As students of this blog know, this was not our first Disney experience. That first experience was in 1970, at Disneyland, famously but unknowingly in the company of the Yippies and the Anaheim PD. DisneyWorld opened October 1st, 1971, and, as dutiful Floridians, we were there within a few months (see below). Having family in Miami meant that, over the years, during visits, we returned to WDW...again, and again, and again, perhaps 8-10 times, Vicki reckons. Following retirement, our visits have continued, even accelerated, with the birth of grand-daughter Penelope. By my count, we have done a Disney thing 8 times since 2008, and these visits include Disney Paris twice and the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio (my personal favorite). As an aid to further research, I have included links below to some of our post-retirement Disney visits.
I will not speculate on the reasons for this admittedly unusual behavior. Vicki assures me that her obsession with Disney (and amusement parks more generally) is relatively mild, and, judging from the various WDW "tips" sites I have seen, she is correct. I will let other family members comment on their own interests and reasons. For my own part, I would cite affection for family and our family past, desire to faithfully discharge my family responsibilities--OK, sometimes grudgingly--as well as a certain fascination with Walt himself, biographically, the corporate history, at least into the 60s, and interests in critical aesthetics and post-modern kitsch. Disney is the mother of mother lodes of the latter.
In any case, when Vicki first broached the idea of a family reunion at WDW--more than two years ago--nearly everyone consulted was enthusiastic. Part of the idea was for Penelope to experience the really big Disney park while she was still a child. Two years of COVID intervened, but, vaccinated and masked, with Omicron on the wane, and after months of reservations calls, web research, and so on, we finally made it. Rebecca, Jeremy, and Penelope did a couple days of Universal before joining us at WDW, mainly to do the Harry Potter thing, which Penelope is seriously into. Happily, she was chosen for the wand ceremony there, so she already was in high spirits on arrival at Disney World. But here I'm getting ahead of myself...
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| Approaching Disneyland, Anaheim, August, 1970 |
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Yours truly, contemplating the Haunted Mansion, late 1971 or early 1972; shirt bought at Nick's Toggery, Tallahassee, c. 1968; an updated version of this shot appears in a subsequent post |
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| Original WDW Cinderella Castle, 1971-72 |
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| Main Street, 1977 |
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| With Rebecca, 1977 |
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| Ditto |
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| Main Street parade, 1977 |
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| No longer there department...1978 |
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| Still going strong department, 1978 |
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| Rebecca and cousin Stacey, 1978 |
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| Moving right along, Vicki, sister Marie, daughters Rachel and Rebecca, 2009 |
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| 2010 at Universal Studios (I do not distinguish sharply between WDW and Universal); Vicki and me and Rebecca and Rachel, and Jeremy and Will; for Vicki and Rachel, it was their second Universal visit, Rachel having won a trip there to appear on the Home Show in 1988 |
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| At Harry Potter Land, Rebecca, with child, and unidentified cast member |
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2009/04/d-day-or-when-in-rome.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2010/12/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/04/disneyland-scenes-2018-2.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/04/disneyland-princesses-2018.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/04/disney-history.html
1 comment:
I think we visited Disney World the first year it opened when we were living in Tallahassee. We attended twice again when the kiddos were little, then each of them visited with their GT classes on an "educational" backstage tour when they were in Jr. High. I haven't been back since. Not sure I would want to go now...seems too difficult to navigate!
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