Why does Disneyland mean so much to you?

[Usul831]

Re: Why does Disneyland mean so much to you?

Going to Disneyland is like going on a religous pilgrimage to find my long lost youthful optimisim and creativity. It recharges my soul battery better than almost any other destnation.

[disneyfan_87]

Re: Why does Disneyland mean so much to you?

Disney means a lot to me... I spent a lot of time with my family we always had the best time there. its our escape from the real world and times are tough now. it is the best place to forget everything.

[tamasurvivor]

Re: Why does Disneyland mean so much to you?

Going to Disneyland is like going on a religous pilgrimage to find my long lost youthful optimisim and creativity. It recharges my soul battery better than almost any other destnation.

You kinda hit the nail on the head there! Disneyland means a lot to me because I have had memories of visiting the park ever since I was a baby! And while I may not recall the exact things that happened at age 1 and stuff... I was there when I was 2 years old and have some wild memories of riding the people mover, riding the skyway, visiting other things inside the park, and seeing Mickey Mouse for my first time!

Then it became and every year thing to go ahead an visit the park and to be honest, despite the fact we were local to the SoCal area at the time we never became Annual Passholders until I was 14 and 15. I dont want to open ths into an annual passholder vs. non AP debate because both have their pros and cons but my personal opinion is that my image of the park was preserved by only visiting the park once a year and that in essence made our one day there every year a very special thing that could not be done all the time. Disneyland means a lot to me and while at the moment I am having a hard time affording Disney trips [my sister is out of work at the moment and im covering the whole rent payment] I know that somehow things will pull through and I will be there again in the park and enjoying it again to make my visit... Though my last trip has been a while and this year we kinda opted to just do Haunt and make that our Cali trip but then again 2010 holds World of Color and a few other milestones for the parks and so as a result I have already decided I have to find some way to make it out to the parks again.

And sometimes we obviously went to visit twice a year when we lived in Cali but the major milestones I remember with the park in my lifetime... That one parade with the big Disney Character Balloons and millions of bits of confetti all over mainstreet, The opening of the Indiana Jones Adventure which we waited 3 hours for, The Farewell of the Main Street Electrical Parade from Disneyland, Tomorrowland 1998, Fantasmic's opening year, The closing of the Skyway and People Mover, Waiting 90 minutes for the Rocket Rods at park opening, The Rocket Jets on top of the platform, The Submarine Voyage, The opening of Haunted Mansion Holiday and Small World Holiday, The opening of DCA, The building of the parking lot into DCA, Going to visit DCA on my 13th or 14th Birthday and Riding Splash Mountain for the first time and crying from the drop which I thought was vertical at the time.... So many milestones and memories in the park

Out of the years I grew up in SoCal, we held passes for 2 years when I was 14 and 15 and Then when our passes expired at age 16 we moved out here to AZ and the Disney trips became fewer and basically reverted back to once ever year and or even two years depending on how quickly I could save up my points to cover the hotel and all the new expenses Disney trips now incur without us being only 15 miles from the parks. Still we are pretty good on cutting those other costs down and doing our best to make it out as much as we can but living 365 miles away means it takes almost a day of driving just to get there.

But again, Disneyland means a lot to me.... there are so many memories I have in the parks and I could seriously write a book about all the different experiences I have had there.

[findingmickey]

Re: Why does Disneyland mean so much to you?

because my wife tells me that it is.

[whamo]

Re: Why does Disneyland mean so much to you?

Disneyland, at first, was a television show, in black-and-white, that I used to watch every Sunday. I especially enjoyed the opening segment they played every week. I was in awe of Walt Disney. I was only three when my dad, a starving sportswriter/editor, drove the old Buick to Disneyland on opening day. We got free tickets, otherwise we couldn't afford it. I remember the free Crackerjack boxes, the soft asphalt on the parking lot (your feet actually sunk), Walt's opening day speech, the opening of the gate. We would return many times in the 50's, whenever we got free tickets. I have fond memories of my father taking me around the park (RIP). Everybody, including my father, was saying Disneyland would be a failure on opening day. Hardly any of the rides worked, this and that. But I knew differently. I loved it. So did everybody else, eventually. Now, retired, in my second childhood, I've been returning to Disneyland about once a month for four years. I still love it as much, if not more, than on opening day, back in 1955.