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Inkman
04-24-2005, 11:00 AM
I'm home sick with some bug and have been thinking alot about our upcoming trip. The kids can't wait and neither can i.

One thing my 13 yr old son told me the other day though kind of had me wondering. He had been talking about the trip to some of his friends and it shocked him at how many have never been there!! So i started asking people i work with and outside of work. It is amazing how many have never been there or taken their kids there. The one common denominator i found was that most adults who don't go, were never taken there as kids and therefore don't have the magical memories that those of us who went a kids do. And sadly, their kids don't get to experience it before life swallows them up.

I simply cannot imagine not going to DL as a kid.

Starting to ramble on here...............

Al

AnnaBanana
04-24-2005, 11:04 AM
Well, I went to DL for the first time last summer. However, I did grow up going to WDW.

jennia
04-24-2005, 11:18 AM
I grew up in So Cal and went a few times as a kid. My folks aren't NEARLY as Disney-crazed as I am and they had 3 kids most of the time I was growing up and added a 4th kid when I was 16.

I live out in the California High Desert. None of my son's close friends have ever been to Disneyland and we're about 2 hours from the Park. I was really stunned when I discovered that!! Poor kids!! :crying:

dws_60
04-24-2005, 11:23 AM
jenni, my bro and his wife and son live now in apple valley, thats where i send my daughter (the one from the access board) next july... what city do u live in?
David

jennia
04-24-2005, 11:29 AM
Apple Valley! :D :D :D

dws_60
04-24-2005, 11:31 AM
u live in apple valley too? they used to live in victorville until yesterday and my bro grew up in barstow...
maybe u know them?
would be fun!
David

SeansMom
04-24-2005, 12:07 PM
I'm home sick with some bug and have been thinking alot about our upcoming trip. The kids can't wait and neither can i.

One thing my 13 yr old son told me the other day though kind of had me wondering. He had been talking about the trip to some of his friends and it shocked him at how many have never been there!! So i started asking people i work with and outside of work. It is amazing how many have never been there or taken their kids there.

I went the first time when I was about six, but my hubby didn't get to go until he was 30, poor baby! Our kids have been lots...our youngest five times now and he just turned twelve (at Disneyland :p ). And we have to travel 1200 miles one way to get there!

Can't imagine missing the magic, but I, too, know lots of people who have never been.

Leap for Joy
04-24-2005, 12:21 PM
Hubby and I were both 30 our first time. Luckily, we went with my sister who was a pro and she made all of the decisions which allowed us to relax and absorb the magic. Now we're overwhelmingly, happily, addicted. :)

MammaSilva
04-24-2005, 12:44 PM
I went several times as a YOUNG child (before aged 5) then had a LONG break ....didn't go again til my Grad night, then another LONG break til the early 80's, then in 1992 I decided that was enough and started taking my daughter and her friends ....we've never missed a year since and health and life willing she won't ever. Most years we manage a couple trips or more. For 2005 we've been on two trips to Southern Cal with a total of six days in the parks with plans for at least 2 more trips south before our passes expire.

Inkman
04-24-2005, 12:46 PM
I went the first time when I was about six, but my hubby didn't get to go until he was 30, poor baby! Our kids have been lots...our youngest five times now and he just turned twelve (at Disneyland :p ). And we have to travel 1200 miles one way to get there!

Can't imagine missing the magic, but I, too, know lots of people who have never been.

1200 miles? That would be a long drive for us as my wife simply won't fly unless there is no other option. DL should thank us folks who start our kids young...they know they will have a family line hooked for life...lol.

I tried to get the family to take a cruise this year. First thing they said was "Let's go back to DL instead". I just wanted the kids to experience something totally different, but after talking to the wife and hearing her explain how much more fun the kids have at DL and listening to them talk about it year round, even when we have never said anything about going there this year, the decision was an easy one.

I just feel for all those kids and adult kids who have never experienced it and you can tell by talking to them about the park, they have no idea what you are talking about. You just need to experience it.......again and again.

Al

hlbtimes2
04-24-2005, 12:59 PM
I didnt go the first time until I was almost 17. It was a horrible trip with my aunt and uncle. I was determined to go back later and make up for it. Its been almost 20 years and many great trips!

goober7011
04-24-2005, 01:07 PM
1200 miles? That would be a long drive for us as my wife simply won't fly unless there is no other option. DL should thank us folks who start our kids young...they know they will have a family line hooked for life...lol.

I tried to get the family to take a cruise this year. First thing they said was "Let's go back to DL instead". I just wanted the kids to experience something totally different, but after talking to the wife and hearing her explain how much more fun the kids have at DL and listening to them talk about it year round, even when we have never said anything about going there this year, the decision was an easy one.

I just feel for all those kids and adult kids who have never experienced it and you can tell by talking to them about the park, they have no idea what you are talking about. You just need to experience it.......again and again.

Al
My family is sort of doing the opposite. In my early years 1-9 we went almost yearly during spring break or the summer season. But recently we have decided to go on more cruises. They are fun and all but the las time I was at disneyland was in 2003 and that was only for one day while my sis was looking at colleges.
But this year I get the best of both worlds.
12 night cruise in europe
4 days in DL (probably the most time I have ever spent there at one time) :D
-Goober

charpaul
04-24-2005, 01:26 PM
I was 30 years old on my first trip to DL.
I went specifically to see one of the last performances of Main Street Electrical Parade. I did find the magic on that visit - :D The park closed that day - soo many people!!! But they were friendly and courteous. I have very fond memories of that first visit. One mother of two young boys told me that the park was rarely like this and that I should just follow them around for the rest of the afternoon. They took me to Indy - Pirates - Mansion and Star Tours. Navigating the park like pros - LOL I was hooked.
I grew up 1200 miles from the park and my family never had the money to take a family vaction for the 5 of us to DL when I was growing up.
I moved to SoCal for a job that fall and one of the first things I did by myself as a tourist was visit DL. I have been back so many times now I don't even know how many it has been.

Two years later I took MY parents for their first visit to DL. I don't think they caught the magic, but they do tell me they might like to go again sometime.

Rhiannon8404
04-24-2005, 01:45 PM
Well, went as a family once when I was 9 and my sister was 6. Went again when I was 16 and sis was 13, but I suspect this was mostly due to the fact that they'd had another child, my brother, who was now 5. My folks were not Disney fanatics and I think they took us out of a sense of it being something you do. You take your kids to DL once in their childhood.

I am so making up for that now that I have a child. ;)

SeansMom
04-24-2005, 01:51 PM
1200 miles? That would be a long drive for us as my wife simply won't fly unless there is no other option. DL should thank us folks who start our kids young...they know they will have a family line hooked for life...lol.

Al

Lol..I can SO relate...I don't like flying much but I learned awhile back that Xanax is my FRIEND...lol...so I just take one the night before, the morning of, and on the plane. I also found a cool site that offers free fear of flying lessons. Between the two, I forsee more frequent trips to DL, and hopefully even a trip or two to DL Paris! But I so feel for your wife. Not much fun to be afraid of flying, even when your logical mind knows it is safer than driving there!

disneyfand
04-24-2005, 04:05 PM
I went the first time when I was 29. Before then I really wasn't that interested in Disney. Ever since then....Well, look where I'm now(MP)

h_lehmann
04-24-2005, 04:16 PM
Growing up in Pennsylvania. I didn't go to any Disney park until 1981 when I moved to California after college. After that I only went every couple of years until I had kids of my own. Now I go to Disneyland probably 4 times a year or so, with or without the kids.

Hakuna Makarla
04-24-2005, 04:33 PM
I never even heard of disneyland as a kid! I saw the wonderful world of disney, but thought it was a show did not know there was acually a disneyland. I am sure my parents were glad since they are no fun and would never have taken any of us there. My parents do not do the vacation thing, never did. They think its to much work ha ha ha
first time to go, 46 years old! second time 47 yeah, I love it to the very end!!

VickiC
04-24-2005, 05:05 PM
I grew up here, just a few miles from the park but only went once or twice. My parents didn't have much moeny and vacations for us always involved tents! I didn't stay in a hotel other than one school related trip until I was an adult. We hardly ever ate in restaurants either. Things that my kids consider everyday events were huge luxuries back then.

Rouxe1688
04-24-2005, 05:34 PM
The first time i went I was 10, I felt I was too cool to meet the characters...and yet i wore sunglasses that had a holograph of dinosaur eyes in them. I loved DL and made an up to the minute plan for our next trip.

SuefromRI
04-24-2005, 07:27 PM
I went once in 1968 for a day at the age of 14. We were on vacation for a month and drove cross country with a pop up trailer tent. Stopped at Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc. Visited with my aunt and cousins near Anaheim and spent one day at US and one at DL, which is why I've heard of the E-ticket. Been to WDW about 12 times in the last 20 years with my 2 kids, but returned to DL in 2003 and again in 2004. My DD was stunned to learn that my husband's cousins family that lives in Seal Beach never goes to DL and had never been to DCA. We travel thousands of miles to enjoy Disney parks, and they live so close and don't go. Obviously distance to the parks is not a factor in feeling the Disney magic!! My DD and I are so totally hooked and my DH and DS are mostly hooked.

nvmom
04-24-2005, 07:42 PM
My husband and I just went for the first time this past March at the ages of 31 & 33 yrs old. I have to say that I am totally hooked. I got back again in a minute. In fact, we're seriously considering taking my husbands parents. They are young at heart and we think they'd love it. I would be their first time at age 65 & 68 yrs.

I was raised in the state of MT and I knew many families that went to Disneyland. Just not us. :) I am the youngest of 4 children. My 3 older brothers & sisters are 15, 14 & 12 yrs old than I am... I came along a bit later. I'm sure it was a money issue when my bros and sisters were younger. There were no money issues, however, in my childhood, especially age 10 yrs and up. Guess they never had a burning desire to go.

nvmom

sediment
04-24-2005, 08:08 PM
First time was 18. I was over 2000 miles away for most of the time before that, and there was no compelling reason to come to California before that.
Went to WDW once when young.

keschy
04-24-2005, 09:24 PM
I went for the first time when I was 30. I grew up in NH so I was very far away! DH & I moved to LA but still didn't get around to going for about 4 years!It was on our list of things to do LOL. Once we went we were hooked.We had passports every year and went almost every weekend until we moved to Oregon.

mystycalchyk
04-25-2005, 09:23 AM
My first trip to DLR was when I was 27 (just one month shy of being 28 actually)

However I had gone to WDW a few times before that.