bumper Cars of the Future" was what I thought it would be. Unfortunately, DL Ride Maintenance did not think so...
The Monsanto House of the Future was fun to walk through and my imagination ran wild with thoughts of living there all year around. What child/DL Fan couldn't imagine waking up IN Disneyland each morning?!?